"Then it must have been a deliberate attempt on Werner"s part to blind Jack!" cried Andy. "Oh, what a pity we didn"t catch him! Then we could have handed him over to the authorities."
When the boys and girls reached one of the docks at Haven Point Andy and Randy ran on ahead and speedily procured a taxicab. Into this Ruth and Jack were hustled, and then Randy, sitting beside the driver, directed him to take the sufferers to the nearest doctor.
At the first physician"s house they learned that the doctor was away for the afternoon. Then they hurried to another part of the town, and there found Doctor Borden, an older man who had occasionally come to both the girls" school and the military academy.
"Pepper in your eyes! Is it possible!" said the old physician. "Come into my office at once. Sometimes that sort of thing is very serious."
"You wait on the lady first, Doctor," said Jack. "She is by far the worse off."
"Very well," said the doctor. "Come this way," and he led Ruth into his private office.
CHAPTER XIV
BOUND FOR HOME
While the doctor was attending Ruth the others of the party arrived at the physician"s residence. They found Jack walking up and down in the anteroom while Randy sat in a chair doing what he could to comfort his cousin.
"What does the doctor say about Ruth?" questioned May quickly.
"He hasn"t come out yet. They are in there," and Randy pointed with his hand to the inner office.
"Oh, Jack, how do your eyes feel?" questioned Martha, coming up and gazing earnestly at her brother.
"To tell the truth, they don"t feel very good, Martha," he answered.
"But I won"t mind that so much if only Ruth gets out of it."
The boys and girls sat down, some in the outer office and some on the piazza of the doctor"s residence. They had to wait nearly a quarter of an hour before the door of the inner office opened.
"I think the young lady will feel much better by to-morrow," said Doctor Borden, as he led Ruth forth. He had placed a new and heavier bandage over her eyes. "I"ll call at the school to see her the first thing to-morrow morning. You need do nothing to the eyes until that time." He looked at the other girls. "I presume you young ladies are with Miss Stevenson?"
"We are," several of them answered.
"Then there ought not to be any trouble about getting her back to the school in safety," and the physician smiled faintly.
"I"ll get a taxicab," said Randy, and lost no time in doing so.
"I don"t want to go back to the school until Jack has been taken care of," declared Ruth. "I want to know just how bad off he is. The doctor tells me he doesn"t think my eyes will be permanently injured." She was trying to bear up bravely, even though her eyes hurt her a good deal.
But what the doctor had put on them was gradually allaying the pain.
Jack entered the inner office, and the doctor made a thorough examination of each eye.
"You were lucky to get off so well, Rover," he announced at the conclusion of the examination. "I"ll give you a lotion to put on to-night before retiring, and I"ll give you a treatment of it now. Then bathe the eyes again in the morning, and I think in a day or two you will be as well as ever."
"And what about Miss Stevenson"s eyes?" questioned the young captain anxiously.
"I can"t say very much about them as yet. Of course, I didn"t want to worry her, so I did not tell her how bad it might be. Still, I"ll know more about it to-morrow morning."
This was as much as Doctor Borden would say. Jack received the treatment and was given a small bottle filled with the lotion, and then, after settling with the physician, he was ready to leave.
"Do you want any of us to go to the school with you?" he asked of Ruth and the other girls.
"No, Jack; it won"t do any good," answered the blindfolded girl. And as he took her hand and pressed it warmly, she added: "Please don"t worry about me."
"But I"m going to, Ruth," he answered in a low tone. "Somehow, I feel that your injury is my fault."
"Nonsense! It was Gabe Werner"s fault entirely! That boy ought really to be in jail! But, Jack, you are quite sure that your eyes are all right?"
she went on anxiously.
"Yes, Ruth. The doctor says that I"ll be as well as ever in a day or two. You are the only one to be worried over. I"ll tell Martha to telephone to me to-morrow just as soon as the doctor has seen you." And so it was arranged.
Randy had obtained a large taxicab and into this all the girls crowded, taking care, however, to make Ruth as comfortable as possible on the rear seat. Then the girls of Clearwater Hall started for the school.
"I"ll bet Miss Garwood will be surprised when she sees Ruth," was Andy"s comment, as he watched the girls riding away. Miss Garwood was the head of the girls" school.
"Poor Ruth," murmured 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 pa.s.sed 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 should be permanently injured? The mere thought of such a catastrophe horrified him.