"Then you expect Paul to be brought here, do you?" asked Captain Gildrock, astonished at the remarks of the magnate, for he had not a doubt that he had seen what had transpired while the sailboat was alongside the Sylph. "I do expect him here very soon; and I shall tie him up to a tree and give him such a thrashing that he won't get off his bed for one month after it!" exclaimed Major Billcord, flourishing a rawhide in the air as he spoke. "This strikes me as rather brutal," added the principal. "Brutal? Look in Walker's face! Look in my face! Were the blows that made these marks brutal, or were they not? I shall have satisfaction for them!" Captain Gildrock was trying to explain to himself how it happened that the magnate knew nothing of what had taken place alongside the steam yacht. As he thought the matter over he understood it better. The Sylph had been between the Silver Moon and the Chesterfield barges, so that they could not see what took place on the lee side of her. While Paul was telling his story in the pilot-house, the Chesterfields, finding the Beech Hill boats gathering around the steamer, had pulled close up to the shore, and continued on their way to Sandy Point. Neither Major Billcord nor the students with him had been troubled with a doubt in regard to the fidelity of Bissell to their interests. Even if he was faithless, he had the six ruffians with him, and they would be more than a match for a single man. However it had happened, it appeared that the magnate and the crews with him knew nothing at all about the capture of the ruffians. They had waited off the point till the Beech Hill fleet came up, and they concluded that the sloop was standing off towards Westport to avoid a meeting with the "tinkers." The magnate wished the visitors from the other side to see the destruction of the cottage, and he had invited them to be spectators of the expected frolic. He had decided to attend of the cottage first, so that the Beech Hillers might see the fun, and to administer the punishment to Paul Bristol after they had gone, for he did not care to have them witness that spectacle. "I am afraid you are laboring under a mistake, Major Billcord," continued Captain Gildrock. "Did I understand you to say that you expected Paul here to be punished for his brutality?" "That is precisely what I do expect; and he will be here in the course of half an hour. But I need not detain you any longer, sir," replied the magnate, with very ill grace. "There is no mistake about it, you may depend upon it." "If you will pardon me, there is some mistake, for Paul Bristol is here now," added the captain. "Marian, ahoy! Back down this way," he shouted to the barges, which were lying at the entrance to Sandy Bay. The crews were lying on their oars, and Dick Short promptly gave the order, "Stern all," and the Marian soon put her stern very near the bow of the steamer. "Stand up, Bristol, and show yourself," said the captain.