Mr. Parasyte, angry as he was, had sense enough left to see that he could accomplish nothing by remaining longer at Camp Fair Play. The spirit of freedom that prevailed there was unsuitable to his constitution.

"'I go, but I return,'" said he, in the language of Catiline to the Roman senate.

"When you return we shall receive you with all due respect, Mr. Parasyte," said Harry Vallington.

Mr. Greene chuckled, and shook his fat sides with suppressed mirth; and it was plain the principal had a very doubtful ally in the person of the deputy sheriff. And the ill-mated pair walked towards the landing, where we saw them embark, and leave the shore.[167]

"Mr. Parasyte has more pluck than I gave him credit for," said Bob Hale, after we had silently watched the departure of the boat. "Isn't it a pity a man who knows so much, and is such a good teacher, should be a tyrant?"

"He is intellectually great and morally little," added the parson, with a savor of the cloth he was destined to wear. "He has always been politic, and we have felt his tyranny only in little things, which are all the more mean because they are small. He is now fully roused; he is too obstinate to back out, even when he knows and feels that he is in the wrong; and now he will lay policy aside. I tell you, fellows, you must make up your minds for a hard battle, for Mr. Parasyte is in earnest. He will leave no stone unturned to reduce us to subjection; and if I mistake not, 'breaking away' will prove to be no joke. If any of the students feel like giving up, now is the best time to take the back track, for the farther we go the deeper in the mire we shall be. If there are any who are sick of their bargain, they had better say so now."

"No!" "No!" "No!" shouted the boys, till the sound became a unanimous voice.[168]

"I see you are all of one mind," continued Vallington. "I deem it right to tell you now that, in my opinion, Mr. Parasyte is no contemptible foe to deal with. He will make a good deal of trouble, if he does not cause much anxiety, perhaps suffering, in our ranks."

"What can he do?" asked one of the boys.

"I don't know. He hasn't told me what he intends to do, and probably he will not," replied our chief, facetiously.

"Can't you guess?" asked another boy; and there seemed to be a general desire to anticipate the terrible things the principal would attempt in order to reduce the rebellious pupils to subjection.

"I am no Yankee, and I can't guess. I can mention several things he might do."

"Tell us, if you please!" called out one of the more timid of the boys.

"Very likely he will attempt to starve us out by surrounding the island with boats, and preventing us from obtaining provisions. He must know that we have a very small stock of eatables on hand."

"We will trust to our commodore to break his lines, if he blockades our camp," laughed Tom Rush.[169]

"He may come with a force of men in the night, and take away the boats."

"You said we should keep a watch at night," suggested Fred Mason.

"We hope the commodore will be able to protect his squadron," said Bob Hale.

"I shall do my best to insure the safety of the boats, or to run the blockade, if one is established," I replied, with becoming modesty; and in fact I was getting so excited over the prospect, that I rather hoped there would be an attempt to blockade us, or to carry off the boats, that I might have an opportunity to exercise my talent for navigation and strategy.

"And Mr. Parasyte may collect a force, and come over to capture the whole of us. He can charge us with stealing his boats, or something of that sort. He has already obtained a warrant for the arrest of Thornton, and to have him taken away from us would be about the worst thing that could happen," said Vallington.

"We will not let them take him," interposed a belligerent student.[170]

"What will you do?"

"Pitch the sheriff overboard," replied the spunky speaker.

"That will not do," I added. "I hope no fellow will think of such a thing as resisting an officer of the law."

"No, that wouldn't do," continued Vallington. "If Mr. Greene could not arrest Thornton because he was out of his county, Mr. Parasyte will get a sheriff from the proper county to do the job."

"That's so," said Bob Hale. "He will do his worst, you may depend upon that."

"I have an idea!" I shouted, under the inspiration of my new thought; and it really seemed to me like a brilliant suggestion.

"What is it?" demanded our leader.

"Suppose we change our quarters?"

"Where shall we go?"

"To Pine Island. It is about seven miles from here, or nine miles and a half from Parkville," I answered.

"What shall we gain by moving?" asked Vallington, deeply interested in my proposition.[171]

"Several things. We are now six miles from Cannondale, where we must procure our provisions, while Pine Island is less than three."

"That's a decided advantage, if we are to be starved out," added the commissary.

"It is so far from Parkville that our movements could not be observed fr............