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"Please let go, Mr. Anderson."
"I want – "
"Let the young lady go if she wishes to," said Dave, stepping up.
"This isn't your affair," blustered Anderson.
"No gentleman would detain a lady against her will."
"Good-bye," said the girl, and stepped back several paces when released by the cadet.
"All right, Vera Rockwell, I'll not take you out again," growled Anderson, seeing she was bound to go.
"You'll not have the chance, thank you!" flung back the girl, and then she joined her companion, and both hurried away from the shore and to a road running near by.
After the girls had gone there was an awkward silence. Both Cabot and Anderson felt sore to be treated in this fashion, and especially in the presence of those from Oak Hall, a rival institution to that where they belonged.
"Well, what are you going to do about the damage done?" grumbled Anderson.
"I don't think the ice-boat is damaged much," answered Dave. "Let us look her over and see."
"If she is, you'll pay the bill," came from Cabot.
"Well, we can do that easily enough," answered Roger lightly.
The craft was righted and inspected. The damage proved to be trifling and the ice-boat was speedily made fit for use.
"If I find she isn't all right, I'll make some of you foot the bill," said Cabot.
"I am willing to pay for all damage done," answered Dave. "My name is Dave Porter."
"Oh! I've heard of you," said Anderson. "You're on the Oak Hall football team."
"Yes, and I've had the pleasure of helping to beat Rockville," answered Dave, and could not help grinning.
"Humph! Wait till next season! We'll show you a thing or two," growled Anderson, and then he and Cabot boarded the ice-boat, trimmed the sail, and stood off down the river.
"Well, they are what I call a couple of pills," was Phil's comment. "I don't see how two nice girls could go out with them."
"They certainly were two nice girls," answered Roger. "That Vera Rockwell had beautiful eyes and hair. And did you see the smile she gave Dave! Dave, you're the lucky one!"
"That other girl is named Mary Feversham," answered Phil. "Her father is connected with the express company. I met her once, but she doesn't seem to remember me. I think she is better-looking than Miss Rockwell."
"Gracious, Phil must be smitten!" cried Dave.
"When is it to come off, Phil?" asked the senator's son. "We want time to buy presents, you know."
"Oh, you can poke fun if you want to," grumbled the shipowner's son. "She's a nice girl and I'd like to have the chance to meet her. Somebody said she was a good skater."
"Well, if you go skating with her, ask Miss Rockwell to come, too, and I'll be at the corner waiting for you," said the senator's son. "That is, if Dave don't try to cut me out."
"No danger – Jessie wouldn't allow it," replied Phil.
"You leave Jessie out of it," answered Dave, flushing a trifle. "Just the same, I agree with both of you, those girls looked to be very nice."
The three boys walked along the river bank for nearly half a mile before they came in sight of the Snowbird. Then Messmer and Henshaw wanted to know what had kept them so long.
"I'd not go in there with my boat," said Messmer, after he had heard their story. "Those air-holes are too dangerous."
When the lads got back to Oak Hall they found a free-for-all snowball fight in progress. One crowd was on the campus and the other in the road beyond.
"This suits me!" cried Roger. "Come on, Dave," and he joined the force on the road. His chums did the same, and sent the snowballs flying at a brisk rate.
The fight was a furious one for over an hour. The force on the campus outnumbered those in the road and the latter were driven to where the highway made a turn and where there were several clumps of trees and bushes. Here, Dave called on those around him to make a stand, and the other crowd was halted in its onward rush.
"Here comes Horsehair in a cutter!" cried one of the students, presently. "Let us give him a salute."
"All right!" called back Dave. "Some snow will make him strong, and brush off some of the hair he carries around with him."
The boys made a number of snowballs and, led by Dave, waited for the appearance of the cutter. Soon it turned the bend, the horse on a trot and the sleighbells jingling merrily.
"Now then, all together!" shouted Dave, and prepared to hurl a snowball at the man who was driving.
"Hold on!" yelled Roger, suddenly.
But the warning cry came too late for Dave and Phil, who were in the lead. They let fly their snowballs, and the man in the cutter was struck in the chin and the ear. He fell backward, but speedily recovered and stopped his horse.
"You young rascals!" he spluttered hoarsely. "What do you mean by snowballing me in this fashion!"
"Job Haskers!" murmured Dave, in consternation.
"What a mistake!" groaned Phil. "We are in for it now!"
CHAPTER VII
PRISONERS IN THE SCHOOL
Dave and Phil had indeed made a serious mistake, and they knew at once that they were in for a severe lecture, and worse. Job Haskers was naturally an irascible man, and for the past few days he had been in a particularly bad humor.
"Excuse me, Mr. Haskers," said Dave, respectfully. "I didn't know you were in the cutter."
"You did it on purpose – don't deny it, Porter!" fumed the teacher. "It is outrageous, infamous, that a pupil of Oak Hall should act so!"
"Really, Mr. Haskers, it was a mistake," spoke up Phil. "We thought it was Horsehair – I mean Lemond, who was driving."
"Bah! Do I look like Lemond? And, anyway, what right would you have to snowball the driver for this school? It is scandalous! I shall make an example of you. Report to me at the office in five minutes, both of you!"
The boys' hearts sank at this order, and they felt worse when they suddenly remembered that both Doctor Clay and Mr. Dale were away and that, consequently, Job Haskers was, for the time being, in authority. The teacher went back to the cutter, took up the reins, and drove out of sight around the campus entrance.
"Too bad!" was Roger's comment. "I yelled to you not to throw."
"I know you did, but I had already done so," answered Dave.
"And so had I," added Phil.
"Say, that puts me in mind of a story," exclaimed Shadow, who was in the crowd. "A man once had a mule – "
"Who wants to listen to a story at this time?" broke in Ben Basswood.
"Never mind, let's have the yarn," said Dave. "Perhaps it will serve to brighten our gloom," and he smiled feebly.
"This man had a mule in which a neighbor was very much interested," continued Shadow. "One day the mule got sick, and every day after that the neighbor would tell the owner of some new remedy for curing him. One day he came over to where the mule-owner lived. 'Say,' he says, 'I've got the best remedy a-going. You must try it.' 'Don't think I will,' answered the mule-owner. 'Oh, but you must, I insist,' said the neighbor. 'It will sure cure your mule and set him on his feet again.' 'I don't think so,' said the mule-owner. 'But I am positive,' cried the neighbor. 'Just give it a trial.' 'Never,' said the mule-owner. Then the neighbor got mad. 'Say, why won't you try this remedy?' he growled. 'I won't because the mule is dead,' answered the other man. Then the neighbor went home in deep thought."
"Well, that's to the point," said the senator's son, laughing. "For I told them to stop after the damage was done."
In no enviable frame of mind Dave and Phil walked into the school, took off their outer garments and caps, and made their way to the office. Job Haskers had not yet come in, and they had to wait several minutes for him.
As has been said, the teacher was in far from a friendly humor. Some months before he had invested a portion of his savings in some mining stock, thinking that he would be able to make money fast. Now the stock had become practically worthless, and that very morning he had learned that he would never be able to get more than ten per cent. of his money back.
"You are a couple of scamps," he said, harshly. "I am going to teach you a needed lesson." And then the two boys saw that he held behind him a carriage-whip.
Dave and Phil were astonished, and with good reason. So far as they knew, corporal punishment was not permitted at Oak Hall excepting on very rare occasions, – where a pupil had taken his choice of a whipping or expulsion. Was it possible that Job Haskers intended to chastise them bodily?
"Mr. Haskers, I am very sorry that I hit you with that snowball," said Dave. "As I said before, I did not know it was you, and it was only thrown in fun."
"What Dave says is true," added Phil. "I hope you will accept my apology for what happened."
"I'll accept no apologies!" fumed Job Haskers. "It was done on purpose, and you must both suffer for it," and the teacher brandished the whip as if to strike them then and there.
"Mr. Haskers, what do you intend to do?" asked Dave, quietly but firmly.
"I intend to give you the thrashing you deserve!"
"With that whip?"
"Yes, with this whip."
"You'll not do it, sir!"
"What!"
"I say, you'll not do it, sir."
"Hum! We'll see about this!" And the teacher glared at Dave as if to eat him up.
"You have no authority to whip us," put in Phil.
"Who says so?"
"I say so."
"And Phil is right," added Dave. "I'll not allow it, so you may as well put that whip away."
"I'd like to know who is master here, you or I?" demanded Job Haskers, turning red with rage.
"Doctor Clay is master here, and we are under his care. If you try to strike me with that whip I'll report the matter to him," answered Dave. "You may punish me any other way, if you wish, but I won't put up with a whipping."
"And I won't be whipped either," added Phil.
"I'll show you!" roared Job Haskers, and raising the whip he tried to bring it down on Dave's head. The youth dodged, turned, and caught the whip in his hands.
"Let go that whip, Porter!"
"I will not – not until you promise not to strike at me again."
"I'll promise nothing! Let go, I say!"
The teacher struggled to get the whip free of Dave's grasp, and a scuffle ensued. Dave was forced up against a side stand, upon which stood a beautiful marble statue of Mercury.
"Look out for the statue!" cried Phil, in alarm, but even as he spoke Dave was shoved back, and over went the stand and ornament, the statue breaking into several pieces.
"There, now see what you've done!" cried Job Haskers, as the battle ceased for the moment, and Dave let go the whip.
"It wasn't my fault – you shoved me into it," answered Dave.
"It was your fault, and you'll pay the damages. That statue was worth at least fifty dollars. And you'll take your thrashing, too," added the teacher, vindictively.
"Don't you dare to hit Dave," cried Phil, "or me either, Mr. Haskers. You can punish us, but you can't whip us, so there!"
"Ha! Both of you defy me, eh?"
"We are not to be whipped, and that settles it," said Dave.
"I presume you think, because you are two to one, you can get the better of me," sneered the teacher. He knew the two boys were strong, and he did not wish to risk a fight with them.
"I don't want to get the better of anybody, but I am not going to let you whip me," answered Dave, stubbornly.
"If you are willing, we'll leave the matter to Doctor Clay," suggested the shipowner's son.
"You come with me," returned the teacher abruptly, and led the way out of the office to a small room used for the storage of schoolbooks and writing-pads. The room had nothing but a big closet and had a small window, set up high in the wall. The shelves on the walls were full of new books and on the floor were piles of volumes that had seen better days.
"Going to lock us in, I guess," whispered Phil.
"Well, he can do it if he wants to, but he shan't whip me," answered Dave, in an equally low tone.
"Now, you can stay here for the present," growled Job Haskers, as he held open the door. "And don't you dare to make any noise either."
"What about supper?" asked Dave, for he was hungry.
