"I don't believe there will be much fighting," replied Dory, laughing; "but if there should be, we can do better with ten than we can with twice that number. With eighteen we should be in one another's way."
"Ten only will go," said Mr. Jepson decidedly.
"But who shall they be?" demanded Luke Bennington. "Every fellow wants to go and have a hand in the fun."
"There is where the difficulty comes in," added Matt. "I think Dory had better select his own crew; and for one, if I am elected to stay at home, I won't complain."
"You know very well that you will be elected to go, Matt," said Will Orwell.
"I don't like to select a crew; I wish all could go, and I shall be satisfied with any nine," interposed Dory.
"Under these circumstances the best thing a fellow can do is to volunteer to stay behind; and I volunteer not to go," said Oscar Chester. "I should like to go as well as the next one, and I don't want any fellow to think I am chickenish."
"We know you are not, Oscar," added Dave Windsor; and all the students began to clap their hands at the self-sacrifice of the first volunteer.
Bolingbroke Millweed followed Oscar's example; then came Matt Randolph and Luke Bennington. It was the unselfish and brave thing to volunteer to stay at home, and no one was willing to stay behind in doing a good deed. In a moment more the whole seventeen had volunteered to remain at Beech Hill.
"I don't like to be alone, and I will join the crowd," exclaimed Dory, greatly amused at the situation. "We are just as badly off as we were in the beginning, and the Topovers are pulling down the river all the time. I will tell you how to settle the matter so that it shall be fair for all."