CHAPTER VII AN ENCOUNTER ON THE LAKE
“I am going out for a sail,” said Jack, on Saturday afternoon. “Will yougo along, Pep?”
“Certainly,” was the ready response. “Anybody else going?”
“Yes, Dale and Stuffer. Fred Century is going out in his boat too, andtake several others of our crowd.”
“Going to race again?”
“I don’t think so,” answered the young major. “He hasn’t said anything.Of course I’ll race him if he wants to.”
As my old readers know, there had been in the past two races between the_Alice_, the sloop owned by Jack, and the _Ajax_, the craft belonging toFred Century. These had taken place while Fred was a student at PornellAcademy. In the first race a sudden gust of wind capsized the _Ajax_ andJack and his chums had to go to the rescue of Fred and his friends. Inthe second race, which included another sloop belonging to a young manwho lived near the two schools, the _Alice_ came in ahead, with the_Ajax_ second. On this race Roy Bock and his cronies lost considerablemoney by betting, and they circulated a story that Fred had “sold out”to the Putnam Hall boys. This caused a great rumpus, and a fight inwhich Bock and several other Pornell students got a good drubbing. ThenFred had a bitter interview with Doctor Pornell, and left the Academyand came to Putnam Hall.
The two sloops, looking very much alike, now that both flew the colorsof the Hall, were soon standing up the lake in a breeze which was justsufficient to fill the sails. Each carried a party of four, and all theboys were in the best of spirits in spite of another “run in” withPluxton Cuddle over the matter of eating.
“Jack, if you don’t mind, I’ll race you for a couple of miles!” sang outFred, who was handling the tiller of the _Ajax_.
“Want to get beat again?” asked the young major, with a grin.
“No, I want to prove to you that the _Ajax_ is just as good a sloop asthe _Alice_.”
“All right, I’ll race if you want to. What’s the course?”
“From here to Borden’s Cove, if you don’t mind.”
“Want to capsize again?” questioned Pepper.
“No, I know enough to take in sail now,” answered Fred.
“All right!” sang out the owner of the _Alice_. “What’s the prize forwinning?”
“A quart of baked ice-cream,” answered Fred merrily.
“Add a dozen stuffed pancakes fried in ice and I’ll go you!” called theyoung major. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Then go! And catch me if you can!”
“Catch me, you mean!” yelled Fred, and then both skippers settled downto handle their respective craft as best they knew how. Each had histopsail broken out, and each made his passengers sit so as to make hissloop ride on as even a keel as possible.
It was a beautiful day for a race, warm and clear, with scarcely a cloudin the sky.
“I know what I’d like,” said Pepper, as they bowled along over thecourse. “I’d like to take a swim. I know the water must be dandy.”
“I’ll be with you—after this race is over,” answered Dale.
Side by side the two sloops kept on the course until Cat Point wasrounded. Then the _Ajax_ began slowly to crawl ahead.
“There! What did I tell you!” cried Fred Century. “See how we are goingahead!”
“This race isn’t over yet,” answered Jack.
They had passed the spot where the mishap had occurred to the _Ajax_ andwere now heading directly for Borden’s Cove. Soon the _Alice_ began tocrawl up and presently passed the _Ajax_. Those on Jack’s craft gave acheer.
“You can’t beat the _Alice_, Fred!”
“If you want a tow we’ll throw you a rope!”
“Wait, this race isn’t over yet!” called Fred, and swung his tiller overa little. At once his sloop began to move faster, and soon the two craftwere side by side again. And this position they kept until the Cove wasgained and the race had come to an end.
“We’ll have to call it a tie!” declared the young major.
“A tie it is,” answered the owner of the _Ajax_. “But some day I’ll beatyou yet,” he added, with a determined shake of his head.
“Well, I’d rather be beat by you than anybody else on this lake, Fred,”said Jack.
“Thank you, that’s a nice thing to say.”
“I mean it.”
“I believe you, Jack, and I’d rather come in behind the _Alice_ thanbehind any other sloop,” added Fred. “My opinion is that our boats areboth crackerjacks.”
“Right you are,” came from Pepper.
“If you want to give them away, I’ll take either,” said Andy, with aninnocent look, and this remark caused a general laugh.
The boys found a secluded spot, and tying up the two sloops, went ashoreand began to get ready for a swim. Soon Pepper plunged into the clearwater and Andy and the others followed. It felt a trifle cold at first,but they soon got used to it, and they dove, splashed, and swam aroundto their hearts’ content.
“Come on and race!” sang out Pepper, presently.
“Done!” called Dale, and side by side they struck out for a distantrock. The others joined in, and in a few minutes all were some distanceaway from where they had left the sloops and their clothing.
In the meantime a large gasolene motor boat had come up the shore of thelake. It contained a pleasure party from Pornell Academy, including RoyBock, Grimes, Gussic, Sedley, and several others. The motor boat was aneasy-running affair and under reduced speed made little noise, so theswimmers did not notice its approach.
“Hello, I see two sloops in the Cove,” remarked Roy Bock.
“One of ’em is Fred Century’s boat,” said Grimes.
“Yes, and the other is the boat belonging to Jack Ruddy,” added Gussic.“Nobody on board,” he went on, after a close look.
“They must have gone ashore,” remarked Sedley.
“There they are, over by that rock, swimming,” said Will Carey, who waspresent.
The motor boat had come to a stop and now the wind blew it inshorebehind a clump of overhanging bushes. From this point those on boardwatched the antics of the swimmers for several moments.
“I’ve got an idea!” cried Roy Bock suddenly.
“So have I!” added Grimes.
“We’ll tow their sloops out into the lake and cast them adrift.”
“I was going to take their clothes and hide them.”
“Say, let’s do both!” put in Will Carey.
“We want to be careful,” added another student who was present. “If weget caught——”
“We weren’t caught the other day, when we turned Putnam Hall insideout.”
“That’s so,—but the cadets are close by now.”
“I have it. We can tie something over our faces, and over the name ofthe motor boat,” said Gussic.
This advice was acted on, and then two of the boys stole ashore andgathered up the heaps of wearing apparel Jack and his chums had leftthere. In the meantime Roy Bock got out some ropes, with which to towaway the _Ajax_ and the _Alice_.
“If this won’t put them in a pickle nothing will,” said the bully ofPornell Academy. “Miles from their school and nothing to wear!”
“It’s the best joke we ever played on them,” answered Gussic.
“Hurry up, you fellows!” called Roy Bock to those who were gathering upthe clothing. “Be quick!”
“Stop! stop!” yelled a voice suddenly, and from some bushes rushed JoeNelson, a trowel in one hand and some wild plants in another. “What areyou doing with that clothing? Who does it belong to?”
“Confound it, who is this chap?” muttered one of the Pornell studentswho had come ashore.
“I don’t know,” answered the other.
“Help!” yelled Joe. “Some fellows running off with this clothing! Cadetsahoy!” For he saw that the bundles contained Putnam Hall uniforms.
“What’s up?” called back Jack.
He swam to a rock. “Well, I never!” hegasped, looking into the Cove.
“What do you see?” questioned Pepper, anxiously.
“Some fellows at our clothing! And look, there’s a motor boat!”
“Yes, and tying fast to our sloops!” gasped Fred Century. “Stop, youthieves!” he bawled.
“Let that clothing alone!” commanded Joe, and ran forward with histrowel uplifted as if it was a dagger. “Drop them, I say, or somebodywill get hurt!”
His attitude was so fierce that the students from Pornell Academy letthe bundles fall and ran back to the motor boat with all speed. Bock wasalso alarmed, both at the shouts from shore and from the swimmers at adistance, and had shoved off, so the pair had to wade in up to theirknees to get on board.
“Going to leave us behind, Roy?” demanded one, angrily.
“No, but we haven’t any time to waste,” said the bully. “Here they come,like a band of wild Indians!”
And Jack and his chums certainly did look like wild men as they rushedalong the shore, catching up rocks as they did so.
“Stop, or I’ll hit you with a stone!” called out Pepper, and then letfly a missile that whizzed so close to Roy Bock’s head that the bullydodged. More stones followed, thrown by Jack and the other swimmers andby Joe Nelson, and several students on the motor boat were hit.
“Don’t! don’t!” screamed Will Carey. “You may kill somebody!”
“Then leave those sloops alone!” called Jack.
“We know you, Roy Bock,” added Fred. “And you too, Gussic and Carey. Youclear out mighty quick, or you’ll get into trouble.”
“We have a right to come here if we want to,” growled Bock, seeing thatthe chance to play the Putnam Hall lads a trick had passed.
“Perhaps. But you have no right to touch our boats,” answered Jack.
“Nor our clothing,” added Andy. “Joe, how is it that you are here?” hewent on.
“I was digging plants in the woods when I heard some talking,” answeredJoe Nelson. “I came to the shore just in time to see two of that crowdgathering up your clothing.”
“I see. Well, it was lucky you arrived.”
“We found the boats deserted,” said Sedley. “We were going to tow themdown to your dock.”
“Tell that to your grandmother, Sedley,” retorted Dale. “You were goingto run away with the sloops—and run away with our clothing too.”
“It’s on a level with the joke you played at Putnam Hall the other day,”added Stuffer.
“What joke?” demanded Grimes.
“You know well enough.”
“I don’t know anything,” retorted the Pornell student uneasily.
“Perhaps you don’t know how we found you out,” added Jack, pinchingPepper’s arm.
“And perhaps you don’t know that Captain Putnam is going to swear out awarrant for your arrest,” added The Imp, as he returned Jack’s pinch.
“Our arrest!” cried Roy Bock, in consternation.
“That’s what I said.”
“He won’t dare to do it. If he does—well, we haven’t forgotten how youcame to our school one night and stole all our trophies.”
“You just wait and see what he does,” said Jack, calmly. And then hestarted to dress and his chums did the same. Roy Bock wanted to talksome more, but the young major cautioned his chums to keep silent, andat last the motor boat and its occupants moved away across the lake.
“Well, we’ve found them out,” declared Pepper. “They are responsible forthat rough-housing right enough!”
“Yes, and we have them guessing as to what Captain Putnam is going to doabout it,” answered Jack with a grin. “Maybe they won’t sleep muchto-night, thinking it over!”
“We must get square on them, for that and for their attempt to take ourboats and our clothing,” declared Dale.
“You bet we will!” declared Andy; and all of the others agreed with him.