one."

"You come back here!" yelled Ham Spink, in great rage.

"If you don't come back with our boats I'll have you arrested,"
put in Carl Dudder.

"Do so, and we'll have your whole crowd arrested for stealing our
outfit," came from Giant.

"And for trying to burn down our cabin," added Shep.

"I didn't burn down your cabin," said Ham, hastily.

"Well, somebody did."

"It wasn't me," said Carl, and he looked at Ike Akley as he spoke.
That boy shifted uneasily but said nothing.

While the talking was going on Jack Voss had quietly slipped off
a portion of his clothing. Now he made a leap into the lake and
swam rapidly for the raft.

"Get back there---unless you want to get hurt!" cried Snap, who
saw the movement. But Voss kept on swimming and soon gained the
raft. Then he took hold of the rope that connected it with the
canoe, untied the raft, and swam with the end of the rope back
towards shore.

"That's the way to do it!" sang out Ham. "Bring the rope in and
we'll pull them back!"

"Pull! pull!" shouted Snap, and he and his chums did their best
to send the two rowboats and the canoe away from the shore. But
the boy in the water had gained a good footing on the rocks and
he held fast.

"Come in here and help me!" he panted, and Ham and Carl prepared
to do so. All had a good hold of the rope when something unexpected
happened.

Taking out his pocketknife Shep leaned over the rear of the canoe
and severed the rope that had been dragging the raft. As the
rope parted down went the boys holding on with a loud splash!
All disappeared beneath the surface of the lake and each came
up with his mouth full of water. In the meantime, relieved of
the weight of the clumsy raft, the two rowboats and the canoe
shot out into the lake a distance of a hundred feet or more.
There our friends rested, wondering what the enemy would try to
do next.

In the darkness the water seemed extra cold, and the lads who had
received a ducking could not help but shiver as they crawled to the
shore. They had gained possession of the raft, but they did not
appear to be very happy over it.

"Are you coming back with our boat or not?" demanded Ham Spink,
after an awkward pause, during which our friends remained silent.

"Why should we come back?" answered Snap. "You treated us very
shabbily."

"Well, didn't you deserve it?" came from Carl Dudder. "You shot
off our fireworks on the Fourth of July. We heard all about it."