n Bob suddenly leaped forward and hit him a round-handed sort of
blow, right in the back of the neck.

This so enraged him that he forgot directly all about companionship, and
the sort of tacit brotherly compact into which they had entered, and
springing at his assailant he struck him a blow in the chest, which sent
him staggering back.

For a moment or two Bob seemed to be beaten; then he came at him
furiously, the turf was trampled and slippery, and they both went down;
then they got up again, and fought away, giving and taking blows, every
one of which sounded with a loud slap.

That fight seemed as if it would never end, and Dexter felt as if he
were getting the worst of it, consequent upon an inherent dislike to
inflict pain, and his having passed over again and again opportunities
for administering effective blows. At last they joined in what became
little more than a wrestle, and Dexter felt the ground giving way
beneath his feet; the back of his neck hurt him terribly, and he was
about to give in, when the boys began to cheer, Mr Sibery ran up with
the cane, and the doctor came looking stern and frowning, while he saw
Helen Grayson put her hand to her eyes and turn away.

"It's all Bob Dimsted's fault," he cried passionately; and he woke up
with the words upon his lips, and a crick in the back of his neck,
consequent upon the awkward cramped-up position in which he had lain.

It was broad daylight, and for a few moments he was too much confused to
understand where he was; but as he realised it all, and cast a quick
look round in search of danger, he saw that they were hooked on to the
slimy buoy, that twenty yards further there was the hull of an old
schooner, against which they had been nearly capsized the previous
evening, and four or five hundred yards beyond that, slowly paddling
along, was their enemy, looking over his shoulder as if he had seen
them, and meant to make sure of them now.

Dexter hesitated between wakening Bob and setting the boat adrift.

He decided on doing the latter, and hauling on the chain, he drew the
boat right up to the buoy, followed the chain with his hands till he
could touch the hook, and after some difficulty, his efforts reminding
him of the night when he unfastened the chain in the boat-house--he
dragged the hook from where it clung to a great rusty link, and all the
time his eyes were as much fixed upon the man in the boat as upon the
task he had in hand.

Clear at