Chapter VII: An Encounter on the Lake

“I am going out for a sail,” said Jack, on Saturday afternoon. “Will you go along, Pep?”

“Certainly,” was the ready response. “Anybody else going?”

“Yes, Dale and Stuffer. Fred Century is going out in his boat too, and take 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 to Fred Century. These had taken place while Fred was a student at Pornell Academy. In the first race a sudden gust of wind capsized the _Ajax_ and Jack and his chums had to go to the rescue of Fred and his friends. In the second race, which included another sloop belonging to a young man who lived near the two schools, the _Alice_ came in ahead, with the _Ajax_ second. On this race Roy Bock and his cronies lost considerable money 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 in which Bock and several other Pornell students got a good drubbing. Then Fred had a bitter interview with Doctor Pornell, and left the Academy and came to Putnam Hall.

The two sloops, looking very much alike, now that both flew the colors of the Hall, were soon standing up the lake in a breeze which was just sufficient to fill the sails. Each carried a party of four, and all the boys were in the best of spirits in spite of another “run in” with Pluxton Cuddle over the matter of eating.

“Jack, if you don’t mind, I’ll race you for a couple of miles!” sang out Fred, 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 as the _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 for winning?”

“A quart of baked ice-cream,” answered Fred merrily.

“Add a dozen stuffed pancakes fried in ice and I’ll go you!” called the young major. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Then go! And catch me if you can!”

“Catch me, you mean!” yelled Fred, and then both skippers settled down to handle their respective craft as best they knew how. Each had his topsail broken out, and each made his passengers sit so as to make his sloop ride on as even a keel as possible.

It was a beautiful day for a race, warm and clear, with scarcely a cloud in the sky.

“I know what I’d like,” said Pepper, as they bowled along over the course. “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 was rounded. Then the _Ajax_ began slowly to crawl ahead.

“There! What did I tell you!” cried Fred Century. “See how we are going ahead!”

“This race isn’t over yet,” answered Jack.

They had passed the spot where the mishap had occurred to the _Ajax_ and were now heading directly for Borden’s Cove. Soon the _Alice_ began to crawl up and presently passed the _Ajax_. Those on Jack’s craft gave a cheer.

“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 over a little. At once his sloop began to move faster, and soon the two craft were side by side again. And this position they kept until the Cove was gained 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 beat you 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_ than behind any other sloop,” added Fred. “My opinion is that our boats are both crackerjacks.”

“Right you are,” came from Pepper.

“If you want to give them away, I’ll take either,” said Andy, with an innocent look, and this remark caused a general laugh.

The boys found a secluded spot, and tying up the two sloops, went ashore and began to get ready for a swim. Soon Pepper plunged into the clear water 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 around to their hearts’ content.

“Come on and race!” sang out Pepper, presently.

“Done!” called Dale, and side by side they struck out for a distant rock. The others joined in, and in a few minutes all were some distance away from where they had left the sloops and their clothing.

In the meantime a large gasolene motor boat had come up the shore of the lake. It contained a pleasure party from Pornell Academy, including Roy Bock, Grimes, Gussic, Sedley, and several others. The motor boat was an easy-running affair and under reduced speed made little noise, so the swimmers 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 was present.

The motor boat had come to a stop and now the wind blew it inshore behind a clump of overhanging bushes. From this point those on board watched 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 we get caught——”

“We weren’t caught the other day, when we turned Putnam Hall inside out.”

“That’s so,—but the cadets are close by now.”

“I have it. We can tie something over our faces, and over the name of the motor boat,” said Gussic.

This advice was acted on, and then two of the boys stole ashore and gathered up the heaps of wearing apparel Jack and his chums had left there. In the meantime Roy Bock got out some ropes, with which to tow away the _Ajax_ and the _Alice_.

“If this won’t put them in a pickle nothing will,” said the bully of Pornell 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 up the clothing. “Be quick!”

“Stop! stop!” yelled a voice suddenly, and from some bushes rushed Joe Nelson, a trowel in one hand and some wild plants in another. “What are you doing with that clothing? Who does it belong to?”

“Confound it, who is this chap?” muttered one of the Pornell students who had come ashore.

“I don’t know,” answered the other.

“Help!” yelled Joe. “Some fellows running off with this clothing! Cadets ahoy!” For he saw that the bundles contained Putnam Hall uniforms.

“What’s up?” called back Jack. He swam to a rock. “Well, I never!” he gasped, 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, you thieves!” he bawled.

“Let that clothing alone!” commanded Joe, and ran forward with his trowel uplifted as if it was a dagger. “Drop them, I say, or somebody will get hurt!”

His attitude was so fierce that the students from Pornell Academy let the bundles fall and ran back to the motor boat with all speed. Bock was also alarmed, both at the shouts from shore and from the swimmers at a distance, and had shoved off, so the pair had to wade in up to their knees 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 rushed along the shore, catching up rocks as they did so.

“Stop, or I’ll hit you with a stone!” called out Pepper, and then let fly a missile that whizzed so close to Roy Bock’s head that the bully dodged. More stones followed, thrown by Jack and the other swimmers and by 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. You clear out mighty quick, or you’ll get into trouble.”

“We have a right to come here if we want to,” growled Bock, seeing that the 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?” he went on.

“I was digging plants in the woods when I heard some talking,” answered Joe Nelson. “I came to the shore just in time to see two of that crowd gathering up your clothing.”

“I see. Well, it was lucky you arrived.”

“We found the boats deserted,” said Sedley. “We were going to tow them down to your dock.”

“Tell that to your grandmother, Sedley,” retorted Dale. “You were going to 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, pinching Pepper’s arm.

“And perhaps you don’t know that Captain Putnam is going to swear out a warrant 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 you came to our school one night and stole all our trophies.”

“You just wait and see what he does,” said Jack, calmly. And then he started to dress and his chums did the same. Roy Bock wanted to talk some more, but the young major cautioned his chums to keep silent, and at last the motor boat and its occupants moved away across the lake.

“Well, we’ve found them out,” declared Pepper. “They are responsible for that rough-housing right enough!”

“Yes, and we have them guessing as to what Captain Putnam is going to do about it,” answered Jack with a grin. “Maybe they won’t sleep much to-night, thinking it over!”

“We must get square on them, for that and for their attempt to take our boats and our clothing,” declared Dale.

“You bet we will!” declared Andy; and all of the others agreed with him.