"See, the other conquering hero comes!" shouted Dory, as the machinist came into the presence of the captain.
"What is the matter, Dory?" asked the instructor.
"They are making game of me all around, and I want you to help me out with it."
"I am entirely sincere in all I have said," added Captain Gildrock. "You deserve all the praise you have received, and all you are likely to receive in the future, for your bravery and skill; though I wish you had not exposed yourself."
"But Mr. Jepson has been with me all the time, and I am not guilty of any more bravery and skill than he is. I could not have done any thing alone; and he did just as much as I did with his head and his hands, and he deserves to be slobbered as much as I do."
"Three cheers for the instructor in mechanics!" shouted a student who had heard the conversation.
They were given with quite as much vim as those for Dory.
"But Dory was the leader of the enterprise, though I did the best I could to support him," added the machinist.
"You have done exceedingly well, both of you; but we will drop this subject for the time, and open the cabin-doors," said the principal, as he led the way to the quarter-deck of the schooner.
It was an easy matter to remove the brace which secured the cabin-doors, and to take out the strip of board which held the slide in its place. If either Mack or Ripples had had a moment of liberty after he came on deck from the cabin-window, he could have released his companions below. After Dory's talk with Chuck over the stern of the vessel, the party below were quiet, evidently believing that the deck was in possession of the two who had made their egress through the cabin-windows.