CHAPTER VIII.

CHARGE BAYONETS!

Major Tommy, in my judgment, was more inclined to have his own way than he was to annihilate the Wimpletonians by crushing them under the wheels of the steamer. He had been irritated because the captain did not obey his order; but, I think, if the boat had gone ahead at his imperial command, he would have been the first to stop her. I could not believe that he was so diabolically wicked as to run over the boats, and sacrifice the lives of a dozen or more even of his enemies. If it had been Waddie, the matter would have been different, and I should have been more credulous.

When the captain opposed him, he flew to the engineer; but I am confident that, if the man had given the wheel a single turn, Tommy would have ordered him to stop her. Neither the captain nor the engineer knew that he did not intend to do all he threatened; and I am afraid, if the wheels had been started, the mischief would have been done, whatever the little magnate meant, or did not mean. I was very sorry to be dragged into the difficulty, for Tommy and I had thus far been very good friends. However, I had no doubts in regard to the correctness of my position.

Forbush, the engineer, had gently, very gently, thrust Tommy out of the engine-room. By this time, all of Company B had gathered around the little major, intent upon beholding the row. The juvenile magnate was boiling over with rage, and threatened Captain Underwood, the engineer, and myself with total annihilation. Every one of us should lose his situation, and be forever deprived of the power to obtain further employment.

“Come, Tommy, keep cool,” said Faxon, trying to smooth down the wrinkled fur on the badger’s back.

“I won’t keep cool! I have been insulted, and I will teach the fellows who and what I am. If I tell the captain of this boat to run over the island, he shall do it,” stormed Tommy, so angry that he could hardly keep from crying.

“Be reasonable, Tommy,” added Skotchley, with his usual quiet dignity. “We don’t want to kill anybody.”

“Yes, we do! We want to kill the Wimps if they don’t get out of the way.”

It was useless to say anything to the irate major while he was so inflamed with wrath, and by general consent the students kept still; but they were disgusted with the commander of the battalion, and doubtless most of them were sorry that they had not tipped him out of both of his offices. While Tommy was still raving like an insane person, the bell rang again to go ahead, and the engineer promptly started the wheels; but only a few turns were made before the signal came to stop her. Finding I was not needed on the main deck, and that the wrathful major would cool off sooner if left to himself, I went up to the wheel-house. All on board, except the captain and one man at the wheel, had been attracted to the vicinity of the engine-room by the exciting scene. There was no one on the forward deck, for even the two men employed there were listening to the howls of Tommy.

Captain Underwood had started the boat ahead again, and when I reached the wheel-house, she was gently crowding her way through the fleet of boats, a dozen in number, containing the whole force of the Wimpletonians, over ninety of them. She struck the boats as gingerly as though they had been eggs. She did them no harm, beyond scraping the fresh paint upon them, as she slowly forced her way through them. I watched the movement with interest, for I was curious to know what the Wimpletonians intended to do.

The fleet lay in the deep water, so that there was no room on either side for the steamer to pass to her destination without getting aground. Captain Underwood was a prudent man, and worked his craft very carefully. He had given her headway enough to carry her through the squadron of boats; but, as they swarmed along her bow, and under her guards, the students in them fastened to her with their boat-books, so that they could not be shaken off.

“Back her quick, and you will shake them off without harming any of them,” I suggested to the captain, when I saw that he was nettled by the failure of his plan.

“Out of the way there! Your boats will be smashed under our wheels!” shouted he to the enemy.

At that moment half a dozen of the Wimpletonians leaped over the rail of the steamer upon the forward deck, with their muskets in their hands.

“What’s that for?” said the captain, quietly.

“They mean mischief,” I replied, as I saw a dozen more follow the six; and among the latter was Waddie Wimpleton, glittering with gold lace, for he was in the full uniform of a major of infantry.

“Stand by those two doors!” shouted he, drawing his sword and pointing to the entrances near which the Toppletonians were still listening to the howlings of Major Tommy. “Hurry up, there!” he added to those in the boats.

The Wimpletonians poured in over the rail, until the deck was crowded. Company B had stacked their muskets on this deck, and except the officers, our boys were unarmed, while every Wimpletonian presented a musket with a fixed bayonet upon it. As the enemy were boarding the steamer, the captain, amazed at the audacity of the young ruffians, rang the bell to back the boat; but before she had headway enough to shake off the fleet, which clung to her like swarming bees, all the Wimpletonians, except one in each boat, were on our deck.

“Up there, twenty of you!” said Major Waddie, indicating the hurricane deck with a flourish of his sword.

“What are the rascals going to do?” added Captain Underwood, who had not given the enemy credit for the skill and daring they now displayed.

“Don’t let a single Top go on the hurricane deck!” shouted Waddie; and the twenty students he had sent up stationed themselves at the head of the stairs, to prevent any of our party from leaving their prison; for such it had now become to them.

[Illustration: CHARGE BAYONETS!--Page 98.]

Captain Underwood began to think the frolic, as he had at first regarded it, was becoming a serious affair, and I saw that he looked somewhat anxious. Our fellows had left their muskets on the forward deck, and they were now in possession of the enemy. I am inclined to think it was fortunate they were there, rather than in the hands of their owners, or some of the students on both sides would doubtless have been seriously injured. As the matter now stood, the Wimpletonians had entire possession of the Middleport, for that was the name of the steamer. Twenty of them stood in the act of charging bayonets in the direction of the two doors leading from the forward deck. Our fellows could do nothing; and even the captain, with the wheel in his hand, was as powerless as they were.

Major Waddie, with his chapeau and white plume, looked as though he were the commander-in-chief of a great army, and had just achieved a bloody victory. I must do him the justice to say that he had managed the affair very well, though I saw that his two captains, Dick Bayard and Ben Pinkerton, were always near him with words of counsel. I was at a loss to determine whether the capture of the steamer had been devised on the instant, or whether the boats had taken the position in the channel for that purpose in the beginning. I was inclined to believe that the bold step was first suggested when their leaders saw the muskets of the Toppletonians stacked on the forward deck, and not a single soldier present to guard them. Ben Pinkerton afterwards told me that this view was correct.

While the conquerors were disposing their forces so as to hold the prize they had captured, Major Tommy and the audience who were listening to his angry declamation were completely intrapped. The startling event was calculated to turn the spouter’s thoughts into a new channel. It seemed to me that the emergency had arisen which would justify me in calling the attention of Major Toppleton to the affair; but unfortunately I could not leave just then. The steamer had backed half a mile from the island, and had now shaken off all the boats which clung to her.

“I don’t know what these ruffians intend to do,” said Captain Underwood, as he rang the bell to stop her.

“Waddie Wimpleton is reckless enough to do almost anything,” I replied; for I regarded the situation as difficult, if not dangerous.

“I will keep the boat moving towards Middleport, at any rate.”

“That’s right, captain; if they have us, we have them at the same time, and we can carry them to Middleport as prisoners of war,” I added, with a smile which was not wholly natural.

Captain Underwood rang the bell to go ahead, and soon gave her full speed, heading the boat up the lake.

“Hallo, there!” shouted Major Waddie from the forward deck, as he flourished his sword towards the wheel-house. “Stop her!”

The captain paid no attention to this imperious command.

“Do you hear me? I say, stop her!” yelled Waddie.

“Hold your tongue, you little bantam!” replied Captain Underwood, irreverently; for, as he owed no allegiance to the house of Wimpleton, he felt that he could afford to speak without measuring his words.

“Will you obey me, or not?” demanded Waddie, furious because his imperious will was not regarded.

But the two captains, who were really the brains of the battalion, interposed. I do not know what they said, but the major with the chapeau desisted from his attempt to bully the captain. They were more practical in their operations than the commander, and presently I saw them forming their forces before the two doors. Captain Bayard drew up his company before one of them, and Captain Pinkerton before the other.

“Charge bayonets!” said Waddie, fiercely.

The order was repeated by the two captains, who placed their most reliable men in the front.

“Forward!” screamed Major Waddie, making a desperate lunge into the empty air with his flashing sword.

“Forward!” repeated the two captains, as they drove their men through the doors, into the narrow space on each side of the boiler and engine-room.

The Toppletonians were in these spaces, and I saw that the object of the movement was to drive them aft, and get possession of the engine-room, so as to control the machinery, and thus prevent the captain from taking the boat to Middleport. Our fellows, unarmed, could not stand up against the bayonets of the enemy, and we heard them fall back. I concluded, by this time, that Major Tommy had come to his senses; though, if he was disposed still further to vent his ire, he had an excellent opportunity to do so against the sharp-pointed weapons of his conquerors.

The Toppletonians were not only driven aft, but were forced below the deck into the little cabin, which was hardly large enough to hold them all. A little later, we heard a violent altercation in the engine-room, and then the boat stopped. The Wimpletonians had certainly won a complete victory.