He did not like the looks of himself with the marks Paul had left on his face, for they certainly added nothing to the dignity of his expression. He was a pompous, overbearing, and tyrannical man, and every time he saw his mourning organs they filled him with wrath, and inspired him to seek a wholesale revenge. He did not give a thought to the insult his son had offered to Miss Lily. She was of not the slightest consequence, and it would have been quite proper, in his opinion, for her to submit in silence to the pleasure of the reckless young man.
On the way home from the scene of his signal defeat at the hands of Paul Bristol, he had called at the institute, and intimated that he had a mission for the students, at the point, on the following day. He wished them to call for him at his house in the afternoon, and he would insure them an hour or more of the liveliest recreation. He did not say what he had in view, and he had cautioned Walk not to mention the business in which the young men were to be engaged.
As Walk went home with his father, he had no opportunity to let the cat out of the bag, even if he had been so disposed. Father and son had spent the rest of the day in studying out an adequate punishment for Paul. If they could have "hung, drawn, and quartered" him, it might have satisfied them. Walk suggested that he should be prosecuted, and that the justice would send him to prison for a month or two. But his father saw that such a course would bring out the whole story of the son's assault upon Miss Lily, and the judge might not regard the affair in the same light as the sufferers did.
They could agree upon nothing, but before morning Major Billcord had devised the scheme he had now taken the first step to carry out. He thought it wise not to implicate his son in the outrage, for he might be prosecuted and compelled to pay a fine for himself and those he employed to do the actual work. The vengeance of the magnate was to be administered to Paul at Sandy Point. The plant for the black eyes had been set out near the doomed cottage, and it was proper that the punishment should be inflicted on the same spot.
Walk Billcord had not been in condition to return to the institute that day, for he did not care to put his mourning on exhibition, and to answer all the questions that it would call forth. But he was going to Sandy Point in the boat to which he belonged, for he was anxious to take part in the destruction of the cottage. After the students marched up to the mansion of the magnate, they had informed him of the presence of the Beech Hillers, and of Paul, in Westport. The story of the Silver Moon's mishap had been related to them at the wharf when they landed. The students from the other side had come to the town to convey the ladies from the disabled boat; and this sufficiently accounted for their presence.
Nothing was said about Paul, except that he had come in the sloop. Major Billcord had no doubt that his stalwart foe was still staying at the point, and he had arranged his plan on the supposition that he would be found in that vicinity. But when he was informed of his presence in Westport, he had been obliged to make a slight change in his scheme. He had not intended to mention it till the students landed at Sandy Point. He had before selected his ruffians, and he was simply obliged to make his offer a little sooner than before arranged.
Paul Bristol went into Mr. Bissell's house and obtained his sister's valise. As he was about to depart, the owner of the Silver Moon came down stairs in his changed dress, with a letter in his hand.
"Paul, do you know where Captain Bleeker lives?" asked Bissell, as soon as he saw the boy with the valise in his hand.
"Of course I do," replied Paul. "I used to work for him on his place when he had anything for me to do."
"I am going to Sandy Point in the sloop, and Dory is waiting for me," continued the skipper. "I am in a hurry to be off, and if you will go round by Captain Bleeker's and leave this letter at his house, I will carry your valise down to the boat. I will put it on board of the Marian."