style="font-size:15px;"> “I know that.”
“All we can do is to tow her in as she is,” continued Jack. “We’ll do that willingly; eh, fellows?”
“Sure,” came the prompt answer.
“If you’ll do that I’ll be much obliged. Our race didn’t turn out just as I anticipated,” went on Fred.
“You kept your sails up too long,” said Pepper.
“I know that – now. But I thought the Ajax would stand the blow until I reached the Cove. How are you, Will?” he continued, turning to the boy who had come so close to drowning.
Will Carey had little to say. He mumbled in a low tone and looked rather darkly at Jack.
“He is angry because you hit him,” whispered Paul to Jack.
“I can’t help it if he is, Stuffer,” was the answer. “I simply had to do something or go down with him.”
“I know it, and he ought to be thankful he was saved. But some fellows don’t know what gratitude is.”
Not without considerable difficulty a line was made fast to the bow of the capsized sloop and the task of towing the Ajax was begun.
“If we had time I think we could right that craft,” observed Pepper.
“How?” demanded Bat Sedley.
“By taking her over to yonder point, where the tall trees overhang the water. We could run a rope up over a tall tree limb and then fasten it to the mast of the Ajax. By pulling on the end of the rope I think we’d bring her up.”
“Yes – and sink her, too.”
“Not if we watched out and kept bailing as she righted.”
“I’d like to try that,” said Fred Century. “If you’ll take us over to the point and lend us some ropes I’ll do it,” he added, after turning the project over in his mind.
“Certainly I’ll take you over,” answered Jack. “And we’ll help all we can. But we’ve got to get back to Putnam Hall by six o’clock, you know.”
“Say!” ejaculated Will Carey, leaping to his feet with great suddenness. “Did anybody see my box?”
“Box? What box?” asked several.
“The little blue, tin box I was carrying in my coat-pocket.”
“I am sure I haven’t seen any blue box,” answered Pepper, and looked around the standing-room of the Alice.
“What did you have in it, Will?” asked Fred Century.
“Why – I – er – oh, not much, but I didn’t want to lose the box, that’s all,” stammered the youth who had come close to drowning.
“Did you have it in your pocket when you went overboard?” questioned the young major.
“Yes, and I had my hand on it, too,” was the reply. “I suppose it’s at the bottom of the lake now,” added Will Carey. His face showed a look of positive worry. “How deep is it where the Ajax went over?”
“Must be ten or twelve feet at least,” answered Dale.
“Did you think you might go fishing for it?” questioned Fred.
“Yes – but not now.” And that was all Will Carey said about the blue, tin box. But that he was very much worried was plainly evident. And he had good cause to worry, as we shall learn later.
The point of land mentioned having been gained, the Ajax was towed around as Fred Century desired, and then the young owner was loaned a number of ropes and a pail for bailing.
“If I can’t right her I’ll tie her fast and send some boat builder after her,” he announced. “I am much obliged for what you’ve done. Some day I’ll race you again.”
“Willingly!” cried Jack.
“I still think the Ajax a better boat than the Alice.”
“She certainly isn’t a bad boat,” put in Pepper. “A real race to a finish will have to decide which is the better of the two.”
“Oh, we’ll beat you out of your boots,” said Bat Sedley. Will Carey said nothing. He was still thinking about the loss of his blue, tin box.
As it was getting late, the Putnam Hall cadets lost no time in steering as straight a course as possible for the school dock. But the breeze was against them, so they were not able to reach the dock until nearly half-past six.
“It’s fortunate old Crabtree is away on business,” was Pepper’s comment. “He’d be sure to haul us over the coals for being late, even if we did meet with an accident.”
“Late again, eh?” cried a voice from the boathouse, and Peleg Snuggers, the general utility man around the Hall, stepped into view. “The captain don’t allow sech doin’s, and you young gents know it.”
“Couldn’t be helped, Peleg,” answered Pepper. “Blew so hard the wind turned our sails inside out.”
“You don’t tell me?” The hired man looked perplexed for a moment. “Inside out? How could that be? I reckon you’re joking. Oh, Major Jack, you’re all wet!”
“He wanted a swim and was too lazy to take off his clothes,” put in Dale.
“The uniform will be ruined. Better take it off now.”
“Oh, Jack wants to go to bed in it,” said Pepper, lightly. He loved to tease Peleg.
“Ha! ha! you must have your joke. I reckon he won’t go to bed in no wet clothes, ’less he wants to git rheumatism an’ lumbago, an’ a few other things,” answered Peleg Snuggers, and walked away.
Without loss of time Jack slipped up to his dormitory and changed his wet uniform for a dry suit. Then the wet clothing was sent to the laundry to be dried and pressed. In the meantime the other lads hastened to the mess-room for supper. There they told Captain Putnam of what had occurred.
“You must be more careful in the future,” said the master of the school. “A squall is a nasty thing to be out in – I know that from personal experience. I must see Major Ruddy and have a talk with him,” and he hastened off to Jack’s room. He could not help but praise the young major for his heroism.
It soon became noised about the Hall that the new sloop from Pornell Academy had met Jack’s craft, and more of the cadets were interested in the outcome of the race than they were in the rescue that had taken place.
“Of course it was a great thing to pull those chaps out of the water,” was Andy Snow’s comment. “But I do wish you had beaten them by about a mile, Pep.”
“Well, when the squall came we simply had to call it off – with the other sloop capsized.”
“Oh, I know that.”
“By the way, Andy,” went on Pepper. “I understand
