Breaking Away Part 25

Mr. Parasyte bit his lips. It is possible he had a hope of restoring the Inst.i.tute to its former condition.

"I don't understand you," said he.

"Is Thornton to be regarded as guilty only of breaking away, with the rest of us?"

"Thornton's affair is to be settled by itself," replied Mr. Parasyte.

"Then I have nothing more to say, sir," added Vallington, with becoming dignity.

I interposed, and begged him not to consider me, but to make terms if he could, and permit me to settle my own affair. Bob Hale and Tom Rush protested; but no protest was needed to keep Vallington true to his purpose.

"You reject my terms, Vallington," said Mr. Parasyte.

"I do, sir."

"I wish to do what I can to end this unhappy disturbance, and I am willing to say that the punishment shall be very mild--if you will return to your duty."

"You have treated one of our number with shameful injustice, Mr.

Parasyte. We can prove, and have proved, that he was not guilty of the charge brought against him. If you will do him justice, and through him all the rest of us, we will submit to such punishment as you think proper for breaking away."

"Thornton!" exclaimed Mr. Parasyte, with a malignant sneer. "Do you expect me to receive the forced confession of Poodles and Pearl?"

"The confession was not forced, sir."

"Come here, Poodles," said the princ.i.p.al, sharply.

Poodles stepped forward.

"Did you make this confession?" demanded Mr. Parasyte, sternly.

"I did--but I was afraid the fellows would kill me if I didn't do it,"

whined the toady.

"Do you hear that?"

"I hear it, and do not wonder at anything he says," replied Vallington.

Pearl told the same story; but our general protested that no compulsion had been used by the students; that two boys who were charged with deception were not to be believed in preference to eighty others. Vallington proposed that the case should be heard over again, and Poodles required to perform the examples. The princ.i.p.al was indignant, and refused all compromise.

"Thornton is not only guilty, but this very day he attempted to drown me in the lake," said he. "Do you think I can forgive him, without--"

"We don't ask you to forgive him, and he does not ask it. We only wish you to give him a fair trial."

"I will hear no more about it!" replied Mr. Parasyte, impatiently.

"Will you return or not?"

"We will not."

"Very well. I wish every one here to understand that I have given you an opportunity to return to your duty. You will not, and the consequences be upon yourselves."

Mr. Parasyte walked up the path, followed by his party. As Pearl and Poodles pa.s.sed us, a suggestion was made that we seize upon them, and punish them for the falsehoods they had uttered, and the meanness of which they had been guilty; but this proposition was promptly negatived by Vallington. We wondered what the invaders intended to do, and whether our general purposed to let them proceed without opposition. He stood calm and apparently unmoved on the stump, watching the enemy.

The princ.i.p.al halted his forces at the point where our provisions and cooking utensils were kept. Every eatable, and every utensil, even to the wooden forks and spoons we had made, were seized and conveyed to the steamer. It was now clear that the enemy did not mean to use force, unless we attacked them. Mr. Parasyte intended to deprive us of our food, and starve us into subjection. But he was not satisfied yet; and when his party had deposited their burden on the deck of the steamer, and the plank had again been hauled in, he marched them by us once more.

"We shall soon see how long you will be willing to stay here," said our tyrant, as he walked by the stump. "As Thornton said to the man in charge of the boats at Cannondale, this morning, I suppose I have a right to my own property, wherever I find it."

"We paid for the provisions with our own money," replied Vallington.

Mr. Parasyte made no reply, but continued on his way up the hill towards the tents. These also he meant to take from us; and then, or in the course of the day, he probably expected us to surrender, without conditions. The prospect did not look pleasant, for we were to be without food or shelter on the island. I was thinking how to save the Splash from capture, and I was about to suggest to Vallington that it would be better for me to put off in her, when our general spoke for himself.

The invaders were busily employed in striking the tents, and rolling up the canvas, about forty rods from where we stood. In a few moments they would be ready to put them on board of the steamer.

"Fellows," said Vallington, in a low and decided tone, "our time has come! We will take possession of that steamer. I have no idea of being starved into subjection. When I give the word, rush on board the best way you can."

"There's a man on her deck," said one of the boys; and we were all appalled at the boldness of the venture.

"Never mind him. Commodore Thornton, you will go to the wheel-house at once, and take the helm."

"Who will be engineer?" asked Tom Rush.

"I will be that myself. Bob Hale, you will run the Splash out from the sh.o.r.e, and come on board when we are clear of the pier; take two good fellows with you. Are you all ready?"

"All ready!" replied the boys; and the voices of some trembled.

"Forward then!" shouted Vallington; and he leaped from the stump, and ran down to the wharf, followed by the whole company.

Bob Hale got into the Splash with two boys, and pushed her off. The rest of us leaped over the bulwarks, scrambled up to the hurricane deck, or rushed in at the gangway. Vallington cast off the bow-line himself, just as I reached the wheel-house.

"Back her!" I shouted; and the word was pa.s.sed through the boys to Vallington, who had now gone to the engine-room.

We were not a moment too quick, for just as the steamer began to back from the pier, the invaders, laden with canvas and poles, appeared on the wharf.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CAPTURE OF THE ADIENO.--Page 232.]

CHAPTER XXI.

IN WHICH ERNEST CONTINUES TO ACT AS PILOT OF THE STEAMER.

When I reached the deck of the Adieno I met the person who was in charge of the steamer. It was the lame man who had disputed my right to the Splash in the morning, and to whom we had given two dollars. He looked astonished at the sudden movement of the students, but he offered no resistance; and, without waiting to hear what he had to say, I ran up the ladder to the wheel-house, leaving Tom Rush to settle all questions in dispute with him.

My heart bounded with excitement as we carried out our desperate enterprise, and I gave Henry Vallington credit for more daring and courage than I had ever supposed him to possess. He seemed to me just then to be a general indeed, and to be better fitted to fight his way through an enemy's country than to become a parson.

"Back her!" I shouted, almost beside myself with excitement, as I saw Mr. Parasyte and his heavily-laden followers rushing down to the pier.