The Hilltop Boys on the River | Page 6

of those things," laughed Jack.
"Hello, Pete, why didn't you wait?" Merritt called out, and then Herring
saw him and he saw the boys.

"Huh! you made me fall into the river!" Merritt snorted, "and I had to
buy a suit of clothes. You'll have to pay for them."
"And for the doctor's prescription?" said Percival pointedly, for the
bully's breath smelled of something stronger than milk or lemonade.
"Spirits may be good to prevent a chill, Merritt, but you want to be
careful how you use them."
"Come on, Pete," snarled Merritt, turning red. "They aren't worth
wasting time on," and the bullies went one way while Jack and Dick
went another.
"There won't be any trouble, Dick," said Jack.
"No, I don't think there will"

CHAPTER III
EVIL INTENTIONS THWARTED
The Hilltop boys marched down to their camp the next day, and after
they were settled Jack went with Percival to get his boat, Dick's having
been sent down to the camp in the morning.
The camp was on the river away from the railroad in a pleasant bit of
woods a mile or so below the town so that they had all the charms of
country life about them with the town near enough at hand in case they
wanted to get anything.
There were tents to sleep in, a dining tent and one for the kitchen, and a
big pavilion where the boys could do what little work they were
expected to do during their stay on the river.
A very black, very jolly looking negro, who rejoiced in the name of
Bucephalus, and who was the coachman and head waiter at the
Academy, now had the position of head cook and general handy man,
and the boys knew that they would be well looked after, Bucephalus

being a general favorite.
Besides the professors there was the military instructor and drillmaster,
Colonel Bull, a fat little man with a great deal of self-importance, who
looked after the physical side of the boys' instruction, while the
professors attended to the mental side.
There were a number of motor-boats, several of the boys going partners
in these, and there were also rowboats and canoes, a considerable
number of the Hilltop boys being accustomed to the water, and
spending a good deal of their time on it.
Harry Dickson and Arthur Warren, chums of Jack and Dick, had a boat
together, as did Herring and Merritt, and there were several boys who
had boats alone, like Percival and Jack, one of these being a little
fellow, the smallest boy in the Academy, who had his full name, Jesse
W. Smith, painted on the stern of his boat, which he managed alone
with considerable dexterity.
Percival's boat was a costly affair, and was fitted with cushions and an
awning, had silver trimmings and was lined inside with mahogany and
other costly woods, being a very handsome affair, but no better as a
boat, as its owner himself remarked, than Jack's made-over craft.
"That's the way I do things, Jack," he said when the boys were out on
the river in his boat after bringing Jack's down to the camp. "I can't
begin to make the speed with this boat that you can with yours, but I
have a regular floating palace, as you might say. Why, the Hudson
River boats are not any better fitted up than this, size considered, but I
can't get any speed out of it. Maybe you can."
"I'll try, at any rate," returned Jack, as he did, making better time than
Percival had done, and handling the boat with greater dexterity.
"H'm! I believe you could get speed out of a canal-boat," said Dick, as
they sped along. "There's a nasty looking cloud coming down from
Thunder Mountain, Jack. Are you afraid of it?"

"No, not much, although I wouldn't like to see some of those boys too
far out if it cuts up rough on the river. There's young Smith out in his
boat, by the way. I think we had better warn him."
At that moment Herring and Merritt came along in their boat, and
Herring said in a tone of disdain:
"That boat of yours is pretty enough to look at, Percival, but she's of no
more use than a society girl in the kitchen. Want a tow?"
Jack passed the other boat with ease, although they were doing their
best, and called out to young Smith:
"Come in, Jesse W., there will be trouble on the river in a few minutes,
and you will be better off on shore."
"Oh, he will depend on the name of his boat, which is bigger than the
boat," said Billy Manners, one of the chief funmakers of the Hilltop
boys, who was coming along with another