Captain Gildrock made no reply, and the Dasher pulled away without waiting for any. The two Chesterfield barges ran their bows into the sand in front of where the cottage had stood, and the Sylph, after whistling for the Beech Hill barges to approach, followed the Dasher. The barges from the other side pulled to the entrance of the bay, and lay upon their oars.
"Now is the time for the fun to begin, and we are invited to see it," said Dick Short to Paul, who sat by his side.
"I think there will be some fun, though it will not be what Major Billcord and his crowd came to see," added Dory.
On board of the Dasher, Jack Woodhorn had risen from his seat, after he had given the order for the oarsmen to boat their oars. All the students were busy attending to their blades. Woodhorn was evidently looking for the cottage; but he did not see it. Then the magnate stood up; then all the students in the two boats stood up, and then both barges were nearly upset by this folly, and the coxswains ordered their crews to be seated.
"Did I understand you to say there was a cottage here to be tumbled into the lake to illustrate the administration of human justice, Major Billcord?" called Captain Gildrock, who had placed the bow of the Sylph within a few feet of the stern of the Dasher.
"I don't understand this," replied the magnate. "The cottage was here yesterday, and it was quite impossible for the woman to move it. Send the young gentlemen ashore to see if they can find it."
The young gentlemen could not find it. The site where it had stood was smoothed over as nicely as though the building had never been there. The major said it was a great mystery.
"No human justice to-day, then?" queried the principal of the Beech Hill school. "Perhaps divine justice had got ahead of human justice in this instance, as it sometimes does."
"Do you know anything about it, sir?" demanded the major angrily.
"The cottage was removed to Genverres by the students of the Beech Hill Industrial School last night," replied the captain.