At last Mont hit him a stinging blow on the ear that caused him to rollover and over.
CHAPTER IV.
ON THE ROAD.
The bully was knocked out completely, and had to acknowledge Mont thevictor of the encounter.
This he did with very bad grace, and a minute later sneaked off with histoady.
"I'll get even for that," he growled. "He'll be sorry he ever tackledme."
"You'll have to watch Hoke Ummer," said Link, some time later, when thecrowd had dispersed. "He is a treacherous fellow."
"I'll have my eyes open," returned our hero.
Yet little did he dream of the dastardly way in which the bully wouldtry to get even.
It did not take Mont long to settle down at Nautical Hall. The fight hadmade him many friends, and established him as a sort of leader among acertain set.
On the following Saturday Link proposed that he, Barry Powell, and Monttake a stroll down to the village.
The others were willing, and soon the party was on the way.
"I'll get some stuff for a midnight feast while I am at it," said Mont.
Soon the school was left behind, and they came out on the villagehighway.
"Hark!" cried Barry suddenly.
"What is it?" demanded Mont.
Barry was listening intently to a dull, heavy tramping sound, which waswafted faintly toward them on the breeze.
"Do you hear that?" he asked excitedly.
Link and Mont listened, and could distinctly hear a low thud, thud, thudin the distance.
"What does it mean?" Link asked.
"It means that a pair of ponies, or horses, have run away, and arecoming along at a tearing gallop."
As if in corroboration of Barry's words, at that moment a light phaeton,drawn by two high-spirited ponies, which were pounding along at the topof their speed, burst round the bend of the road.
The vehicle was rocking from side to side, and every moment threatenedto hurl it into one of the deep ditches which lined the road.
As the boys gazed at the approaching carriage Mont's heart seemed tostand still.
"Fellows!" he cried, "there is someone in the phaeton--a lady, Ibelieve."
"So there is!" gasped Link, in tones of horror. "What shall we do?"
"We must stop them."
With his face whiter than usual, and his lips tightly compressed, ourhero ran down the road.
"He is courting death," said his chum, beneath his breath, "but we maybe of some use."
And both started after their companion.
Mont was running at the top of his speed, for he saw that the occupantof the carriage was only a young girl, and utterly helpless, and thatevery second's delay endangered her life.
On and on he went, until he was within a score of yards of the maddenedsteeds.
Then he planted himself firmly in the middle of the road and preparedfor a spring.
Fiercely the ponies dashed onward.
Nearer and nearer they came, until it seemed they must inevitablytrample him beneath their iron-shod hoofs.
But our hero never wavered.
Motionless he crouched there until the end of the pole almost touchedhis cheek.
Then he leaped up and caught both the bridles in his strong, nervousgrip.
The ponies, with loud whinnies of rage, tossed up their heads and liftedhim from his feet, but he clung tenaciously to them.
They dragged him along the ground for a few yards, and then their speedbegan to slacken.
Link now came up, and the vicious little brutes were brought to astandstill.
Then Mont, thoroughly exhausted, sank in a heap upon the ground.
As soon as the carriage was stopped in its wild career, a fair andbeautiful girl sprang out.
"Oh, is he very much hurt?" she cried, as she raised her clasped handsin despair.
Our hero staggered to his feet, and as he gazed on the fairy-like formand sweet, delicate face his cheeks flushed and his heart beat quickly.
"I am not hurt at all," he said stoutly, although his arms and legs andevery portion of his body ached as though he had been upon the rack.
"How can I thank you?" she exclaimed. "If it had not been for you, Ishudder to think what might have happened. You saved my life."
At this praise our hero blushed more than ever.
"I require no thanks," he said. "I am rewarded enough by knowing I havebeen of some service to you, but I think you are scarcely strong enoughto be trusted with such high-spirited animals."
"My father would never have thought of such a thing," she replied. "Healighted at a cottage to visit one of his old friends, and while he wasinside the ponies bolted. But here he comes, and I know he will bebetter able to thank you than I am."
She pointed to the figure of a tall, elderly gentleman, of uprightcarriage and aristocratic bearing, who was coming up the road at a rapidpace.
"It's Judge Moore," whispered Link; "he owns a fine place a couple ofmiles from here."
In another moment our hero found himself being presented to the judge,who overwhelmed him with praise.
"You must come and dine with us, you and your friends," said the judge;"there will only be myself and my daughter Alice. Nay, you must make noexcuses. I shall call upon Captain Hooper and tell him all about it, andif ever you require a friend do not forget to come to me."
Mont would have respectfully declined the invitation, but a glance fromAlice Moore prevented him from doing so.
He therefore thanked the judge for his kindness, and then the boys tooktheir leave.
Our hero simply raised his cap, but Alice put out her hand.
"You will be certain to come?" she asked in a low tone.
"Certain," he replied.
The news of Mont's heroism spread through Nautical Hall, and he speedilyfound himself a decided hero.
CHAPTER V.
HOKE UMMER'S TREACHERY.
Our hero succeeded on the following Monday in getting a quantity ofcake, pie, and other stuff from town and hiding them in an unoccupiedbedroom.
He was also promised a dozen bottles of root beer and soda water, butthese he was unable to smuggle into the school, owing to thewatchfulness of Captain Hooper and his assistants.
Accordingly, he hid the stuff in the bushes near the lake, and decidedto go after it late at night.
He unfolded his plan to Link, Barry, and Carl Barnaby, and this plan wasoverheard by Hoke Ummer.
Next to the empty bedroom was a window overlooking the side playground.From this window Mont decided to reach the ground by aid of a long rope.
This was the only way to get out, as after nine o'clock all the doorsand windows below were locked in such a fashion they could not beopened.
That evening our hero, with a light heart, repaired to the emptybedroom.
Opening the boxful of stuff, he spread out upon a tablecloth ofnewspapers a prettily decorated ham, a couple of cold roast chickens, afine apple pie, a quantity of mince pies, and a varied assortment ofchoice fruits and cake.
All these arranged to his satisfaction, he looked at his watch, and thensat down and waited.
It was just half-past eight, and in another half-hour servants andmasters would all have retired for the night.
After what appeared to the watcher to be an age the great school clocktolled solemnly out the hour of nine.
Then Mont drew out a thick rope from beneath the bed and left the room.
Soon he was at the window.
Throwing up the lower sash, our hero fastened one end of the ropesecurely and threw the other out.
"Just the right length," he said, and then he swung himself over thewindow sill. "I'll soon have the rest of the stuff up."
The door of one of the spare bedrooms was opened, and Ummer stepped intothe corridor.
As the light of the moon fell upon his face it looked strangely whiteand ghastly.
His lips were tightly compressed and his eyes had in them a horribleglare as he stepped stealt
hily but quickly to the window.
Arrived there, he crouched low down that he might not be seen by anyperson outside.
Then, with deft fingers, he untied the knot by which the rope wassecured.
There was heard a loud, wild cry, followed by a dull, heavy thud.
Then all was still.
The bully crept away along the corridor and down the stairs, his heartbeating as though it would burst its bounds.
A little before twelve o'clock that night several dark figures mighthave been seen stealing cautiously along the corridors.
All these figures made their way to one common spot.
This was the bedroom Mont had mentioned.
Arrived there, they found everything prepared for the feast, but nohost.
"What a strange thing for Mont to do," said Carl Barnaby; "to invite usall here and not be present."
"It isn't very gentlemanly of him," submitted Barry.
"You talk like a fool," said Link. "Something must have happened tohim."
"I saw him at supper, and he was all right then."
"Perhaps some of the tramps have waylaid him on the road," suggestedanother boy, who had been sitting very white and very quiet, in onecorner of the room.
Everyone turned to the speaker.
"Mine cracious, dot's so," put in Sam Schump. "Besser we go an' see?"
Without delay a search was begun.
A rope was procured, and Link was the first person out of the window.
"Hullo!"
"What's up?" asked those above.
"Bring a light. Mont has fallen and hurt himself."
A light was quickly procured, and one after another the boys came downthe rope.
Our hero lay at the foot of a large lilac bush.
It was this bush which had saved his life.
When the rope gave way, had he fallen on the ground he would most likelyhave been killed.
Link brought some water, and he was soon revived.
In the meantime, from another window, overhead, Hoke Ummer watchedproceedings.
When he saw Mont get up his hateful face plainly showed his chagrin.
"How was it you didn't fasten the rope tightly?" asked Link.
"I thought I did," returned our hero. "In fact, I am certain I did," headded.
"But it gave way and let you down."
Our hero shook his head. He couldn't understand it at all.
In a few minutes he was able to go with his friends and show them wherethe root-beer and soda-water bottles were hidden.
Loaded down with the stuff, the crowd returned to the Hall, and thefeast began.
Nearly all of the boys of Mont's age had been invited in a general way,and a lively time was had for fully an hour.
Hoke Ummer could not stand it to see his rival triumph over him, and soslipped down to the room occupied by Moses Sparks, one of the underteachers.
"Mont Folsom and his crowd are having a feast in one of the upperrooms," he said.
At once Moses Sparks prepared to investigate.
The feast was at its height when a footstep was heard.
"Scatter!" whispered Carl Barnaby, who caught the sounds first, and allof the boys hurried from the bedroom by side doors and managed to get totheir own rooms.
When Moses Sparks came up they seemed to be sleeping like so many lambs.
"Ummer has been fooling me," muttered the under teacher. "Or else he wasmistaken." And he went off and left the boys to finish the feast inpeace.
CHAPTER VI.
OUT ON THE BAY.
In a general way Mont suspected Hoke Ummer, not of the dastardly trickhe had played, but of playing the sneak and telling Moses Sparks.
"I'll get square," he said to Link and Carl.
Out in the fields he had picked up a dead snake, and he now resolved tomake use of it in a truly original manner. As soon as it was time toretire that night Mont slipped upstairs and into the dormitory occupiedby Hoke Ummer, Goul, and their chums.
He had the dead snake with him, and put the reptile in the bully's bed.
Five minutes later he was in his own room awaiting developments.
They were not long in coming.
A murmur of voices ended in a wild shriek of terror.
"A snake!" yelled Hoke. "It's in my bed! Save me! I'm a dead boy!"
His cry aroused everyone, and soon Nautical Hall was in a commotion.
"What's the matter with Hoke?"
"He's got 'em bad!"
"A snake!" roared the bully. "Take it away."
He ran out into the corridor, and soon a crowd began to collect.
In the meantime Mont slipped into the room and threw the dead reptileout of the window.
Captain Hooper tried to get at the bottom of the affair, but failed.
"You must have been dreaming, Ummer," he said at last, and sent all ofthe boys off to bed.
During the following week Nautical Hall was closed up, and the schoolboycadets marched to the head of the bay.
Here they went into camp for a month, part of the time being spent onthe bay and the ocean beyond in learning how to sail both large andsmall boats.
The sailing of the boats particularly interested Mont and Carl Barnaby.Link did not care very much for the water, for when the sea was rough hewas inclined to grow seasick.
One day Mont and Carl obtained permission to hire a sloop at the town,and go out for an all-day cruise over the bay and back.
They took with them a young fellow from Nautical Hall named JohnStumpton, a handy lad who generally went by the name of Stump. SinceMont had arrived at the Hall, Stump had taken to him greatly, and woulddo almost anything that Mont asked of him. Stump was also a great friendto Carl.
They sailed out of sight of the camp, and gradually crept up to a largeexcursion boat which was just leaving one of the docks of the town.
The steamboat was overcrowded, every deck being full of humanity bent onhaving a good time.
Some musicians were playing on the forward deck, and they drew quiteclose to hear what was going on.
Suddenly a cry of horror arose.
A young girl had been standing close to the rail on a camp chair at thebow of the boat.
It was Alice Moore.
As the steamboat swung around the girl lost her balance.
She tried to save herself, and, failing, pitched headlong into thewater.
Our hero saw her go under the waves.
"She'll be struck by the paddle wheel," he yelled, and then, splash! hewas overboard himself.
Bravely he struck out to save the maiden.
The order was given to back the steamboat.
The wheels churned up the water into a white foam, but still themomentum carried the large craft on.
In the meantime our hero came up and struck out valiantly for the girl,who was now going down for a second time.
"Save her! Save her!" shrieked Judge Moore, who was with his daughter.
Half a dozen life-preservers were thrown overboard, but none came towhere the girl could reach them.
The judge wanted to join his daughter in the water.
Strong hands held him back.
"The young fellow will save her, judge."
"He's a true hero!"
Life-lines were thrown over, but even these did no good.
The steamboat swung around, but the run of the water washed the girlcloser and closer to the paddle wheel.
She now came up a second time.
Should she sink again all would be over.
Mont was swimming with all the strength and skill at his command.
At last he was within a yard of the struggling girl.
The maiden threw up her hands and went under. As quick as a flash ourhero dove down.
A second passed. Then up came our hero with the girl clinging to hisshoulder.
But now the current was apparently too strong for both of them.
"Help us--quick!"
Carl and Stump heard the cry, and
immediately put about in their sloop.
Mont was swimming along on his side.
The girl was too weak to support herself, and he was holding her up wellout of the water.
It took the sloop but a moment to run up alongside of the pair.
Carl reached over and caught hold of the girl and placed her on deck.
In the meantime our hero caught hold of a rope thrown by the old boatmanand pulled himself up.
A cheer arose from those on the excursion boat.
"She is safe now, sure!"
The girl was too exhausted to move, and Carl rubbed her hands and didwhat he could for her.
Stump ran up alongside of the steamboat, and a little later the girl wasplaced on board.
The judge clasped his child to his breast.
"Go ahead," said Mont in a low voice. "I don't want the crowd to stareat me."
"But the judge wants to thank you," began Carl; but our hero would notlisten.
He was too modest, and made Stump actually run away from the excursionboat.
But five hundred people cheered Mont and waved their handkerchiefs.
And this was not the end of the matter.
The next day Judge Moore called at the camp, and insisted on presentingMont with a gold watch and chain. With this gift came a sweet letterfrom Alice Moore which made our hero blush a good deal when he read it.