"I think Dory will be prudent, and will take care of himself, though he
may get into trouble. I shall send no students to assist him," replied
the principal decidedly. "The boys will not be called upon to chase such
desperadoes as professional burglars must be. But you may take a crew,
and go in one of the four-oar boats in search of Randolph. Tell him to
come ashore."
Oscar departed on his mission, disappointed that he had not been
detailed to re-enforce Dory, and assist in the search.
"I am ready to do any thing that I can," added Mr. Jepson; and Mr.
Brookbine said the same.
"The burglars have simplified the matter to some extent for us," said
the principal, as he seated himself in his arm-chair, as though he did
not intend to fret himself at all about the robbery. "The wind is
blowing a fierce gale on the lake; and I should not send out a boat on
such a night as this manned by the students, or by any one, unless it
was to save life. The rascals cannot escape by water. The stormy lake
shuts them in on that side."
"I don't think I ever knew it to blow so hard as it does to-night,"
added Mr. Jepson.
"If Dory and Randolph come back all right, I shall be perfectly
satisfied, even if the robbers escape with their plunder. All we have to
do is to hem in the land-side of the region about the school, and the
constables then may hunt the burglars at their leisure," continued the
principal. "Now, if you are willing to do so, I should like to have you
go in search of Dory.
"He must have followed the cart-path through the quarries, and crossed
the bridge. I don't ask you to quarrel with the burglars, if you find
them, but simply to send Dory back," said the principal, after a short
period of silence. "Collins!"
"Here, sir," replied the gardener.
"Have Dick harnessed to the buggy, and Kate to the buckboard."
The machinist and the carpenter prepared for the duty assigned to them.
The former put his revolver in his pocket, while the latter took his
rifle. Mr. Brookbine was given to deer-hunting, and knew all about the
Adirondack region, on the other side of the lake. But it was daylight
when they started; and they were too late to find Dory in the road,
where he had remained so long.
They were not even near enough to the scene of Dory's disaster to hear
the whistle the chief of the burglars had sounded, or to see the light
carried by Mack in the road. The light was the engine of Angy's
strategy; and the open part of the dark-lantern was turned in the other
direction, for the benefit of Dory. But Mack had heard them in the
distance; for the two men had been shouting, to inform Dory of their
approach.
Professor Bentnick and Mr. Darlingby were sent to one part of Genverres
to procure the aid of a couple of constables, while the principal
notified two other men who were deputy-sheriffs. He visited the
telegraph-office, and left several messages, to be sent to Burlington,
and to all the towns around that were in connection with Genverres by
wires.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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