A DEADLOCK AT THE HEAD OF THE BAY.
It was finally decided by the commodore that all the Beech Hill barges
should proceed to the head of the bay, and if the ruffians landed with
their prisoner, or did not put him in the boat, they should follow them
on shore and rescue Paul at all hazards. Oscar Chester gave the word,
and the Gildrock dashed off, with the other two barges following her.
The crews were not spared, and the boats appeared to leap over the
water, which was tolerably smooth under the lee of the land.
The Chesterfield barges still lay near the shore, above the wharf, and
in order to avoid them the commodore headed the Gildrock across the bay.
In the absence of the spare hand and Dory, the Marian was one oarsman
short, and Dick Short missed the stroke very much. The Silver Moon was
not more than a quarter of a mile from the wharf, for Dory was showing
off the sloop in various points of sailing. Very likely he desired to
keep the Beech Hill barges in sight as long as the Chesterfields were
near.
Dick Short waved his handkerchief in the direction of the sloop. Dory
saw the signal, and headed the Silver Moon to the head of the bay.
Before the commodore changed the course of the fleet, he ran across the
stern of the Marian.
"The Chesterfields have made Paul a prisoner!" shouted Dick Short.
Dory heard the announcement, and then the sloop passed out of speaking
distance. He was not a little astonished at the information, and fully
realized the peril of the son of toil. Glancing at the Chesterfield
barges, he saw Major Billcord seated in the stern-sheets of the Dasher,
and it did not need a very vivid imagination to comprehend the programme
of the enemy.
"I must ask you to excuse me to-day, and I will come over some other
time when the wind blows, and put the Silver Moon through her paces,"
said Dory to the owner of the sloop.
"What's the trouble here?" asked Bissell.
The acting skipper explained the situation to him, including enough of
the proceedings at Sandy Point the day before to enable him to
understand it.
"Major Billcord is as savage as a wild hyena when he gets mad," added
Bissell. "He is bound to have his own way against everybody else. He
tries to rule the town, though most of the people hate him."
Dory tacked and stood back to the Marian. He hailed the coxswain and
asked to be taken on board. Dick told him to come alongside as quick as
he could, and he would be ready for him.
"I wonder if I can't do something to help you," said Bissell. "You
fellows have done me a good turn to-day, and I shouldn't mind helping
you out if I could."
"You will only offend Major Billcord, and I think we can manage the
affair," replied Dory.
"No matter whom I offend; Paul worked well in the sloop, and he seems to
be the bottom dog in this business, and if I see a chance to do anything
for him I shall do it, if the major bu'sts over it."
By this time the Marian was close under the bow of the Silver Moon. Dick
checked the headway of the barge, and Dory put the helm down. Up went
the starboard oars on the Marian, and the sloop was alongside of her the
next minute. Dory leaped into the stern-sheets, and took his place at
the stroke oar. The sailboat fell astern, and the crew gave way again.
Dick gave Dory all the information he had in regard to the capture of
Paul. Both of them were satisfied that the poor fellow would be beaten
half to death if he was not rescued from the enemy. By the time the
story had been told, the Gildrock changed her course, and pointed her
bow for the creek at the head of the bay. On the shore they could see
several young men in the uniform of the Chesterfield barges, and they
could be no other than the captors of Paul. The four-oar boat was just
making a landing.
When the commodore changed his course, the barges of the two schools
were at about the same distance from the mouth of the creek. Oscar's
strategy had given Beech Hill this equal advantage. The movement of the
barges created a sudden sensation on board of the Racer and the Dasher.
Major Billcord began to demonstrate, and a good deal of violent jawing
came from the crews. The magnate had seen the two ruffians take the boat
from the wharf, and pull to the head of the bay. He could not fail to
understand that the prisoner was to be brought off in her.
Doubtless, he commended the prudence of the ruffians in avoiding the
crowd on shore. He had kept faith with his hired villains for his own
sake as well as for theirs, and he was the only person in the barges
who expected Paul to be put on board, or who comprehended the movements
of the six absentees from the boats. It was evident to him that the
Beech Hillers had discovered what was going on, though it was a mystery
to him how they had obtained their information, for the coming of Susy
Wellington had not been observed.
"Run for the head of the bay, Jack Woodhorn!" exclaimed Major Billcord,
when he saw the Beech Hill barges headed in that direction. "You must
get there before those rascals from the other side do, or they will
thrash the six boys of the institute who are there."
"We can't do anything, sir; we are four oars short in this boat, and two
in the other," replied the coxswain of the Dasher.
"Don't waste a second, Jack!" protested the magnate. "Do the best you
can. You have the inside track, and you ought to beat them with half a
crew."
Woodhorn gave the order to give way, and the eight rowers in his boat
were soon pulling with all their might. The Racer followed her, and,
having ten oars, she passed her. It looked like a race between the two
schools, though it was a very unequal one. The Chesterfield students had
improved in rowing a great deal since the last season, but discipline
was still the wanting element in their organization, and though they had
never measured speed with the Beech Hill boats, they were no match for
them.
The boys from the other side did not seem to hurry themselves, but only
pulled a steady and strong stroke. In five minutes it was clear enough
that they were beating their opponents. The magnate urged the
Chesterfields to greater exertion, and did more harm than good by his
ill-timed interference.
Dory had shaken out the reef in the Silver Moon, and made an additional
change in the ballast, so that she was now behaving remarkably well.
Bissell had run over to the north side of the bay, and now had a slant
which would carry him to the mouth of the creek. Oscar Chester had kept
his gaze fixed on the party on the shore. He saw the six ruffians, and
recognized Paul Bristol with his arms still bound behind him. The
four-oar boat lay at the mouth of the creek, but the six ruffians had
retreated to the high ground in the rear of the landing.
The approach of the three Beech Hill barges had completely upset the
calculations of the ruffians. They stood looking down upon the lake,
and appeared to be entirely non-plussed. The Gildrock was bearing
towards the Westport side of the bay, and was coming between the shore
and the Chesterfield barges. It was plainly folly to put the prisoner
into the boat that had come for him. In the barges there were
thirty-five Beech Hillers, and only twenty belonging to the institute.
Besides, the boats from the other side had always been victorious over
their own.
The Gildrock came to a stand, with the crew lying on their oars, and the
other two barges followed her example at the order of the commodore. If
the Chesterfields advanced, they would have to break their way through
the Beech Hill line of boats. Jack Woodhorn ordered a halt before he
came up with the formidable line in front of him. Colonel Buckmill, the
principal, who was not present, had told the students of the institute
never to come in collision with any of the boats from the other side,
and the coxswains were disposed to obey their orders, especially as all
the chances were against them.
"What are you stopping for, Jack Woodhorn?" demanded Major Billcord,
when the oarsmen in the Dasher brought their blades to a level.
"We can go no farther without running into those barges," replied the
coxswain.
"Run into them, then! Smash them if they don't get out of your way. Are
you afraid of those chip-makers?" blustered the magnate.
"The principal ordered us never to come in collision with any of the
boats from the other side, sir," replied Woodhorn respectfully.
"Are you going to leave your fellow-students on the shore to be mauled
by those rascals?"
"I don't believe the tinkers will meddle with them as long as they stay
on shore."
"But you want the rest of your oarsmen, and I want you all at Sandy
Point. There is the biggest pile of fun for you over there that you ever
had in your lives," continued Major Billcord, moderating his tone a
little when he found his own wishes were in conflict with the orders of
the principal.
Neither Jack Woodhorn nor Phil Fessenden, the coxswain of the Racer, was
disposed to get into a row with the Beech Hillers. Both of them had been
in the barges the summer before in all their tilts with the Gildrock and
the Winooski, and they had learned wisdom from experience. It was in
vain, therefore, that Major Billcord coaxed and threatened them. With a
pair of black eyes out of the battle of the day before, Walk was hardly
inclined to support his father, though he was quite as anxious as the
magnate to get Paul into their possession.
For full a quarter of an hour the boats remained in the same relative
position. The six ruffians on the shore had come to the conclusion that
there was no getting out of the deadlock, and that the only way for them
to earn their money was to march their prisoner to Sandy Point by land,
a distance of two miles.
Bissell had run the Silver Moon into the mouth of the creek, and had
been waiting for some movement on the part of the combatants in which he
might do something to serve his friends. The ruffians were jawing among
themselves as to what it was best to do, but he could not hear enough of
their talk to understand their plans, if they had any. The skipper's
patience was exhausted, and, taking his painter in his hands, he went on
shore. Securing the rope, he walked up the bank.
"What are you trying to do?" he asked, addressing his remark to Mad
Twinker.
"We want to put this fellow on board of the Dasher," replied the leader,
as he had been since the overthrow of Buck Lamb.
"Well, why don't you do it?" asked Bissell briskly.
"Because the tinkers will interfere."
"I will take him in the Silver Moon if you like," added the skipper
indifferently.
"Will you take the rest of us too?" asked Mad.
"Yes; I can carry a dozen well enough," replied Bissell.
About all the students were small customers at Bissell's store, and were
well acquainted with him. They had no suspicion of any treachery on his
part.