Produced by Jim Ludwig

THE HILLTOP BOYS ON THE RIVER

by Cyril Burleigh

CONTENTS

CHAPTERS
I. Getting a Motor-Boat
II. Trying Out the New Boat
III. Evil Intentions Thwarted
IV. The Boat Affair Unsettled
V. An Alarm in the Night
VI. The Mystery of the Gold Watch
VII. More Mystery about the Watch
VIII. What Jack and Dick Overheard
IX. Another Claimant for the Watch
X. Disappointments
XI. The Cat Out of the Bag
XII. The Owner of the Watch Found
XIII. The Prize Poem
XIV. Billy's Nocturnal Adventure
XV. Fun on the River
XVI. The Prizes Awarding
XVII. A Puzzling Matter Settled
XVIII. The Departure of the Bullies
XIX. The Troubles of the Surveying Party
XX. Getting at the Bottom of Things
XXI. What Appearing on Billy's Plates
XXII. Everything is Settled

CHAPTER I

GETTING A MOTOR BOAT

"If you are going with the boys on the river, Jack, you will have to get a motor-boat. Won't you let me buy you one?"

"No, not a bit of it, Dick."

"But you want one?"

"Certainly, and I am going to have one."

"But motor-boats cost money, Jack. Why, mine cost me——-"

"Never mind what it cost, Dick. You spend a lot more money than
I can afford to spend, and you have a gilt-edged affair, of course.
I want a boat to use as well as to look at."

"But you want a serviceable boat, Jack?"

"I am going to have it, and it will not cost me anything like what your boat cost. Just let me look around a bit, Dick."

"All right, I'll let you do all the looking you want, but I'd like to buy you a boat just the same."

"No doubt you would, and so would Jesse W. and Harry and Arthur and a dozen other boys, but I am going to get one myself, and it will not cost me much either, and will give me all the service I want. We don't go into camp under a week, and that will give me all the time I want to build—-"

"You are not going to build you a motor-boat, are you, Jack Sheldon?" asked Dick Percival in the greatest surprise.

"Well, not altogether build it, Dick. Put it together, I may say. I did not mean to let the cat out of the bag, but now that she is out you need not scare her all over the neighborhood so that everybody will know that she is out. Let Pussy stay hidden for a time yet."

"Yes, but Jack, how are you going to——-"

"No, no, Dick," laughed Jack, "you have seen the cat's whiskers, but you haven't seen her tail yet, and you won't until I get ready. I have told you more now than I meant to, and you must be satisfied with that. I'll have the boat, don't you be afraid."

The two boys were two of what were called the Hilltop boys, being students at an Academy situated in the highlands of the Hudson on top of a hill about five miles back from the river, as the crow flies, but considerably more than that by the road.

Jack Sheldon was a universal favorite in the school, and although he had been obliged to work to pay for his schooling at the start he was not thought any the less of on that account.

Two or three strokes of fortune had given him sufficient money to more than pay for his education, and to provide his widowed mother with many extra comforts in addition, so that now he could give his time to study and not be distracted by work.

He had long known the value of money, having learned it by experience, and he was now averse to spending more than was necessary on things that gave pleasure rather more than profit.

He would not let Dick Percival, who was the son of rich parents, and had more money to spend than was really good for him, buy him a motor-boat, nor would he spend too much money on one himself when he would use it only for the smallest part of the year.

The school term was over, but Dr. Theopilus Wise, the principal of the Academy, had arranged to continue it for a portion of the summer, not in the Academy, but in a camp on the river where the boys would have plenty of open air, exercise, relaxation, and all the fun they wanted, besides doing a certain amount of school work to keep them from getting rusty as they expressed it.

The summer school was to begin its session in a short time, and, meanwhile, Jack remained at the Academy instead of going home, some distance away in another county, giving his attention to certain matters in which he was interested.

He had done work for the editor of a weekly paper of a town on the river, the nearest large town to the Academy and was well known in the place besides, having many acquaintances there among business people.

Being fond of the water, and knowing that many of the boys would have boats of one kind or another, but mostly motors, Jack had already looked about him, and had already not only formed his plans, but had put some of them in operation.

Leaving Percival, who was his principal chum among the Hilltop boys, Jack went on his wheel to Riverton, the town nearest to the Academy, and called in at the office of the News where he found the editor, Mr. Brooke, pecking away at a typewriter in his sanctum, using two fat fingers only in doing his writing rather than all of them as an expert would do.

Brooke had learned to use the machine in that way, however, and would adopt no other, although he had been shown by Jack, who was a rapid writer on a machine, and could compose on it, that he could do much faster work by the other method.

"How do you do, Sheldon?" said Brooke, looking up. "Got any news?"

"What are you going to do with that little gasolene engine that you used to run your little presses with?" asked Jack.

"I don't know, sell it, I guess. It isn't good for much except junk."

"How much do you want for it?"

"Oh, you can have it if you think you can do anything with it," said the editor carelessly.

"No, I don't want it for nothing. I'll pay you for it."

"What are you going to do with it? It's too little to run any but the small presses. Ain't going to start a paper, are you?"

"No. I can fix it up so as to make it do good work. I want to put it in a motor-boat."

"It might do for that, and if you can fix it up you're welcome to it. You have a mechanical bent, I know, and I guess if any one can fix it up, you can. Well, say ten dollars."

"All right. It will cost me another ten to put it in shape, but after that it will do all right. Will you deliver it to a man that I send after it? I'll take it down to the Riverton shops and work on it. They let me tinker things there whenever I want to."

"Certainly. Send an order, and I'll let the man have it."

"Very good. That's all for the present," and Jack went out.

His next call was at the machine shop he had spoken of, and going on their wharf he looked around, saw an old rowboat lying on the ground, took a good look at it, and then went to the foreman and said:

"What do you want for that rowboat lying on the wharf? I'd like to buy it. It will just suit me."

"It is not worth much, Mr. Sheldon," said the foreman. "You can have it if you want it."

"No, I want to buy it."

"Oh, well, say a dollar, but you'll be a dollar out if you buy it."

"I don't think so," said Jack, who knew what the boat was worth, and that a little money expended on it would not be wasted. "May I have a bench for a few days?"

"Yes, for as long as you like."

Jack hired a man to take the boat to the shop, bought some paint and brushes and some narrow boards used for flooring, and then sent for the engine, which he placed near the boat.

He was of a mechanical turn of mind, as Brooke had said, and knew a good deal about engines, and by the purchase of a few necessary articles, and by working himself he managed in the course of a day or so to put his engine into a condition that thoroughly satisfied him.

Then he bought a propeller, lamps and other necessaries, had the engine fitted into his boat, and then proceeded to deck it over forward, having already remedied any defects that it had, and making it perfectly watertight, and like a new boat with a fresh coat of paint and varnish.

He was a week on the work, but at last his boat was ready and was put in the water with the aid of two or three men from the shop.

He took a run of a mile or so up the river, and then back to the shop, greatly satisfied with the result, having fitted up a boat for less than half what a craft of the cheapest kind would have cost him had he bought it at retail.

He tied his boat up, covered it over and told the foreman that he intended to leave it there for a day or so, and would then call for it.

"Looks to me as if you had a pretty good boat, Mr. Sheldon," said the foreman. "I saw you going up the river. You made a good ten-mile gait, I shouldn't wonder."

"Yes, and I can do better yet," said Jack, smiling. "I was just warming her up a bit. She'll do better when she gets seasoned."

All this time Jack had said nothing to Percival about his boat, which certainly did not look like a made-over affair now that she was painted and decked over, had her lights and all her appurtenances, an engine in her hold and a flagstaff at her bow, meaning to give his friend a surprise.

The day before they were to leave the Academy and go into camp on the river Percival asked Jack if he had secured his boat yet, and added:

"I have mine, and she is a beauty, cost me three hundred dollars, but it's worth all that."

"Mine did not cost me a hundred," said Jack, "and she is sixteen feet long, and makes good speed. I'll have her down to-morrow when we go to camp. She is in a machine shop in Riverton, and it will be easy enough to take her down to our quarters."

"So you have one, eh?" exclaimed Dick. "Where did you buy it? You've been very quiet about it. Did you send to the city for it?"

"No, I got everything around here, as I said I would, fixed it up myself from one thing or another, but I don't think you'd know it, for she is like a new boat."

"And you did all the work on her yourself?"

"Certainly," laughed Jack. "It is nothing new for me to wear overalls and a jumper, and get my hands greasy. I can wash them."

"The first time I saw you it was in overalls. Dress doesn't make a boy. I believe you'd look all right in anything. But I'd like to see the boat now, Jack, and not wait till to-morrow."

"Well, I don't mind showing her to you, Dick, so if you will get out your runabout we'll go down and I'll give you a trip on the river."

"To be sure I will," replied Percival eagerly. "Come along."

CHAPTER II

TRYING OUT THE NEW BOAT

In half an hour the two boys were at the wharf of the machine shop, and Jack was showing his new acquisition to Percival, whose delight could hardly be expressed in words.

"Why, I say, Jack, she looks as if she had just been turned out of the shops. Why, she's a beauty and no mistake. And you did all the work on her yourself?"

"I did not build the boat, Dick, but I fixed her up, caulked, painted, and decked her over forward, put the rail around the standing room, and put in the seats, installed the engine, set the propeller, and got her in the shape you see her now. She's all right?"

"All right? Well, I should say she was. I'd never believe that you hadn't just got her brand new from the shop. No wonder you get along, Jack. A fellow who shows a knack for doing things that you do and goes ahead in spite of all obstacles is bound to get on. Come on, let me see how she can go. My boat is a lot fancier than yours, but I doubt if she can make the same speed or last as long. Come ahead, get aboard!"

The boys got on board, and Jack took his seat, started his engine, took the tiller and glided out upon the river, and then down toward the railroad station, Percival noting the speed, the smoothness with which everything worked, and the apparent ease with which Jack managed it all, as though he had always been used to such things.

"You're doing fine, Jack," he chuckled. "I suppose you can go faster if you like. Will you let her out a bit?"

"Wait till I get away from the railroad station and the docks, Dick. I'll have a clear way before me in a little while, and then I can show off, but just now I'd rather take it easier."

"H'm! you take it easy enough as it is. Why, one would think that you had been used to motorboats all your life."

"Not quite as long as that, Dick," with a smile. As they were passing the railroad station they saw two big boys with not very prepossessing faces standing on the wharf near a motor-boat moored alongside, one of them, the biggest and most disagreeable looking, saying in a loud voice and with a sneer which seemed habitual with him, as in fact it was, his conversation being directed at the boys in the boat:

"Huh! Percival has hired Sheldon to run his boat for him. It's all he's good for, and Dick don't know any more about boats than a cat."

"Gets him to run his auto, too," said the other. "He'd drive Dick's carriage if he had one. Blacks his boots and brushes his clothes, too, I'll bet. He's nothing but a valet anyhow."

Percival flushed crimson at these insults to Jack, the boys being two of the most disliked in the Academy, and said hotly:

"I'll come and throw you two brutes in the river if you say any more. Because Jack Sheldon had to work you think he is no good, but he has you fellows skinned, in studies and in everything else. You never did any work in your lives, you're too——-"

"Don't answer them, Dick," said Jack quietly, heading for the middle of the river. "It won't do any good, and they'll talk all the more. I don't mind it, and neither should you."

"Come and chuck us in the river, why don't you?" jeered the first of the boys on shore, Peter Herring by name, and the chief bully of the school. "You daren't! You're afraid of wetting your pretty clothes. Yah! what an old tub! You'll never get back with that scow!"

"I'd like to thrash them!" sputtered Percival, who was of an impulsive disposition. "I'm sorry that they are going to be with us this summer, but I guess their fathers think they are better off with the doctor to keep them in check than they would be sporting away their money at fashionable summer resorts."

"We do not have to be with them any more than we can help, Dick," said Jack quietly, managing his boat in the deeper water and in a stronger current as well as he did nearer shore. "They like to stir you up, and you only please them the more when you answer them."

"If Pete Herring and Ernest Merritt think they can shut me up they are mistaken," growled Percival. "They are getting ready for a good thrashing and they'll get it. I am not the only Hilltop boy who is ready to give it to them. Here comes a steamer, Jack."

"Yes, I see her," said the other quietly. "I will look out for her."

One of the big river steamers was coming up, but Jack kept far enough away from her and managed his head so that her wash did not affect him, and the boat passed without causing him any trouble.

"That was well done, Jack," said Percival when the boat was well up the river, and Jack went in nearer shore. "I would not be afraid to trust myself in any boat with you. Run 'em before, have you?"

"Not this sort, Dick, but a boat is a boat whether you run her by gas or pull the oars or have sails. You must look out for yourself."

"And that's just what you do. I suppose that was their boat that they were looking at? Must have cost something."

"Yes, it looked like it," carelessly. "You don't have to spend a lot of money to get fun out of a boat, however. Some fellows' boats cost them about fifty cents a mile, but this won't."

"H'm! I must look out that mine does not," laughed Dick. "I am a great fellow for spending money. Guess if I had to earn it I'd be more careful of it. That's what the governor is always saying, but I get it just the same."

When the boys were on their way back to the wharf they met Herring and Merritt in the motorboat they had seen, Herring shouting out with his usual sneer and a contemptuous look:

"We'll race you for ten dollars, Percival, if you think you can trust your helper. Two to one we'll beat you hands down."

"This happens not to be my boat," said Percival, "and I would not race with you if it was."

"Ah, go on! You can't make us believe that Sheldon can earn money to buy a motor-boat by picking fruit!"

Jack did not say anything, and the others turned and came after them so as to force them into a race.

"You could beat them, couldn't you, Jack?" asked Percival in a low tone, so as not to be heard by the others.

"Yes, but I am not going to race with them."

"They will try to beat you. Don't let them do it."

"I shall pay no attention to them, Dick," quietly.

"Yes, but Jack, I should hate to have them pass us. They'd never grow tired of telling it all over the Academy."

"Let them," said Jack, keeping on at the same steady speed, and making for the wharf.

Herring, who evidently owned the boat, put her to her speed so as to pass Jack, and Merritt shouted derisively as they drew nearer:

"We'll give you a tow, you fellows!"

The ferry boat running from Riverton to the town on the other side of the river had just put out, and was coming on at a good gait, blowing her whistle to warn the smaller boats to keep out of the way.

Jack went on across her bow with plenty of room to spare, but
Herring slowed up and caught her wash, his boat dancing and rocking
in the liveliest fashion, taking in water and causing both him and
Merritt to shout and go into a panic.

They turned and took in more water, and Merritt, jumping up excitedly, waving his arms and scolding both Herring and the steamer captain, suddenly lost his balance and fell into the river.

"He can swim, can't he?" asked Jack, seeing the accident.

"Yes, and there are other boats on the river. Let them pick the fellow up. Serves him right, anyhow. He ought to keep still in a boat."

Merritt speedily came up, swam to the boat and tried to clamber aboard, Herring shouting at him and warning him off.

"Get out, you'll upset me!" he shouted. "Why didn't you keep still?
You're as clumsy as a cow in a boat, you are. Get out of here, or
I'll hit you! Keep away, I tell you!"

"There is a rowboat coming," said Percival, turning his head. "He will be all right, but he'll have to go back to the Academy in wet clothes. No danger of catching cold now, but he'll be a sight all the same, and serves him just right."

Herring kept on, but made for the railroad wharf, while the rowboat that Dick had seen took in Merritt, and shortly landed him at one of the docks along the river.

By this time the boys had reached the dock of the machine shops and
Jack tied up, covered his engine and walked up to the street with
Percival, the latter saying:

"It will be like those fellows to say that we were the cause of
Merritt's going overboard. They did not pass us at any rate."

"Let them talk," laughed Jack. "Talk costs nothing, and won't hurt us."

The boys went to the office of the News where Jack gave the editor a few little items, writing them out on the typewriter, Percival looking on in great admiration, although he had seen Jack write before.

"One would think you had been born at a typewriter, Jack," he said. "Now I could not do that. The very noise of the thing would bother me and then, having that bell ring every few seconds would get on my nerves."

"Don't listen to it, Dick. You don't mind the chug of an auto or of a motor-boat, do you? This is not nearly as bad."

"Well, no, I suppose not, but I don't see how you can think with that thing making such a clatter. It would drive all the thoughts out of my head in a minute. None too many there, to start with!"

Leaving the office at length they came upon Herring on the main street, his late companion not being with him.

"You fouled us!" growled the bully. "I'd have passed you in another second. You'll have to pay for Erne's clothes and his doctor's bills, too. He's taken an awful cold. It'll cost you something, let me tell you."

Just then Merritt himself, in a ready made suit of clothes came out of a hotel on the corner, the boys seeing him before he saw them or Herring got sight of him.

"He does not seem to have suffered any," said Percival in a whisper.

"No, he has bought another suit of clothes, and does not appear to suffer from colds or influenza or any of those things," laughed Jack.

"Hello, Pete, why didn't you wait?" Merritt called out, and then
Herring saw him and he saw the boys.

"Huh! you made me fall into the river!" Merritt snorted, "and I had to buy a suit of clothes. You'll have to pay for them."

"And for the doctor's prescription?" said Percival pointedly, for the bully's breath smelled of something stronger than milk or lemonade. "Spirits may be good to prevent a chill, Merritt, but you want to be careful how you use them."

"Come on, Pete," snarled Merritt, turning red. "They aren't worth wasting time on," and the bullies went one way while Jack and Dick went another.

"There won't be any trouble, Dick," said Jack.

"No, I don't think there will"

CHAPTER III

EVIL INTENTIONS THWARTED

The Hilltop boys marched down to their camp the next day, and after they were settled Jack went with Percival to get his boat, Dick's having been sent down to the camp in the morning.

The camp was on the river away from the railroad in a pleasant bit of woods a mile or so below the town so that they had all the charms of country life about them with the town near enough at hand in case they wanted to get anything.

There were tents to sleep in, a dining tent and one for the kitchen, and a big pavilion where the boys could do what little work they were expected to do during their stay on the river.

A very black, very jolly looking negro, who rejoiced in the name of Bucephalus, and who was the coachman and head waiter at the Academy, now had the position of head cook and general handy man, and the boys knew that they would be well looked after, Bucephalus being a general favorite.

Besides the professors there was the military instructor and drillmaster, Colonel Bull, a fat little man with a great deal of self-importance, who looked after the physical side of the boys' instruction, while the professors attended to the mental side.

There were a number of motor-boats, several of the boys going partners in these, and there were also rowboats and canoes, a considerable number of the Hilltop boys being accustomed to the water, and spending a good deal of their time on it.

Harry Dickson and Arthur Warren, chums of Jack and Dick, had a boat together, as did Herring and Merritt, and there were several boys who had boats alone, like Percival and Jack, one of these being a little fellow, the smallest boy in the Academy, who had his full name, Jesse W. Smith, painted on the stern of his boat, which he managed alone with considerable dexterity.

Percival's boat was a costly affair, and was fitted with cushions and an awning, had silver trimmings and was lined inside with mahogany and other costly woods, being a very handsome affair, but no better as a boat, as its owner himself remarked, than Jack's made-over craft.

"That's the way I do things, Jack," he said when the boys were out on the river in his boat after bringing Jack's down to the camp. "I can't begin to make the speed with this boat that you can with yours, but I have a regular floating palace, as you might say. Why, the Hudson River boats are not any better fitted up than this, size considered, but I can't get any speed out of it. Maybe you can."

"I'll try, at any rate," returned Jack, as he did, making better time than Percival had done, and handling the boat with greater dexterity.

"H'm! I believe you could get speed out of a canal-boat," said Dick, as they sped along. "There's a nasty looking cloud coming down from Thunder Mountain, Jack. Are you afraid of it?"

"No, not much, although I wouldn't like to see some of those boys too far out if it cuts up rough on the river. There's young Smith out in his boat, by the way. I think we had better warn him."

At that moment Herring and Merritt came along in their boat, and
Herring said in a tone of disdain:

"That boat of yours is pretty enough to look at, Percival, but she's of no more use than a society girl in the kitchen. Want a tow?"

Jack passed the other boat with ease, although they were doing their best, and called out to young Smith:

"Come in, Jesse W., there will be trouble on the river in a few minutes, and you will be better off on shore."

"Oh, he will depend on the name of his boat, which is bigger than the boat," said Billy Manners, one of the chief funmakers of the Hilltop boys, who was coming along with another boy in a motor-boat. "Young J.W. is full of pluck."

The smaller boy was taking Jack's advice by this time, and there was need of it, for there was a squall coming and all the boys were making for the shore.

"Huh! you fellows are all afraid!" shouted Herring. "What's a little blow to fellows like us? Go on shore, you weaklings."

"There is danger, isn't there, Jack?" asked Percival, as Jack was running for shore, having seen that young Smith was safe.

"Yes, there is," shortly, "and those fellows will find it out before long. They should be told of it."

"Yes, and get abuse for our trouble," snapped Dick. "I won't do it for one."

"Better come in!" shouted Jack, all except the two bullies being now close to shore, and getting ready to make a landing.

"Mind your business!" shouted Herring. "We know how to look out for ourselves if you don't!"

"I don't like to say 'I told you so,' Jack, but I did," said Percival.
"If anything happens, the fault will be all theirs."

At that moment Colonel Bull, on the bank, blew a tremendous blast on a bugle to call the boats in, and Herring obeyed, knowing that he would be cut short of many of his privileges if he did not.

As it was the two boys narrowly escaped an upset, and Merritt was deathly pale and shaking like a man with the ague when at last they got ashore, none too soon.

The river was white with foam, and it was no place for a small boat with the wind blowing sharply down from the mountains.

"You should have come in with the others," said the colonel sharply when the two bullies landed. "If you take another such risk you will be prohibited from going on the river at all. As it is, you will not go out again to-day."

Herring knew that there was no appeal from this decision, as the colonel was the physical instructor as well as drillmaster, and the doctor never disputed his word in cases which were so palpably just as in this instance.

"Pete wanted to show off," chuckled Billy Manners, "and got come up with. He can't bully the colonel if he can bully the small boys."

"He can't bully all of them either," said Harry, "for some of them won't take it from him even if they can't fight him."

As it happened to be pleasant in the afternoon, and many of the boys were out on the river in boats, Herring felt the effect of his foolish boasting, and was greatly chagrined that he was cut off from a very enjoyable sport.

Jack took Percival's boat out and made very good speed with it so that Dick said with a grin:

"Well, the boat is all right, I see, and I am the fellow that needs to take a lesson, not the boat. As I said before I believe you could get speed out of a canal-boat."

"You can get speed out of this one if you will study it a bit, and not think only of using up gasolene. Besides, there is fun to be had out of the boat, even if you do not go like the wind all the time."

"Yes, I suppose there is, but I like to go fast, and I guess every boy does. If one does not there is generally something the matter with him."

Herring was not only smarting under not being allowed to go out with the rest, but also from the knowledge that Jack was a better boatman than he was, and that the boat which he had made himself, for this was known to all the boys now, could make better time than the expensive one his father had bought him and he said to Merritt, who had no one to go out with him, and was not allowed to run Herring's boat:

"I'd like to fix that boat of Sheldon's so that he couldn't run it. He'll be crowing over me all the time, and that is something I won't stand. It'll be an easy thing to get at it at night."

"Of course," agreed Merritt. "Make a hole in his tank, do something to the engine or cut a hole in the bottom. Anything will do. Then we can say that the boat was no good in the first place, and every one will believe you. That's easy."

"I won't say anything about it. Wouldn't he suspect something if I was to speak about it? You don't show any sense!"

"I show as much as you do, staying out there on the river when there was a squall coming down from the mountain," sulked Merritt. "Don't you talk. That was the biggest fool thing I ever saw any one do."

"Shut up!" snarled Herring. "What we want to do is to fix the boat so that it won't run. Sheldon can't afford to buy another, and we will have all the fun, while he has to stay on shore."

All right. To-night will be a good time. How are you going to manage it? He may be watching."

"Why should he? He won't suspect anything. After all the boys have gone to sleep we can steal down to the shore and fix it all right. All we have to do is to see where he puts it."

It was a lovely night with a moon and stars, and a number of the boys were out on the river with their boats, skimming over the water like fireflies, and sending paths of colored light in every direction from their side lamps or with their pocket flashlights.

Herring was prohibited from going out as the day was not yet over, and he fretted at the prohibition, although it gave him a chance to watch Jack when he came in and see where he tied up.

"That's all right," he whispered to Merritt. "It's in a line with the tent where he and Percival sleep and right on the beach. We'll be able to find that all right."

"Yes, and when Sheldon goes out in his boat to-morrow we'll be able to walk right away from him. It's a pity you can't get him to bet on it, but he won't bet on anything."

"No, but Percival might. He likes to spend money. I'll get him to bet and win a lot from him."

The boys went to bed at the usual time, and before long all the tent lights were out, only a few of the camp lights being seen, as the moon was still up and there was light enough for all ordinary purposes.

There was a deep shadow on the bank of the river, however, on account of the trees and the mountains behind them, and when all was still Herring and Merritt stole from their tent and hurried toward the shore.

They wore soft shoes, so as not to betray themselves, and were dressed in dark clothes so as not to be seen readily, having prepared themselves for any possible emergency.

They had agreed between them that the safest thing to do was to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat so as to cause it to leak, and they had provided themselves with augers for the purpose.

Stealing down to the river noiselessly they easily found Jack's boat, as they thought, and were preparing to bore the hole when suddenly a voice piped up out of the darkness and from the boat itself:

"Hi! what are you going to do with this boat?"

The voice was that of young Smith who at the next moment stood up and turned the light of a pocket flash upon them as they hastily beat a retreat to the tents.

CHAPTER IV

THE BOAT AFFAIR UNSETTLED

The conspirators had not mistaken the boat, and got hold of young J.W.'s by mischance, but had really begun operations on Jack's boat when surprised by the boy who they supposed to be fast asleep.

It had happened that the little fellow had wanted to know some particular point about the engine, and had asked Jack's permission to look at his, which was simple and easily understood.

Jack had told him he could do what he liked, and the boy was under the cover with his electric light turned on the engine when the evildoers came up and got to work. The first turn of the auger startled him, and he called out sharply wanting to know what they were doing.

Then he suspected mischief, and immediately threw aside the cover, and turned his light upon the fleeing rascals.

He was unable to identify them, because there were several of the boys of the same build, but he was satisfied that they would not return.

That was not enough, however, and he raised an alarm and brought out
Bucephalus and a number of the servants, and said:

"Somebody's been trying to monkey with Jack Sheldon's boat. There ought to be a watch kept. Other camps have sentinels, and this should have one. Stay on watch to-night, boys, and I'll give you a dollar apiece."

"A'right, sah," said Bucephalus with a broad grin. "So dey tried to hu't Mistah Jack's boat, did dey? Wha' yo' doin' in it you'se'f, sah? Was yo' goin' to sleep in it?"

"Me?" exclaimed the little fellow indignantly. "No indeed. I was looking over the engine to get the hang of it. Jack told me I might. Go to sleep nothing! If I had been asleep I would not have caught these rascals at their dirty work."

"But yo' didn' cotch dem, sah, dey done runned away."

By this time Jack, Percival, Harry and Arthur, and a number of the boys, aroused by the noise, had come down to see what was the matter.

Young Smith turned his light on the bottom of the boat, it having been drawn up on the beach, and saw the mark of the auger quite plainly.

It had not gone in deep enough to do any harm, and what, hole there was could be caulked with very little trouble.

The rascals had dropped their tools in their hurry, and Jack picked these up and examined them carefully.

"I can't tell where these were bought," he said to Dick, "and many of the boys have tools just like them. I will keep them for further use."

"Wait till some one wants to borrow something like this," said Percival, "and then we may find out something. It was a dirty trick, whoever did it, and I wish that Jesse W. had seen them plainer."

"They were big fellows," said young Smith quietly to Jack and Percival, "but there are a good many big fellows among the boys, and that does not tell us much. I only wish I could have seen their faces."

"Well, I am glad you drove them away," said Jack. "They might have done considerable damage. Still, it is likely that I would have seen the hole when I went to put the boat in the water unless they plugged it up with sand, which they might have done."

"If any of our boys are doing things like this, which I would be very sorry to know," added Percival, "we are in a pretty bad way. If it was done by strangers we shall have to set a guard at night."

"H'm! standing guard duty is not very pleasant," said Billy Manners dolefully. "I am too fond of sleeping to do that."

"Nobody will like it," rejoined Dick, "but we shall have to do it if this sort of thing continues. I hate to think that any of our fellows are mean enough to do it."

There were many of the boys who thought that there were some of their number who were just mean enough, but no one was accused, the matter being too serious an affair for one to make charges unless they could be proved conclusively.

"Did you see which way the rascals went, J.W.?" asked Percival when the three were quite alone. "That might tell us something."

"Well, you know that it is dark along shore, Dick," returned young Smith, "and they made very little noise. They started to run the minute I spoke, and when I turned the light on them they were going pretty fast. All I could tell was that they were big boys, but I could not say now just which way they went, it was so dark."

"Well, they won't try it again, that is certain, but it may come to having a regular guard at night, and none of the boys will like that."

"I told Buck and the others that I would give them a dollar apiece to keep watch to-night, Dick."

Both Jack and Dick laughed at the young fellow's earnestness, and
Jack said pleasantly:

"That was kind of you, J.W., but I don't think it will be necessary to-night. Besides, if any one pays the men to keep watch it should be myself, and not you, old chap."

"Imagine Pete Herring and fellows like that offering to pay men for watching another boy's boat!" sputtered Percival "I see them doing it!"

"Well, no harm has been done, fortunately, Dick, and with you I do not think it will be repeated. Come, let's go back to bed."

There was no further disturbance during the night, and in the morning nothing was found to be the matter with Jack's boat beyond what had been done before, and this could be easily remedied.

Percival watched Herring and others very closely to see if he could detect anything suspicious in their looks, speech or actions, but they were evidently prepared and on guard, for he could see nothing which would warrant his bringing an accusation against them.

He did not tell Jack that he suspected them, but, nevertheless, determined to watch them closely to see if there were any ground for his suspicions other than they had bad reputations and did not like Jack.

Matters went on as usual in the camp during the day, the boys dividing their time between study and recreation, with a little drill and some gymnasium practice, considerable apparatus having been erected at one side of the camp for that purpose.

Jack had a friendly race with Percival, first in his own boat and then in his friend's, and beat him in both, but nothing could induce him to race with Herring, and no one could say that he was afraid of his boat, for it was clear that he could do marvels with it.

He was willing to race with Harry and Arthur, with Billy Manners and Jasper Seymour, and even with young Smith, to whom he allowed odds, but he declined all offers to compete with Herring or any of his kind, much to their chagrin and anger.

"You're afraid!" growled Herring with his customary sneer, but Jack did not pay the slightest attention to the charge, and the other boys laughed, this making the bully more angry than ever.

Nothing was said about patrolling the camp at night, and the boys had an idea that the doctor did not know what had happened the night before, and would, therefore, take no precautions.

They were considerably surprised, therefore, when they discovered that Buck, as the cook was often called, was corporal of the guard, and had the house servants for his assistants.

They kept watch at turns during the night, but nothing unusual occurred, and Percival said to Jack with a laugh:

"Our pickets did good service last night, but I wonder if they will be on to-night?"

"We can't tell. The doctor has said nothing, and we don't know if he has done this on his own initiative or because of what he may have heard."

"Well, it is evident that we boys won't be called on to act as guards, and I am glad of it, for if there is anything I do not like it is having to parade up and down in the cold and dark for nothing when I might better be in my bed."

"I can sympathize with you," said Jack.

During the morning Percival saw Bucephalus alone, and said to him, holding one hand behind his back:

"Was it your idea to keep guard last night, Buck?"

"No, sah, Ah was ready to do it, 'cause young Mistah Smith done offah me a dollah fo' de service, but de doctah done intimate dat he t'ought it would be judicious."

"How did the doctor know that we needed a picket?"

"Ah donno, sah, Ah reckon he thought it was acco'din to military etiquette, sah. It am de custom in military camps to set a picket an' all presume he argued from dose premises, sah."

"Then you did not tell him of what occurred the other night?"

"No, sah, Ah didn't communicate nothing, sah. Mebbe it was one of de odah fellahs."

"You are sure that you said nothing?"

"Yas'r, Ah is suttinly shuah dat Ah made no communication whatsoeber regardin' de events of de perceedin' night, sah. Ah was suttin dat young Mistah Smith would keep his wo'd abo 't de extra remuneration, sah, an' Ah didn't wanter prejudice de situation, sah."

"Oh, I see," laughed Dick. "Then Dr. Wise acted on his own initiative from information received elsewhere, is that it?"

Bucephalus scratched his woolly head, and answered:

"Ah donno abo't de inflammation an' de oder misery, sah. Am it so bad as all dat, sah?"

"I mean that he did it on his own account, and not because of anything that you may have told him."

"All reckon so, sah," said Bucephalus, greatly relieved. "Ah done told him nothin', an' Ah don' guess nobody else told him."

Percival went away laughing, but tossed the coin he held in his hand to Bucephalus, who caught it deftly and grinned.

"The doctor either found it out himself or some one has told him," he said to himself, "but it is clear that he knows about it. He would not set a guard on the camp unless he had a good reason, for strangers do not visit us, and the Riverton police probably have orders to keep their eyes on the place."

Seeing Jack shortly afterward, Dick told his friend what he had learned and added:

"The Riverton police would simply keep a watch against strangers, but the doctor evidently thinks that some of our own Hilltoppers need watching, and he has, therefore, taken this means of doing it.

"I am sorry that he has had to," said Jack, "but after all the doctor appears to be living up to his name. We must find out who the fellows were, Dick, for the sake of the decent boys of the Academy, not that I care so much about my boat."

"We will do it, Jack," said Percival shortly.

CHAPTER V

AN ALARM IN THE NIGHT

The day passed as usual, Percival saying no more about trying to discover the miscreants who had sought to injure Jack's boat, and Jack being too busy to think of it.

That evening they had visitors from a fine house in the neighborhood, the owner of which, quite a wealthy man, complimented Dr. Wise on the good character of the boys, adding in rather a pompous manner:

"I must say, Doctor, that since you have been encamped on the river I have had nothing to complain of on account of your boys. Most boarding school boys are inclined to be mischievous, and to cause a good deal of annoyance to persons living in the neighborhood, but I must say——-"

"The Academy is not an ordinary boarding school, Mr. Vanderdonk, and the character of the young gentlemen in my charge——-"

"I beg your pardon, sir, but your pronunciation of my name shows that you do not quite understand the way it is divided. It is Van der Donk, with an equal emphasis upon each syllable, not Vanderdonk, with the accent on the first. I am most particular about the pronunciation of the name, which is that of one of the earliest settlers of the Hudson valley, and a very distinguished one, I may say. I am exceedingly proud of my origin, pardonably so, perhaps, but still most proud."

"Dr. Wise does not care anything about genealogy, Father," spoke up Miss Margaret, daughter of the proud descendant of the Van der Donks, "and you should not have spoken of the Academy boys as boarding school boys. They attend a military Academy, the fame of which is as great as that of your ancestors. Everybody along the Hudson valley knows the Hilltop boys and any young gentleman might be proud to be one of them."

Miss Margaret was a very pretty girl, a bit spoiled, perhaps, but the idol of her father and the puzzle of her mother, who wished her to be a young lady of society, and was greatly grieved because she preferred doing something by which she could earn her living if necessary.

"Far from saying anything against the character of the Hilltop boys, my dear," said the father, "I must say that I find them a very fine set of young gentlemen. Why, we have not had our lawn tramped over by them, nor our fruit trees pilfered, nor have we suffered from any annoyances which boarding school boys are prone to commit upon neighbors. I am really——-"

"Why, Father, you speak as if the boys were from a primary school, and had not learned the first rules of manners," laughed Margaret gaily. What do you expect, Father dear? That the boys shall be young ruffians?"

"Well, perhaps not that, my dear," replied Van der Donk loftily, "but the city boys who come out here——-"

"The poor fellows never saw a tree before in their lives, and they just wanted to make love to them," interrupted Margaret, again laughing in the gayest fashion. "Could you blame the poor unfortunates for wanting to shin up them and pick peaches and apples and everything else? The only fruit they had ever seen was stale and on city stands, and when they saw the real article it was no wonder that they wanted it. You could not blame them."

Then Miss Margaret admired the boats, and accepted Jack's invitation to take her out on the river, her father and mother accompanying her, of course, and Percival going along to talk to the old folks and give Jack a chance to devote himself to the young lady.

Jack was quite taken with the girl whom he considered very natural and a good deal better company than her father who was forever trying to impress everybody with the renown of the Van der Donks, past and present, and after the company had gone Dick said to him:

"Very pretty girl, Miss Margaret, and has lots of sense, but what a tiresome old bore that father of hers is."

"Yes, indeed," laughed Jack, "but there and many persons who parade their blue blood and fine ancestry before the world just as much as he does. What is he, pork merchant or something like that?"

"Pretty good, Jack," said Percival with a grin. "He was a butcher at one time, but don't mention it if you don't want to earn his everlasting scorn. It is never spoken of. He is one of the wealthiest men along the river, and employs a man to do nothing but cut off his stock coupons. They may invite us to the house, although they are a very exclusive sort and are supposed to associate only with millionaires, and the descendants of the oldest and best families."

"The girl does not seem to have any of that nonsense," said Jack, "and she is really very pleasant company. By the way," with a smile, "she did invite me to the house, but I guess you did not hear it."

"Well, well, you are coming on, Jack!" exclaimed Dick. "Of course she would invite you. Why not?"

"And she asked me to bring you, Dick," with another chuckle. "That is all right, too, isn't it?"

"Why, of course!" and Dick grinned again. "We will go as soon as we can, Jack."

The visit to the fine house back of the river was made sooner than the boys anticipated, and in a most unexpected and unusual fashion.

It was about twelve o'clock at night, and everything was quiet in and about the camp when all at once there was a wild alarm, a sudden ringing of bells and shouting of voices, and Bucephalus tore through the camp shouting at each tent:

"Wake up, sah, dere am a big fiah, wake up!"

Jack and Percival were the first to be aroused, and to run out of their tent at the sudden alarm.

"There is a fire somewhere!" exclaimed Jack, smelling smoke and seeing a light in the sky.

"It is up at Van der Donk's," cried Percival. "That is the direction,
I am sure. Hurry and get dressed, Jack. We may be needed."

Other boys were now coming out, asking questions, staring this way and that, rubbing their eyes or standing in a bewildered fashion, and wondering what all the commotion was about.

A messenger came running into the camp from the big house asking for help to put out the fire, which had just been discovered, and which had already gained considerable headway.

The fire was, indeed, at Mr. Van der Donk's, and it was feared that the fine mansion with its costly furnishings would have to go, as there was no fire engine company within a mile or more, and it would be hard to get word to them at this time.

"Stir yourselves, boys!" cried the little colonel, bustling about half dressed. "We can at least form a bucket brigade. Form the lines quickly, Percival, and get the boys to moving."

Jack, Dick and others quickly got the boys out, and, not more than half dressed, most of them, they quickly formed in good order, and went on the double quick out of the camp and toward the big house.

Every boy had a bucket to draw water from the river for washing purposes, and now they each seized one and went on the run toward the house.

It was a matter of a few minutes only to reach it, and once there Jack and Dick formed them into a double line reaching from the house to the well, and to an artificial pond on the grounds.

Once the line of buckets got started the boys went into the house, on the balconies and everywhere convenient, and the work went on rapidly.

Bucket after bucket was passed to the boys at the end of the lines, and passed back empty after their contents had been dashed upon the flames, the work going on rapidly.

The boys had been at work nearly ten minutes and had done much to stay the progress of the flames if not to subdue them when a fire company from Riverton arrived, and with a lot of noise and bustle, but with very little system, got to work to put out the fire.