"Woman, you have heard the insulting words of your son, and you uphold him in his wickedness. I must take the next step. I will not have such a vile reprobate on my land. I will not have you or your ungrateful daughter on my territory. You are a tenant at will. That cottage must not remain another day on my premises. Remove it at once. If it is here at three o'clock to-morrow afternoon, I will give the students permission to tumble it into the lake. Do you hear me, woman?" stormed the major fiercely. "I hear you, sir," replied Mrs. Bristol, covering her face with her handkerchief, and beginning to weep bitterly. "You needn't cry about it, marm. You and that graceless son of yours have brought it on yourselves; and I think the students will enjoy the fun of pitching the shanty into the lake." "It is all the property I have in the world, Major Billcord," pleaded the poor woman. "Give me a little time to remove the cottage, I implore you!" "Don't implore me, marm! Thank your wretch of a son for it. By three o'clock to-morrow afternoon, if you haven't removed it in the mean time, the shanty shall be rolled into the lake." "I cannot get it through the woods to remove it," groaned Mrs. Bristol. "That's your lookout, marm," said the major as he and Walk departed. Mrs. Bristol seated herself on the lower step of the cottage, and continued to weep bitterly. CHAPTER IV. THE ABSENCE OF THE TRUANT DRAGON. The cottage of the Bristols had been framed in Burlington, and brought down to Sandy Point on a schooner. As it stood, it was estimated to be worth about three hundred and fifty dollars, which was the cost of it to the poor woman when she invested her all in what was to be a home for the family. It was a small sum the cottage cost, but to the poor woman it was as big as a million to a millionnaire. She had been well brought up in her father's house, and she could not exist like a Chinaman or a Hottentot, and it had cost the family a struggle to live during the absence of the father. Now all that she had was to be taken from her. As they had paid no ground rent for the site, the law could do nothing for her. She was a tenant on suffrance rather than a tenant at will, and had no rights whatever. The magnate could tumble the cottage into the lake, and the wind would carry it where it listed. It would probably be broken up on the rocks or shoals, and the major might as well set it on fire as turn it adrift on the lake. The rich man intended to execute his mandate in the cruelest manner possible. The students were to have a frolic in tumbling it into the lake. The humble structure contained all their household goods, all the little articles they valued far beyond the money they cost. It was hardly possible to remove them in the time allowed for the purpose, for everything would have to be carried by hand or transported in the flatboat.