All Taut; or, Rigging the boat

by Oliver Optic

All of them, wherever they came from, took kindly to this lesson. It was a new thing to most of them, even to those who had some little skill in tinkering. Kidd Digfield declared at night, when the shopwork was finished, that he had had a first-rate time. In fact, he and his companions, with the exception of Tom, were fairly reconstructed. It was nothing but fun to make a box, with such excellent tools as they were provided with; and they laughed when they thought of the bungling work they had done on the Thunderer.

After supper, there was still an hour and a half of daylight, and the barges were manned with their new crews. One of them was assigned to the new pupils for the first lessons, and Dory Dornwood was to act as coxswain. But Captain Gildrock was in the Marian, with a crew of five of the old boys; and he kept near enough to quell a rebellion if one should break out. But this was fun for the boys; and they were instructed according to the man-of-war rules, rather than those of the sporting fraternity.

Tom Topover, from the grated window of his chamber, saw his companions in the boats, and wished he were with them. It had not occurred to him that he was to be deprived of his air and exercise, and be kept in his room after the closing of the study-hours. He realized now, that he was to be kept a prisoner in his room, on bread and water, until he learned his lesson.

He had some mechanical taste; and he had looked forward, with something like pleasure, to the time when he should be required to handle the tools in the shop. Enough had been said among the boys in regard to this part of their daily duties to inspire his ambition, and he expected to distinguish himself in this department. On Saturday the ship's company of the Sylph was to be organized, as it had been in the two preceding years; but the lessons came first.

The supper of the prisoner was the same as his dinner had been. He was so faint, that he ate his allowance, and drank the glass of water that came with the food; but he did it with a rebellious soul. In the evening he heard the voices of his companions about the dormitory. The excited speech and the noisy laugh in the adjoining rooms, as his late associates talked over the experiences of the day, indicated that they were all happy. But no one went near him after he had eaten his supper. As he listened to the sounds which came to him, he heard his friends say that the bars had been removed from the windows of their rooms sometime during the day.

In fact, Tom's three cronies were on precisely the same footing now as even the older pupils of the school. They were not locked into their rooms that night; for they had accepted the situation, and were doing all that was required of them in a cheerful spirit. In the boat, Dory Dornwood had instructed them in the use of the oars; but he had done it so pleasantly and politely, that they could not find a word of fault with him.

It was plain to Tom, that his friends had surrendered without conditions; though they still said they were acting only from motives of policy. It was no use, they continued to say, to buck their heads against a stone wall. It was easier to do their duty than it was to rebel, and take the consequences.

At about dark the rebellious chief heard the voices of his cronies in the next room, which was Kidd Digfield's. The discipline had been relaxed in their favor, for they had not before been allowed to visit one another's rooms. They did not talk about him: he had not heard his name mentioned by them. He felt very lonely, and very much hurt by the want of loyalty to him on their part. He rapped several times on the wall. It was more to see if they would notice his signal than for any other reason.

Kidd knocked on the wall, in reply to the call. Tom asked him to come to the door, and speak to him through the keyhole. Kidd replied that he could not do it, they were forbidden to have any communication with him. This he said loud enough to be heard by the prisoner. He did not care who else heard him, though he suspected that Bates could not be far off.

The answer roused the anger of the bully, and he began to use some strong language. Nim Splugger advised Kidd not to make any reply. This increased Tom's wrath; and he called them traitors, so that his voice could be heard half the length of the hall. Then, in his anger, he resorted to kicking against the wall again. This soon brought Bates. The door was unlocked; and, without a word of any kind, the old salt collared him, and marched him to the brig. The furniture had not been restored to its place, and he was left alone in the iron-bound cell.