Page:Dave Porter on Cave Island.djvu/91

Rh "I wish we could have collared 'em," went on the shipowner's son. "I'd like to punch their heads."

"Don't do it, Phil. If you ever catch them, call an officer and have them locked up. A thrashing is wasted on such rascals."

"Do you know some more about them?" questioned Roger, quickly.

"I do." And then Dave related what Nat Poole had had to say, and also told about how Laura and Jessie had been scared when attending the church fair.

"You are right, they ought to be locked up," was Roger's comment.

"By the way, did you hear the news from Oak Hall?" went on Phil, as they drove off towards the Wadsworth mansion.

"What news?"

"Somehow or other, the storm lifted off two of the skylights from the roof of the main building and the snow got in the garret and there the heat from the chimney must have melted it, for it ran down—the water did—through the floor and loosened the plaster in several of the dormitories, including ours. I understand all of the plaster has got to come down."

"What a muss!"

"Yes, and it is going to take several weeks to fix it up—they couldn't get any masons right away."