"But it is just as much for one as for another. You must do the best you can in that time. Fifty dollars is a considerable sum for a boy to have; and I must say now that the winner will not be allowed to fool it away. If they have no immediate use for it, the money will be placed to their credit in the Genverres Savings Bank; but it may be used at once for any proper purpose."
The students wondered, as they left the schoolroom, if the vacation had not been given on account of the rebellion. But all of them hastened to the lake to look for a site for the boat-house.
CHAPTER XI. DORY DORNWOOD CONFRONTS THE TOPOVERS.
Several groups of the students had formed on the banks of Beech Hill Lake, and were discussing the plans when the school-bell rang. They obeyed the summons, and began to think this was a queer sort of a vacation, when the principal informed them that he had forgotten something. Seeing them talking together at the lake had reminded him of the omission.
"I must exact a promise from each student that the plan he offers is wholly his own work," said Captain Gildrock. "There must be no conversation, conference, or comparison among you, and no student must show his plan to another, or tell another what it is. All of you who assent to this, and make this promise, will signify it by standing."
All the boys rose and remained standing. Some of them asked a lot of questions as usual, but in a few minutes the whole matter was perfectly understood.
"Under these conditions we shall have to stay in our rooms all the time," said Dave Windsor; and the remark created a laugh, for it looked as though the competitors for the prizes were to be prisoners as well as the rebels.