"I don't want to be hard with you while I am coxswain; but if any member says or does anything while we are on the lake to get us into a scrape, I shall consider it my duty to land him immediately at the boat-house. What do you say to that?"
No boy spoke for a moment; but at last Tony said,—
"That would be perfectly fair."
"I want to have it understood," continued Frank. "My father will not let us come out alone again if we are likely to have such a time as this has been."
"Why need you tell him anything about it, Frank?" asked Charles.
"Because it is right that he should know it. Suppose we should conceal it, and then he should find it out?"
"That would only make a bad matter worse," replied Tony.
"For one, I am satisfied to have any fellow that tries to get us into a scrape put ashore," said Fred Harper.
"So am I," added Tony.
All the rest of the club expressed themselves willing to comply with this arrangement.