me in sight of the
Parkville Liberal Institute. As it was then the middle of the
forenoon, I did not expect to see any of the students; but, to my
surprise, I discovered large numbers of them on the grounds between
the buildings and the lake. They did not seem to be engaged in the
usual sports, but were gathered in groups on various parts of the
premises. Everything looked as though some important event had
transpired, which the boys were busily engaged in discussing.

I was tempted to pull up towards the Institute, and ascertain what had
occurred, and why the students were not in the school-room, attending
to their studies; but I was fearful that my presence might do
mischief, and I reluctantly continued on my way to the bluff. As
nearly as I could interpret the signs, the boys were in a state of
rebellion, though it was possible that Mr. Parasyte was too ill to
attend to his duties, and in the present excited state of the school,
had deemed it best to give the boys a holiday.

The bearings of the spot where the Splash sank had been carefully
noted, after my capture, by the principal and his men, and without
much difficulty I found the place. The bed of this part of the lake
was composed of gravel, washed down by the continual wearing away of
the bluff; and as the water was clear, I could see the bottom. The
Splash lay in about twenty-five feet of water--as I found by measuring
with a fish-line. She sat nearly upright on her keel, and the tops of
her masts were not more than a foot below the surface.

How could I coax her to the top of the water? The Splash had been
father and mother to me, and I loved her. In my loneliness I wanted
her companionship. It did not look like an easy task to raise her; and
yet the most difficult things become easy when we hit upon the right
method of doing them. The Splash was ballasted with ten fifty-sixes,
each with a ring for lifting it. They were deposited on the bottom of
the boat, where I could remove a portion of them when I had a large
party to take out. I made up my mind, that with a long pole, having a
hook on the end of it, I could fasten to the rings of the fifty-sixes,
and raise them, one by one, to the surface; and when the ballast was
removed, the boat would rise of herself.

Satisfied that this idea was a practical one, I started for Parkville
to procure the pole. As I took the oars, I discovered that one of the
Institute boats, which I had not before noticed, was pulli