"I thought they had business about this time over at Sandy Point," added Tuck Prince.
"Don't say a word about the cottage, fellows," interposed Paul Bristol, with a good deal of earnestness. "I know what they come here for; at least, I think I know."
"Why don't you let on then, Paul?" demanded Phil Gawner.
"They have come over here after Major Billcord, for I am sure he will want to see the cottage pitched into the lake. I am almost sure now that none of them know the house is gone," replied Paul, rubbing his hands with delight when he thought of the disappointment of his oppressors.
"If you like, Mr. Bissell, I will sail down the lake with you as far as Sandy Point," Dory proposed, while the boys were digesting what Paul had said. "The coxswain consents to my absence; but I must return to Beech Hill in the Marian."
"All right, for I want very much to see you sail the Silver Moon with a heavy wind on the beam or over the quarter," replied the store-keeper. "But I must go up to the house and change my clothes, for I am as wet as a drowned rat."
Bissell hastened to his house, which was only a short distance from the head of the landing. The Chesterfield barges had just reached the wharf, and the young gentlemen were coming up the steps. The boats had pulled around under the lee of the land, so that they had not been seen until near the wharf.
The Chesterfield students formed a procession on the wharf, and it was evident that they intended to escort Major Billcord, who was fond of parades, to the boats. The ladies waiting on the students from the other side said this was the meaning of the procession, which was not a strange sight in the streets of the town.
"You will take no notice of them whatever, fellows," said Commodore Chester very impressively. "If they salute us properly, which they are not likely to do, we must be as polite as they are, and more so, if possible. If they call us 'tinkers' and 'chip-makers,' which they are more likely to do, make no answer of any kind. I will report any student who utters an offensive word to them. You all know that this is the order of the principal, and not mine."
For some reason the procession of Chesterfields did not pass near the tree under which the Beech Hillers were lunching. Paul pointed out the elegant mansion of Major Billcord, and the students of the institute marched in that direction.