"We can never get home from here," yelled Nim Splugger.
"That's your look out. You must go ashore, or we will spill you all out into the water by the beach," replied the skipper.
Nim made no reply, for he saw that his captors were in earnest. Dory directed Matt and Oscar to land them three or four at a time in the tender. He explained what he meant to do to the prisoners, and threatened them with a ducking if they resisted. They did not resist, for they felt that the skipper could have his own way with them. Matt landed them in two trips; but Nim Splugger showed fight when they were all on the beach. He attempted to hold on to the tender, but Oscar pitched him out of the boat into the water. The moment he was out of it, Matt shoved it from the shore, and they pulled back to the Goldwing.
It had taken some time to land the Topovers, and by the time the Gildrock had been properly rigged for towing, the two barges of the Chesterfields, which had followed the schooner, were within a quarter of a mile of the point where the marauders had been put on shore. They made a sweep into the harbor, so as to avoid the rough water.
"Help! help!" yelled the Topovers on the land, when they saw the barges approaching them.
It was not probable that the Chesterfields knew anything about the Topovers; but they could not help seeing that they had been at war with the Beach Hill students, and had been defeated. For this reason, doubtless they sympathized with the ruffians; at any rate they were the enemies of the Beech Hillers, and this fact made them allies.
Dory headed the Goldwing out into the lake. The skipper and the crew watched the movements of the Chesterfields with interest. Possibly the curiosity of the latter was excited by the scene they had witnessed, and they wished to inquire into its meaning. At any rate they pulled for the point where the Topovers had been landed, and the heavy sea prevented them from following the schooner out into the lake.
The Chesterfield barges made a landing farther up the harbor, and three of the marauders were taken into one boat, and four into the other. They did not remain at the shore a moment after they had picked up their passengers, but followed the yacht by the inside route. The crews of the Dasher and Racer had not seen the capture of the Gildrock with the lasso, and could not have known that the Winooski was making for the New York shore, a mile or more to the north of them. Their passengers told them their story, and no doubt they were anxious to see the battle for the other boat, if not to take a hand in it.
The presence of the Chesterfields had considerably disturbed the arrangements of Dory, who had intended to tackle the marauders in the other barge as soon as he could get rid of the prisoners. It had taken some time to dispose of them, and it was possible that Tom Topover had reached the shore by this time.
"There are the two four-oar boats," said Matt, when they were off the point north of Rock Harbor.