CHAPTER VIII.

A STARTLING EVENT ON THE ROAD.

When the Sylph had secured a position between the Goldwing and the shore, so that the party on board of the latter could not escape, she stopped her screw, and backed until she rested motionless on the water. The appearance of the steamer so near the point created a sensation in the picnic-party, and the whole crowd on the shore hastened to the water-side.

Before the steamer lost her headway, her starboard quarter-boat was dropping into the water. The yacht was not heavily manned, as she was when the school was in session, and there were not hands enough on board for any brilliant manœuvres. Captain Gildrock, Bates, the old quartermaster, Paul Bristol, and Oscar Chester got into the boat, and pulled to the Goldwing. Dory Dornwood and Mr. Bristol, the acting engineer, remained on board with the ladies to take charge of the steamer.

When Tom Topover and his companions saw the boat approaching them, they abandoned all hope of escape, and gave up in despair. They wished they were ashore, with those who had been left.

"What are you doing with this sloop?" demanded Captain Gildrock sternly, when the quarter-boat came alongside of the Goldwing.

"I can't do any thing with her," replied Tom.

"You have stolen her, as you have tried to do before," added the principal; "and we will make short work with you."

Paul Bristol was directed to take the painter of the sloop on board, and the Goldwing was towed to the Sylph. The six culprits on board of her were ordered to the deck, and they knew Captain Gildrock well enough not to disobey him. The quarter-boat was hoisted up to the davits; and the yacht came about and stood away from the shore without communicating with the picnic-party. She headed up the lake, and in a few minutes disappeared in the river.

Ash Burton and his companions observed the proceedings of the people of the yacht with almost as much consternation as though they had been captured with their late associates. They could hardly hope to escape the consequences of their conduct, for Tom and the rest of the Topovers would be sure to betray them. They looked upon it as a bad scrape; for the principal of the Beech Hill Industrial School was one who obeyed the laws, and went to them for redress when he was injured instead of administering justice on his own account.

Sam Spottwood was sorry he had not followed his own impulse to do right, instead of allowing himself to be led into error by his friend. But he did not reproach Ash, for he felt that he was the victim of his own weakness. The whole six of them were quite as repentant as the half-dozen who had been captured in the sloop. No doubt they made big resolutions, which are good things to make if they are only remembered in the hour of temptation.

The picnic-party seemed to be very much astonished at the proceedings of the people on board of the yacht, which was now approaching the river with the sloop in tow. Ash saw that they wanted some explanation; and when he saw the gentleman who had paid him the dozen half-dollars, he felt that he had business elsewhere. He beat a hasty retreat, followed by his companions. He did not care to appear before his late passengers as a culprit, and he was not inclined to tell any lies about the matter.

"We are in for it now," said Hop Cabright, as they walked with hasty steps away from the point, in the direction of the road to Genverres.

"No doubt of that," replied Sam Spottwood. "It is a bad scrape, and the worst of it is being associated with such fellows as Tom Topover."

"As Captain Gildrock did not catch us in the boat, perhaps he will not meddle with us," suggested Syl Peckman.

"Those fellows will blow on us, after all that happened this afternoon," added Chick Penny.

"Of course they will, and we are just as guilty as they are," added Sam Spottwood. "You don't catch me having any thing to do with Tom Topover, and the fellows like him again: they are a hard crowd."

"We never did any thing very bad with them before," said Ash Burton. "I am sure we have done something towards making them better fellows, for we have tried to improve their manners and their morals."

"I don't think they are much better, though I know of three or four instances where we have prevented them from stealing. But we ought to have prevented them from using the Goldwing, instead of taking part with them in the wrong," said Sam.

"You know how it happened, and how we were led into it," pleaded Ash. "We were wrecked, and out in the middle of Beechwater, without any way to get ashore except in the sloop."

"I understand all about that; but we were weak to get into the boat again after we got ashore," argued Sam.

"I don't believe I should have done so if it had not been to convince Tom Topover that the boat could be sailed either way. It is all up with us now, and we must take the consequences, whatever they may be."

"Do you suppose the captain will prosecute us?" asked Sam.

"Probably he will, though he may let up on us when he finds that we did not go out to the sloop with the intention of taking her. The Topovers have tried to steal the boats before, and he may think it is necessary in order to protect himself from them," replied Ash.

"I hope he won't; for the penalty will be a fine, I suppose, and my father will have to pay it," added Sam very gloomily. "He is not able to pay it, for he has not had work half the time this summer. He would have taken me out of school if he could have found any thing for me to do that would pay for my board and clothes."

"My father is no better off, for he had been out of work so long over at Westport that he came over here, hoping to do better; but he has not, and he finds it hard work to get enough to live on. But what am I to do with this money? I have six dollars in my pocket, which I intended to divide among the fellows."

"That would be half a dollar apiece; but the fellows that went off in the boat without us don't deserve any of it," said Hop Cabright.

"I shall not use any of that money, or touch it," interposed Sam Spottwood. "It belongs to Dory Dornwood if it belongs to anybody, for he is the owner of the Goldwing."

"I should like some of the money well enough to give to my father, but I feel just as though I had stolen it," continued Ash.

"I don't think it belongs to us, at any rate," repeated Sam.

"But I don't want to keep it. I don't like the feeling of it in my pocket."

By this time they had reached the road; and they were a sorry set, for all of them had consciences, and such boys always feel worse when they have done wrong than when they have been without their dinner and supper. They continued to talk over the subject, trying to agree upon what they should do. Sam insisted that they should call upon Captain Gildrock, confess their error, and throw themselves upon his mercy, with the statement that their fathers were too poor to pay any fines. They would tender the money to him for Dory Dornwood, and promise never to take anybody's boat again, and to withdraw entirely from the association with such boys as Tom Topover.

There was scarcely a house in this part of the town; but they soon came in sight of a small cottage, which deserved no better name than a hovel. They had been eating cold ham and sweet cake, and they were quite thirsty after their long walk; for it was all of two miles from the point to the town. They could get a drink there, for they saw the well-curb between the hovel and the road.

Before they could reach it, they heard a succession of screams so shrill that they seemed to pierce through the drums of their ears. They were not sounds made by adult persons, but by children, and they were most agonizing. Ash Burton, without making any remark, broke into a run for the house, from which the cries appeared to come.

"Pell Sankland lives in that house," said Chick Penny, when they started. "His mother goes out washing when she can get any work in that line."

But Ash did not care who lived there, and he continued to run without making any reply. As they came a little nearer, they saw smoke coming out of one of the front windows, and it was apparent that the hovel was on fire. Ash struggled to increase his speed, and was the first to reach the front door of the house. He attempted to open it and found that it was locked or otherwise fastened so that he could not get in. Before he had done trying to effect an entrance, his companions came up.

"The door is locked! Run for the back door! There are children in the house, and they will be smothered in the smoke if we don't do something quick," gasped Ash, out of breath with his efforts.

They reached the back door, and that also was fastened. The woodpile, what there was of it, was close to this entrance. Of the half-dozen sticks that remained, there was one at least six inches in diameter. Ash and Sam seized this, and butted with it a few times against the back door. It was an ill-fitting and poorly constructed affair, like all the rest of the house, and it readily yielded to the vigorous blows of the assailants.

Ash rushed into the house, and made his way to the front room, where he had seen the smoke issuing from the window. There he found a child of seven, with another not more than four. The older was a girl, and her dress was on fire, as was the side of the room nearest to the fireplace, for there was no stove. Sam and the others were close behind him, and discovered the terrible peril of the child almost as soon as he did.

"Lay her down on the floor!" shouted Ash, as he sprang to the bed in the room.

He took the comforter from it, for he found no blanket, and rushed to the child. He was wrapping the girl in it when he saw that the flames had caught in the cotton which projected from the ragged holes in it. It began to blaze, and he cast it aside. A piece of old carpet was spread before the fire, and he hastened to wrap the child in that. It was too small to cover the sufferer; but Ash and Sam fought the fire with their hands, and in a moment had extinguished the flame.

Hop Cabright brought a bucket of water he found in the back room, and the contents were poured over the child. The smaller child's clothes had not taken fire, and she was not injured. But both of them continued to scream even after the fire on the older was extinguished.

"Don't cry any more, little girl," said Ash, in a tender tone, as he proceeded to look at her and see how much she was burned.

"The house is on fire, Ash, and we must put it out!" cried Sam, as he took the smaller child, and rushed out doors with it.

Ash followed him, with the girl still screaming from pain and terror both. The well was on the front of the house, and they found no more water drawn. Each of the six boys seized whatever vessel he could find, and rushed to the well. They returned to the room where the fire was, with all the water they could carry. But the whole side of the room was in a blaze, and the case looked hopeless.