"I don't think anyone has seen what was going on," replied Dory. "Bates is on duty in the dormitory, the teachers are attending to their own affairs, and probably Captain Gildrock is in the house. If any of them saw the boats going down the lake, they were too far off to know who were in them. If my uncle knew anything about this business, he would have sent a boat over before this time."
"If we had been in any mischief, half a dozen of them would have seen us," said Thad Glovering, with a laugh.
"It's no use to stay here, and we may as well walk around by the road and report to Captain Gildrock," added Dory.
This was considered the best thing to do, and in half an hour they arrived at the school grounds on the other side of the lake. No one knew anything of what had happened on the other side of the water. They could not find the principal about the place; and at last one of the stablemen said he had gone to the village with Mrs. Dornwood in the buggy.
Mr. Jepson, the master machinist, was the only instructor they could find about the premises, and he agreed with Dory and Matt that something should be done at once.
CHAPTER XIV. THE PURSUIT IN THE GOLDWING.
It was easier to decide that something should be done than it was to determine what to do. Mr. Jepson suggested the Sylph, but it would take some time to get up steam, and Dory thought she would not be the most convenient craft in a conflict with the barges. He was decidedly in favor of pursuing the marauders in the Goldwing.
In the smashing breeze on the lake she would sail nearly as fast as the steamer, and he could have her under way in five minutes. The schooner could follow the boats into shoal water, while the Sylph must have eight or nine feet, and if Tom Topover was smart, she might not be able to go within a mile of the barges.