ew pepper in my
eyes!"

"You hound, you!" exclaimed Jack, and even though his eyes smarted not a
little from the few grains of pepper that had entered, he managed to
leap upon the bully and give him a swinging crack in the jaw. But then
Werner threw the young captain backward over a rock, and just as Andy
and Spouter put in an appearance he dodged in among some heavy brushwood
and quickly disappeared.

"What did he do?" demanded Spouter.

"He threw something in our eyes. Ruth got the worst of it," answered
Jack. "Go on after him; we'll have to attend to our eyes."

Jack's eyes were bad enough, but Ruth's were much worse. The girl could
hardly keep from screaming with pain, and Jack was just then in no
condition to assist her. Seeing this, Andy and Spouter set up a yell for
some of the others to go after Werner, and then did what they could to
relieve the sufferers.

"Come on down to the lake," advised Spouter. "I guess water will be
about the best thing you can use. Anyhow, you can wash out the pepper if
there is any left."

Both cadets assisted Ruth to the water's edge, and Jack stumbled after
them. Here the eyes, which had already begun to inflame, were washed out
carefully, and then, as Ruth continued to complain of the pain, they
bound up her eyes with their handkerchiefs.

"I think mine will be all right after a while," said Jack. "They smart a
little, but that's all."

"Don't you think Ruth had better see a doctor?" suggested Spouter.

"By all means. We'll get back to town just as soon as we possibly can.
He can probably give her some sort of ointment that will relieve the
pain and take away the inflammation."

By this time the others were coming up. The news that Ruth had received
a dose of pepper in her eyes excited everybody.

"Gabe Werner ought to be put in jail for this," said Martha.

"Isn't it the most dreadful thing you ever heard of!" came from May.

The excitement was so intense that for the time being the boys forgot
all about Bill Glutts. As a consequence when they turned to where they
had left that unworthy, Glutts had disappeared.

"Well, he got a good beating, anyhow," said Randy. "I think that will
teach him to leave our stuff alone after this."

At first some of the boys were inclined to make another hunt for Werner
and Glutts. They knew the bullies must have come to the island in some
kind of a boat.

"If we can find their boat we can take it with us," said Spouter. "Then
the