urmured Fred. "What a miserable outing this has been!"

Fortunately for the cadets, they found the Colby Hall stage in town, and
all piled in and were speedily taken to the school. Here Jack and Randy
went up to their rooms, while the others reported to Colonel Colby.

"Threw pepper into Jack's eyes, did he!" said the colonel wrathfully.
"What a dastardly thing to do! I am glad that Werner is no longer a
pupil at the school. If he were I should feel it my duty to hand him
over to the authorities. You say he did not come back to Haven Point?"

"No, sir," answered Gif. "They motored over to the other side--over to
where the Hasley ammunition factory used to be located."

"I see. Then probably both he and Glutts will take good care not to show
themselves in the vicinity of Haven Point," said Colonel Colby.

And in this surmise the head of the school was correct. Long afterwards
it was learned that Werner had put the motor-boat into the hands of a
man to bring it back to the party of whom it had been hired, and then he
and Glutts had tramped three miles across the country to a railroad
station where they took a train for parts unknown.

The colonel came up to see Jack and have a look at his injured eyes, and
then sent Mrs. Crews up to the young captain to bathe his eyes with the
lotion the doctor had given him and bind them up.

"It's too bad! too bad entirely!" said Mrs. Crews, who was quite a
motherly woman. "I hope your eyes are as well as ever in a day or two."
And then she added with a twinkle in her own optics: "I suppose that is
what you get for running off with that baby carriage."

"If it is, it's a terrible price to pay, Mrs. Crews," answered Jack, and
then told her about Ruth.

"Now that's too bad entirely," said the matron of the school. "Oh, who
would want to harm a dear young lady like Miss Stevenson? It's awful how
wicked some young men are," and she shook her head dolefully.

Jack took it easy for the rest of the day, and one after another his
chums came in to sympathize with him.

"I can't understand a fellow like Werner," remarked Ned Lowe. "If he
isn't careful he'll land in prison."

"What gets me is that a fellow like Glutts keeps on tagging after him,"
put in Dan Soppinger. "Sooner or later Werner is bound to lead Glutts
into something pretty bad."

Jack passed a restless night, not only because his eyes hurt him, but
because he could not get Ruth out of his mind. What if the girl's eyes
s