CHAPTER XIV.

THE PRISONERS IN THE DORMITORY.

Captain Gildrock had already directed Dory and Paul to prepare the four rooms indicated for the reception of the new pupils. They were furnished with good beds, and were far more luxurious than the rooms the ruffians occupied at home.

"I'm not going with you!" yelled Tom angrily. "I am going home, and you haven't any right to keep me here!"

Captain Gildrock did not wait to hear any more. He took Tom by the collar with his right hand, while he grasped Nim Splugger with the other. Tom lay down upon the deck, and refused to move; but this made no difference to the stalwart principal, who dragged him along as though he had been nothing but a small parcel.

Nim Splugger always followed his leader, and he lay down also; but both of them were dragged to the forward gangway, where the principal dropped them. Dory and Paul, having put the rooms in order, had come to the wharf. But the captain would not employ any pupil to assist in managing another. Tom lay upon the deck, too obstinate to get up; and Nim pursued the same policy.

The principal took a rope, and tied the hands of Tom behind him, and then made him fast to a stanchion. Taking Nim by the collar, he led or dragged him to the dormitory, where he locked him into his room. The engineer and the deckhand did as much for Pell Sankland and Kidd Digfield. Each was crowded into a room by himself, and left to his own reflections.

They returned to the steamer to dispose of Tom. In spite of his struggles, he was taken to his room. He fought, kicked, and tried to lie down; but, in the hands of two men, he was utterly powerless. As soon as he was in the apartment assigned to him, the principal removed the cord that bound his hands behind him.

"This will be your room for the future," said Captain Gildrock, without a particle of anger or indignation in his tones or his looks.

"I'm not going to stay here! I want to go home!" protested Tom, so mad that he could not help crying like a great baby.

"This is your home, and you will stay here," added the principal gently.

"I tell you I won't stay here! I don't belong to your school, and you have no right to keep me here!" howled the chief ruffian.

"Perhaps I have. I advise you to cool off, and take things calmly," continued the captain, as he took the papers which had been signed that evening from his pocket. "I might prosecute you, and you would be condemned to pay a heavy fine."

"My father would pay it: I would make him pay it."

"On the contrary, he will pay no more fines on your account."

"Yes, he will!"

"More than that, he will not be called upon to pay any," replied Captain Gildrock, selecting the agreement with Mr. Topover from the bundle. "You are now a member of the Beech-Hill Industrial School, and you will be as well used as your conduct will allow; but you will learn to obey orders."

"I am not a member of the school, and I would not be!" replied Tom. "I never joined, and I shall not join!"

"Perhaps you would like to read this paper," added the captain, handing it to him.

The ruffian was scholar enough to make out the meaning of the document at once. He had cooled off to some extent, and the contents of the paper seemed to be a great surprise to him. He read it a second time, before he raised his eyes from the writing.

"Did my father and mother sign that paper?" asked he, as the principal took the document from his hand before he had thought of tearing it up.

"You can see for yourself that they did," replied Captain Gildrock. "You won't obey them, and you are of no use to them, and have made them no end of trouble."

"I don't believe they signed it. They had no right to sign it without saying any thing to me," blustered Tom.

"I think they had a perfect right to do so, and they have done it. The paper gives me entire control of you for the next three years, and you have no power to escape it."

"But I won't stay here!"

"I will see to that part of the agreement," added the captain, with a smile.

"My father and mother will catch fits the next time I see them," moaned Tom, beginning to realize the situation.

"I shall take care that you don't see them until you are in a proper frame of mind to do so."

"They have put me into this school for three years without saying a word to me!" blubbered Tom, rising from his chair, and beginning to walk about the room.

"It was not necessary to consult you. Your parents have the right to dispose of you as they think best, as long as they do not subject you to any abuse. They have placed you at this school; and you may depend upon it, that you will stay here, and that you will obey orders. If you behave yourself like a reasonable being, you will enjoy yourself, and we shall make a man of you before we are done with you. You can go to bed when you are ready to do so."

The principal retired from the room, and Bates secured the door. It had hardly been closed before Tom began to kick against the wall of the adjoining room. Then he set up a hideous series of yells, that would have done credit to the lungs of wild Indians. He upset the table, and then began to smash the furniture. Crash after crash followed, until it was evident that all the furniture was in process of destruction.

"Bates," called the principal, "take all the furniture out of the brig."

In less than five minutes the old salt reported that he had obeyed the order, and he was directed to unfasten the door of Tom's room. The occupant was still smashing the furniture, and was engaged in tearing the bedstead to pieces.

"Remove him to the brig, Bates," continued the principal, as mildly as though Tom had been a mile from the dormitory.

When the door opened, Tom was stupid enough to suppose that he had carried his point by the racket he had made. He suspended his operations on the bed, from which he had removed the mattress, and was taking out the slats.

"Have you got enough of it?" demanded he, furiously, as Bates entered the room.

The quartermaster made no reply, but took the prisoner by the collar. Tom pitched into him, and struck at him with his fists. Bates bore him to the floor, and then tied his hands behind him. Taking him by the arm, he walked him to the other end of the hall. Tom had heard of the brig, in some of his talks with the boys of the school. It was lighted from the outside, and its walls were as black as a cloudy night.

The old salt made no remark of any kind, but thrust his prisoner into the apartment. He removed the cord with which he had bound him, and then closed and fastened the door. The principal visited the rooms of each of the ruffians, and gave them the same information he had imparted to their leader. If they were disposed to resist, they were more prudent than Tom; and they appeared to accept the situation.

The brig to which Tom had been consigned was a strong room. The walls and ceiling were covered with spruce plank, and these were sheathed with sheet iron. The furniture was of iron, but this had been removed. The interior had been painted black, and it was gloomy enough to answer for a state-prison in the days of feudalism. The windows were strongly barred with iron, and so was the aperture through which the room was lighted at night.

Tom Topover looked about him. There was no furniture to smash. He began to kick against the walls. He followed this with the most unearthly yells. Outside, no attention was paid these sounds, and the prisoner was permitted to wear himself out with his fruitless exertions.

When the principal had informed the other three that they were members of the school, and that they would be well treated if they behaved well, he went to his house. Bates was to sleep in the dormitory, where he had a room for occasional use. Mr. Bristol went to his cottage. Tom continued to kick and pound upon the walls of his prison, till the patience of Bates was somewhat tried, for he wanted to go to sleep. Then the old salt went up-stairs to his room; and, on the way, he extinguished the lamp which lighted the brig, and Tom was in total darkness. Bates went to bed, and in spite of the racket went to sleep.

For a full hour longer, Tom kept up his demonstrations, until he had tired himself out; and then he ceased. He began to be sleepy, but there was no bed in the room. He seemed to think, that, when he wanted any thing, some one would come to supply him with what he desired. He shouted with all his might, that he wanted to go to bed. But the quartermaster slept on till the sun rose the next morning. Tom slept a little on the hard iron floor, and he was but little rested in the morning.

Bates turned out with the sun, and walked through the hall. He heard nothing, and he went about his customary duties. At seven o'clock, breakfast was carried to the prisoners by the old sailor, who simply put the trays on the tables, and retired without saying a word, refusing to answer any questions. Tom was supplied through an opening in the wall, which was provided with an iron door. Tom wanted to know how long he was to stay in this hole, but Bates did not answer him.

After breakfast, Captain Gildrock visited the homes of Ben Sinker and Rag Spinner. Neither of them had been home that night, and their parents were not a little worried about them. The principal informed them in regard to the events of the day before, and then proposed to admit them to his school. Both fathers and mothers were glad to have them admitted, and signed the papers without any hesitation.

"But I don't know where they are," said Mr. Sinker, who was a journeyman carpenter. "I will find my boy if I can, and bring him over to you."

Captain Gildrock had hardly reached his home, after transacting some business in the town, before both the fathers of the truant ruffians called upon him. A man who had been fishing near the mouth of the river had seen the boys come down in a boat with a man. On the lake the boat had set her sail, and gone to the northward. They thought the boat belonged in Burlington, and that the boys had gone there.

"You can go to your work, and I will find them," replied the principal.

"We have no work," said Mr. Sinker, speaking for himself and Mr. Spinner, who was also a journeyman carpenter.

"I am going to Burlington in the Sylph this forenoon; and, if you choose, you can go in her."

About ten o'clock, Captain Gildrock visited the dormitory. Bates reported that three of the boys had given him no trouble, and that Tom was quiet since morning. The prisoners were taken from their rooms, and marched to the steamer.