Part 12

The boys learned that there was a large reward due them for the capture of the marine bandits, for several wealthy boat owners who had suffered from the outlaws had long ago banded together and offered a reward for any information leading to the arrest of the men. There would be some little official delay, they learned, but it would come to them in the near future.

On the following day they left their kind host and his family and began the return cruise. The summer was now drawing to a close and they were beginning to think seriously of the fall activities. They found that they had just time to sail home without rushing and it was with light hearts that they sailed out of Boston harbor on their return trip.

“Presuming that we won’t meet up with any more bandits or old houses on mysterious islands, we ought to get home in about one-third less time than it took us to sail down,” Don remarked, as he sat by the tiller.

“We’ll try hard to keep out of trouble,” grinned Jim. “Maybe if we steer far enough away from the shore we can manage to do it!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Terry put in. “I rather enjoyed it all.”

“No doubt,” Don agreed. “It is great sport when it is over. Only, at the time you don’t know what is going to turn up and you get to worrying pretty much. When I was a prisoner in the old house I couldn’t see any way out to save my neck.”

“That’s the big part of it,” said Jim. “We might have been unlucky enough to have lost the _Lassie_. That would have been a real tragedy.”

“As long as we owe so much to Captain Blow, why not stop off long enough to see him?” suggested Terry.

“A good idea, Chucklehead,” said Don. “We’ll do that.”

The sail back to Mystery Island was uneventful, and they arrived at the captain’s cove five days after leaving Boston. They had sailed steadily and had covered the distance in much shorter time than they had required to run down the coast. The captain had not seen them come in, and they had their canvas down before he did come to the door and hail them.

He knew the sloop at once and put off in the dory, running out to them. In high good humor he shook hands all around and invited the boys up to his shack. They went ashore with him and spent a jolly evening at his home. There they told him of their discovery and the final capture of the marine bandits.

“That’s fine,” the captain boomed, nodding his shaggy head. “I cal’late you boys’ll have a little money when you get that reward, won’t you? What you got in mind for the fall?”

“We’re hoping to go to school somewhere,” answered Don. “We haven’t decided as yet where it will be. About the first thing we’ll have to do when we get home is to look up some schools and find out about them.”

“Sure ’nough, sure ’nough.” The captain turned to Terry. “You thinkin’ of going to school on your reward money?”

“Well, I don’t know,” said Terry, slowly. “I’d like to very much. I’d like to go where Don and Jim go, but that money will help so much around home that I feel I couldn’t do it with a clear conscience.”

Although the Mercer boys said nothing, the fact that they were soon to lose Terry was not a pleasant one. They had grown very fond of the red-headed fellow with his extreme good nature, and they knew that in the days to come they would miss him.

They spent the night with Captain Blow, sleeping on the floor of the shack on their own blankets. They were awakened in the morning by Bella, who was perched on the back of a chair. With her head on one side and her feathers outspread she was croaking: “Get up! Turn out! Get up! Turn out!” over and over. Finding that it was broad daylight, and that no further sleep could be considered while the critical parrot was there, the boys left their blankets and helped the captain get a hearty breakfast.

It was one of the few clear days that they had had, and they ate their final meal with the captain in the shack, the door wide open to the streaming sunlight. After they had helped the captain clean up, over his protests, the boys said goodbye once more and shook hands heartily with their friend.

“Drop me a line now and then,” the captain urged, as he took them out in his dory. “I’ll be anxious to hear from you at any time. And if you ever get down this way, say on another summer cruise, drop in and see me. I reckon I’ll have new neighbors by that time. I hear they’re going to turn this island into a summer place, and if that’s so I won’t be bothered with bandits for neighbors. Don’t forget old Cap’n Blow.”

They assured him earnestly that they had no intention of forgetting him and then the captain said a final goodbye and went back to shore. The boys waved until they were out of sight.

“A swell guy,” said Jim, as they sailed along. “We’ll be glad to write to him, and if we ever get the chance we’ll surely drop in again and see him.”

All of the following days were dull and gray, and they were held up for a full day in heavy fog. During the fog they tied up at a dock, and when they felt that the fog had cleared sufficiently they resumed their sail. At ten o’clock one morning they sailed up the creek to the Mercer house, bringing the cruise to an end.

“It was what you’d call a stormy cruise, but an exciting one,” Don said, as they furled all sail.

“It certainly was,” agreed Terry. “I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Mr. and Mrs. Mercer were glad to see them safely back and they made a happy party out of it. Afterward the boys went upstairs to clean up for dinner, and when they came down Mrs. Mercer met them in the library. She had a long letter in her hand.

“This is for you, Terry,” she said. “It is something special that your mother had forwarded here. It has been here about two weeks now.”

Terry took the letter, glanced at the envelope and then, excusing himself, began to read it. They saw a look of surprise, wonder and pleasure shoot over his long lean face. It became violently red, and he looked up in confusion.

“Jeepers!” he exclaimed.

“What’s the matter, Terry?” asked Don, anxiously. “No bad news, I hope?”

Terry shook his head. “It—it isn’t so bad,” he stammered. “It says that I’ve won a scholarship to Woodcrest Military School, up in New York State!”

“No kidding!” cried Jim.

“Oh, it’s true, that is—I—I guess it’s true. Early in the spring I took a special examination that the school puts out, never thinking that I’d win in it. There was a chance for three winners, and, well, I’m one of them!”

They congratulated him heartily. “How many were entered in the competition?” asked Jim.

“A hundred or more, I’m told. I don’t know just how many,” replied the dazed Terry.

“Where did you come in?” Don asked.

“I don’t remember,” Terry said. Don looked at him sternly.

“Come on now, Chucklehead. Was it first?”

“Yes,” confessed Terry. “It was.”

“I’m very glad to hear that,” nodded Mr. Mercer. “That means you can go without worrying over it in the least. You won’t be a drag on your family or in any way inconvenience them.” He turned to his boys. “Where are you fellows going to school?”

“We don’t know,” said Don. He turned to Terry. “What is this Woodcrest School like?”

“Well, it’s a high class military school, located at Portville, New York, on Lake Blair,” said Terry. “They have a four-year course, and I hear that there are about three hundred students there. All phases of active military life are offered to teach the importance of honor, obeying orders, and mature thinking. Outside of that I don’t know anything about it, but it sounds pretty good to me.”

“It sounds pretty good to me, too,” promptly seconded Don. “What do you think of sending us there, Dad?”

“It is just my idea of the right place to send you,” said Mr. Mercer, heartily. “I know the three of you will be happy together, and I think a military academy life will do you a world of good. If you think you would enjoy it at Woodcrest, go there by all means.”

The boys spent the rest of the day talking about the coming year at school. On the following day Terry climbed into Jumpiter and prepared to leave them.

“Thanks a lot for a swell time,” the red-headed boy said. “I’ve had a marvelous time, I assure you. But the best of it all is that we’ll be together in the fall.”

“That’s right,” the Mercer boys agreed. “We’ll see you at the academy in a few weeks. So long, Terry.”

“So long,” nodded the pilot of Jumpiter. With the cheerful grin which characterized him he whirled out of the drive in his battered car.

“Well,” said Jim, as they turned back to the house, “I suppose we’ll have some more adventures when we get to school. Wonder what they’ll be?”

Jim was right in more ways than one. What adventures did befall the brothers and their red-headed friend will be set forth in the second volume entitled, The Mercer Boys at Woodcrest.

_For Girls_

Champion’s Choice BY JOHN R. TUNIS Patty and Jo, Detectives BY ELSIE WRIGHT

BY KAY LYTTLETON Jean Craig Grows Up Jean Craig in New York Jean Craig Finds Romance Jean Craig, Nurse Jean Craig, Graduate Nurse

BY JEAN MCKECHNIE Penny Allen and the Mystery of the Haunted House Penny Allen and the Mystery of the Hidden Treasure

_For Boys_

The Spirit of the Border BY ZANE GREY The Last Trail BY ZANE GREY Call to Adventure BY ROBERT SPIERS BENJAMIN Champs on Ice BY JACK WRIGHT The Strike-Out King BY JULIAN DE VRIES The Winning Basket BY DUANE YARNELL Over the Hurdles BY EMMETT MAUM Boys’ Book of Sea Battles BY CHELSEA CURTIS FRASER Through Forest and Stream BY DUANE YARNELL

BY CAPWELL WYCKOFF The Mercer Boys’ Cruise on the Lassie The Mercer Boys at Woodcrest The Mercer Boys on a Treasure Hunt The Mercer Boys’ Mystery Case The Mercer Boys with the Coast Guard

Transcriber’s Notes

--Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and dialect unchanged.

--Generated a Table of Contents from the chapter headings.

--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)