Dave Porter and His Classmates — Part 109

"Here comes a motor boat!" cried Dave, as a steady put-put! reached his ears.

"It's Nat Poole's boat," said Phil as the craft came into view.

Soon the motor boat came close to them and they saw that Poole and Merwell were on board. The pair were smoking, as usual, but placed their cigarettes on the seats, out of sight.

"Where are you going?" demanded Nat Poole, abruptly.

"Humph! Don't you wish you had this motor boat?"

"A motor boat beats a rowboat all hollow," went on the dudish student.

"Well, you can row if you want to," sneered Poole. "I prefer to let the motor do the work," and then he steered away, giving the rowboat all the wash possible as he passed.

"Wonder where they are going?" said Link Merwell, as he looked back to see if the rowboat had shipped any water from the wash.

[Illustration:"WELL, YOU CAN ROW IF YOU WANT TO," SNEERED POOLE.]

"Perhaps they'll land somewhere. If they do, we can play a trick on 'em, Nat."

"By taking their rowboat when they are out of sight. We can easily tie the boat on behind and tow it to the boathouse. Then those fellows would have to walk back to Oak Hall."

"Good! That would be great!" ejaculated Nat Poole. "I wish they would land and leave the boat to itself for a while."

"Let us watch 'em," suggested Merwell, and to this his crony readily agreed.

It did not take Dave and his friends long to reach Bush Island. Beaching the rowboat, they went ashore and took a walk around.

"It certainly is a nice spot for a picnic," was Phil's comment. "I don't wonder that the town folks come here--and the Sunday schools. I'd like to have a picnic myself here--when it gets a little warmer."

"We might come over some holiday--and bring a basket of grub along," said Plum.

"Oh, we'd have to have something good to eat," put in Dave. "That's three-quarters of the fun."

Much to their surprise, in walking to the center of the island, they ran into Doctor Clay and Mr. Dale. Both had some bits of rocks in their hands and the doctor had a geologist's hammer as well.

"Well, boys, what brought you?" asked the head of the school, pleasantly.

"Oh, we just stopped for fun," answered Dave. "We didn't know you rowed so far."

"We are knocking off a few geological specimens for the school cabinet," answered Doctor Clay. "These are not particularly valuable--but every little helps."