Hiram Driggs refused to accept any money for his trouble in raising the canoe.
"I won't charge you anything, unless upsetting your craft becomes a troublesome habit," the boat builder declared. "Remember, I'm a big winner on our birch bark trade."
Within the next four days all of the girls invited had been able to take a trip up the river and back.
By this time Dick & Co. had fully acquired the mastery of their canoe. They had had no more upsets, for "Big Chief Prescott," of this new Gridley tribe of young Indians, had succeeded in putting through some rules governing their conduct when the chums were out in their canoe. One of these rules was that no one should change his position in the craft except the steersman at the stern. Others would not look about at a hail unless informed by the steersman that they might do so.
Not by any means did Dick do all the steering of the craft. Each of his chums had a frequent turn at it, and at the other positions in the canoe, until all were expert at any part of the work.
"But there is one big drawback about having this canoe," Greg remarked one day.
"What's that?" asked Dave.
"There are no canoes to race with."
"There are up at Lake Pleasant," Dick replied.
"But we can't take the canoe up there," Tom Reade objected. "It's twenty-four miles from Gridley."
"Couldn't we walk there and carry the canoe on our shoulders?" suggested Dave.
While they were discussing this, the canoe lay on the float., whence they were soon to take it into the boathouse.
"We can try it now," suggested Dick.
Getting a good hold, Dick & Co. raised the war canoe to their several shoulders. They found they could accomplish the feat, though it wasn't an easy one.
"We'll have to give up that idea," Tom remarked rather mournfully. "Without a doubt we could carry the canoe to Lake Pleasant, if we had time enough. But I don't believe we could make five miles a day with it. So to get the canoe up to Lake Pleasant on our shoulders, and then back again would take over two weeks."
Dick was unusually thoughtful as the boys strolled from Driggs' yard up to Main Street. Lake Pleasant was a fine place to visit in summer. He knew that, for he had been there on one occasion.
On one side of the lake were two hotels, each with roomy recreation grounds, with piers and plenty of boats. On this same side there were four or five boarding houses for people of more moderate means.
Boating was the one great pastime at Lake Pleasant. Indeed, a canoe club had been started there by young men of means, and the boathouse stood at the water's edge on the Hotel Pleasant grounds.
Then, too, there may have been another reason for Dick's desire to go to Lake Pleasant. The following week Dr. and Mrs. Bentley were going to take charge of a party of Gridley high school girls, at Lake Pleasant, and Laura and Belle Meade would be of the number.
"We'd cut a fine dash at Lake Pleasant," Dave Darrin laughed. "Which hotel would we honor with our patronage? Terms, from fourteen to twenty-five dollars a week. We've about enough money to stay at one of the hotels for about two hours, or at a boarding house for about nine hours. When shall we start—-and how shall we get there with our canoe?"
"We have about fifty dollars in our treasury, from the birch bark business," Dick mused aloud, "but that won't help us any, will it?"
"Why, how much would it cost to have the canoe taken up there on a wagon Danny Grin asked.
"Not less than fifteen dollars each way," Dick replied.
"We'll give it up," said Tom. "There's nothing in the Lake Pleasant idea for us."
"I hadn't any idea we could do anything else but give it up,"Dave observed, though he spoke rather gloomily.
Dick was still thinking hard, though he could think of no plan that would enable them to make a trip to Lake Pleasant and remain there for some days.
It was a Saturday afternoon. It had been a hot day, yet out on the water, busy with their sport, and acquiring a deep coating of sunburn, the boys had not noticed the heat especially. Now they mopped their faces as they strolled almost listlessly along the street.
"I want to go to Lake Pleasant," grumbled Danny Grin.
"Going to-night, or to-morrow morning?" teased Greg.
"If I had an automobile I'd start after supper," Dalzell informed them.
"But not having a car you'll wait till you're grown up and have begun to earn money of your own," laughed Harry Hazelton.
"What do you say, Dick?" asked Dan Dalzell anxiously.
"I say that I'm going to put in a few days or a fortnight at Lake Pleasant if I can possibly find the way," Dick retorted, with a sudden energy that was quite out of keeping with the heat of the afternoon.
"Hurray!" from Danny Grin.
"That's what I call the right talk," added Darrin.
"How will the rest of us get along with the canoe while you're gone?" questioned Tom Reade.
"You don't suppose I'd go to Lake Pleasant without the rest of the crowd?" Dick retorted rather scornfully.
"Then you're going to take us all with you, and the canoe, too?"Tom demanded, betraying more interest.
"If I can find the way to do it, or if any of you fellows can," was young Prescott's answer.
That started another eager volley of talk. Yet soon all of them save Dick looked quite hopeless.
The railroad ran only within eight miles of the lake. From the railway station the rest of the journey was usually made by automobile stages, while baggage went up on automobile trucks. Charges were high on this automobile line up into the hills. To send the canoe by rail, and then transfer it to an automobile truck would cost more than to transport it direct from Gridley to the lake by wagon.
"We can talk about it all we want," sighed Tom, "but I don't see the telephone poles on the golden road to Lake Pleasant."
"We've got to find the way if we can," Dick retorted firmly."Let's all set about it at once."
"When do we start?" teased Tom.
"Monday morning early," laughed Dave. "And this is late Saturday afternoon."
Dan Dalzell was not in his usually jovial spirits. His heart was as much set on going as was Dick's, but Dan now felt that the pleasure jaunt was simply impossible.
"Let's meet on Main Street after supper," Dick proposed. "Perhaps by that time we'll have found an idea or two."
"If we can find a pocketbook or two lying in the Main Street gutter, that will be something more practical than finding ideas," Tom replied with a doleful shake of his head. "But perhaps we'll really find the pocketbooks. Such things are told of in story books, anyway, you know."
"If we find any pocketbooks," smiled Dick, "our first concern after that will be to find the owners of them. So that stunt wouldn't do us much good, even if it happened."
Then the boys separated and went to their respective homes for supper. But Dick Prescott did not eat as much as usual. He was too preoccupied. He knew to a penny the amount that was in the treasury of their little canoe club, for Mr. Prescott was holding the money subject to his son's call. Certainly the money in the treasury wouldn't bring about a vacation at Lake Pleasant.
Just as soon as the meal was over Dick went out, strolling back to Main Street.
"'Lo, Dick!"
Prescott turned to recognize and nod to a barefooted boy, rather frayed as to attire. Mart Heckler had been two classes below him when Prescott had attended Central Grammar School. Now Mart was waiting for the fall to enter the last grade at Central, which was also to be his last year at school. Mart's parents were poor, and this lad, in another year, must join the army of toilers.
"You must be having a lot of fun this vacation, Dick," remarkedMart rather wistfully. "Lot of fun in that war canoe, isn't there?"
"Yes; there is, Mart. If we see you down at the float one of these days we'll ask you out for a little ride."
"Will you?" asked Mart, his eyes snapping. "Fine! Now that you fellows have your canoe I don't suppose you'll be trying to go away anywhere this summer. Too much fun at home, eh?"
"I don't know about that," said young Prescott wistfully. "Just now we're planning to try to take the canoe up to Lake Pleasant for a while."
"Bully place, the lake," said Mart approvingly. "I'm going up there Monday. Going to be gone for a couple of days."
"How are you going to get there?" Dick asked with interest.
"You know my Uncle Billy, don't you?" asked Mart. "He's the teamster, you know. He's going to Lake Pleasant to get a load of furniture that the installment folks are taking back from a new boarding house up there. He said I could go up with him. We'll carry our food, and sleep over Monday night in the wagon."
Dick halted suddenly, trembling with eagerness. He began to feel that he had scented a way of getting the canoe up to the lake in the hills!
"Your uncle will be at his regular stand to-night, won't he?" queriedDick Prescott.
"I expect so," Mart agreed. "What's the matter? Do you want to go along with us? I guess Uncle Billy would be willing."
At this moment Dick heard a group of younger boys laughing as they strolled along the street.
Following their glances, Dick saw in the street what is commonly known in small towns as the "hoss wagon"—-a vehicle built for the purpose of removing dead horses.
"There goes Fred Ripley's bargain!" chuckled one of the boys.
At that moment Fred Ripley himself turned the corner into MainStreet.
"And there's Rip himself," laughed another boy. "Hey, Rip! How's horse flesh?"
But Fred, flushing angrily, hurried along. "What's up?" asked young Prescott as the group of boys came along.
"Haven't you heard about Fred's pony?" asked one of the crowd.
"I know he bought a pony," Dick answered.
"Yes; but Squire Ripley had a veterinary go down to the Ripley stable this afternoon, and look the pony over," volunteered the ready informant. "Vet said that the pony would be worth a dollar or two for his hide, but wouldn't be worth anything alive. So Squire Ripley ordered the pony shot, and that cart is taking the poor beast away."
"Is your canoe going to be a winner?" asked another boy.
"We expect so," Dick nodded.
"Great joke on Rip, isn't it?" grinned another.
"I can't say that his misfortune makes me especially happy," Prescott answered gravely.
"Well, I'm glad he was 'stung' on his pony," continued the other boy. "Rip is no good!"
"There is an old saying to the effect that, if we got our just deserts we'd all of us be more or less unhappy," smiled Dick.
"Rip won't be so chesty with us smaller boys," predicted another grammar school boy. "If he tries it on, all we've got to do is to ask him, 'How's horse flesh, Rip?'"
In spite of himself Dick could not help laughing at the thought of the mortification of the lawyer's son when he should be teased on so tender a point. Then Dick asked:
"Mart, is your uncle at his stand now?"
"I reckon he is," nodded Heckler.
"Let's go over there and see him."
"You're going to try to take the ride with us, then?" asked Mart.
"I think so."
"Bully!" glowed Mart, who, like most of the younger boys of Gridley, was a great admirer of the leader of Dick & Co.
Billy Heckler, a man of thirty, was, indeed, to be found at his stand.
"Dick wants to go up to Lake Pleasant with us on Monday," Mart began, but Dick quickly added:
"I understand, Mr. Heckler, that you're going up to the lake without a load."
"Yes," nodded the truckman.
"Then it struck me that perhaps I could arrange with you to take up our canoe and some bedding, and also let the fellows ride on the wagon."
"How many of you are there?" inquired Billy Heckler.
"The usual six," Dick smiled. "If you can do it, how much would you charge us?"
"Fifteen dollars," replied the driver, after a few moments' thought.
Dick's face showed his disappointment at the answer.
"I'm afraid that puts us out of it, then," he said quietly. "I had hoped that, as you are going up without a load, anyway, you might be willing to take our outfit up for a few dollars. It would be that much to the good for you, wouldn't it?"
"Hardly," Billy replied. "Carrying a load takes more out of a team than an empty wagon does. You can see that, can't you?"
"Ye-es," Dick nodded thoughtfully. "But, you see, we're only boys, and we can't talk money quite like men yet."
"Some men can't do anything with money except talk about it," Billy Heckler grinned. "Well, I'd like to oblige you boys. What's your offer, then?"
"We don't feel that we could pay more than five dollars," Dick answered promptly.
"No money in that," replied Billy Heckler, picking up a piece of wood and whittling.
"No; I'm afraid there isn't," Dick admitted. "I guess our crowd will have to content itself with staying at home and using the canoe on the river."
"The river is a good place," Heckler argued. "Why aren't you all content to stay at home and use your canoe on the river?"
"Because," smiled young Prescott, "I suppose it's human nature to want to get away somewhere in the summer. Then we understand that there are other crew canoes on Lake Pleasant. Of course, now we've spent a few days in the canoe, we believe we're real canoe racers."
"If you could call it ten dollars," Heckler proposed after a few minutes, "that might——-"
"The crowd hasn't money enough," Dick replied. "You see, we've got to get the canoe back, too. Then we'll have to use money to feed ourselves up there. I don't see how we can go if we have to spend more than five dollars to get there."
Billy Heckler started to shake his head, but Mart, getting behindDick, made vigorous signals.
"We-ell, I suppose I can do it," agreed Heckler at last. "There's nothing in the job, but I can remember that I used to be a boy myself. We'll call it a deal, then, shall we?"
"I'll have to see the other fellows first," Prescott answered. "I'll hustle, though. The fellows will all have to get permission at home, too, you know."
"Let me know any time before six to-morrow night," proposed Billy. "It must be understood, though, that if I get a paying freight order to haul to the lake between now and starting time, then my deal with you must be off."
"Of course," Dick agreed. "And thank you, Mr. Heckler. Now,I'll hustle away and see the other fellows."
Dick sped promptly away. When he reached Main Street he found the other fellows there. Dick gleefully detailed the semi-arrangement that he had made.
"Great!" cried Dave.
"Grand, if we can all square matters at home," Tom Reade nodded. "Well, fellows, you all know what we've got to do now. We'll meet again at this same place. All do your prettiest coaxing at home. It spoils the whole thing if anyone of us gets held up from the trip. Did you hear about Rip's pony, Dick?"
"Yes."
"Served him ri—-" began Greg Holmes, but stopped suddenly.
For Fred Ripley, turning the corner, saw Dick & Co., and carefully walked around them to avoid having to pass through the little crowd.
"Speaking of angels——-!" said Dave Darrin dryly.
"Don't tease him, Darry," urged Dick in a very low voice.
But Fred heard all their remarks. His fists clenched as he walked on with heightened color.
"It's just meat to them to see me so badly sold on the pony, and to know that my father ordered the animal shot and carted away!" muttered young Ripley fiercely. "Of course the whole town knows of it by this time. Prescott's muckers and a few others will be in high glee over my misfortune, but, anyway, I'll have the sympathy of all the decent people in Gridley!"
Fred's ears must have burned that night, however, for the majority of the Gridley boys were laughing over his poor trade in horse flesh.
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!" announcedBelle 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 toLaura.
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! CanoeClub—-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?" askedDanny 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'swagon. 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 ourdog fundlasts."
"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 dropDanny 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 GridleyHigh School boys, we haven't gone through the simple little formalityof getting our canoe club recognized by the High School AthleticCouncil."
"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.
Laura Bentley bit her lips. She flushed, then started to rise, but Susie Sharp gently pushed her back into her seat, then crossed to an electric button in the frame of a window.
A bell-boy promptly answered Susie's ring.
"Will you kindly ask the manager to come here at once?" askedSusie.
As it happened, the manager was no further away than the corridor.He came in quickly, bowing.
"Mr. Wright," asked Susie coldly, nodding toward Fred Ripley, who stood leaning over a chair, smiling insolently, "will you kindly have this objectionable person removed? He is annoying our guests."
In a twinkling Fred's insolent smile vanished. Susie's request had not been voiced in a loud tone, but it had been heard by perhaps twenty-five strangers in the parlor.
Ripley's face paled, briefly, then became fiery red. He stood erect, stammered inarticulately, then looked as though he were furtively seeking some hiding place.
"I think, Miss Sharp," replied the hotel manager, with another bow, "that the young man is on the point of leaving, and that the services of a porter will not be needed."
Fred tried to look unconcerned; he fished mentally for something smart to say. For once, however, his self assurance had utterly deserted him.
"Oh—-well!" he muttered, then turned and left the parlor in the midst of a deep silence that completed his utter humiliation.
"Mr. Wright," said Laura, "I want you to know Mr. Darrin, one of our most popular high school boys in Gridley. Dick, can't you come over here a moment? Mr. Wright, Mr. Prescott. Our two friends, Mr. Wright, have brought up a racing canoe. They are camping across the lake. We hope they will arrange for races with the Preston and Trentville High School Canoe Clubs."
"I am most glad to meet your friends," said the manager, shaking hands with Dick and Dave. "Two of the Preston High School young men are stopping here in the house, and the others are over at the Lakeview House. I hope, Mr. Prescott, that we shall be able to have some fine high school races. It will increase the gayety of the season here."
"Thank you," said Dick. "But I am afraid, sir, that we have been worse than neglectful—-stupid.
"How so?" asked Mr. Wright, his manner quickly putting both rather shabby-looking boys wholly at their ease.
"Why, sir," Prescott explained, "we had never thought, until this morning, to secure authorization from the Athletic Council of our school to represent Gridley High School. I am now engaged in writing a letter asking for that authorization."
"Let me take a hand in this," begged Mr. Wright. "Is your letter at all of a private nature?"
"Not in the least, sir."
"May I see it?"
"Certainly, Mr. Wright."
The hotel manager followed Dick to the writing desk, where he glanced over the letter.
"I have only one suggestion to make," said the manager. "Why not ask the secretary, Mr. Howgate, to send his answer by telegraph to this hotel, collect?"
"That would be all right," agreed Dick frankly, "if his answer isn't too long, or if he doesn't have to send more than one telegram. We are not exactly overburdened with funds, Mr. Wright."
"That doesn't cut any figure at all," replied the hotel manager in a voice so low that none but Prescott heard him. "Any telegrams sent here for you will be paid for by the hotel. There will be no expense to you, Mr. Prescott."
"I'm afraid I don't understand why you should do this, Mr. Wright," said Dick, looking at the other attentively.
"Purely a matter of business, my boy," the hotel manager beamed down at him. "Such racing as I hope to have here on Lake Pleasant constitutes a summer season attraction. Arrange a schedule of races, and you may be sure that both hotels will advertise the fact. It will be enough to draw a lot of young people here, and this hotel thrives by the number of guests that it entertains. So will you do me the favor of asking your Mr. Howgate to telegraph his answer—-collect—-addressing it here?"
That began to look like something that Prescott could understand.He called Dave over to him and told his chum what was being discussed.
"Fine!" glowed Darrin. "Thank you, Mr. Wright."
So Dick made the suggested addition to the letter. After he addressed an envelope and had sealed it the manager took the letter away to mail. Then he returned to say, with a tactfulness that won the hearts of the eight Gridley High School girls:
"Mr. Prescott, you and your friends will oblige me if you will make this hotel your headquarters when you are on this side of the lake. We shall always be delighted to see you here."
Thanking the manager for his courtesy, Dick and Dave accompanied Laura to the porch; where they were introduced to some of the other guests. Then the two boys and the girls started down to the lakeside once more.
"Mr. Wright was very kind," murmured Dick gratefully.
"He never fails in courtesy toward anyone," replied Laura. "You boys will come over every day, won't you? We must have a picnic or two."
"And you must all visit our camp." Dick urged. "It isn't much of a place, but the welcome will be of the real Gridley kind. If you dare take the risk, we'll even offer you a camp meal."
"The farmers' gardens are in danger, after all, then," laughed Susie. "If you are going to deplete your larders to entertain us, we girls will surely rob the farmers to make up for what we eat."
Susie's face had grown so grave that Prescott could not help regarding her quizzically.
"I mean just what to say about robbing the farmers, don't I, girls?"Susie asked.
"Yes," agreed Laura Bentley promptly. She had no idea what was passing in her friend's head, but she knew Susie well enough to feel sure that the latter was planning nothing very wicked.
"Can't we take you out, two at a time?" proposed Dick, as the young people neared the float.
"Now?" inquired Laura.
"Yes; since 'now' is always the best time for doing things," Prescott replied.
In no time at all the plan had been agreed to. Clara and Susie went out for the first ride in the canoe, Tom Reade taking command, while Dick and Dave remained on the float.
Two at a time the girls were taken out on the water. This consumed nearly two hours of time altogether, but it was thoroughly enjoyed by every member of the party.
But at last it came close, indeed, to the luncheon hour.
"Now, when are you coming over to that picnic in our camp?" Dick asked in an outburst of hospitality.
"At what time of the day?" Laura inquired.
"If your mother and Mrs. Meade will come along as chaperons,"Dick answered, "night would be the best time."
"Why at night?"
"Because, then, you wouldn't be able to see the shabby aspect of our camp so plainly."
"It would be very jolly to go over and have a picnic meal by the campfire," Belle agreed. "Yet, in that case, we would want to reach your place by half-past four or so in the afternoon."
"Why?"
"So that we girls may have the fun of helping prepare a famous feast," Miss Meade went on. "Boys, if we come, we shall pass luncheon by and bring keen appetites for that evening feast. What is the principal item on the bill of fare of your camp?"
"Canned goods," replied Tom Reade.
"Don't you believe him," Dick interjected quickly. "Lake trout, bass and perch. This lake is well stocked, and we have already found one splendid fishing hole. We got up at five this morning and caught so many fish in half an hour that we threw some of them back into the water because we had no ice."
"Will your mothers come, if we have it in the evening?" askedDick looking at Laura and Belle.
"Surely," nodded Laura quickly.
"And we'll greatly enjoy it," Dick went on, "if Dr. Bentley will also come. Is your father here, Miss Meade?"
"I'm sorry to say that he isn't," Belle answered. "A real picnic, in real woods, beside real water, would appeal to him strongly."
"But we haven't fixed upon the date," cried Susie impatiently.
"How would to-morrow night do?" Dick suggested.
"Famously," Laura replied. "Now, boys, you catch the fish to-morrow afternoon, and don't bother so much about the other things to eat. We won't have any canned stuff in our famous feast. We girls will bring all the garden stuff."
"And will steal it from the farmers, at that," added Susie teasingly.
"Yes, you will!" mocked Danny Grin good-humoredly.
"I give you our word that we'll steal everything that we bring in the garden line," Susie declared vigorously.
"Then you'll arrange it with the farmer in advance," Greg laughed.
"I give you our word that we won't do that, either," laughed Laura, coming to her friend's support, though she had no idea what was passing in Susie's busy little head.
"There goes the luncheon bell!" cried Dick reproachfully. "We're keeping you girls away from your meal. Come on, fellows. Into the canoe with you."
"But you'll be back here to-morrow morning?" pressed Miss Bentley.
"Yes; at what time?"
"Ten o'clock."
"You'll find us here punctually."
Dick & Co. paddled back to their camp feeling that they were having a most jolly time, with all the real fun yet to come.
Dick did not think it worth while to go over to the hotel again that day, to see if a telegram had come. He was certain that the letter would not find Mr. Howgate earlier than the next day, in any event.
But at ten o'clock the next morning Dick & Co., having put the best possible aspect on their attire, paddled gently in alongside the float of the Hotel Pleasant.
Even before they had landed, Fred Ripley, who was stopping with his father and mother at the Lakeview House, alighted from an automobile runabout in the woods some two hundred yards from the lakeside camp of Dick & Co.
"Those muckers are away," Fred told himself, as he watched the war canoe go in at the hotel float. "Now, if I have half as much ingenuity as I sometimes think I have, I believe I can cut short their stay here by rendering that cheap crowd homeless—-and foodless!"
Fred studied the now distant canoe, then glanced carefully about the camp.
He knew that any sign of his presence, observed by Dick & Co., would be sure to result in the swift return of the canoe, with its load of six indignant boys.
Nor did young Ripley dare to risk discovery as the perpetrator of the outrage he was now planning. He feared his father's certain wrath.
"There are screens of bushes behind which I can operate," Ripley decided. "I am glad of the bushes, for, if I use care, not a living soul can see me. Now, for some swift work."
It did not take Ripley long to discover where the boys' food supply was stored.
"These fellows act like boobs!" muttered Fred in disgust. "Here they go away and leave everything exposed. If they didn't have an enemy in the world, even then some tramp could come along and clean out the camp. Humph! Two tramps, if they wanted to work for a little while, could carry away all the food there is here. What a lot of poor, penniless muckers Prescott and his friends are!"
Again Fred studied the lay of the land, then drew off his coat and flung it aside.
"Now, to work!" he said to himself gleefully.
First of all, he got the food supplies all together. Most of this stuff was in the form of canned goods. Ripley gathered it up in one big pile.
Then he stepped over to the tent, from which, at several points and angles he looked carefully over to the hotel landing float on the other side of Lake Pleasant.
"They can't see, from the hotel, whether the tent is down or up,"Fred determined. "So here goes!"
Opening the largest blade of his pocketknife, Fred cut one of the guy-ropes. He passed around the tent, cutting each one in turn, until the canvas shelter fell over in a white mass.
"Won't they be sore, though?" laughed Fred maliciously, as he started to carry off the camp supplies.
Gr-r-r-r-r! Gr-r-r-r!
Just as Fred was straightening up to start off with his load for a bush-screen near the lake front, Ripley heard that ominous growl. There was also the sound of something moving through the bushes.
As Fred turned his face blanched.
"Harry Hazelton's bull-dog!" he quivered, now utterly frightened as he caught sight of the gleaming teeth in that ugly muzzle. "I didn't know that they had brought that beast with them. It's the lake for mine! If I can only get into the water I can swim faster than the dog!"
All this flashed through his mind in an Instant. Young Ripley started in full flight.
Close behind him, bounding savagely, came the bull-dog, Towser!
Trip! Fred's foot caught in a root. Crying out in craven fright,Fred Ripley plunged to the ground.
There was no time to rise. Towser, growling angrily, was upon him with a bound.
Gr-r-r-r-r!
Fred, with a shriek, felt the dog's teeth in the back of his shirt.
"Get out, you beast!" begged young Ripley in a faint voice.
Gr-r-r-r! was all the answer. Plainly the dog liked the taste of that shirt, for he held to it tight.
"Get away—-please do!" faltered Fred in a broken voice. "Get away. Don't bite. Nice doggie! Nice, nice doggie! Please let go!"
Gr-r-r-r-r!
But Towser didn't attempt to bite as yet. For a bull-dog, and considering how fully he was master of the field at present, Towser displayed amazing good nature. Only when young Ripley moved did the four-footed policeman of the camp utter that warning growl.
"Nice doggie!" coaxed Fred pleadingly. "Good old fellow!"
To this bit of rank flattery Towser offered no reply. It began to look as though he would be quite satisfied if only his captive made no effort to get away.
"Wouldn't I like to be on my feet, with a shotgun in my hands!" gritted Fred.
"Gr-r-r-r," replied Towser, as though he were an excellent reader of human minds.
For a few moments Fred lay utterly quiet, save for the trembling that he could not control.
During those same moments Towser made himself more comfortable by shifting himself so that he lay with his paws across Fred's left shoulder-blade. His teeth remained firmly fastened in Ripley's shirt.
"Now, how long are you going to stay here, you beast?" glared Fred Ripley, though he did not dare emphasize his displeasure by stirring. It was an instance in which his own displeasure amounted to infinitely less than that of the dog.
Over at the hotel Dick Prescott was reading this telegram to his chums:
"Letter received. Am communicating with other members of Council.Will let you know when I have word. Signed Howgate."
"Oh, you'll get your authorization all right," Laura declared cheerily. "It's only a matter of form."
Laura did not tell something she knew—-to the effect that at her request Dr. Bentley had wired Mr. Howgate, urging that the permission be granted to the boys to race as a high school organization.
"May we take you young ladies out in the canoe this morning?"Dick inquired.
"Only a few of us, or for very short, trips," Laura replied."The fact is, we girls are to play hostess to you this noon."
"Hostess?" asked Dave, looking puzzled.
"Yes; we are going to be your hostesses at luncheon," Laura smiled.
"But I thought you girls were going to skip luncheon in favor of the picnic meal to-night."
"Wait until you boys see the luncheon," laughed Susie Sharp, "and you'll be sure to think we might as well have skipped that meal. It will be light and shadowy, I promise you. Toast, lettuce salad, moonbeam soup, sprites' cake, feather pudding and ghost fruit."
"Won't there be some dog biscuit?" asked Danny Grin hopefully.
"You shall have a special plate," Susie promised.
So the canoe was hauled up on the float and left there, and a general chat followed.
At noon, Dr. Bentley joined the young people, talking with them pleasantly, after which he led the way to the hotel.
There, in a little private dining room, the boys met Mrs. Bentley and Mrs. Meade. The luncheon was soon after served.
It was a dainty meal, though far more elaborate than Susie had led the boys to expect.
At the end of the meal a waiter, looking duly solemn, presented at Danny Grin's elbow a plate holding three dog biscuits.
"Thank you," said Dan Dalzell politely. "But I shall keep them for future use."
Very calmly, notwithstanding Dick's slight frown, Dan placed the biscuit in his coat pockets, though some of the girls found it hard indeed not to giggle.
After the meal the party adjourned to the lawn under the shade of some fine old elms. A little later a farm wagon, drawn by a pair of horses, stopped near the group.
"Now, you must excuse us, boys," announced Laura, rising with a mysterious air. "We girls have a little errand to perform. We shall be back before half-past four o'clock."
"Wouldn't it be better to be back a good deal before that time?" urged Dick. "You see, we can't carry more than three passengers at once, and we are to have eleven guests to ferry across the lake."
"Why, didn't I tell you?" asked Laura, looking astonished. "My father said it would be an imposition to ask you boys to make four round trips this afternoon, and as many more to-night, so he has engaged one of the hotel launches to take us over, and to call for us this evening. You don't mind, do you, boys? But we would like to have you here at half-past four o'clock to go across the lake with us."
"We'll be here," Dick promised promptly.
Six high school boys watched the girls drive off in the farm wagon, waving handkerchiefs and parasols back to the boys.
"Two o'clock," remarked Dick, looking at his watch. "Suppose we take a spin up the lake?"
"Or go back to camp, to make it more ship shape?" suggested TomReade.
"What's the use?" inquired Prescott. "We fixed everything as well as we could before leaving there this morning. As to the safety of the camp, Harry's dog, Towser, can be depended upon to look after that."
So Dick & Co. headed up the lake in their canoe.
"That's an odd sight, over yonder," announced Dave, pointing shoreward with his paddle.
They were now nearly three miles above the hotel landing. They had entered a section of the country given over to truck gardening.
"Women gathering in the produce," said Dick, after a glance.
"I don't like that," uttered Dave in disgust.
"I thought we had progressed too far, and had become too civilized. Years ago I know that women used to work in the fields, but I thought we were above that sort of thing."
"Perhaps the farmer's sons' were all girls," suggested Danny Grin.
"I don't like it, anyway," retorted Dave.
"Nor I," agreed Tom. "To have women at work in the fields makes it appear as though the men are too lazy."
The sight on shore was not interesting enough to claim long attention, so the young canoeists proceeded on their way.
At a little after four o'clock, however, they were back at the landing.
Not long after, eight young women were sighted riding along in a farm wagon, while Dr. and Mrs. Bentley and Mrs. Meade strolled down one of the paths.
The wagon reached the pier first, just as a launch in charge of one of the hotel employs came puffing out of a boathouse near by.
"Come here, boys, and help us unload the wagon," called SusieSharp.
Dick & Co. sprang in answer to her summons.
"Why, what on earth have you here?" demanded Dave, opening his eyes wide as he saw the contents of the wagon.
There were dozens of ears of corn, a sack of new potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, a dozen big watermelons and a bushel of early summer apples.
"Sh!" warned Laura mysteriously. "Didn't we promise you we'd rob some farmer for the feast? Did you think that boys are the only ones who can go foraging for a country picnic?"
"You girls didn't go foraging—-did you?" gasped Dick Prescott.
"We surely did," retorted Susie Sharp.
"Didn't we say we would do so? And doesn't all this stuff prove it?"
"Then you paid the farmer for it," guessed Tom Reade wisely.
"We didn't do any such thing," Miss Sharp insisted. "Did we, girls?"
Seven other young feminine heads shook in vigorous denial.
"We didn't pay the farmer, and we didn't make any arrangement with him," said Laura quietly, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "We simply drove out along the road until we came to the field, and——-"
"——-Ravaged it," supplemented Belle Meade demurely. "We went through that field like war, famine and pestilence combined!"
"Hurry!" called Susie peremptorily.
So the boys made haste with the vegetables and fruit, transferring everything to the bow of the launch, where it was neatly stacked.
"What do you think of that?" Tom demanded of Dick in a whisper at the first opportunity.
"The girls are chaffing us," Dick answered knowingly. "Stole the stuff, did they? That is, stole it in earnest? Nonsense! They're too nice girls for that! But I guess even nice girls, like some decent fellows, find enjoyment, once in a while, in making believe they are doing something desperate. Of course they didn't really steal this stuff."
"If they did," muttered Tom, "they'd be the kind of girls we wouldn't want to know."
"It's all right," Dick assured him. "Sooner or later the truth of this joke of theirs will all come out. There are no finer girls in the country than they."
By this time the older people had joined them. Dr. Bentley's party embarked in the launch, taking up all the room there was.
"Pass us your bow-line, and we can just as well give you boys a tow," proposed the doctor. "There is no use in your paddling."
"Thank you very much, sir," Dick answered, "but paddling is just the fun for which we bought this canoe. We do it because we like it. And we'll show you how fast we can get across the lake."
With a toot of the whistle the launch started. Dick gave the word to his chums. At first the canoe, even under moderate paddling, went ahead of the launch, though gradually the launch drew up.
"You boys look as if you were working," called Dr. Bentley.
"We're doing very little work, sir," Dave answered. "We could make the canoe go faster than this, but it would hardly do to run ahead of our guests."
In truth the canoe slipped rapidly through the water with the expenditure of only a moderate amount of energy on the part of Dick & Co.
In a few minutes the lake had been crossed. A point was found at which the launch could be backed in. By this time the boys were on shore, their canoe hauled up, and they stood ready to help their guests ashore.
"We've landed a little below the camp," said Dick, "but it won't take us more than a minute to walk there. After we've taken you into the camp we'll return for the garden truck."
Gr-r-r-r-r! came a warning sound through the bushes.
"Towser!" spoke Harry Hazelton sharply. "I'm ashamed of you!"
"You ought to be!" came the answer in another voice, and a surly one, at that.
"Fred Ripley?" muttered Dick. "What on earth can he be doing here?"
Unconsciously all of the picnickers hastened their steps. Then they came upon a truly ludicrous sight.
Fred lay where he had been lying ever since ten o'clock that morning. He was coatless, stretched out face downward, with Towser still camped across his shoulder, and the dog's teeth still fastened in his shirt.
"Come and call this measly dog off!" ordered Fred, in a surly tone. "This is a fine reward that I get for trying to do you fellows a friendly turn!"
Dick, Dave and Tom were the first to get within range and obtain a glimpse of the extraordinary scene. They halted, gasping, though their glances swiftly took in the whole affair. They comprehended what Ripley had been doing, and how the dog had come upon the marauder.
By this time the other members of the party came in sight. Fred still lay on the ground, scowling and fuming over his undignified position, while Towser still kept an eye open for business.
"Call this dog off!" Fred ordered again.
"How did the dog happen to catch you here?" Dick asked quietly.
"Call this dog off and I'll tell you," snapped Fred. "I was trying to do you fellows a good turn, but the dog had to interfere and get hold of the wrong party."
"You were trying to do us a good turn?" gasped Dick wonderingly.
"Yes—-but it will be the last time, unless you call this dog off," snarled young Ripley.
Perhaps it is hardly necessary to say that not one in the party believed Fred's extraordinary story.
"Hazelton, get this dog of yours away, or I'll go to court and secure an order to have the beast shot!" snapped young Ripley.
But at this moment another voice was heard calling from the roadway:
"Fred! Fred! Are you there?"
It was Squire Ripley's voice, though the lawyer himself could not be seen as yet.
"Yes, sir; your son is here," Dick answered. "Come and see just how he is here!"
"Get your dog off quickly, Hazelton!" urged Fred.
But Harry, at a slight sign from Dick, didn't stir or open his mouth to call off his dog.
Through the brush came the sound of hurried steps. Then LawyerRipley stepped into the group.
"Fred, what on earth does this mean?" demanded the lawyer, staring hard.
"That's just what we thought you might like to find out, sir," Dick replied. "We've been away from camp all day, and just came back to this scene, Mr. Ripley. You are something of an expert in the matter of evidence, sir. Will you kindly tell us what you make out of this? There is our tent cut down. There are all of our food supplies in a pile, except what you see scattered about on the ground. Your son appears to have been headed for the lake when our dog overtook him and pinned him down. As a lawyer, Mr. Ripley, what would you conclude from the evidence thus presented?"