DORY DORNWOOD DEALS IN MORAL COURAGE.
Wash Barker, the former coxswain of the Racer, had resigned his office
partly because he declined to adopt a policy as vigorous as his
followers desired. Probably his successor possessed the qualities which
Wash lacked. Jeff Monroe had seen the Dasher cheated out of her prey, as
he regarded it, and he knew he was sure to be condemned by his
associates if he failed to capture the Winooski.
Nim Splugger was in the barge with him, and this worthy assured the
coxswain that Dory would not dare to run into him. It was all bully in
his opinion. The crew expressed their disapprobation in very emphatic
terms at the weakness of Mad Twinker in allowing himself to be cheated
out of his game.
The Goldwing had been obliged to beat up to the position of the
Winooski, and her approach was not so appalling as when she neared the
Dasher. But she had gone well to windward so as to get a good full, and
she was making at least eight knots when she came within hailing
distance of the Racer. Dory gave the same warning as before, and
repeated it several times. But the Racer did not budge. Her crew were
all ready to leap into the Winooski.
Dory had fully made up his mind to smash the Racer. A collision would
certainly accomplish her destruction. It was probable that the Goldwing
would bear the barge under her bottom, and thus go over her. The
coxswain and all his crew were very ignorant in regard to the management
of a boat, and could not realize the peril to which they were exposing
themselves.
Probably most of the crew of the Racer could not swim, and, even if they
could, some of them might be seriously injured if the schooner went over
the barge. There was more than a possibility that one or more lives
might be lost in the encounter. The skipper of the Goldwing shuddered
when he thought of such a catastrophe. At the worst, the Chesterfields
could only capture the Winooski; and that would not kill or hurt anyone.
It was not a case of life and death; in fact it was nothing more than a
frolic on the part of the Chesterfields.
In another instant the Goldwing would strike the Racer, and the
calamity the skipper dreaded must come, either in whole or in part. If
he "backed down," Oscar would laugh at him, and his other companions
would rail at him for timidity. But Dory had the moral courage to brave
any censure or sarcasm rather than expose the lives of the enemy.
"Down with the helm, Matt!" shouted he with startling energy.
Matt promptly obeyed, and the sails of the schooner shook in the wind.
"What did you do that for, Dory?" demanded Oscar Chester, utterly
disgusted at the backing down of the skipper.
But there was no time to answer the question. Instead of striking the
Racer, the Goldwing was struck by the barge on her broadside. But the
blow came at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and the stem slid off
by the stern. Still it was a hard rap, and the yacht shook under its
force. Doubtless her side was dented and scraped, but she sustained no
injury of any consequence.
"Keep your places, fellows!" yelled Jeff Monroe, as the rowers began to
stand up and think how they should save themselves, for they thought
the barge was smashed in the collision. "We are all right! Keep your
places!"
The Racer was not injured, but she was thrown from her course, and
brought up with her stern alongside the schooner. Two of her spoon oars
were broken, and two more of them lost overboard, for all the starboard
oars had been swept from the rowlocks by the contact with the yacht. The
crew were in utter confusion, for their discipline was not proof against
such a scene as that which had just transpired.
"Do you mean to drown us all?" demanded Jeff. "You have made a pretty
mess of it."
"You act as though you intended to drown yourself and your crew,"
replied Dory, as he directed Matt to fill away again.
"We shall get even with you yet!" retorted Jeff angrily.
The barge had come about, so that she was now in the trough of the sea,
though the waves were not heavy; but the motion served to increase the
confusion on board of her. The crew obeyed the order of the coxswain to
keep their seats for the simple reason that they could not stand up in
the rolling craft. In a few minutes Jeff had brought something like
order out of the snarl.
The discipline on board proved to be not more than skin deep, for about
every one of the crew had something to say, and a general jaw ensued.
Some of them blamed and scolded their coxswain, and hard words were used
before the Goldwing was out of hearing distance. The first business,
when the grumblers had "talked out," was to pick up the oars and the
pieces; and, by the time this was done, the Winooski was out in the
heaviest of the sea. The Goldwing stood off and on between the fleet she
was protecting and the barges of the Chesterfields. The Dasher had gone
to the assistance of the Racer.
"What under the canopy made you back down, Dory?" asked Oscar, in a more
gentlemanly tone than he had used before when he alluded to the subject.
"If one of those fellows had been drowned, I should not have forgiven
myself to my dying day," replied Dory.
"There was no danger of drowning any of them," added Oscar.
"I don't believe many of them can swim, and I think the Goldwing would
have gone over the Racer. Some of them might have been disabled, so that
they could not have swum, even if they had known how. In a word my
conscience would not let me run into the barge when it came to the
scratch. Though we may look upon the taking of any of our boats as a
serious thing, after all it was only a frolic on the part of the
Topovers and the Chesterfields. I could not risk killing or drowning a
single one of them. That's the whole of it."
"It would not have been your fault if one of them had been drowned, or
even half a dozen of them," replied Oscar.
"I think it would have been. If no one had been drowned or hurt in the
collision, some people would have thought we were smart. If a single
life had been lost, they would have said that the affair was nothing but
a boys' frolic, and that we had no right to proceed to such an extreme
measure as running into the barge half a mile from the shore," argued
Dory. "Those fellows are not used to the water, and half a dozen of them
might have been drowned. I am perfectly satisfied now with what I did."
"Though I was as much carried away by the excitement of the moment as
any of you, and was in favor of running into the barge, I think you did
just right, Dory," added Matt Randolph, convinced by the skipper's
logic.
"On cool second thought, I am willing to admit that Dory was right,"
said Oscar, as he glanced at the Chesterfield fleet. "We saved the
Winooski after all, and that was what we were fighting for."
"Those fellows have had enough of it for the present," chuckled Matt.
"They are pulling for the point where we landed Tom Topover, and very
likely they are going to pick him up."
"But we have no further business over here, and we will go home," said
Dory; and Matt headed the Goldwing for the mouth of the river.
"The Chesterfields will never be content to leave things as they are
now," suggested Oscar. "I know if I were one of them I should try to get
even with you."
"By and by they will learn to row a boat in a sea, and know something
about handling their craft; and then they will make a visit to Beech
Hill," added Matt.
"I think we shall be able to take care of ourselves," replied Dory,
shrugging his shoulders like a Frenchman.
"It looks as though they had formed an alliance with the Topovers, and I
am confident that Tom will never be satisfied until he has had a fight
with Dory and been thoroughly whipped," prophesied Oscar, who was sure
that the skipper could do it "every time."
With the fresh breeze the four row-boats made good time across the lake,
and were going into the river when the Goldwing dashed past them. This
time Matt brought the schooner up to the wharf without getting aground;
but at the V point, Dory gave him the bearings by which he steered
through this bad place with the current, and was confident that his
friend would never stick there again when he had any kind of fair play.
Captain Gildrock, with the instructors, were on the wharf when the
Goldwing arrived. The news of the taking of the boats by the Topovers
had been circulated in the town, and the principal was somewhat
disturbed by the occurrence, not especially by the stealing of the
barges, but more by his fears of what might result from a battle between
the students and the marauders. When Bates, who had learned the
particulars from Mr. Jepson, told him that Dory Dornwood was in command
of the expedition which had gone out to recover the boats, he was
somewhat relieved of his anxiety; for he had a great deal of confidence
in the skipper's judgment and discretion, though there was no knowing
what boys would do when they were excited.
"Where are the boats, Dornwood?" asked Captain Gildrock, as soon as the
party landed.
"They are coming up the river, sir," replied Dory.
"And where are Tom Topover and his gang?"
"We left them on the other side of the lake." Dory proceeded, without
any further questions, to make his report of the taking of the barges,
and the means by which he had recovered possession of them. He stated
the facts just as they were, without flourish or ornament, even to the
intention they had of smashing the Racer by running into her.
"I am heartily rejoiced that you did not do anything of that kind!"
exclaimed Captain Gildrock, with a considerable show of emotion for him.
"Nothing could have justified you in resorting to such a desperate
measure, unless it was to save life or honor. If one of those boys had
lost his life, it would have been the ruin of the Beech Hill Industrial
School; for popular opinion would have set against us, and we could not
have stemmed the tide."
"I was terribly excited when I thought of doing it," pleaded Dory.
"You have done well, my lad; you have behaved splendidly; but the
biggest and best thing you have done was to renounce a bad intention,"
added the principal, earnestly. "I cannot look upon this affair as
anything more than a boys' racket, and I am exceedingly thankful that no
catastrophe has come out of it."
"Should you excuse the Topovers for stealing the boat on the ground that
it was nothing but a racket, a frolic, something done for the fun of
it?" asked Matt Randolph very seriously.
"By no means; I would prosecute them for stealing the boats if it were
likely to result in anything but a fine which their poor parents would
have to pay," replied the captain. "No one should do wrong for the fun
of it; but there is such a thing as exaggerating a serious matter beyond
its proper proportions."
The arrival of the boats ended the conversation. Dinner was ready, and
everything proceeded at the institution in its usual order. The rebels
each dined alone in his room.