After the departure of the students the night before in the steamer, they had not heard a word about the cottage. They walked over to the boat-house, where they found the principal, who was an early riser. The cottage could not be seen from the boat-house, though it could from the wharf. Bates was bringing up a boat in which the captain was going out to inspect the operations of the night. "Good morning, Mrs. Bristol; good morning, Miss Lily. You are up early," said the principal. "But I don't see anything of the cottage," replied Mrs. Bristol, after they had returned the pleasant salutations of the captain. "I did not hear a sound in the night, and I suppose Dory was not able to carry out the plans we talked about." "They certainly did not make any noise about it; but if you and Miss Lily will take a seat in this boat, we shall soon ascertain what has been done," said the captain, as Bates brought one of the four-oar boats to the landing steps. The ladies seated themselves in the stern-sheets of the boat, and the boatman pulled out into the lake. But he kept near the shore, and the overhanging trees obstructed the view of Hornet Point. In a few minutes, however, the boat was out far enough to afford its occupants a view of the mouth of the creek. "Why, there's the cottage!" exclaimed Lily. "It looks as though it had stood there since it was built." "The boys have done their work very well," added Captain Gildrock. The party landed and walked up to the cottage. Not a particle of rubbish had been left on the premises; not a plank or a block. Where the sand on the beach had been disturbed it had been raked over, and everything looked as neat as though the family had lived there for a year. They went to the front door and the back door, but both were locked. Paul was still fast asleep in his chamber, and they did not disturb him. CHAPTER IX. THE JANITOR OF THE BOAT-HOUSE. Captain Gildrock was delighted with the skill and the industry which the students had displayed in the removal of the cottage. It was not the difficulty of the feat they had accomplished so much as the neat and orderly as well as quiet manner in which the work had been done. Usually boys cannot do anything without a great noise and not a little bluster. But the Beach Hillers had not disturbed any one on either side of the lake. With the machinery at their command it was not a great achievement to move a building no larger than the home of the Bristols across the lake. The principal had as yet no report of the work, but, taking the appearance of the cottage at Hornet Point as a specimen of the labor done, nothing could be better. "Everything seems to be in good order here, Mrs. Bristol," said Captain Gildrock, when he had examined the cottage and its surroundings. "I can't see for the life of me how the students brought the cottage over here and put it on the posts just as it was before, and in the night, too," added Mrs. Bristol.