One bullet buried itself in the
seat beside Tom, while the second plowed its way through the
bottom, near the stern.
"You villain!" cried Dick, and in his excitement hurled his oar at
Dan Baxter, hitting the fellow across the fact with such force
that the bully's nose began to bleed. The shock made Baxter lose
his hold on the pistol and it went over the side of his craft and
sank immediately to the bottom of the lake.
"My, but that was a close shave!" muttered Tom, as he gazed at the
hole through the seat. "A little closer and I would have got it
in the stomach."
A yell now came from Sam, and a shriek from the girls, all of whom
had heard the pistol shots. They were too far away to see the
result of the shooting and feared both Tom and Dick had been
killed or wounded.
As quickly as he could recover from the blow of the oar, Dan
Baxter picked up his own blades, and without paying attention to
the blood which was flowing from his nose, began once again to
pull for the shore.
"Come on, his pistol is gone!" shouted Dick, and then his face
fell. "Confound it, I've thrown away my oar! There it goes!" And
he pointed some distance to their left.
"That isn't the worst of it!" groaned Tom. "Look at that hole in
the bottom, made by that pistol shot. The water is coming in just
as fast as it can."
There was small need to call attention to it, for the water in the
bottom of the boat was already an inch deep.
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