"Keep cool, Oscar," said Dory. "We can't do anything just now, and it's no use to boil over."
"What makes that fellow so down on you, Dory?" asked Matt Randolph. "He didn't say anything to Oscar and me."
"Perhaps I gave him reason to be down upon me, though I only defended myself. I knocked him over when he tried to stop me from reaching the wharf," answered the coxswain of the Winooski. "If I had only got among those ruffians half a minute sooner, I might have saved the boats, though I should have had to stand up against the whole of them."
Matt wanted to know more about the affair, and Dory told all that had happened since he first saw the Topovers. By the time his fellow coxswain had heard the story, the rest of the two crews began to arrive. They could see for themselves why they had been summoned so soon. Tom had taken possession of the stern-sheets of the Winooski, and sent Kidd to one of the vacant thwarts to row. The ruffians were struggling with the oars, for, though they had the strength, they were utterly lacking in discipline and knowledge. But they pulled with some degree of unanimity, and the Winooski went ahead at a very moderate rate. The Gildrock was doing better than her consort, for Nim Splugger did not confuse his crew with too many orders, and each one got the hang of the oar in his own way.
Both boats were moving, and were headed towards the outlet of the lake. Their regular crews at the grove could only look on, for they were powerless to raise a finger to recover the boats at present. One after another suggested various experiments for demolishing the Topovers, but their schemes were either foolish or impracticable. Oscar Chester wanted to run down to the narrowest place on the outlet, and make an attack on the marauders; but both Matt and Dory were not in favor of such a plan.
"If we get desperate, and try to break things, those villains will smash the boats rather than let us get them. That Tom Topover is as mad as a March hare at the rap Dory gave him," said Matt.
"I think we had better report to Captain Gildrock, for I don't see that we can do anything here," suggested Dory, as he gazed sadly at the retreating barges.
"We can't even get over to Beech Hill," added Luke Bennington, as he glanced across the lake at the school grounds.
"We must go around by the road, and it is over a mile," added Pemberton Millweed.
"It seems to me that somebody on the other side must have seen what was going on," said Matt.