“Never mind the clothes,” Bobby told him gratefully.  “We knew those two were mixed up in this.”

They started cautiously, mindful of Bob’s instructions not to make a noise, and succeeded, after ten or fifteen minutes creeping, in getting within hearing distance of the despoilers.

“You girls will have to tend to your friends,” grinned Bob.  “You can’t expect us to discipline them.  But we’ll give the boys something to remember!”

The party spread out, and at his signal whistle they sprang forward, shouting like wild Indians.  Straight for the oak tree they charged and closed in on the group beneath it.  Those seated there rose to their feet in genuine alarm.

“Rush ’em!” shouted Bob.

Pushing and scrambling, those in the attacking party began to force the others down the narrow path.  The boys were struggling desperately and the girls were resisting as best they could and some were crying.

“Let us out!” wept Ada.  “Ow!  You’re stepping on me!  Let us out!”

She kicked blindly, and fought with her hands.  The first person she grasped was Ruth, who was nearly choked before she could jerk her fur collar free.

“I will get out!” panted Ada.  “Push, girls!”

The circle opened for them, and following Ada they dashed through straight into a tangle of blackberry bushes.  Half mad with rage and blind from excitement they ploughed their way through, fighting the bushes as though they were flesh and blood arms held out to stop them.  When they were clear of the thicket their clothes were in tatters and their faces and hands scratched and bleeding cruelly.

There was nothing for them to do but to go back to the school and try to invent a plausible story for their condition.  All the cold cream in the handsome glass jars on Ada’s dressing table could not heal her smarting face and thoughts that night.

Bob and his friends continued on their resolute way, pushing the luckless cadets before them.  Once out of the woods, they seized them by the jacket collars and rushed them down to the lake and into the icy waters.  They generously allowed them to come out after a few minutes immersion, and the sorry, dripping crew began the long run that would bring them to dry clothes and, it is to be hoped, mended ways.

“Now the potatoes are done,” Bob reported, after examining the oven hollowed out and lined with stones.  “Why not combine forces and eat?”

Every one was famished, and they found plenty of good things left in the boxes.  The uninvited guests could not have had those packages open long before they were overtaken.

After a hearty picnic meal the boys helped the girls gather up their branches and walked with them to the point where their boats were tied.  They had rowed over because of the attraction of the woods—­Salsette being located on the flat side of the lake—­and now they must go back for the afternoon drill that was never omitted even for such an important occasion as the colonel’s birthday.