“I will be as sober as a judge in school-hours after this. I didn’t think what I was about when I jumped on that board, and I am sorry I did it,” pleaded Dick, who was heartily disgusted with being watched by the big dog.
“Very well: I am satisfied; but I don’t know whether Phil Gawner is, or not,” added the instructor.
“I will beg his pardon, or let him thrash me, just as he chooses,” suggested Dick.
The instructor called Phil as he was going down to the lake. As soon as Phil came within hailing-distance of the tree, Dick made his apology, which was promptly accepted; and the culprit was
permitted to descend the tree. His punishment was so odd that it puzzled him. He had often been whipped in school for his pranks; but to be imprisoned over two hours up in a tree, with a dog to keep guard over him, was more than he could stand.
Most of the students were at the lake by this time. Dory had already invited Oscar Chester to take a sail in the Goldwing, and he had accepted. The four members of the Goldwing Club had been in the schooner so much that they preferred to take a four-oar boat that was moored on the lake.
In fifteen minutes the Goldwing was out on Lake Champlain. The wind was fresh from the south-west, and the lake is not the best place in the world for a sailboat. Puffs of wind, and even pretty smart squalls, sometimes come from the hills that surround this beautiful sheet of water, so that the skipper has to be on the alert.
“I should be very glad to have you steer her now, Oscar, if you wish,” said Dory to his passenger as soon as the boat was well out in the lake.
“Thank you, Dory,” replied Oscar. “I think we shall be the best of friends, after all.”
“It will not be my fault if we are not,” added Dory.