solid,
sharp, ram-nosed craft, setting low in the water; and on it came at
the highest speed to which it could be urged by the powerful muscles
of the strong men at the oars.

"Pull! Pull!" repeated Mr. Parasyte, fiercely, under the madness of
the excitement and the resentment caused by the hard chase I had led
him.

"Down with your helm, or you will smash me!" I shouted, seeing that a
collision was inevitable.

If Mr. Parasyte did not intend to run me down, my warning was too
late. The row-boat came upon me like a whirlwind, striking the Splash
on the beam, below her water-line, and staving in her side as though
she had been a card box. I do not know whether this was a part of the
principal's programme or not; but my boat was most effectually
smashed, and, being heavily ballasted, she went down like a rock. It
was hardly an instant after the shock before I felt her sinking
beneath me. The two men at the oars of the principal's boat, without
any order from Mr. Parasyte,--for he knew not what to do,--backed
water. I could swim like a fish; and as the Splash sank beneath me, I
struck out from the wreck, and was left like a waif floating upon the
glassy surface of the lake.

[Illustration: ERNEST SAILS THE SPLASH AND TAKES A BATH. Page 54.]

CHAPTER V.

IN WHICH ERNEST DECLINES A PROPOSITION.

The battle had been fought and lost to me. Mr. Parasyte, roused to the
highest pitch of anger and excitement, seemed to be determined to
overwhelm me. He was reckless and desperate. He had smashed my boat
apparently with as little compunction as he would snap a dead stick in
his fingers. He was thoroughly in earnest now; and it was fully
demonstrated that he intended to protect the discipline of the
Parkville Liberal Institute, even if it cost a human life for him to
do so.

I was then "lying round loose" in the lake. I had no idea that I was
in any personal peril from the water; all that disturbed me was the
fact that I could not swim fast enough to keep out of the principal's
way. The treacherous breeze had deserted me in the midst of my
triumph, and consigned me to the tender mercies of my persecutor.

I swam away from the boat which had been pursuing me, as though from
an instinct which prompted me to escape my oppressor; but Mr.
Parasyte, without giving any attention to my sinking craft, ordered
his men to pull again; and he steered towards me. Of course a few
strokes enabled him to overtake me. If I had had