“First-rate, sir,” replied several of them in the same breath.
“I am glad to hear it; and none of us will have any trouble as long as we mean well. What you mean is more than half the battle in morals. I did not expect you so soon, and I am afraid Dory has not looked out for your stomachs.”
“Yes, he has, sir,” said Ben Ludlow. “He had a basket of provisions on the boat, and we fed out of that.”
This was the lunch he had taken the night before, and it had served over a dozen instead of two. But the boys had been so much excited by the novel event of a sail in a fresh breeze that they were not in condition to do justice to the rations.
When the captain learned that the scholars had eaten only the supply of food intended for two, he took the whole party to the hotel to supper.
After Captain Gildrock and Dory returned, the engineer and carpenter went. The latter suggested that the prisoner in the ice-house had been forgotten.
“I shall not forget him, but he may go without his supper to-night. A little fasting will do him good. His father and mother are both dead, and his uncle is one of the richest men in the State. He told me that nothing but the sharpest discipline would do him any good. He will run away as soon as he gets a chance; and this must be prevented,” replied the captain.
Jepson and Brookbine returned in less than half an hour. The captain had quite a chat with the boys while they were waiting. He told them something about his plans, and was so kind and familiar with them that they began to like him.
“I am told that some of you have been wild boys, and have been turned out of school,” said he. “Except in one instance, I don’t know who they are. I prevented your parents and others from telling me any thing about your misconduct. You are all alike to me so far, and every boy has his own reputation to make.
“You will not be judged at all by the past, but