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The High School Boys' Canoe Club, a fiction by H. Irving Hancock |
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Chapter 11. All Ready To Race, But----- |
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_ CHAPTER XI. ALL READY TO RACE, BUT----- On the landing stage at the Hotel Pleasant a group of girls stood on the following Tuesday morning. "Wouldn't Dick and Dave and the rest of their crowd enjoy this lake if they were here with their canoe?" asked Laura Bentley. "Yes," agreed Belle Meade. "And very likely they'd win some more laurels for Gridley High School, too. Preston High School has a six-paddle canoe here now, and Trentville High School will send a canoe crew here in a few days. Oh, how I wish the boys could manage to get here with their war canoe!" "It seems too bad, doesn't it," remarked Clara Marshall, "that some of the nicest boys in our high school are so poor that they can't do the ordinary things they would like to do?" "Some of the boys in Dick & Co. won't be poor when they've been out of school ten years," Laura predicted, with a glowing face. "I don't believe any of them will be poor by that time," agreed Clara. "But it must hurt them a good deal, just now, not to have more money." "I wish they could be here now," sighed Laura. "You want to see Gridley High School win more laurels in sports and athletics?" asked another girl. "Yes," assented Miss Bentley, "and I'd like to see the boys here, anyway, whether they won a canoe race or not." "There's a crew canoe putting off from the other side now!" announced Belle Meade. "That's probably Preston High School," said Laura. "Have the Preston boys a war canoe, too?" asked one of the girls, shading her eyes with her hand, and staring hard at the canoe across the lake, some three quarters of a mile away. "Someone at the hotel said the Preston boys have a cedar and canvas canoe," Laura replied. "That's a birch-bark canoe over yonder," declared the girl who was studying the distant craft so intently. "I can tell by the way the sun shines on the wet places along the sides of the canoe." The other girls were now looking eagerly. "Wait a moment," begged Clara, and, turning, sped lightly to the boathouse near by. She returned with a telescope. "Hurry!" begged Laura Bentley as Clara started to focus the telescope. "You take it," proposed Clara generously, passing the glass to Laura. Laura soon had the telescope focused. "Hurrah, girls!" she cried. "That's the war canoe from Gridley, and Dick & Co. are in it." She passed the glass to Belle Meade, who took an eager peep through it. "Hurrah! Gridley High School! Hurrah!" chorused the other girls. Their voices must have traveled across the water, for Prescott, at the stern of the war canoe, suddenly gave a couple of strokes with his wet, flashing paddle, that swung the prow around, driving the canoe straight in the direction of the landing float. "Hurrah! Gridley High School! Hurrah!" called the girls again, giving the high school yell of the girls of that institution of learning. In answer a series of whoops came over the water. "They're coming at racing speed!" cried Laura. "Which shows how devoted the boys of our high school are to the young ladies," laughed Belle. Within a few minutes the canoe was quite close, and coming on swiftly. From the young paddlers went up the vocal volley: "T-E-R-R-O-R-S-! Wa-ar! Fam-ine! Pesti-i-lence! That's us! That's us! G-R-I-D-L-E-Y-----H.S.! Rah! rah! rah! Gri-dley!" "Hurrah! Gridley! Hurrah!" answered the girls. "Whoop! Wow! wow! _Whoo-oo-oo-oop_! Indians! Cut-throats! Lunch-robbers! Bad, bad, bad! Speed Club! Glee Club! Canoe Club---Gridley H.S.!" volleyed back Dick & Co. It was the first time that they had let out their canoe yell in public. They performed it lustily, with zest and pride. "Splendid!" cried some of the girls, clapping their hands. Though it was not quite plain whether they referred to the new yell, or to the skilful manner in which the boys now brought their craft in. At a single "Ugh!" from Prescott they ceased paddling. Dick, with two or three turns of his own paddle, brought the canoe in gently against the float. Now Dave and Dick held the canoe to the float with their paddles while the other young Indians, one at a time, stepped out. Those who had landed now bent over, holding the gunwale gently while Dave, first, and then Dick, stepped to the float. "Up with it, braves! Out with it!" cried Dick. The canoe, grasped by twelve hands, was drawn up on to the float, where its wet hull lay glistening in the bright July sunlight. "You never told us you were coming up here!" cried Laura Bentley, half reproachfully. "If you're bored at seeing us," proposed Dick, smilingly, "we'll launch our bark and speed away again." "Of course we're not bored," protested Belle Meade. "But why couldn't you tell us you were coming?" "We weren't sure of it until late Sunday afternoon," Dave assured her. "Some of us had to do some coaxing at home before we got permission." "How did you get that big canoe here?" Clara Marshall asked. "Don't you see the gasoline engine and the folded white wings inside the canoe?" asked Tom Reade gravely. "We can use it either as a canoe or as an airship." Three or four of the girls, Clara at their head, stepped forward to look for engine and "wings," then stepped back, laughing. "You're such a fibber, Tom Reade!" declared Susie Sharp. "A falsifier?" demanded Tom indignantly. "Nothing like it, Miss Susie! The worst you can say of me is that I have the imagination of an inventor." "Tweedledum and tweedledee!" laughed Clara. "It does seem good to see you boys up here," Belle went on with enthusiasm. "How long are you going to stay?" "In other words, how soon are you going to be rid of us?" asked Danny Grin. "Are you speaking for yourself, Mr. Dalzell?" Belle returned tartly. "I inquired more particularly about the others." Dan quite enjoyed the laugh on himself, though he replied quickly: "The others have to go home when I do. They had to promise that they would do so." "We have been camping at Lake Pleasant for two days," Dick explained. "We came up herewith our canoe and camping outfit on Billy Heckler's wagon. We brought along Harry's bull-dog to watch the camp. As to how long we'll stay, that depends." "Depends upon what?" Clara asked. "On how long our funds hold out," Prescott explained, with a frank smile. "You see, all our Wall Street investments have turned out badly." "I'm truly sorry to hear that young men of your tender age should have been drawn into the snares of Wall Street," retorted Clara dryly. "So, having had some disappointments in high finance," Prescott went on, "we can stay only as long as our _dog fund_ lasts." "Dog fund?" asked Susie Sharp, looking bewildered. "Dick is talking about the money we made in bark," Greg Holmes explained readily. "Then you really expect to be here a fortnight?" Laura asked. "Yes; if we don't develop too healthy appetites and eat up our funds before the fortnight is over," Dick assented. "Oh, you mustn't do that," urged Belle. "Mustn't do what?" Dave asked. "Don't eat up your funds too quickly," Belle explained. "Even if you do," suggested Susie Sharp, teasingly, "you won't need to hurry home. We girls know where there are several fine fields of farm truck that can be robbed late at night. Potatoes, corn, watermelons-----" "It's really very nice of you girls to offer to rob the farmers' fields to find provender for us," returned Greg. "But I am afraid that we boys have been too honestly brought up to allow ourselves to become receivers of stolen-----" "Greg Holmes!" Susie Sharp interrupted, her face turning very red. "No; it's nice of you, of course," Greg went on tantalizingly, "but we'd rather have a short vacation, that we can tell the whole truth about when we go home." "You boys may starve, if you like," retorted Susie, with a toss of her head. "I'm through with trying to help you out." "You know, Susie," Danny Grin went on maliciously, "farmers' fields are often guarded by dogs. Just think how you would feel, trying to climb a tree on a dark night, with a bulldog's teeth just two inches from the heels of your shoes." "Who are up here, in the way of canoe folks?" Dick asked Laura. She told him about the Preston High School boys and the coming crew from Trentville High School. "We ought to be able to get up some good races," remarked Dave. "You'll disgrace Gridley High School, though, unless you drop Danny Grin and Greg Holmes," retorted Susie. "Now, don't be too hard on us, Miss Sharp," tantalized Greg, "just because we tried to dissuade you from committing a crime with the otherwise laudable intention of feeding us when our money runs out." "If you will only leave Greg and Dan out," proposed Clara, "you may call on any two of us girls that you want to take their places in the canoe on race days." "Whew!" muttered Dick suddenly. "What's wrong?" demanded Belle. "Don't mind Prescott," urged Tom Reade. "Just as we left shore on the other side someone threw a stone into the lake and raised a succession of ripples, which rocked the canoe a bit. So---well, you've all heard of sea sickness, haven't you?" "We might feel worse than sea sick," Dick went on, "if we had raced, and then suddenly remembered that we have no authorization from Gridley High School to represent the school in sporting events." Tom's face fell instantly. Dave Darrin, too, looked suddenly very serious. "What's the matter?" asked Laura anxiously. "Why, you see," Dick went on, "although we are sure enough Gridley High School boys, we haven't gone through the simple little formality of getting our canoe club recognized by the High School Athletic Council." "You can race just the same, can't you?" asked Susie Sharp, looking much concerned. "We may race all we wish, and no one will stop us-----" "Then it's all right," said Susie, with an air of conviction. "But we simply cannot race in the name of Gridley High School." "Oh, but that's too bad!" cried Clara. "You can write to someone in the Council and secure the necessary authorization, can't you?" asked Laura. "Yes, we can write; but it's another matter to get action by the Council in time," Dick responded. "You see, it's the vacation season. There are seven members of the Athletic Council and I believe that all seven of the members are at present away from Gridley. Likely as not they are in seven different states, and the secretary may not even know where most of them are." Eight Gridley High School girls suddenly looked anxious. They had been rejoicing in the prospect of "rooting" for a victorious Gridley crew here at Lake Pleasant. Now the whole thing seemed to have fallen flat. "The thing to do---though it doesn't look very promising---is to-----" began Tom Reade, then came to dead stop. "How provoking you can be, when you want to, Tom," pouted Clara. "Why don't you go on?" "Because I found myself stuck fast in a new quagmire of thought," Reade confessed humbly. "What I was about to say is that the first thing to do is to write to Mr. William Howgate, secretary of the Gridley High School Athletic Council of the Alumni Association. But that was where the thought came in and stabbed me with a question mark. Mr. Howgate is out of town. Does anyone here know his address?" Fourteen Gridley faces looked blank until Dick at last remarked: "I suppose a letter sent to his address in Gridley would reach him. It would be forwarded." "Thank goodness for one quick-witted boy in Gridley High School!" uttered Belle. "Of course a letter would be forwarded." "And there isn't any time to be lost, either," urged Susie. "Girls, we'll take Dick right up to the hotel now, and sit and watch him while he writes and mails that letter." "Right!" came a prompt chorus. "Come along, boys," added Susie, as the girls started away with their willing captive. "Let Dave go," spoke up Tom. "Some of us must stay behind and stand by our canoe. It's valuable---to us!" So Darrin was shoved forward. He and Prescott had walked a few yards when the latter stopped in sudden dismay. "What's the matter?" asked Clara. "We are dressed all right for our own camp," Dick replied, glancing down at his flannel shirt, old trousers and well-worn pair of canvas "sneakers" on his feet. "We didn't feel out of place in the canoe, either. But the hotel is a fashionable place, and we can't go up in this sort of rig, to discredit you girls. For that matter, just think how smart you all look yourselves, dressed in the daintiest of summer frocks. While we look like---well, I won't say the word." "If our Gridley boys are ashamed to be seen with us just because they're in rough camp attire," said Laura gently, "then we haven't as much reason to be proud of them as we thought we had." "I'm answered," Dick admitted humbly. "Lead on, then. We'll take comfort from our company, and hold our heads as high as we can." On to the wide hotel porch, where many well-dressed people sat, the girls conducted the two delegates from the canoe club. However, none of the guests on the porch paid any particular attention to Dick and Dave. Both campers and canoers were common enough at this summer resort. It was Clara who led the way into a parlor, in one corner of which there was a writing desk. Dick seated himself at the desk, and after a moment's thought began to write, then promptly became absorbed in his task. Dave and the girls seated themselves at a little distance, chatting in low tones. There were other guests of the Hotel Pleasant in the parlor, while still others passed in or out from time to time. One young man, quite fashionably dressed, stepped into the parlor, looked about him, then started as his glance fell on Dick and Dave. It was Fred Ripley. "Hello!" muttered Ripley in a voice just loud enough to carry, as he stood looking at Dick and Dave. "I thought I saw, out in the grounds, a sign that read: 'No tramps, beggars or peddlers allowed on these grounds or in the hotel.'" Dick's fingers trembled so that he dropped the pen, though he tried to conceal his feelings. Dave Darrin's fists clenched tightly, though he had the good sense to realize that to start a fight in the parlor was out of the question. Ripley's remark had been loud enough to attract the attention of nearly every person in the big room toward Dick and Dave. _ |
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