Though it was vacation at Beech Hill, and only a very few of the boys, who had no homes, remained during the summer months, there were some lively times there. The instructors were all gone, but plenty of company came from the cities. Almost every day there was some kind of an excursion, and Mr. Bristol was available as engineer, so that the Sylph was constantly in use.
Captain Gildrock had another idea come into his fertile brain. The Lily was so great a success that he decided to build a steam yacht about half the length of the Sylph, and to have the engine constructed in the shops by the students. He found they enjoyed their work more when they were doing something which they could use when it was completed. However, he did not say much about it.
Dory Dornwood, though his uncle suggested a trip to New York, Niagara, or Montreal, found more pleasure in staying at home, strange as it may seem. Paul made himself useful as fireman or deck hand on board of the steam yacht, or as a foremast hand in the Goldwing. Mrs. Bristol and Lily were almost always passengers when either craft made an excursion, and so were Mrs. Dornwood and Marian.
The young captain of the Sylph spent a good deal of time at the cottage on Hornet Point, possibly because he had conducted the enterprise of transporting the structure from Sandy Point to its present locality. The captain and Dory's mother laughed a great deal about his constant visits, but as he never called the young lady anything but "Miss Bristol," the visits were not regarded as dangerous for the present.
Major Billcord and Walk sailed the Undine all over the lake, but she was apt to give the Sylph a wide berth. The testimony of Tom Topover was not considered sufficient to convict Walk of bribing him to capture Paul. Certainly, Tom got the worst of it, and the magnate was content to let the punishment of the son of toil go by default.
The third school year opened as prosperously as either of its predecessors, and the next volume of the series will doubtless contain as many of the adventures of the students on the lake and elsewhere as the former ones, as well as complete the unfinished work on the Lily; and, of course, the reader will find everything "All Taut" about the schooner after they have finished "Rigging the Boat."
OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS.
ARMY AND NAVY STORIES.