"But Paul would have to row ten miles to get the box," added the principal. "This is a broken day, and we shall not do much in the school or the shops, and he can go over in the Goldwing after the students are dismissed. I will pay Paul's first month's wages in advance, for I am sure you will want some money."
The good woman took the money under protest, though it was true that she needed it. The gold rings were of more value to her than any sum of money, and she hoped they would not be lost.
At ten o'clock the bell rung for the forenoon studies. Paul took a desk assigned to him, and no other boy was ever more interested in a circus than he was in the exercises of the school-room. As soon as the school was assembled, Captain Gildrock took the platform and called upon the leader of the moonlight expedition to report upon the action he had taken.
Dory modestly related all the particulars of the trip to Sandy Point, and the removal of the cottage, and warmly commended the ship's company for the good order they had maintained, the promptness with which his orders had been obeyed, and the quietness with which all had done their duty.
The principal believed in giving reasonable commendation when it was deserved, and he bestowed handsome praise upon them on this occasion.
When the boys came into the school-room, they noticed upon the wall in the rear of the platform a large drawing which they had never seen before. It consisted of three plans of a vessel. On a table was a model of the hull of a craft of some sort, resting in a cradle. The students had kept their eyes fixed on the drawings and the model most of the time while they listened to the commendation of the principal and the report of their leader.
They manifested a very strong interest in these things, and they were likely soon to forget the operations of the night before. For six months there had been a great deal of talk among them about building a boat, and the project was a very attractive one to them. But up to the present time nothing had officially been said or done about it. As soon as the spring opened, they had been required to erect a sort of shop on the very bank of the little lake, near the old wharf of the steamer.
This structure was seventy-five feet long, with plenty of windows, and was entirely open on the water side. In accordance with the general policy of the principal, its use had not been explained; but all the students believed it was to contain the ways on which the boat was to be built. It looked now as though the desired information in regard to the building of the boat was to be communicated to them.
"I need not ask you if you have noticed these drawings, and this model of a vessel," said Captain Gildrock, after he had finished what he had to say about the moving of the cottage; "for you have been looking at these things most of the time since you came into the school-room."