THE BATTLE OFF GARDEN ISLAND. Page 113.
Bolingbroke obeyed the order, and the victim poured out a considerable quantity of water from his mouth. Dory then directed his companions to convey the sufferer to the cabin, and put him
in one of the berths, covering him with the blankets. But Oscar was not insensible, for he had only exhausted himself by his violent struggles. In half an hour he had recovered from the shock. The fresh wind made it cool on the lake, and it took all the blankets on board to warm him.
“That was a narrow escape. He had been down twice; and if he had gone down again we should not have seen him again,” said Bolingbroke, as he came out of the cabin. “I think that fellow will obey orders next time.”
“No, he won’t!” cried Oscar, sticking his head out at the door. “It isn’t the first time I have been under water, and I’m not killed yet. Dory did it on purpose to pitch me overboard, and I will get even with him!”
Perhaps all but Dory and Bolingbroke knew Oscar well enough not to be greatly surprised at this demonstration. It looked as though the lesson, which Dory hoped would cure him of his desire to handle a boat before he had learned how to do it, had been wholly lost upon the pupil. None of the party said any thing in reply to the speech, and it was plain that they stood in fear of the rebel.
In another hour, when the Goldwing was approaching Thompson’s Point, Oscar was sufficiently warmed up to leave the cabin. He went aft, and seated himself quite near the skipper. He looked decidedly ugly, and Dory thought that half-drowning was not enough for him. He wondered what his uncle expected to do with such a fellow. He would be equal to a whole nest of hornets from the time the school was opened.
“I heard some one call you Dory Dornwood,” said Oscar, fixing his gaze upon the skipper.
“My name is Theodore Dornwood; but they call me Dory for short,” replied Dory.
“The name is all right, Dory. You have insulted me, and you have pitched me into the lake,” continued Oscar, frowning like an untamed savage. “You got ahead of me before all these boys; and I am not the fellow to swallow an insult, or to pass over an injury.”