initial commit of ebook 21594HEADmain

1 files changed, 5909 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/21594.txt b/21594.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a0fdac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21594.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5909 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fred Fenton on the Crew, by Allen Chapman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Fred Fenton on the Crew
+       or, The Young Oarsmen of Riverport School
+
+Author: Allen Chapman
+
+Release Date: May 24, 2007 [EBook #21594]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRED FENTON ON THE CREW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "WE WIN! WE WIN! RIVERPORT TAKES THE RACE!"
+_Fred Fenton on the Crew_                       _Page_ 196]
+
+
+
+FRED FENTON ON THE CREW
+
+Or
+
+The Young Oarsmen of Riverport School
+
+
+
+By
+
+ALLEN CHAPMAN
+
+OF "FRED FENTON THE PITCHER," "FRED FENTON IN LINE,"
+"TOM FAIRFIELD SERIES," "THE CHUMS SERIES,"
+"BOYS OF PLUCK SERIES," ETC.
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+NEW YORK
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
+PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+BY ALLEN CHAPMAN
+
+FRED FENTON ATHLETIC SERIES
+12mo.    Cloth.    Illustrated.
+
+FRED FENTON THE PITCHER
+FRED FENTON IN THE LINE
+FRED FENTON ON THE CREW
+FRED FENTON ON THE TRACK
+
+
+TOM FAIRFIELD SERIES
+12mo.    Cloth.    Illustrated.
+
+TOM FAIRFIELD'S SCHOOLDAYS
+TOM FAIRFIELD AT SEA
+TOM FAIRFIELD IN CAMP
+TOM FAIRFIELD'S PLUCK AND LUCK
+
+
+THE DAREWELL CHUMS SERIES
+12mo.    Cloth.    Illustrated.
+
+THE DAREWELL CHUMS
+THE DAREWELL CHUMS IN THE CITY
+THE DAREWELL CHUMS IN THE WOODS
+THE DAREWELL CHUMS ON A CRUISE
+THE DAREWELL CHUMS IN A WINTER CAMP
+
+
+BOYS OF PLUCK SERIES
+12mo.    Cloth.    Illustrated.
+
+THE YOUNG EXPRESS AGENT
+TWO BOY PUBLISHERS
+MAIL ORDER FRANK
+A BUSINESS BOY'S PLUCK
+THE YOUNG LAND AGENT
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO. PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+Copyrighted 1913, by
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
+
+FRED FENTON ON THE CREW
+
+Printed in U. S. A.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                                PAGE
+
+I.     The Finger of Suspicion                            1
+II.    The Tricky Canoe                                   9
+III.   A Boat Club Meeting                               17
+IV.    In Camp on the Mohunk                             26
+V.     Hoofs and Horns                                   33
+VI.    A Sudden Awakening                                41
+VII.   Ice Cold Waters                                   49
+VIII.  A Surprise                                        56
+IX.    A Lucky Win                                       63
+X.     Fred's Home Coming                                71
+XI.    News From Over Sea                                79
+XII.   Bristles Has an Idea                              87
+XIII.  A Call for Help                                   96
+XIV.   The Missing Opals Again                          104
+XV.    Fred's Brave Stand                               113
+XVI.   The Trial Spin                                   121
+XVII.  Snagged and Wrecked                              130
+XVIII. Lying in Wait                                    138
+XIX.   Nipped in the Bud                                147
+XX.    In the Hollow Oak                                156
+XXI.   A Plan to Catch the Thief                        165
+XXII.  Telling the Good News                            173
+XXIII. The Start of the Race                            181
+XXIV.  A Great Victory                                  189
+XXV.   Bright Skies                                     198
+
+
+
+FRED FENTON ON THE CREW
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE FINGER OF SUSPICION
+
+
+"Hello! there, Bristles!"
+
+"Hello! yourself, Fred Fenton!"
+
+"Why, what ails you this fine summer morning, Bristles? You don't look
+as jolly as you might."
+
+"Well, I was only waiting to see if you cared to speak to me, Fred."
+
+"Why in the wide world shouldn't I, when you're one of my chums,
+Bristles Carpenter?"
+
+Andy Carpenter was known far and wide around the town of Riverport as
+"Bristles," on account of the way in which his mop of hair stood
+upright most of the time, much after the manner of the quills on a
+fretful porcupine.
+
+Usually he was a very good-natured sort of a chap, one of the
+"give-and-take" kind, so universally liked among schoolboys. But, on
+this particular early summer morning, with the peaceful Mohunk river
+running close by, and all Nature smiling, Bristles look glum and
+distressed, just as his friend Fred Fenton had declared.
+
+"You haven't heard the latest news then?" remarked the boy with the
+thick head of stiff, wiry hair; and he made a grimace as he spoke.
+
+"If you mean anything about _you_, then I haven't, for a fact," Fred
+replied, his wonder deepening into astonishment; for he now saw that
+Bristles was not playing any kind of a joke, as he had at first
+suspected.
+
+"Huh! didn't know you had an awful _thief_ for a chum, did you, Fred?"
+the other went on, laying emphasis on that one suggestive word, and
+frowning.
+
+"Rats! what sort of stuff are you giving me now, anyway, Bristles?"
+
+"Well, some people think that way, Fred; you ask Miss Alicia Muster,
+f'rinstance," grumbled the other, shaking his head dolefully.
+
+"But she's your rich old aunt, Bristles!" cried Fred, more surprised
+than ever.
+
+"That doesn't make any difference," complained the boy who was in
+trouble; "she believes I took 'em, all the same; 'cause, you see, I
+just _happened_ to drop in to see her twice inside the last week, worse
+luck for me; and, Fred, each time one of 'em disappeared the funniest
+way ever."
+
+"Go on and tell me what you mean; I can only guess that your aunt has
+met with some sort of loss. But why should she try to lay it on you,
+Bristles?"
+
+"Huh! you don't know how good that makes me feel, Fred, just to think
+that one feller isn't goin' to believe me a thief," the other boy went
+on, drawing a long breath. "Why, even over at our house I seem to
+notice 'em all lookin' kinder suspicious-like at me; just as if they
+couldn't quite make up their minds whether I might 'a been tempted to
+take 'em or not."
+
+"Take what?" demanded Fred, determined to learn the cause of his chum's
+trouble.
+
+"Why," Bristles went on, "don't you remember that time I took you over
+to see my queer old maiden aunt, who's got the rheumatics so bad, and
+lives in the big house all alone with a colored woman, and all her
+silly pets,--cats, squawkin' crows she cares for like they might be
+humans; and with that big bulldog chained under her window?"
+
+"Sure, I remember all that; keep going, now you've got started?" Fred
+broke in.
+
+"And don't you remember her showin' us that collection of pretty stones
+she said were opals from a Mexican mine she had an interest in long
+ago?" the other asked, almost breathlessly.
+
+"That's right, Bristles; and you said they just about caught your eye
+the worst kind," Fred observed. "Fact is, the old lady seemed to be
+tickled because you showed such a fancy for those milky stones that
+looked like 'moonlight,' as she called it."
+
+"Gee! you remember too much, Fred," complained the other, with a
+grimace. "Because you see, it was that silly remark of mine that's gone
+and got me into a peck of trouble. I really didn't care so much for the
+things as I let on; but you know, my aunt is as rich as all get out;
+and it's kind of the fashion over to our house to make her feel good
+when we can. That was why, I reckon, I made out to admire her
+collection of opals like I did, though they were pretty enough. Wish
+now I'd kept my tongue between my teeth; or that it'd been you who took
+that notion to make out you was interested in 'em."
+
+"And you mean she's lost some of the opals; is that it?" asked Fred.
+
+"Two of 'em gone, she told me yesterday afternoon, when mother sent me
+over to take her a cake she'd made," Bristles continued.
+
+"And did she really have the nerve to accuse you of stealing them,
+Bristles?"
+
+"Well, hardly that," replied the other boy, gritting his teeth; "if she
+had, I reckon I'd a flamed right out, and told her what I thought of
+old maids that had vinegar natures--I've heard my mom say that, though
+she told me never to repeat it to Aunt Alicia for anything. You see she
+acted like she suspected me."
+
+"Oh! and you felt bad on that account, eh?" questioned Fred.
+
+"She told me she'd just been saying to Sallie Kemper, when she was in,
+that it was the _queerest thing ever_ that twice her lovely little
+opals disappeared when I visited her on my own account. And Fred, you
+know as well as I do what Sallie is."
+
+"Sure I do," returned the other, promptly; "I hadn't been in Riverport
+a great many moons when I learned that she was considered the biggest
+gossip in the place."
+
+"That's right," Bristles went on. "Sallie went around right away, and
+told how the rich Miss Muster suspected her own nephew of actually
+taking some of her beautiful and valuable jewels. It kept gettin'
+bigger as it was told from one to another, and I just guess my sister
+Kate brought it home. Mom asked me if I'd done anything wrong, and I
+said point blank that I'd sooner cut my hand off than steal Aunt
+Alicia's opals, or touch anything she owned."
+
+"Well, didn't that end it?" asked Fred, who had troubles of his own,
+and could feel for his chum.
+
+"Oh! nothin' more was said; but I saw mom and pop talkin' together
+after supper; and when I went out I just know they rooted all around in
+my room, 'cause things was upset. But Fred, it's just _awful_ to feel
+everybody lookin' at you with a question in their eyes. I'll never be
+happy again till I find out what did become of those silly jewels of my
+aunt's."
+
+"Oh! I wouldn't worry so much as that," counselled Fred. "Perhaps by
+now she's found where she put the things. Cheer up, Bristles, and think
+of the great times ahead of us boys of the Riverport school, with that
+jolly shell coming to us, and the river in fine shape for rowing this
+summer."
+
+As they walked along the bank of the Mohunk, with Fred trying to cheer
+his companion up, a few words concerning the young fellows might be in
+place.
+
+Fred Fenton had come to Riverport within the year. He lived with his
+father and mother, together with three smaller sisters, in a cottage
+not far removed from the bank of the river.
+
+Mr. Fenton was employed by a concern in the town. He had at first been
+connected with a large manufacturing firm in Mechanicsburg, which was
+located some three miles up the river; but lost his position through
+the influence of Squire Lemington, who had a reason for wishing him to
+feel the biting pangs of poverty.
+
+An uncle of Fred's had left some valuable property up in Alaska, which
+would make the Fentons comfortable if they could only get hold of it.
+Unfortunately a big syndicate, with which Sparks Lemington was
+connected, pretended to have a claim on this mining property, and was
+doing everything possible to keep Mr. Fenton out of it.
+
+An important witness, whose evidence would have undoubtedly proved the
+Fentons to be the genuine owners, had been mysteriously carried off.
+His name was Hiram Masterson, and he was really a nephew of Sparks
+Lemington. Mr. Fenton had gone to the city late in the preceding Fall,
+under the belief that the missing witness was found; but arrived too
+late, since Hiram had been "shanghaied" aboard a sailing vessel
+belonging to the big syndicate, and carried away to unknown seas,
+perhaps never to return.
+
+So hope had gradually dwindled down to a very faint spark in the
+breasts of the Fentons, though they still refused to utterly give up
+dreaming that some day all would be made right.
+
+Fred had soon made many friends among the boys of Riverport, and some
+enemies as well. How he became the leading pitcher of the school team,
+and played his part in the great games against Paulding and
+Mechanicsburg, has been described in the first volume of this series,
+entitled "Fred Fenton, the Pitcher; Or, The Rivals of Riverport
+School."
+
+The chief enemy of Fred was Buck Lemington, son of the Squire, who had
+planned to ruin the Fentons' hopes for fortune. And just how the bully
+of the town, taking pattern from his father's usual methods of
+procedure, tried to get Fred disgraced, so that he could not play on
+the football team that Fall, you will find described in the second
+volume called: "Fred Fenton in the Line; Or, The Football Boys of
+Riverport School."
+
+During the Winter and early Spring Fred had continued to hold the good
+opinions of most of his schoolmates; and with the summer now at hand he
+was ready to join with a boy's enthusiasm in the new sports that the
+season brought in its train.
+
+Talking earnestly, the two lads were still walking along the edge of
+the river some little distance above the town, when, just as they
+turned a bend in the stream, they heard a sharp scream, accompanied by
+much splashing in the water.
+
+"Listen to that racket, would you, Fred?" cried Bristles, turning
+toward his comrade, his face filled with alarm; "as sure as you live,
+somebody's fallen into the river, and it sounds like a child, too."
+
+"Come on!" was all Fred said in reply; indeed, even while throwing
+these two words over his shoulder he was leaping down the bank of the
+Mohunk.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE TRICKY CANOE
+
+
+Fred reached the edge of the water almost before his companion realized
+what was going on. Throwing off his coat and discarding his shoes he
+plunged headlong into the river.
+
+A canoe had unset in the stream, and a small boy was struggling to
+maintain his desperate clutch on the sloping side of the craft floating
+with the current.
+
+Fortunately the swift stream was bringing it toward Fred as he plunged
+into the water. Had it been otherwise he would hardly have been able to
+reach it before the boy sank for the last time.
+
+Bristles Carpenter had by now recovered his wits, and about the time
+Fred gave that mighty splash, when going headlong into the river, he
+too was hurrying down the bank, trying in his clumsy fashion also to
+discard his coat and shoes.
+
+The Fenton boy had, meanwhile, struck out straight for the canoe, with
+the little lad trying vainly to get hold of the bobbing gunwales,
+disappearing under the surface several times, to come up again
+spluttering, and choking.
+
+Fred was a good swimmer, and never in all his past life had he known
+such an occasion for making speed as then. He saw that the small boy
+could not remain long above the water; and if he did go down, it might
+be next to impossible to find him in time to get him ashore while life
+remained.
+
+Just as Bristles, panting for breath, and eager to lend a helping hand,
+arrived at the brink of the water, he saw his chum reach out, and grasp
+the sinking child by the shoulder.
+
+"Whoo!"
+
+That was Bristles, trying to give a cheer, but making a sad mess of it
+because of shortness of breath.
+
+He saw that Fred, by a great effort, had raised the little fellow, and
+actually pushed him into the canoe, which had not overturned when it
+threw its occupant into the treacherous river, though the craft was
+much waterladen.
+
+And now the rescuer was starting to swim back toward the shore, urging
+the little craft along with him.
+
+Bristles Carpenter had actually started into the river, and was already
+almost up to his waist when he chanced to remember that he was
+accounted one of the poorest swimmers among the Riverport boys.
+
+"Don't come out, Bristles; stay there and try to give me a hand!"
+
+From the way Fred called this, it was evident that his recent exertions
+must have quite exhausted him; and that he felt the need of some
+assistance, in order to get ashore with the canoe. The current was
+particularly strong at this place, it being accounted one of the danger
+spots of the Mohunk; and it seemed averse to letting its intended
+victim get away from its grip.
+
+Once Bristles had caught hold of Fred's arm he braced himself, and soon
+the other was able to get his feet on the bottom.
+
+Together they drew the canoe to the shore.
+
+"Why, hello! here's a queer thing!" exclaimed Bristles, as, having
+clambered out of the river he bent down to look at the half-drowned lad
+in the canoe; "did you know it was little Billy Lemington you yanked
+out of the water?"
+
+"Yes, I knew it all along," replied Fred, as he squeezed some of the
+water from his trousers, and then leaned over to see how the boy was
+coming on.
+
+Considering what a narrow escape little Billy had just had, he seemed
+to be pretty well off. He had swallowed some water, it was true, and
+his face was ashen white; but he could get up on his knees, and was
+soon feeling better.
+
+"It just kicked me out," he said, when Bristles asked him how the
+accident had happened.
+
+"Say, that's a way all canoes have, I understand," Bristles chuckled.
+"They just watch till you're not lookin', and then chuck you overboard.
+Some of 'em are worse than a bucking bronco at throwing a feller. But
+looky here, Billy, how does it come you're in this cranky boat? I'd 'a
+thought your dad would have told you to leave Buck's canoe alone."
+
+"He did," replied the little fellow, with a half sob; "but I thought I
+knowed how to manage it. But I'm never goin' to try again, no siree.
+But won't I get it when they hear all about me bein' in the water! Wish
+you wouldn't tell on me. Pop'll just give me hot cakes for not mindin'
+him. _Please_ don't tell. I'll promise never to get in this old boat
+again, sure I will!"
+
+Fred and Bristles exchanged glances.
+
+"What do you say, Fred?" asked the latter; "ought we keep still about
+it?"
+
+Under ordinary circumstances Fred would have said that the parents of
+the boy ought to know what chances he had been taking; but the
+conditions were rather peculiar just then. If he told, it would seem as
+if he might be trying to "draw the teeth" of his enemy, Buck Lemington,
+by boasting how he had saved the latter's little brother, of whom the
+bully was especially fond. And Fred's pride rose at the idea of his
+being considered that sort of a fellow.
+
+"Oh! I'm willing to keep mum about it, Bristles, if you are," he said,
+slowly, after having duly considered the matter. "He promises never to
+get in this cranky canoe again. For the life of me I can't see how he
+ever paddled it all the way up here."
+
+"I didn't," spoke up Billy, quickly. "Buck lent it to Bob Armstrong,
+and last night I heard him say he thought it funny Bob didn't drop down
+with his boat. So I just thought to-day I'd walk up to Bob's and if he
+was around, tell him I'd come for our canoe."
+
+"And Bob was silly enough to let you have it, eh?" asked Bristles,
+indignantly.
+
+Billy was rapidly recovering his nerve. He even made a wry face as he
+went on to answer the question put to him.
+
+"Why no. You see Bob, he wasn't around; so, because I didn't want to
+have my long walk all for nothin', I just hunted up the paddle in his
+woodshed, and started for our house. I'd a made it, too, if I hadn't
+leaned too far over when a rock bumped into us, and the old thing just
+pitched me out."
+
+"Well," said Fred, laughingly, "suppose you jump around a little, and
+dry off before you go home, Billy. And neither of us will let on what
+happened. I'll get the canoe down to your house in some fashion, though
+I hope Buck will be away this morning."
+
+"He's gone off with some of the fellers to Grafton, to look at somethin'
+they want to buy," the small chap continued; "and he won't be back till
+noon. That's just why I thought I'd help get his boat down
+the river. You see Bob's with him, I guess."
+
+So after they had seen Billy scamper away, keeping in the warm sun so
+as to get his clothes dried, and avoiding the road so that he might not
+meet inquisitive people who would wonder how he came to be so wet, Fred
+and Bristles together entered the canoe, the latter having recovered
+his shoes and coat.
+
+They recovered the paddle and Fred pushed off, and went quietly along
+down the river until finally he was able to bring the craft to the
+shore at the place where Buck generally kept it housed in a small
+shanty he had built.
+
+They tied it up, and sauntered away. By this time their clothes had
+dried fairly well.
+
+They were just leaving the vicinity of the boat house where Buck kept
+the canoe, when Bristles caught sight of a boy staring hard at them
+from a little distance along the river bank.
+
+"After all, Fred, I reckon that we'll hear something drop about this
+little matter," he declared; "because, you see, there's Sam Jinks
+watching us with his eyes just popping half out of his head. He wonders
+what we've been doing with Buck's canoe, because he knows right well we
+never borrowed it. And make up your mind Sam'll tell him all about it
+the first chance he gets, because he wants to get in with that bunch."
+
+"All right," replied Fred, with a shrug of his shoulders; "I don't see
+where we've got any reason to worry about it. Just say we found the
+boat drifting on the current of the river, which is the truth,
+Bristles. Buck can carry on any way he likes; we won't give him any
+satisfaction. And now, let's get back to what we were talking about
+when all this rumpus came along; the chances for a boat club in
+Riverport."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A BOAT CLUB MEETING
+
+
+"Great news, Fred! Our boat's come!"
+
+"Come on down to the railroad yards, and see her, Fred!"
+
+Two boys stood outside the Fenton cottage, and shouted these words up
+at Fred Fenton, who was leaning from the window of his room. It was
+several days after the events narrated in the preceding chapters, and
+Fred had meanwhile gone quietly on his way, saying not a word about the
+accident, whereby little Billy Lemington would have surely lost his
+life only for the good luck that brought Fred and Bristles to the river
+in time.
+
+Fred had not happened to run across Buck Lemington since, and hence did
+not know whether or not the bully had been told about Bristles and
+himself arriving with the canoe.
+
+Of course Fred made haste to rush out of the house at hearing the news
+brought by Bristles Carpenter and Sid Wells, the latter his most
+particular chum.
+
+"When did it arrive?" he demanded, adjusting his cap as he came up, and
+immediately falling into step with the other eager fellows as they
+hurried off.
+
+"Last night, I reckon," replied Sid. "I just happened to wander down
+there this morning, never thinking to run across a surprise, when what
+did I see but a long crate, and inside that a splendid eight-oar shell,
+just what we ordered with that money we earned in the winter, giving
+minstrel shows and gymnastic performances. It's a great day for
+Riverport school, fellows; and well have a dandy time this summer,
+believe me!"
+
+"I wish Mechanicsburg or Paulding would get a boat like ours, and give
+us a race on the river," remarked Bristles, eagerly.
+
+"Say, wouldn't that be just the best ever?" Sid went on; "we beat 'em
+out at baseball, and on the gridiron; perhaps we might win another
+victory on the water. The Mohunk is a good stream for rowing, at
+certain times of the year."
+
+"I suppose a lot of the boys are down there right now, all talking
+about what a great time this summer will be for the nine lucky fellows,
+and their substitutes?" remarked Fred, as they walked on into the town;
+for the Fenton's lived a little way outside.
+
+"Why, nearly the whole school is down there, and such jabbering you
+never heard," laughed Sid.
+
+Bristles tried to catch the eye of the third member of the group.
+
+"Yes," he remarked, with emphasis, "and Buck Lemington, he's there on
+deck, big as ever. To hear him talk you'd think he was already made
+coxswain of the crew, and could lord it over the rest of us like a
+king."
+
+"That's always his way, to claim everything at the first, and then give
+up a little, inch by inch," declared Sid. "There are just seventeen
+members of the rowing club, all picked out as being the best in the
+school. And who will be coxswain depends on the vote they'll take at
+the meeting to-night. I know one right now who'll never vote; for Buck
+Lemington."
+
+"Make it two, just for luck," Bristles said, with a grin; "and there
+are others to be heard from, also. Between you and me and the
+lamp-post, boys, I reckon Buck will get just five votes, besides his
+own; and they'll come from his cronies, Whitey, Clem Shocks, Oscar
+Jones, Con Jimmerson and Ben Cushing. The rest will go in another
+direction that I won't mention right now."
+
+He and Sid exchanged winks and nods as though there might be a secret
+between them; but Fred was paying no attention to this "wireless
+telegraphy."
+
+"Tell me, did you run across Buck, yourself, Bristles?"
+
+"Sure I did," replied the other; "and that was just what I was goin' to
+tell you about. He came swaggering up to me, just like he always does,
+you know, and wanted to know what business I had in _his_ canoe--that
+he heard you'n me was seen fastening up alongside his boathouse t'other
+day."
+
+"And what did you say?" demanded Fred, smiling at the aggressive manner
+of the boy who had the mop of hair.
+
+"Me? Oh! I pretended that we'd found the little boat driftin' down the
+river, and waded in to get her," Bristles went on.
+
+"Of course he didn't believe you?" Fred questioned.
+
+"Not much. But I didn't get riled up worth a cent, Fred, just grinned
+in his face, and kept on saying it _was_ so, and we _did_ find the boat
+adrift. Then, what d'ye think, he says that Bob Armstrong told him the
+paddle was all the while in the woodshed, so if the canoe did break
+loose, however in the world could it have been with the boat, 'less we
+took it?"
+
+"We know, all right; don't we, Bristles? Oh! never mind winking, and
+looking at Sid here, because I told him all about it, and he'll never
+peach; will you, Sid?"
+
+"Not much," replied the other, promptly; "all the same, I think you're
+doing the wrong thing to keep so close-mouthed about it. I'd just glory
+in telling Buck how his little brother Billy would have been drowned if
+you hadn't happened to be nearby when he was pitched out of the canoe."
+
+"Well, we made up our minds to keep quiet about it," Fred continued,
+quietly; "and what Buck believes cuts mighty little figure in it. But
+there's the railroad yard, and what a mob of boys and girls I've seen
+since school closed. Whew! I should think every fellow in town had got
+wind of it by this time; and I'm the last to know."
+
+There was indeed great excitement around the spot where lay the long
+shell, cased in its stout crate, having been lifted off the car upon
+which it had come from the boat-building establishment.
+
+Temporary quarters had been arranged for, until some later date, when
+possibly a new boathouse might be erected, provided the town people
+contributed the amount necessary.
+
+That night, in the schoolhouse, there was called a meeting of the
+members of the Riverport Boat Club in order to transact business of
+great importance. Buck Lemington was more friendly than he had ever
+before been known. But those boys who knew him so well understood what
+his sudden conversion meant. He aspired to fill the important position
+of coxswain on the crew, and was figuring to gain the votes of a
+majority of those entitled to pass judgment and select officers.
+
+It was well known that Brad Morton, the same boy who had carried the
+football team to victory during the last season, as captain, had once
+rowed in a racing shell when visiting a relative in a college town. And
+his name had been mentioned pretty much in opposition to Buck, who also
+claimed to have had experience.
+
+And as the coxswain was to have the power of choosing the members of
+his crew, it can be seen that the position was one carrying a certain
+amount of influence with it. As only eight fellows could be given
+places on the regular crew in the shell, and Buck's five cronies were
+all eager to be ranked as members, they electioneered for him most
+industriously.
+
+Fred had been given the place as chairman of the meeting, and he tried
+to carry out the duties of his position without fear or favor. What he
+wished to see was a square deal, with the best man winning out.
+
+After considerable talk, in which many of the boys joined, two
+candidates for the position of coxswain were put in nomination, Buck
+and Brad. And each had a noisy send-off when his backer started to tell
+what virtues as a coxswain the candidate possessed.
+
+"Move we vote!" shouted Bristles Carpenter, anxious to get the agony
+over.
+
+"Question! A motion that we proceed to vote has been made, Mr.
+Chairman!" called out Corney Shays, whose father was an old college
+man, and had once, many years back, rowed in a junior four-oared race.
+
+"Any second?" asked the Chairman.
+
+"I second the motion!" came from half a dozen throats.
+
+It was carried with a rush; and then the tellers went around, giving
+each one a slip of paper on which he was to write the name of the
+candidate he preferred to serve as coxswain during the season that was
+at hand.
+
+A few minutes later the tellers collected the slips, which were
+accurately counted, so that there should be no chance of fraud or
+mistakes. Then the result was announced by the chairman, as written out
+by the tellers.
+
+"Whole number of votes cast, seventeen. For Buck Lemington, six votes;
+for Brad Morton eleven. Which, being a majority, makes Brad Morton the
+coxswain of the Riverport Boat Club."
+
+Then a great uproar broke out, all of the boys shouting or cheering.
+Those who had voted for Buck Lemington, taking cue from their leader,
+declared that the election had not been fairly carried on; and that had
+all those interested in the club been allowed to vote, and not just
+those who expected to take part in the actual rowing, he would have
+carried the day.
+
+Buck himself was crimson with rage. He never could take defeat in a
+manly way, but burst into a passion. Jumping up, he rallied his five
+cronies around him. There was mutiny in the air, Fred saw, nor was he
+in his heart at all sorry, for Buck had promised to be the disturbing
+element in the association from the start.
+
+"Cheat me out of the position, will you?" he shouted, shaking his fist
+at the others, after the shouting had stopped, and everybody was
+staring at him; "make Brad Morton coxswain when I know more about the
+duties of the job in a minute than he can in a year! All right, I'm
+going to wash my hands of the whole bunch; and here's five husky
+fellers that'll go along with me. Keep your old boat, if you want to. I
+expected somethin' like this'd happen; and let me tell you, fellers,
+we've been up to Grafton to see an eight-oar shell that once won a
+college race. We've got an option on her, too, and just understand
+we'll buy her in, challenge your crowd to a race, and beat you to
+flinders! Come along, fellers, we don't train with this crowd any
+more," and the six stalked out of the building with sneers on their
+faces, amid a dead silence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN CAMP ON THE MOHUNK
+
+
+On the day following the exciting meeting in the schoolhouse, the
+members of the boat club connected with Riverport school were in camp
+some miles up the Mohunk river, wishing to practice in their new shell,
+where curious eyes might not watch them.
+
+It was expected that they would stay several days in camp; so tents had
+been taken along, as well as all sorts of supplies calculated to help
+the cooks in their work.
+
+The rebellion of Buck Lemington had not bothered Brad and his friends
+very much. True, several of their best scullers had been lost by the
+mutiny; but some of the more promising substitutes were moved up into
+regular positions, and others taken on to fill the places thus vacated;
+for there was no lack of candidates among the boys of Riverport school.
+
+Ever since Buck had let out his secret the talk had been about the
+possibility of the rival crew sending them a challenge, and an actual
+race taking place somewhere near Riverport, with hundreds of cheering
+people to watch the contest.
+
+It thrilled the boys just to talk about such a happening.
+
+"Don't get too gay, fellows," remarked a tall lad, whose name was
+Colon, and who had always been a good friend of Fred Fenton, from the
+day the latter first came to town. "Buck Lemington is a big bag of wind
+when it comes to bragging about what he's going to do. I think I can
+see him buying that shell over at Grafton, that Colonel Simms owns. His
+boy who went to college rowed in her, you know. There isn't money
+enough in Riverport to buy that boat."
+
+"Oh! I don't know," broke in Dave Hanshaw, who had always been more or
+less of a crack athlete on Riverport's teams; "I heard my father saying
+only last night that the old Colonel had lost all his money, and was
+selling out over in Grafton. So you see, perhaps he might be willing to
+let that pet boat, in which his son rowed to victory, go for a certain
+sum."
+
+"And Buck," observed Colon, "must have got wind of it a while back. Oh!
+he's a cute one, all right. He knows how to feather his nest. When he
+came to count noses he understood that there wasn't a show for him to
+be elected cox. in our club; so he gets ready to organize a little one
+on his own account. Wise old Buck, he knows which side his bread is
+buttered."
+
+"Hey! look who's coming on his wheel over yonder!" called out Dick
+Hendricks.
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+"Why, it looks like Sandy Richards. But what can he want up here, when
+they all understood we didn't expect to have visitors?" Corney Shays
+observed.
+
+Some of the boys began to show signs of sudden nervousness. They were
+not used to being away overnight from home, and could immediately
+picture all sorts of things as having happened since their departure
+very early that morning. Possibly to some of them it already seemed as
+though they had been off for a week.
+
+The younger boy on the wheel soon arrived at a point close to the camp.
+Abandoning his bicycle at the roadside he climbed the fence, crossed
+the field, and came to the fringe of timber.
+
+"Who's it for, Sandy?" asked Brad; and possibly there was just a
+trifling tremor in his own voice, though he tried to hide it in a
+fashion.
+
+"Got your name on it, Brad; and she's addressed to the Coxswain of the
+Riverport Boat Club," answered the boy, promptly; looking around him
+curiously at the camp, where he would very naturally have liked to
+remain, simply because it was forbidden territory.
+
+"A challenge, that's what!" yelled Bristles.
+
+"Buck's made good already, just think of it!" cried Corney Shays,
+throwing up his cap, and then jumping on it when it landed; a habit he
+had of working off any excitement.
+
+All eyes were turned on Brad as he tore off the end of the envelope.
+They saw his eyebrows go up in a manner to indicate surprise; and there
+also came a look of considerable satisfaction upon his honest face.
+
+"Where'd you get this, Sandy?" he demanded, turning to the bicycle
+rider.
+
+"Why, you see, Felix Wagner brought it over; and they wouldn't think of
+letting him come along up here, so I was sent with it," the boy
+replied, promptly.
+
+"Felix Wagner!" ejaculated Sid Wells; "say, has Buck had to go and
+borrow a Mechanicsburg fellow to fill out his eight?"
+
+"Hold on," interrupted Brad; "don't jump at things that way, Sid. This
+isn't a challenge from Buck at all. It's from Mechanicsburg!"
+
+"What's that?" shouted Colon; "are you telling me they've gone and got
+a boat up at that town, and want to race us for the championship of the
+Mohunk? That _would_ be the best news ever, fellows!"
+
+"That's just what's happened," Brad went on. "This paper is signed by
+Dub Jasper, who used to pitch for their baseball club, you remember
+fellows. Well, he's the coxswain of the Mechanicsburg Boat Club crew.
+He says they've got a shell on the way, and he hereby challenges us to
+a match, to be rowed within a month from date, and according to regular
+rules, the distance being marked off between their town and ours, in
+just what happens to be the best water at the time. How about that?"
+
+"Accept it, Brad!" several shouted, in great excitement.
+
+"Say, things in the boating line are picking up ground here," Corney
+Shays cried, laughingly. "Three shells on the river, to make things
+lively. If this keeps on the Mohunk will become the most famous boat
+course in this part of the country."
+
+As a unanimous vote to accept the challenge followed, Brad retired to
+his tent, where he wrote out a reply to the proposal made by
+Mechanicsburg; details to be decided later on. Sandy was accordingly
+dispatched with this missive, and requested to drop in again after he
+had seen the rival young athletes of the neighboring town.
+
+When Sandy returned, showing by the signs that he had made a swift
+passage from Mechanicsburg, some miles down the river, all the boys
+crowded around to ask him questions.
+
+"Oh! they're all worked up over there about it," replied the panting
+boy. "Seems like every feller in the old town is wild with the news
+that they're a-goin' to have a boat like ours, a present from the big
+manufacturer, Mr. Gobbler; and they all say they expect to lick the
+stuffing out of poor old Riverport this time, because the boys in their
+town have always been more like water ducks than we have, rowing boats,
+skating, making ice-boats, and all such things."
+
+"They're welcome to a think that way," laughed Corney Shays, apparently
+delighted with the prospect; "but perhaps we Riverport boys aren't so
+sleepy after all. We're just going to surprise 'em some; eh, fellers?"
+
+Judging from the shouts that broke out, all of them believed the same
+as the confident Corney. Sandy was soon sent back to the home town to
+report that the members of the boat club were nicely fixed in camp, and
+that none of their folks need worry a minute about them.
+
+So evening found them, with the several appointed cooks busily engaged
+in their work preparing supper. It was pronounced a fine meal, and as
+every lad had brought his vacation appetite along with him, the inroad
+they made upon the stock of provisions gave small hope that there would
+be anything to take back, when the little camping and training trip was
+over.
+
+Afterwards they sat around the blazing logs, for the evening had turned
+a bit cool, and it was pleasant near a cheerful camp fire. The
+conversation changed from one thing to another; but always seemed to
+return again to the exciting event of that day--when the challenge was
+received from Mechanicsburg.
+
+In imagination some of the young oarsmen doubtless already saw the
+scene that would take place upon the banks of the Mohunk when the rival
+towns cheered their pet crews on to victory, or defeat.
+
+Into the midst of all this good-natured chaffing and chattering,
+Bristles Carpenter suddenly burst, with his hair more on end than ever,
+it seemed, and his face white with apprehension.
+
+"Hey! wake up, fellers!" he cried. "There's some sneak down near our
+boat, and just as like as not he's been trying to cut a hole in her, so
+we can't row in any race! I saw him creeping around, when I stepped out
+just now!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HOOFS AND HORNS
+
+
+"Get a move on, boys!" yelled Colon, as he unlimbered his long legs, on
+which he had been coiled after the fashion of a tailor at work.
+
+"Capture him!" shouted Corney Shays. "We ought to give him a licking if
+he's hurt our boat!"
+
+"First catch your rabbit!" warned another.
+
+Everybody was on the jump, and it was a furious crowd that went rushing
+down toward where the new shell had been laid, along the shore of the
+river, at a point where a little beach offered an ideal spot for
+launching.
+
+"Where is he?" shouted several, as they drew near the spot, and failed
+to discover the skulking figure of any enemy, trying to get away.
+
+"I see him, fellow's; right there in that shadow!" cried Corney,
+pointing.
+
+"Surround the spot, boys; and if he makes a dash for it, Colon, we look
+to you, with your sprinter legs, to overhaul the coward!" declared
+Brad.
+
+The lines were immediately extended so as to take in the dark spot
+indicated; and every fellow gritted his teeth, indignant at the mean
+trick being played by some unknown enemy, whereby perhaps harm was
+intended their boat.
+
+"Make him out yet, Corney?" asked one who was further removed.
+
+"Sure I do," came the exultant answer. "We closed in around so fast he
+didn't have sense enough to light out. Oh! we've got him cornered, all
+right, boys. And won't we make him sick of his bargain though!"
+
+"We ought to tie him up to a stake, and make him tell who sent him here
+to stick a knife through our shell, ripping her wide open!" declared
+Dick Hendricks, warmly.
+
+"Is there more'n one feller in all Riverport that would get down low
+enough to be back of a job like that?" asked Colon.
+
+"Mebbe we don't know who you mean, but we think we do," sang out Sid
+Wells; who had always been at loggersheads with Buck Lemington, from
+the time they were, as Sid used to say, "knee high to grasshoppers."
+
+"How about it now, Corney; is he there yet? Perhaps it was only a stump
+you set eyes on," called another from the opposite side of the circle.
+
+"Do stumps move, and duck their heads up and down?" asked Corney,
+indignantly; "well, that's what this one is doing right now. Don't you
+see him too, Brad?"
+
+"I sure see something in that shadow, and it keeps right on moving,"
+the one addressed replied, positively. "Hey Colon, suppose, now, you
+run back to the fire and fetch us one of the blazing sticks you'll find
+handy? We'll give this thief in the night a little illumination. He
+thinks he can hide, does he; well, it's up to us to show him. Close up,
+boys, and don't you let him have a chance to sneak it."
+
+"He's our prisoner, all right, Brad; just you count on that," remarked
+Corney, jubilantly. "Say, what we'll do to him will be aplenty. There,
+didn't you see the way he yanked his head up that time? Reckon he's
+beginning to get scared right now; and can you blame him."
+
+"With all this crowd around," ventured Brad; "every fellow willing to
+give him a punch to pay him up for what he tried to do to our
+boat--well, I should guess not! Hurry along, Colon; that's the kind of
+torch for you; just look at her blaze, will you?"
+
+The long-legged boy came hurrying up, holding the burning stick in his
+hand. And as he advanced closer to the spot where the suspected spy was
+believed to be, the circle gradually narrowed, as the eager boys began
+to push in.
+
+"Wow! what do you think of that, now?" burst from Corney, as the light
+gave a sudden flash, and plainly revealed the spot that had up to now
+been in the shadows.
+
+"It's an old red cow, and she's getting her dander up too, fellows,
+because of all this noise, and the torch there! Look out if she charges
+you; and run like everything! There she comes, fellows, like a tornado!
+Run, boys! Scatter, to beat the band!"
+
+It was Brad who gave this advice. He himself did not hesitate to take
+it literally, for when the alarmed cow actually lowered her head,
+whipped her tail around several times, and then made a lunge toward the
+spot where Brad happened to be stationed, he whirled on his heels, and
+fairly flew to place a tree between himself and the frightened animal.
+
+Then there was a wild scene, every fellow being for himself. Colon
+flung his blazing torch at the advancing beast, and with such good aim
+that it actually came in contact with the cow's flank. Perhaps it
+stung, or at any rate gave the beast a new spasm of fear, for there
+immediately followed a fierce bellow, and the lunges grew more violent.
+
+With flying tail and lowered horns the cow went charging past the
+scattering boys. Luckily none of them was in her way, or they might
+have been flung high in the air; since the most expert athlete among
+them knew nothing about bull fighting.
+
+"She's going to charge our tents!" shrieked Corney, who was part way up
+a tree, so rapid had been his action after being warned by Brad of the
+danger.
+
+"Head her off, somebody!" whooped Colon, who, however, showed not the
+least intention of doing anything in that line himself; for he had
+found a convenient tree, that would afford plenty of shelter if
+necessary, against the charge of half a dozen frightened cows.
+
+If the animal headed directly toward the camp it was because she had
+been so bewildered by the various shouts of the boys that she hardly
+knew which way to turn, in order to escape from what she doubtless
+considered an attack.
+
+There came a crash.
+
+"There goes one of the tents!" cried Colon; "that's because nobody
+would do what I said, and head her off. Lots of you were closer than I
+was. Anyhow, she's gone gallopin' away. Let's see what damage she did!"
+
+Another torch was pulled from the fire; indeed, now that Colon had
+shown the way, several of the others made haste to secure flaming
+brands.
+
+"Take care, there, and don't set anything afire!" warned Brad, seeing
+that a few were inclined to be reckless; "there's quite a lot of dead
+stuff around here, left over from last Fall. Look out how you handle
+that torch boys!"
+
+A hasty investigation disclosed the pleasing fact that no harm had come
+to the racing shell through the wandering about of the grazing cow.
+Then the campers set to work to get up the tent that had been knocked
+over.
+
+Of course the excitement died down presently, since there had been no
+particular damage done, and the boat was uninjured. The boys sat around
+for an hour or two, talking. Then some of them began to yawn, and to
+examine the places inside the three tents where they had stowed their
+blankets, carried along because the summer nights were apt to get cool
+toward morning.
+
+One by one they crept off, until by degrees the ranks were thinned down
+to just three--Brad, Bristles and Fred. Even the captain of the club
+finally declared he was done up with the exercise of the day, and might
+as well "hunt up the soft side of a board," as he chose to remark;
+though a soft blanket, doubled on the ground, was really the kind of
+bed awaiting him.
+
+Fred had a reason for waiting up. He had received a signal from
+Bristles that the other wanted to speak with him in private; and
+remembering that he had been made a sort of confident before by the boy
+who was in trouble. Fred, though feeling very sleepy himself, sat it
+out.
+
+Bristles waited a few minutes after Brad had crawled into the nearest
+tent. Apparently he did not want the others to overhear anything he
+said to our hero. This caution on his part told the other that Bristles
+must have more reason for feeling gloomy; though he had somehow kept
+from saying anything all day.
+
+Presently Fred saw him get up, and start around the now smouldering
+camp fire, as if to join him; so he made a place on his blanket, which
+he had brought out some time before, to sit upon.
+
+"Did you want to see me about anything, Bristles?" Fred asked, as the
+other dropped down close beside him.
+
+"Yes, Fred," began the other, in a low voice; "you were so good to
+stand up for me when I told you about those pesky opals, that I just
+thought after all I'd let you know about some more that's happened."
+
+Fred started, and looked uneasily at the other's long face.
+
+"Does that mean, Bristles, your aunt has been missing more of her
+precious stones?" he asked.
+
+Bristles nodded his head in a forlorn fashion.
+
+"Two of 'em gone this time, Fred, and I guess I'm the unluckiest feller
+ever, because they disappeared yesterday afternoon; and mom sent me
+over with a message to Aunt Alicia about four o'clock."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A SUDDEN AWAKENING
+
+
+"Well, that's a funny thing, Bristles," Fred remarked, as he allowed
+the full force of the other's story to sink into his mind.
+
+"Not so very funny for me, let me tell you, Fred," muttered Bristles.
+
+"Why, of course I didn't mean it that way, you know, old fellow," Fred
+hastened to say; "I meant that it was queer. Three times now you've
+just happened to drop in to see your aunt, and every time one or more
+of her precious stones have disappeared, as if they went up in smoke?"
+
+"Say, perhaps they did!" the other went on, moodily. "Always smells
+smoky to me in that house. Then again do you know, Fred, when I see
+that old black crow perched on the back of aunty's chair, it somehow
+makes me think of haunted houses, it's so spooky."
+
+"Now what do you want me to believe--that the old colored woman sits on
+the back of your aunt's chair, and smokes her pipe?" Fred asked,
+chuckling a little.
+
+"Oh! shucks! perhaps I am twisted up somehow in trying to tell you what
+happened; but then," and Bristles' voice sank into a half whine, "I
+just guess any feller would be rattled, if he'd bothered his head as
+much as I have the last few days. I meant the old tame crow Aunty's
+got, that talks sometimes to beat the band. Now do you know, Fred?"
+
+"Sure I do," replied the other, promptly; "I've never forgotten how
+Black Joe looked, blinking his eyes at us when we stood there talking
+to your aunt. But you're wrong in one thing, Bristles; it isn't just a
+plain, everyday crow at all. She said it was a raven, one of the wise
+old kind you read about; and that she brought it across the water.
+They're more cunning than our crows; and goodness knows I've always
+found _them_ smart enough, when you had a gun."
+
+"Oh! well, crow or raven, what does it matter to me?" grumbled
+Bristles. "But as I was saying, Fred, my mom sent me over in the
+afternoon. I didn't want to go; not much! That house gives me the
+creeps; and aunty has such sharp, piercing eyes. But there wasn't any
+getting out of it, so I went. But let me tell you, I was determined to
+toe the mark, and not even give a think to the measly opals that once I
+was silly enough to admire."
+
+"Well?" said Fred, encouragingly, as the other paused for reflection.
+
+"I gave my little message, and came away as quick as I could," Bristles
+presently went on, with a big sigh. "All the rest of the afternoon I
+was patting myself on the back, Fred, and saying the old lady would
+have a chance to change her mind about little Andrew. But it didn't
+wash, Fred, not a bit of it."
+
+"You said, I believe, that two more of the opals had vanished; when did
+you hear about that?" asked Fred, to hurry his chum along.
+
+"Why, after I came in just before supper time, feeling better than for
+several days. I saw with one eye that mom was bothered again over
+something, and I understood what it was when she handed me a little
+note she'd got late that afternoon from Aunt Alicia."
+
+He fumbled about in his pockets for several minutes, until Fred grew
+impatient.
+
+"Never mind about the note," he remarked; "perhaps you handed it back,
+or you may have lost it, Bristles. I should think you could tell me the
+gist of it."
+
+"You'd better guess I can!" burst forth the other, with renewed
+feeling. "It ran about this way, Fred: She had the unpleasant duty to
+perform of telling mother that two more of her opals had disappeared
+that afternoon, and could not be found, high or low. She was not
+accusing _anybody_ of taking them, oh! no, not for worlds; but it was
+a _strange coincidence_, that was all."
+
+"Whew! that sounds hot off the bat!" remarked Fred, with a low whistle
+to indicate his feelings in the matter.
+
+"Yes, she used that very word," Bristles went on; "and I guess it hit
+the case right well, for it _is_ a coincidence, I give you my solemn
+word, Fred, and nothing more."
+
+"I believe you. Bristles; I'm as sure of it as if she suspected me of
+taking her opals, and I knew I was innocent. But was that all the note
+said?"
+
+"Well, not quite, Fred. She went on to say that she would be very much
+obliged to mom, if, after this, when she had to communicate with her
+aunt--for that's what Miss Muster is to mom, you know--she'd send my
+sister Kate; because you see, Andrew is an unpleasant boy to have
+around!"
+
+Bristles tried to laugh as though his heart were steeled against
+showing any natural feeling; but Fred felt sure he was winking very
+fast, and he had little difficulty in guessing why.
+
+"It is a hard problem you're up against, Bristles," he went on to say,
+while he laid a hand affectionately upon the other's quivering arm;
+"but just perk up, and make sure that it's bound to come out right,
+sooner or later. If you don't go to see your aunt again, after a bit,
+another of her opals will disappear; and then the quick-tempered old
+lady must see that it wasn't you after all."
+
+Immediately Bristles raised his head, as though new life had come to
+him.
+
+"Say, I never thought of that, Fred!" he exclaimed. "It's a good idea,
+too, and is sure to work, sooner or later. Whoever is taking her opals
+will get tired of waiting for me to come around again, to be the
+scapegoat; and crib another lot. Then won't Rome howl, though! If it
+turns out to be the old mammy, she'll lose her steady job all right;
+because Aunt Alicia is stern and unforgiving. I used to be her
+favorite; but never again for me, after this."
+
+"Well, if you feel better now, Bristles, and there's nothing more to
+tell me, suppose we both crawl in, and get a little snooze? I'm as
+tired as all get-out; and I reckon you're in the same boat."
+
+"Just what I am," returned the other, actually yawning; "but you've
+made me feel a hundred times better, Fred. It's a mighty good thing to
+have a chum like you, once in a while, and that's the truth. You've got
+a way about you that just makes the clouds seem to roll right off, and
+the sunshine come again."
+
+"Oh! I'm glad if I've been able to do you any good, Bristles; but let
+me know if any more things come up, will you?"
+
+"I just will, and no mistake," the boy who had found new hope replied,
+while his face beamed.
+
+"But don't think I'm going to forget all about it. No siree; if there's
+any way I can learn whether a jeweler in Riverport or Mechanicsburg has
+been buying an opal lately, I'm bound to get on the track."
+
+"Be careful, that's all, when you make inquiries," cautioned Fred.
+
+"Now, I don't get on to what you mean?" remarked Bristles.
+
+"Why, don't you see, if your aunt should also choose to look around,
+and heard that you were making inquiries about the value of opals, and
+all that, of course she'd jump to the conclusion that you wanted to
+learn how the market stood, so you'd be posted when you wanted to sell
+the ones you'd hid away!"
+
+"Granny! I never once thought of that, Fred!" gasped the other, lost in
+astonishment.
+
+"But it's so, don't you think now, Bristles?"
+
+"That's right, it would look suspicious. But Fred, what ought I say if
+I wanted to find out?"
+
+"Tell Mr. Rhinehart, our jeweler, the exact truth, and what your object
+is in asking about opals. He seems to be a pretty decent sort of a man,
+and like as not he'll feel for you, Bristles. Anyhow, he can prove to
+your aunt that you wanted to know if anybody offered opals for sale."
+
+"That's just fine of you, Fred, and I'll do it as sure as anything. I'm
+going to crawl in now, and get a few winks. I need 'em the worst kind,
+because I rather think I didn't sleep any too much last night, I felt
+so bad."
+
+Both boys were soon under their blankets; and no doubt sleep quickly
+came to banish all thoughts of opals, boat races, and all such things.
+
+Fred's sleep was broken by dreams, and they were pretty well mixed up.
+At one time he was swimming in the river again, trying to locate little
+Billy Lemington, who had disappeared from sight, and could not be
+found. Then again he seemed to be in a city, somewhere, when there was
+great confusion, a rushing of heavy vehicles over the pavement, and
+loud shouts that seemed to thrill him.
+
+Fred sat upright.
+
+For a second he believed his dream had been so vivid that it was
+haunting him still; for he fancied that he could hear the rumbling of
+engines over the granite blocks; and surely that was a wild alarm of
+fire that broke upon his hearing.
+
+Then like a flash it came to Fred that there was nothing of a dream
+about it--some one _was_ shrieking the startling word "fire!" at the
+top of his voice; and even in that dreadful moment the aroused sleeper
+believed he could distinguish the well known tones of Bradley Morton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ICE COLD WATERS
+
+
+"Fire! Fire! Wake up, everybody! Help! Help!"
+
+So Brad was shouting at the top of his lusty young voice. Such an
+upheaval as his thrilling cries brought about in the three tents! Every
+one of the sixteen inmates scrambled out from under the blanket in
+which he had been so snugly rolled.
+
+They came flocking out just as they were, some in pajamas, others in
+all sorts of apparel suited to sleeping; and not a few about half
+disrobed, they having failed to provide for the night time.
+
+Nobody needed to ask any questions, because they had eyes, and could
+easily see what was the matter.
+
+A fire was blazing in the pile of dead stuff over near where the new
+boat lay. The sight gave every fellow a sensation of dread; for he
+naturally thought of what a disaster it would be should the racing
+craft be injured or destroyed.
+
+"Save the boat, fellows!" shouted Fred, who seemed to be able to keep
+his wits about him better than most of the others.
+
+"Yes, rush in, and get hold of her!" added Brad. "I don't believe she's
+been hurt yet. This way, boys! Everybody help!"
+
+There was at least no lack of volunteers. It seemed as though everybody
+felt anxious to have a hand in saving the boat, for there was a
+concerted rush on the part of all.
+
+One or two tripped, and fell down in their haste. Others stubbed their
+toes on stones or roots, and doubled up, groaning with pain. But all of
+a dozen managed to reach the vicinity of the shell, which rested there
+so dangerously close to the roaring blaze.
+
+"Take hold, all that can!" called Fred, as he himself clutched one of
+the out-riggers, and made ready to lift. "All ready now? Yo heave 'o!
+and away we go! That's the way to do it, boys! We've saved our boat,
+and don't you forget it!"
+
+With lusty cheers they carried the frail craft to a place of safety,
+each fellow proud to be counted among the savers.
+
+"Bully for us!" cried Colon, who was limping around as if he had struck
+his foot against something hard.
+
+"But look here, fellows, hurry and get some shoes on," Fred continued.
+"We've got to put that fire out, or it may spread. Anyhow, it'll make
+our camp a tough place if we let it burn itself out."
+
+Several who had been wise enough to pull on their shoes before starting
+out at once volunteered to get busy under Brad; and the balance hurried
+to the tents to provide themselves with foot covering.
+
+There were a couple of buckets in the camp, and these were immediately
+pressed into service by the enthusiastic young fire-fighters. One
+fellow stood down by the river, and dipped each bucket in as it came
+back empty. Then in turn it was relayed along from hand to hand, until
+finally either Brad or Fred received it.
+
+They used their judgment as to where the water was to be thrown, and
+with such good results that after a short time it was seen that the
+fire did not burn so brilliantly as before.
+
+"Hurrah! fellows, we're doing the business, all right!" shouted Corney,
+who had been working like an industrious beaver all the time.
+
+"It's dying out, and that's a fact!" cried Colon, the one who dipped up
+the water at the other end of the line. "Getting much darker down here.
+About time, too, I reckon, because I've just about emptied the whole
+river!"
+
+"Oh! quit your grumbling, Colon!" called out Sid, who was just above
+the bank, receiving each bucket that the tall boy reached up to him.
+"We ought to be sending up a regular chorus because we saved our boat."
+
+"Don't believe for a minute that I'm growling, Sid," the long-legged
+Colon gasped, for he began to feel winded by his exertion. "I'm only
+bothered for fear there won't be enough river left for that boat race
+to be pulled off."
+
+"Plenty more coming from above, Colon; so brace up. Perhaps it'll rain
+cats and dogs before the race comes off, and the river be bank full,"
+and Dave Hanshaw tossed an empty bucket down to the boy at the brink of
+the stream.
+
+"A few more and we can let up, boys!" came the cheering news from Brad,
+who, being close to the burning brush, ought to know.
+
+And indeed, it did suddenly become gloomy as the fire failed to find
+any more dry fuel to feed upon, so that it gasped fitfully, and
+threatened to go out entirely.
+
+So, presently, there was no further need of exertion on the part of the
+now weary passers of water; and the boys began to gather around their
+own blaze, which some one had rekindled with fresh wood.
+
+Some of them were wet, and all more or less chilly after giving up
+their exertions; so that they were glad to gather around the fire, with
+coats on, or blankets thrown over their shoulders.
+
+Sleep, for the time being, had been utterly banished from their eyes;
+for one and all were desirous of comparing notes as to the origin of
+the furious fire.
+
+"Was it the work of some sneak, who wanted to burn our boat, Brad?"
+asked Dick Hendricks.
+
+"That's hard to say, Dick," was the reply. "I'd hate to think anybody
+could be so mean as to want to do that."
+
+"Huh! we happen to know one feller who wouldn't stop a minute,"
+remarked Corney.
+
+"There's another possibility that none of you seems to have thought
+of," said Fred, breaking in just then.
+
+"What's that, Fred?" demanded Brad, turning toward the speaker,
+quickly.
+
+"Why, perhaps it was an accident, after all," observed Fred.
+
+"An accident!" echoed Colon.
+
+"Well, _something_ started that fire, we all know that," Fred went on,
+resolutely. "It never caught from a spark that came from the camp
+blaze, because in the first place there hasn't been a single spark
+flying for several hours; and then again you want to notice that the
+wind is right from the opposite quarter."
+
+"Then how could it catch by accident, I want to know?" asked Dave
+Hanshaw.
+
+"I'm on," sang out Sid. "He means Colon!"
+
+All eyes were instantly turned on the tall boy.
+
+"Well, I did throw that torch at the cow; I admit that much, fellows,"
+he began; "but don't tell me it just kept on smouldering all this time
+in that brush heap, to take fire after everybody'd gone to sleep! Why,
+it must have been all of five hours ago. Shucks! you can't prove it;
+and I won't admit a single thing."
+
+"Well, it might have happened; and that's as near as we'll ever get to
+finding out the truth," said Fred.
+
+When they had talked it all over they began to feel sleepy once more;
+and one by one again crawled into the tents. There was no further
+alarm, and morning came to arouse the camp of the boat club.
+
+The day promised to be a beautiful one, but rather sultry. Indeed, even
+in the early morning the waters of the Mohunk looked inviting to the
+boys, so that as they came out of the tents they made a bee-line for
+the bank, to plunge in.
+
+Soon there was a great splashing and shouting, such as a dozen and more
+boys in swimming alone can produce. Bristles, remembering a promise he
+had made to himself, pursued his lessons diligently, and was making
+splendid progress, so that he began to grow quite encouraged.
+
+"I'll be a swimmer right away," he told Fred, as the two of them sat on
+the bank rubbing down, after coming from the water. "I'm getting to
+have confidence in myself, Fred, and already I went more'n twenty feet
+without touching bottom."
+
+"Good for you, Bristles; I said you had it in you to make a swimmer, if
+only you'd keep everlastingly at it. Every boy who goes on the water,
+either in a boat, or to skate, ought to know how to swim. It may save
+his life, or the life of a chum some day. But those fellows ought to
+come out, or they'll get blue around their lips, for the water is icy
+cold. Colon looked shivery the last time he was up on the bank for a
+high dive!"
+
+"There he is now, swimming across the river again, Fred. He ought not
+to try that so often, seems to me. Why, look at him, will you; he's
+making believe he's got a cramp or something!"
+
+Fred sprang to his feet excitedly, exclaiming:
+
+"There's no make-believe about that, Bristles; Colon _has_ got a cramp,
+and right now he's in danger of drowning away out there in the middle
+of the river. Quick! fellows, to the rescue! Colon is drowning!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A SURPRISE
+
+
+Fred's words created much excitement. Some of the boys stood and looked
+out to where Colon was struggling desperately in the deep water,
+seeming to be almost paralyzed with alarm. Others, who kept their wits
+about them, started after Fred, who, plunging in, was already swimming
+across the Mohunk.
+
+Fred knew the danger that awaited them. When anyone is drowning, he or
+she seems to lose all the good sense which at another time he may have
+possessed. The instinct of self preservation is so strong that a
+drowning boy will clutch at his dearest friend, and hold frantically to
+him, not because he wants to pull the other down, but because he hopes
+to be himself buoyed up.
+
+"Help! help!" Colon was trying to scream, though the water, getting in
+his mouth, muffled the sound considerably.
+
+There was no need of his wasting what little breath he still possessed.
+His chums were doing everything in their power to assist him before it
+was too late.
+
+Fred presently arrived close to Colon, who had been under water once,
+and sank again even as his camp-mate arrived on the spot. It gave Fred
+a sickening feeling to see the poor fellow threshing wildly with his
+long arms, grasping at a floating chip, which, to his excited mind, was
+magnified into a log.
+
+Fred had made sure to be above the other when he arrived. He wanted the
+benefit of the current in carrying out the plan he had in mind.
+
+One last look he took to locate Colon. Then he dove out of sight, so
+that the other might not see him coming, and try to clutch him. Once
+those frenzied hands closed upon any part of his person, Fred knew that
+he would have to strike Colon in the face, and stun him, before he
+could break loose.
+
+But he had figured well, for he came up just behind the struggling boy,
+who was making one last effort to keep on the surface, ere going down
+for the last time.
+
+Quick as a flash Fred threw his arm around Colon, who, just as he
+expected, tried desperately to seize him. This the other prevented with
+all his strength.
+
+All he wanted to do now was to continue to hold Colon until some of the
+others arrived on the scene, when altogether they might be able to work
+him to the shore.
+
+Had he been alone with Colon, Fred feared he must have resorted to
+other tactics if he hoped to get the other out of the river alive. But
+Brad and several more of the strong swimmers had by now reached a point
+close enough for them to ask what he wanted them to do. Even in that
+moment they recognized the fact that Fred was the one to whom they
+should look for orders, because he always knew just what to do in an
+emergency.
+
+"Each one of you get a grip on an arm; and be sure you don't let him
+grab you," was what Fred said.
+
+Brad readily carried out the instructions, and helped buoy up the
+helpless boy; while Sid Wells took the other arm.
+
+"He's dead!" cried the latter, seeing that Colon no longer struggled,
+but lay like a log in the water.
+
+"Don't you believe it," answered Fred, instantly. "He's swallowed a
+whole lot of water, and is pretty far gone; but let's get him ashore,
+and revive him!"
+
+Others had by now come up, and between the lot poor Colon was hurried
+to the bank, up which he was carried.
+
+"Lay him here, face down, so I can straddle him with my knees!" Fred
+called out. "Now, some of you begin, and work his arms back and forth
+regularly, while I press down on his lungs so as to induce artificial
+breathing. That's the only way to get things started, you see. A little
+harder, Brad, please. And don't the rest of you look so scared. He's
+going to come out of this. He wasn't under the water any time at all,
+but just gave way because of the cramp and the scare."
+
+So Fred talked as he worked, and all the while he was building up the
+hopes of the fellows, who looked peaked and white, under the belief
+that they had seen the last of their chum, the good-natured Colon.
+
+And Fred was right.
+
+In a very short time one of the boys who were working Colon's arms like
+the piston rods of a locomotive cried out:
+
+"He moved a little then, fellows!"
+
+"And listen to that, would you?" exclaimed another delighted chum, as
+Colon plainly sighed.
+
+In five minutes Colon recovered enough to be helped back to camp, where
+he was rubbed down until his skin fairly glowed, and then hustled
+between a pair of blankets, to rest, while the others dressed, and got
+breakfast ready.
+
+Colon had learned his lesson. He would never again persist in remaining
+in ice-cold water when he was shivering, and his lips turning blue.
+Nature has a way of sending up a warning sign, that every intelligent
+fellow ought to heed.
+
+That day passed all too soon, and another night arrived, the last they
+expected to spend in camp up on the Mohunk. The following day the wagon
+belonging to Judge Colon, an uncle of the tall boy, and put at the
+service of the young campers, would come to "tote" all the stuff back
+to town again, and some of the boys in the bargain.
+
+Of course nine of them would go back, as they had come, in the boat.
+And this time there was no need of any secrecy, so they could expect to
+excite more or less curiosity when they shot past Mechanicsburg.
+
+The mere thought inspired the boys with eagerness. In imagination they
+could already see the wondering faces lining the bank, and the people
+running to see as the word was passed hurriedly along that the new
+eight-oared shell of the Riverport crew was sighted up the river.
+
+They had become very careful now about the boat, which was growing more
+valuable in their eyes every hour, as they developed its capabilities.
+Catch any of them throwing torches around promiscuously now; no one
+ever touched the fire so that the sparks flew, but half a dozen pairs
+of anxious eyes followed the course they took, and speculation arose as
+to the chances of their doing any damage.
+
+During the morning another trial spin was taken, with Colon again in
+his place, and pulling a strong oar. Brad and Fred both declared that
+the crew was coming on famously, and would be able to give a good
+account of themselves when the time arrived to meet their old rivals of
+Mechanicsburg.
+
+Along about three in the afternoon the wagon arrived. As the tents had
+been taken down, and all the camp things well packed, it took but a
+short time to load up. Then the wagon started, escorted by the eight
+fellows who could not find places in the boat.
+
+The crew gave them a cheer for a send-off, and received as loud a
+salute in return. After which they took their places in the long,
+narrow boat, for the run of seven miles down the river home.
+
+Brad was keenly alive to every little thing that took place. Like a
+wise coxswain he felt that he ought to know each man's weakness, if he
+had any, so as to build him up into a perfect part of the whole
+machine. For a boat crew must act as though it were one unit, at the
+nod and whim of the fellow who sits in the stern, doing the steering,
+and by his motions increasing or diminishing the stroke. If one cog
+fails to work perfectly, the entire thing collapses.
+
+"Fine! Great work, fellows!" Brad was saying again and again after they
+had passed over a couple of miles down-stream. "You're doing yourselves
+proud; and honest now, I believe you could take a little faster stroke.
+We must be doing our prettiest when we spurt past Mechanicsburg."
+
+Brad had just finished saying this when he received one of the
+surprises of his life. His eyes were the only ones that could see down
+the river, and as he happened to glance over toward the left bank,
+where there was something of a neck of land shutting a large bay out of
+sight, judge of his amazement when he discovered the pointed prow of a
+racing boat thrusting out, and headed toward the middle of the river.
+
+And as Brad sat there, almost petrified, as he afterwards declared, the
+boat shot into view, containing a crew of eight, and a coxswain, in the
+latter of whom he recognized Buck Lemington.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A LUCKY WIN
+
+
+"Listen, boys!"
+
+When the coxswain said this, every fellow as the oars strained his
+hearing, under the belief that Brad had something mighty interesting to
+communicate. Possibly some of them, having their eyes constantly on the
+coxswain, had seen by his manner that Brad must have discovered
+something down-stream. But no one dared try and twist his head around,
+in order to see for himself.
+
+"Don't anybody try to look," Brad went on; "but we're going to have a
+little brush right now. Buck and his bunch have got that boat from
+Grafton, and, finding out that we are expected to pass down the river
+this afternoon, they've been lying in wait for us!"
+
+Every fellow gave utterance to an exclamation, or a whistle, to
+indicate both his astonishment, and pleasure as well.
+
+"Now, keep on working regularly as you are, and brace yourselves, every
+fellow, for a furious spurt, if we have to make one. Might as well
+learn what our boat can do, first as last. Take care how you dip in,
+because a crab would upset us all. They've struck the middle of the
+river now, and are letting us catch up on them. I can see Whitey, Clem
+Shooks, Jones, Jimmerson and Ben Gushing, anyway. And they're grinning
+as if they meant to make monkeys of the Riverport Boat Club boys. Shall
+we stand for it, fellows?"
+
+Evidently Brad knew just how to key his crew up to doing their best;
+for his question was instantly answered with a thunderous:
+
+"Not much we won't!"
+
+"Get ready, then, because we're bearing down on 'em fast now," the wary
+coxswain continued, in a husky voice, caused by the excitement, no
+doubt. "There, they've increased their stroke so that we will come up
+slower, and not take the advantage from them at the start. It's a race,
+fellows! Let's pitch in now, and overtake the outlaw crew!"
+
+Brad knew that the greatest danger lay in one of the boys becoming so
+worked up that he would miss a stroke, and "catch a crab," in boating
+language. This would cause him to break the stroke of the entire crew,
+if it did nothing more serious; and give the race to their rivals.
+
+And so he continued to speak warning words to them as he regulated his
+motions, and the stroke in turn.
+
+"Easy there Sid, old fellow; don't try to rush things. Keep in line
+with Fred, because he's the stroke oar, you know. That was a fine one.
+Again and yet again, boys! Now we're on even terms with 'em, and we're
+bound to go ahead, believe me!"
+
+"Like fun you are!" called out Buck Lemington, being close enough to
+catch what Brad was saying.
+
+Perhaps Buck added just a little more speed to his motions, rendered
+desperate by the fact that thus far he and his fellows had not been
+able to keep the other shell from gradually cutting down the lead they
+had in the beginning.
+
+No matter what he did, he must have helped stop this gain on the part
+of Brad's crew. Now the two boats were rushing swiftly down the river,
+neck and neck, as it were, and going at a speed that seemed marvelous
+to these boys, unused to anything of the sort.
+
+For a short time both crews seemed to be working with clock-like
+regularity; and it would have won the praise of an old boating man just
+to have watched them. Of course this could hardly last, for they were
+both sadly lacking in practice; and at almost any second one of the
+sixteen lads was apt to be taken with a sudden cramp, or miss his
+stroke, throwing his crew into confusion, and perhaps upsetting the
+boat in the excitement.
+
+But they could all swim now, even Bristles Carpenter; so the worst that
+could happen, should such an accident overtake them, would be the loss
+of the race, and the consequent disappointment.
+
+To have those fellows with Buck Lemington crowing over them, would be a
+bitter pill to Brad's crew. And they were really doing their level best
+to avoid such a punishment.
+
+There was the town of Mechanicsburg right ahead of them. Brad hoped
+that the river might be quite free of boats that would interfere with
+the passage of the two fleet racers. To have to dodge any pleasure
+craft would mar the sport, and give one or the other an unfair
+advantage.
+
+It was a square race, and Brad wanted to see the best crew win.
+Naturally he hoped it would fall to his side to arrive at the Riverport
+bridge ahead; but it must be a clean, fair win to satisfy him; for
+trickery and Brad Morton did not pull together very well.
+
+Of course the two boats did not always keep exactly on even terms. As
+one or the other crew exerted themselves a trifle beyond the ordinary
+there would be a little change. Sometimes it was the outlaw crew that
+made this gain; and then, on the other hand, Brad would do something to
+not only even up, but take them a quarter of a boat's length ahead.
+
+It was what might be called a heart-breaking row, and seemed to be
+anybody's race at the time they shot past Mechanicsburg.
+
+A few score of people were seen running to the river's edge, shouting
+their astonishment and delight. Nobody paid the slightest heed to them,
+however, for the warmth of the race occupied their attention.
+
+And now there were only three more miles before they would arrive at
+the railroad bridge, which must be accepted as the final goal.
+
+Going down-stream, and at the amazing speed they were now traveling,
+three miles could not take much time.
+
+"Keep it up, fellows, and we win!" Brad said, again and again, almost
+unconsciously; for he was watching the river ahead closely for signs of
+a rock which he knew lay under the surface at a certain point, with an
+eddy betraying its presence.
+
+He hoped Buck was also aware of its being there, for really it would be
+too bad if the other boat, with such a history back of it, should be
+finally wrecked. Brad was almost tempted to shout out a warning, when
+he saw with one look behind, that, judging from the change in course,
+Buck was fighting shy of the dangerous quarter. He had been brought up
+on the banks of the Mohunk, and ought to be acquainted with every foot
+of ground and water in the vicinity.
+
+The pace had now reached the limit. Neither of the young crews seemed
+capable of doing any more. But Brad made a discovery that appalled him.
+Colon was weakening! The boy had received such a shock on the previous
+day, when he came so near being drowned in the river, that he was not
+in as good condition for bearing the tremendous nervous strain as the
+balance of the crew.
+
+Brad recognized the signs, and feared the worst. Unless they could
+relax presently Colon would have to give up exhausted. And, of course,
+that would lose them the race.
+
+It was too bad, and Brad, being a high-spirited lad, would feel the
+defeat keenly; but he was determined not to take too great chances.
+When he saw that Colon had reached the limit he meant to slacken the
+pace, no matter what happened, nor how much the crew shouted at him for
+a "quitter."
+
+Buck's boat was coming on again now. Brad doubted whether they had been
+able to put any fresh vim into their efforts, for that seemed next to
+impossible, since already every fellow was straining his muscles to the
+limit. It must be that the growing weakness of Colon was beginning to
+make itself felt.
+
+Well, what they could not cure they must endure. Colon was too good a
+fellow to take chances of doing him an injury that would put him off
+the crew indefinitely. They needed his strong back in that real race
+with Mechanicsburg.
+
+The others had by now discovered that the outlaw boat was slowly
+forging ahead, and that, despite all their efforts, the gain continued.
+Slowly they could see each opposing oarsman creeping along; and it was
+discouraging to feel that after all Buck seemed to have the better
+"stayers" in his crew.
+
+Already they could hear the low, taunting remarks which the others were
+calling out, and they stung. Defeat is hard enough to stand, when
+pitted against honorable, high-minded fellows, whose first thought is
+to give an encouraging cheer for their whipped rivals; but it is doubly
+painful when forced to listen to all manner of insulting remarks from
+rough lads devoid of decent feelings, and only bent upon "rubbing it
+in."
+
+Brad had really lost all hope. He was even about to throw up the
+sponge, and slacken the pace to such an extent that the people of
+Riverport, seeing the two boats coming down the river so far apart,
+would never think they had been racing.
+
+Then something happened, unexpectedly, as it always does in a boat
+race.
+
+Brad heard a sudden loud snap. He saw that the crew in the other boat
+seemed to be floundering around in the utmost confusion. One fellow
+even toppled overboard, though he immediately clutched hold of the
+speeding boat, and was dragged along with it.
+
+Like a race horse, the boat containing the regular Riverport crew shot
+past the disabled outlaw craft. Buck was shouting in his disgust. He
+even shook his fist at his rivals as they went on speeding down the
+river; and they caught the tenor of his remarks.
+
+"We had you beat good and plenty, never fear, only for that pesky
+outrigger bustin' on us! Next time we'll rub it in all the harder. You
+fellers had all the luck to-day. Just wait, that's all!"
+
+And so good fortune saved the day for Brad and his crew, when all
+seemed lost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+FRED'S HOME-COMING
+
+
+"We win! We win!"
+
+The shouts of the fellows who wielded the oars in the leading boat came
+floating back to those who were still scrambling around in the cranky
+outlaw craft.
+
+Buck put his hands to his mouth, in order to make his voice carry the
+better, and yelled disdainfully after them:
+
+"Yes, you win, but only through a foul! Run into us, and broke one of
+our outriggers to flinders! But just wait till we get a new one made,
+we'll beat you to a frazzle! Wait!"
+
+"It wasn't so, was it, Brad?" demanded Corney Shays indignantly; "we
+never touched his boat, did we?"
+
+"Well, I like his nerve!" cried Sid Wells, for all of them were taking
+things easy, now that the race was over, and the victory won. "Why,
+hang it, I don't believe we were within thirty feet of their old boat
+any time."
+
+"And you're right, Sid," added Brad. "I ought to know, because I was in
+a position to see everything. When that outrigger smashed they were a
+quarter of a length ahead. Anybody with half an eye can see that it was
+the second oar that got in trouble. And boys, believe me, that
+outrigger was away up opposite our stem, far out of reach of our oars,
+end on end. It's too silly for anything!"
+
+"But I think, from all I know of the fellow, that it's just like Buck
+to say a thing like that?" suggested Fred.
+
+"You're right there, Fred," declared Dick Hendricks; "he never yet lost
+a game but what, quick as a flash, he made it a point to claim that it
+was a foul, and the beat an unfair one. Isn't that so, fellows, all you
+who've known Buck since he was a kid, and always a fighting bully?"
+
+"You never said truer words, Dick," declared Sid. "And I ought to know,
+because I've had a dozen fights with Buck in as many years. Fact is,
+they say we went at each other before we were able to walk, and that he
+pulled the only tuft of yellow hair out that I owned about then. He
+used to joke me, and boast that he had that yellow lock at home, tied
+with a string, just like an Indian would an enemy's scalplock. Oh!
+we've been at it, hammer and tongs, ever since. And just as you say,
+Dick, he never yet lost a fight or a race or a game but what he set up
+a howl that the other fellow cheated, or took an unfair advantage of
+him."
+
+"But by this time the people of Riverport ought to be on to Mr. Buck,
+and know how little truth there is in his whine," remarked Fred.
+
+"Well, a lot of them do," answered Brad, scornfully, for he was
+indignant over the small trick of the beaten coxswain; "but you know
+how it is, Fred. You'll always find a certain percentage of people in
+every place only too willing to think the worst of you, given half a
+chance."
+
+"Oh! well, we don't have to bother our heads about it, I suppose,"
+remarked Sid. "It's the same old story, nine-tenths believing in our
+side, and the others backing up Buck. But, fellows, we know what we
+know. That race was won through a streak of luck for our side, perhaps,
+and I'm sorry to even admit that; but there wasn't the first hint of
+foul play on our part."
+
+"And given half a chance," said Corney Shays, "Buck would have easily
+punched a hole in our boat, if he really believed he was going to be
+licked. I've known him to do things twice as bad as that, and get away
+with it too, in the bargain. Accuse him of it, and he'd laugh in your
+face, and ask how you could prove anything."
+
+"Let's drop Buck and his ways for a while, and think of our chances
+with those husky Mechanicsburg chaps," observed Brad, as they came in
+sight of the outlying houses connected with the home town, scattered
+along the river front.
+
+"Oh! I know what you mean, Brad, all right," spoke up Colon, sensitive
+to anything like criticism; "every one knows that I weakened toward the
+end, and that's what threw us out of gear. Couldn't help it, if you
+killed me. That little trouble I had with the river yesterday must have
+still bothered me. Never had such a queer feeling grip me before, and
+hope never to again."
+
+"Oh! I wouldn't bother myself about that, Colon," Brad hastened to say,
+consolingly; "given a few days to rest, and you'll be as tough as ever.
+That strain was heart-breaking, and nobody could blame you for wilting
+under it, after what you passed through yesterday. If I'd known we were
+going to meet that bunch, all primed to give us a race, perhaps I'd
+have thought it good policy to put Joe in the crew for the run home.
+But it all turned out right after all."
+
+"And we won, which was the best part of it!" crowed Corney.
+
+"I differ with you there, Corney," declared Brad. "To me the best part
+of it was the game quality the whole crew showed. That was an
+eye-opener to me. I know now what you can stand; and next time won't be
+so much afraid to push you to the limit, if I feel that every fellow is
+fit."
+
+"Another thing," remarked Fred, "that is pleasant to know, is the fact
+that luck broke in our favor. It's been my experience always, in nearly
+every game, when the teams are about even, that when luck takes to
+turning one way, that side always wins out. Everything comes their way.
+It's begun to like us, boys."
+
+"And we sure have no kick coming," remarked Corney, with emphasis.
+
+There were quite a few people waiting to see what was going to happen.
+They had known of Buck and his outlaw crew going up the river in their
+boat; and since the regular crew was expected down that afternoon, by
+putting things together, they rather guessed a race might result.
+
+Some of these people had field glasses, and from the wild way they
+cheered Brad and his interested spectators of at least the conclusion
+of the race; for the river ran about straight for some distance up
+toward Mechanicsburg.
+
+"Hello!" Brad called out to a party of five or crew, it might be
+suspected that they had been six schoolboys who seemed to be trying to
+crack their voices yelling, as they waved their hats, and one of them a
+pair of glasses; "did you see us trim Buck's bunch, Lossing?"
+
+"You just bet we did, and you showed 'em up handsomely too," came the
+reply; "but what happened in their boat when they were in a dead heat
+with you?"
+
+"Why, they were a quarter of a length ahead at the time," answered
+Brad, frankly. "We'd been sea-sawing it all the way down, first one
+leading, then the other. All at once one of their outriggers snapped
+off short, and that threw them into all sorts of confusion."
+
+"Oh! that was it, eh? I had the glasses, but couldn't make out just
+what happened. But you _did_ beat them anyhow, Brad?" called the other,
+jubilantly.
+
+"You'll hear a howl from Buck, all right, Lossing," Brad went on, as
+they came in to the shore gently enough, this being their landing
+place.
+
+"Well, we reckoned on that," laughed the other. "It wouldn't be Buck
+Lemington if he didn't make a kick. What was he yelling out after you,
+Brad?"
+
+"Had the nerve to say we fouled his boat, and broke that outrigger,
+Lossing."
+
+"Hasn't he the colossal nerve though?" the boy ashore shouted. "Why, I
+know for a dead certainty that the boats were at least three lengths
+apart at the time. That sure does make me snicker, Brad."
+
+And before evening it might be set down as certain that two versions of
+the race would be circulating all through Riverport, one believed by
+nearly all the better element, and the other taken as truth by a few
+select persons who, from various reasons, thought it policy to back up
+anything done by Buck Lemington; or his father, the rich Squire, who
+had interest in several factories, and was moreover quite a politician
+in the community.
+
+Fred waited around the boathouse until the Colon wagon arrived,
+bringing the rest of the boat club, and all their ordinary clothes as
+well.
+
+Like the others of the crew, Fred dressed then, and along about dusk
+started for home, knowing that it was well on toward supper time, and
+his father must be in from his work.
+
+Once more Fred was thinking of his own troubles, and heaving more than
+one sigh, as he found himself wishing again and again that something
+might happen to bring a new joy into the lives of his mother and
+father. They seemed to be losing hope; and the cares that gathered were
+beginning to make them look old before their time.
+
+Oh! if only they could hear _something_ from Hiram Masterson, the miner
+from Alaska, who had been so mysteriously spirited away just when he
+had determined to testify against his own rascally uncle, Sparks
+Lemington, and put the Fentons in possession of such information as
+would enable them to win the suit for the mine.
+
+"But I suppose that would be too great happiness," he mused, as he drew
+near his home, in the window of which he could see the light placed
+there by his mother.
+
+He opened the door, and then stood there transfixed, because of what he
+saw; for his mother was in the arms of his father, her head pillowed on
+his shoulder, and she seemed to be weeping.
+
+But when she raised her head at Fred's entrance the astonished and
+delighted boy saw immediately that it must be great joy that brought
+those tears, and caused this deep emotion, for upon that dear face he
+could read a new-born happiness.
+
+And again he remembered what he had said to his mates on the crew about
+luck having chosen to hunt them out as favorites; for it even seemed to
+wait him at home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+NEWS FROM OVER SEA
+
+
+"Oh Fred, it's come!" exclaimed his younger sister, Kate.
+
+"What, news from Hiram?" demanded the boy, his heart beating rapidly
+with the sudden excitement.
+
+"That's it; and he says----" began the impulsive girl, when her
+mother's voice restrained her:
+
+"Wait, and let Fred read the letter for himself, Kate; he will
+understand it much better, I am sure; for in your present condition I
+doubt whether you are capable of making anything clear."
+
+Releasing herself from the arms of her smiling husband, she held out a
+crumpled sheet of paper to the eager Fred. He saw that there were only
+a few lines of writing on it, and that even this was done unevenly, as
+though the one who used the pen wrote under unfavorable conditions,
+perhaps on the edge of his bunk aboard a sailing vessel.
+
+This was just what Fred read:
+
+    "On the way home by easy stages, and under an assumed name, so as
+    not to arouse the suspicion of those who have kept me away.
+    Determined to right a great wrong that has been done you. Willing
+    to testify in your behalf. Be sure and keep secret, especially from
+    the one you have to fear.
+
+    "You Know Who."
+
+"Where is the envelope this came in, mother?" Fred asked the first
+thing; for he found nothing about the letter itself to indicate from
+what part of the world it might have come.
+
+"I was very careful to keep it, Fred," Mrs. Fenton replied; "for I knew
+you would want to see it."
+
+No sooner had Fred glanced hastily at the postmark than he whistled to
+indicate his astonishment.
+
+"Why, it was mailed at Hong Kong, and a whole month ago," he cried.
+
+"Yes, away at the other side of the world," his father remarked. "And
+from the tone of the letter I feel satisfied that our troubles will
+soon be of the past; for Hiram Masterson is tired of being kept away
+from his native land, just because he wants to tell the truth; and he
+is coming soon to testify for us."
+
+"This is great news, mother, father!" declared Fred, tears standing in
+his eyes as he contemplated the joyous faces of those he loved so well,
+for the careworn expression had fled from the countenances of his
+parents; and he thought both of them looked ten years younger, such is
+the mission of happiness.
+
+"I'll never hear the name of Hong Kong again in school, but what I'll
+just love it," declared Kate, laughing and crying by turns; "because it
+sounds so good right now."
+
+"A month ago he wrote this," continued Fred, reflectively. "Why right
+at this time Hiram must be on the way to America on his vessel, and may
+show up here any old time. He says he is sailing under another name, so
+they won't know him. After all, Hiram has turned out to be a good
+friend of ours, father, even if he does belong to that Lemington family
+that has given us so much trouble."
+
+"Oh there may be good branches on even the poorest tree," remarked
+gentle Mrs. Fenton. "So it is with families. There's little Billy, now,
+Buck's brother; didn't you say he was as nice a youngster as you ever
+met, Fred?"
+
+"That's so, mother; and I'll try and not forget again. But I suppose we
+ought to do what Hiram says, and keep quiet about this latest news.
+Why, I believe that if people only knew we had a letter postmarked Hong
+Kong, they'd talk about it; and if that suspicious Squire Lemington
+heard, he'd put things together, so as to make out a true story."
+
+"How that imagination of yours does take wings, son," said Mr. Fenton,
+with a laugh. "But you're right about one thing; we must tell no one.
+Remember, Kate, not a single word to your closest chum."
+
+"Oh! don't be afraid I'll tell, father!" declared the girl.
+
+"And I promise that not even Sid shall know," Fred put in; "though I'd
+trust any secret with him, for he's as close-mouthed as an oyster, Sid
+is."
+
+"But even Sid might talk in his sleep, or let a hint fall," Kate
+insisted; "and you know he's got a sister, Mame, who loves to gossip a
+little--I kind of think all girls do," she added, with a little giggle,
+and shrug of her shoulders.
+
+"Won't Hiram have a story to tell when he gets back again?" observed
+Fred, who, boy-like, thought of the adventures the kidnapped miner must
+have passed through during his long enforced absence.
+
+"I imagine," Mr. Fenton observed, "that the harsh treatment he has
+endured at the hands of those who are in the pay of the company his
+uncle controls must have had just the opposite effect upon Hiram to
+what they intended. He feels very bitter toward them, and is more
+determined than ever to beat them at their game. I was always told that
+when evil men fall out honest ones get their due, and I believe it
+now."
+
+"I don't believe Hiram can be so very wicked," interposed Mrs. Fenton,
+gently. "When he came down here from Alaska to help his uncle by giving
+false testimony, he must have been laboring under some wrong notion of
+how things stood. Since then he has seen a great light, and his better
+nature has come to the front."
+
+"Then it was what Fred did for him when he first came, that opened his
+eyes," declared Kate. "You remember, mother, if it hadn't been for our
+Fred, Mr. Masterson would have found himself in serious trouble."
+
+"Yes, that must have been the entering wedge," Mr. Fenton remarked,
+nodding his approval of the girl's idea. "It set Hiram to thinking; and
+once a wavering man does that, the good in him gets a chance. But come,
+this doesn't look like supper. I didn't think I was one bit hungry; but
+now I'm fairly ravenous."
+
+"And the splendid news has taken my desire to eat away," Mrs. Fenton
+said; but she immediately started to get the meal on the table, her
+face radiant with the new happiness that had come.
+
+At the table Fred was seized with a sudden thought, pursuing which he
+turned to his sister to ask a few questions.
+
+"Do you remember who gave the letter to you at the office, Kate; was it
+that red-headed clerk, Sam Smalling?"
+
+"Why, to be sure; he always hands out the mail at the General Delivery
+window," she replied, without hesitation.
+
+"He's an inquisitive sort of a fellow, I've found," Fred went on; "and
+I've even seen him reading post cards that pass through. Stop and
+think, Kate, did he mention the fact to you that you were getting a
+_foreign_ letter this time?"
+
+"Why, yes, that is just what he did, Fred," Kate answered quickly; "how
+could you guess such a thing now?"
+
+"Oh! I just remembered hearing him make remarks to several persons when
+they came for mail, which told me Mr. Sam Smalling kept tabs on about
+all that went on in Riverport. It must keep his brain working all the
+time, trying to remember when Susie Green expects a letter from her
+aunt away up in Basking Ridge; and if Eph Smith has written home to his
+ma regularly once a month. But joking aside, sis, what did he say to
+you about it?"
+
+"Why, as near as I can remember, Fred, he only remarked that he noticed
+our far-away cousin in Hong Kong had finally taken a notion to write to
+us. I thought he was trying to be smart, you know; and to carry the
+joke along I laughed, and said it was too mean for anything the way
+Cousin Jim had treated us for a long time; and that it was about time
+he wrote."
+
+"Splendid!" exclaimed Fred, laughing. "And what did he say to that,
+Kate?"
+
+"I didn't wait to hear," she replied; "but when I went out of the door
+I looked back, and saw Mr. Smalling patting himself, as if he thought
+he had the greatest mind ever, to be able to just guess everything."
+
+"Well, I reckon you've spiked his guns, then," Fred went on. "You see,
+he has a younger brother who trains with that crowd of Buck's; and I
+didn't know but that Sam might make some mention of the mysterious
+letter we got to-day from the other side of the world. And then, in
+some way, it might get around to the ears of Buck, who would carry it
+to his father; because, I guess every little thing about the Fentons is
+of _some_ interest up there at the big house."
+
+"Fred, if you make up your mind to be a lawyer, I think you have a
+future ahead of you," declared his father, proudly; "because your
+reasoning powers are first-class. But the chances of the post office
+clerk mentioning the fact now are so remote, that we need not give it a
+thought."
+
+The evening that followed was one of the happiest the Fentons had known
+for a long time. There was much to talk about, and a spirit of coming
+joy seemed to pervade the very atmosphere of that humble cottage home,
+that certainly never brooded over the much more pretentious
+establishment of Sparks Lemington.
+
+And when, rather later than usual, Fred went up to his small room close
+under the rafters, where rainy nights he could listen to the patter of
+the drops on the roof just over his head, he believed that he must be
+the happiest boy in all Riverport.
+
+And in his new found joy his thoughts turned to the chum who was
+worrying so much over his troubles; so that Fred resolved on the morrow
+to try and do something to help poor Bristles Carpenter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+BRISTLES HAS AN IDEA
+
+
+The following morning, as Fred was tinkering around, fixing up some of
+his traps, he heard the whistle of one of his chums outside. Poking his
+head out of the window, and wondering why, if it should be Sid, he did
+not come upstairs without any knocking at the door, he saw to his
+surprise that it was Bristles.
+
+"Hello! Fred! Can I climb up, or will you come down here?" the latter
+called out.
+
+"Walk right into my parlor, said the spider to the fly," replied Fred,
+being in rare good humor himself, and wishing he could do something to
+help Bristles.
+
+The other boy soon made his appearance in Fred's little den of a room;
+which, however, was mighty comfortable, and as neat as wax. Mrs. Fenton
+was a good housekeeper, and she had always trained her children to
+never leave things "at sixes and sevens," as she termed it.
+
+Fred saw that Bristles was considerably excited over something or
+other. And of course the chances were that it must concern his own
+personal affairs. Having made a confidant of Fred, and gained more or
+less benefit because of his sympathy and advice, Bristles was rushing
+over the first thing with further news.
+
+"You look worked up, Bristles," Fred remarked, as the other threw his
+cap on the table, and dropped down in the rocker.
+
+"Well, I am, for a fact," the visitor replied, nodding his head to
+emphasize his remark.
+
+"Anything happened to make you feel better?" suggested Fred; "has there
+been another mysterious robbery over at your aunt's house, so that she
+can understand you didn't do it, because you were far away this time?"
+
+Bristles heaved a big sigh.
+
+"Huh! no such good luck as that, Fred," he remarked; "I only wish it
+was that way. P'raps it will be, just as you say. But an idea hit me in
+the night, when I was a-lyin' there, trying to get to sleep again. I
+don't like to be awake when it's only three o'clock, you know. Makes me
+feel bad in the morning. And I was tired as all get-out last night,
+after what we did yesterday up at camp and on the way down, when we
+beat Buck's bunch so neat in that race."
+
+"Hold on, stick to the text," remarked Fred; "you're the greatest
+fellow to ramble all over the lot when you start to telling anything.
+Now you said you had run across an idea; let's hear it, then; for I
+reckon it must have something to do with your trouble, Bristles?"
+
+The other actually grinned, showing that he was feeling more hopeful on
+this bright, sunshiny, summer morning, at any rate.
+
+"That's right, Fred, it had a whole lot to do with it!" he burst out.
+"Say, I've discovered who's been cribbing all those pretty little
+stones up at my aunt's!"
+
+"You don't mean it?" cried Fred, really taken aback.
+
+"Yes, I do, now," went on the excited Bristles; "and you couldn't guess
+it in a year of Sundays. It just seemed to pop into my head while I was
+lying there on my back, grunting because I couldn't get to sleep, or
+take my mind off Aunt Alicia and her queer old house."
+
+"Now, don't stop like that, and chuckle, Bristles; but go on telling,
+if you want me to sit here and listen." Fred prodded his chum with his
+finger as he said this, to bring him to his senses.
+
+"It's playing a mean game on the old lady, too, to take those opals so
+slick, and give her all that bad feeling; but if she _will_ keep such
+tricky pets, why she's got to pay for it, that's all, Fred."
+
+"Pets!" burst out the other.
+
+"Sure thing," laughed Bristles; "that wise old crow's the guilty
+thief!"
+
+"The black raven that she brought over from England, you mean?" Fred
+went on, rather staggered himself by what Bristles had said, and yet
+discovering an element of possible truth in it.
+
+"Yes, the old chap that cocks his head on one side when you come in,
+and examines you over from head to foot, just like he meant to say, 'If
+you're not good looking you're not wanted here!' Oh! he's a gay old
+villain, I just tell you! And, Fred, mark my words, he's the scamp
+who's been taking Aunty's opals."
+
+"Why, I do remember reading, more than a few times, that crows and
+ravens have been known to fly away with bright spoons, and all sorts of
+things that seem to catch their fancy; but I never heard of a bird
+stealing from its mistress, and opals at that."
+
+"Well, that's what this one is doing, you mark me," Bristles said,
+positively. "Why, just see what a great chance the old boy has. He
+finds the door open into the parlor once in a while, and just hops in,
+takes up one of the shiny stones, and carries it away to some place
+where he keeps his treasures. I just bet you now he's been carryin' on
+that way a long time, and Aunty never noticed that things were
+disappearing till I began to come over to see her."
+
+"You think so, do you, Bristles?" remarked Fred, still pondering over
+the matter, and wondering in his mind whether it could really be an
+explanation for the peculiar little mystery that had given his chum so
+much heart-pain.
+
+"Why, it's a dead open-and-shut cinch that the answer to the conundrum
+lies in that silly old black bunch of feathers," declared the other,
+conviction in his voice. "I looked up all about ravens in our big
+'cyclopaedia as soon as I got downstairs this morning; and the more I
+read, the stronger my mind got that Black Joe _must_ be the guilty
+one."
+
+"Will you go and tell your aunt, and ask her to make a search for his
+hiding-place?" Fred inquired.
+
+"Well--er--no; not just that," answered the other, slowly, and watching
+Fred out of the tail of his eye; "fact is, I'm afraid she'd laugh at
+me, and say it was only another excuse for me to get inside her house.
+Now, if _you_ could drop in to see Aunt Alicia on some excuse or other,
+Fred, perhaps you might get a chance to look around, and find out where
+Black Joe keeps his little crop of treasures hid."
+
+Fred burst out into a laugh.
+
+"Oh! I see, you want me to be the one to take chances; is that it,
+Bristles?" he demanded.
+
+"Well, I didn't think you'd mind doing a little more for a poor fellow,
+as you've been such a help already to me, Fred; and then, she won't
+accuse you of wanting to do anything wrong like she might me. Fact is,"
+he went on eagerly, so as to better carry his point, "she once said she
+kind of liked your looks, after you'd been in there with me. I sure
+believe you made a hit with Aunt Alicia; because, as a rule, she
+doesn't care much for boys, you know."
+
+"Hold on, Bristles," said Fred, laughingly; "that won't wash a bit.
+You're giving me some taffy now, just to make me agree to visit your
+aunt. But, honest, I don't care to take the chances. My reputation is
+pretty good up to now; but it might go to flinders if anyone said I was
+taking things that did not belong to me."
+
+"But, good gracious! Fred, she wouldn't have any reason to accuse you!"
+Bristles burst out, very much disappointed because his pet scheme
+promised to meet with a hitch so early in its development.
+
+"You forget one thing?" said Fred, soberly.
+
+"Perhaps I have, because, you see, I'm all excited; and it isn't apt to
+leave a fellow in decent trim for thinking. But what was it I forgot,
+Fred; tell me that?"
+
+"Why, perhaps one or two of the balance of those opals might take a
+notion to disappear about the same time I dropped in to see your aunt,
+without any invitation to do it. And in that case she'd just naturally
+think you'd put me up to keeping the queer business going. I'd hate to
+have her think that of me, and much worse send word to my father and
+mother that I was a thief!"
+
+"I should say so," declared Bristles, gloomily. "Bad enough to have her
+say that I was; and that's all in the family, you see. I never once
+thought of that, believe me, Fred. Wouldn't have asked you to take such
+chances, if I had. 'Course it wouldn't be fair, and I'm a selfish
+feller for hinting at it."
+
+"I don't think so, Bristles," Fred went on, consolingly. "It looked
+good to you, because you never thought of the chances of another raid
+being made on your aunt's opals. But perhaps you might have your mother
+go over and see Miss Alicia. She could mention what you thought, and
+even if the old lady did pretend to scoff at the idea, it would put a
+flea in her ear, so perhaps she'd keep an eye on Black Joe."
+
+"I'll think about it, Fred. I don't fancy dragging my mother into the
+game if it can be helped. I'd like to lift the lid myself, and then
+have the laugh on Aunt Alicia. Some day, perhaps, she'll be sorry she
+thought so mean of me, and wouldn't listen to my defense. You wait and
+see. I'm going to get at the bottom of this thing if it takes me all
+summer."
+
+"Well, General Grant got there in the end, and let's hope you'll be as
+lucky, old fellow," said Fred, cheerfully. "Anyhow, that was a bright
+thought about Black Joe; and it would be a jolly story to tell if it
+did turn out that way."
+
+"Why, right now you more'n half believe it yourself, Fred!" cried
+Bristles.
+
+"It's worth thinking about," was the noncommittal answer Fred made.
+
+"Oh! by the way," his visitor suddenly exclaimed, "while I was on my
+way over here I met Corney, who said he'd heard the Mechanicsburg
+fellows got their boat last night."
+
+"Good for that," remarked Fred, with satisfaction. "Now both crews can
+get busy, and whip themselves in shape for that big race later on. I
+expect we'll do much better next time. Colon wasn't himself at all,
+after being nearly drowned only the day before. But he'll come around
+all right; and when he's in trim there isn't a huskier fellow in the
+Riverport school."
+
+"We practice again this afternoon, don't we?" asked Bristles.
+
+"That was the programme last night, Brad told us," replied Fred.
+
+"Well, I only hope I get relief from this cloud that's hangin' over my
+head all the time," Bristles went on, sighing again. "It's just like
+the toothache, Fred; you suffer, and know it means goin' to the
+dentist's chair; but how you hate to go and get her yanked out! But
+once you make up your mind, and the job's done, how glad you feel you
+went; eh? Well, some bright day, I'm hoping, I'll feel just as happy as
+if I'd had a tooth drawn," and Fred was compelled to smile at the
+homely way his chum illustrated the condition of his feelings, though
+he understood just how Bristles felt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A CALL FOR HELP
+
+
+"I hope you take a notion to get your mother to go around there some
+time to-day," Fred went on to say, as his visitor got up to leave.
+
+"Perhaps I might," Bristles admitted; though he shook his head as if
+the idea did not wholly appeal to him.
+
+"She could smooth things over a whole lot, you see," Fred continued;
+"and then, if by some luck, another of the little gems has disappeared
+since your aunt sent that note over, your mother would be able to show
+Aunty how unjust she had been when she hinted that you'd taken the
+others."
+
+"Yes, it looks that way, Fred; and I'm obliged to you for giving me the
+hint," said Bristles. "But I want to think this over again. I'm going
+back home and stay there the whole morning, doing some high and lofty
+work with my head. What's the use of having brains if you can't make
+'em work for you. So-long, Fred. You're sure the handy boy when it
+comes to making a feller see things in a new light. But I still believe
+it's old Black Joe, the little villain!"
+
+After he had gone, the matter was often in Fred's mind, and he really
+began to grow quite excited while thinking about it.
+
+"It may be stretching things a whole lot to believe a bird could be so
+smart as to take those stones," he said to himself, seriously; "but
+anyhow, the opportunity was there before Black Joe, if he wanted to try
+it. I remember that when the old lady showed me those opals, and told
+me how they were taken from a mine in Mexico where she had sunk a heap
+of money, she put them back on the cabinet shelf, and they were just
+lying in a little bowl with some other curiosities she had. Yes, Black
+Joe could fly up there, and pick out what he wanted, sure enough."
+
+Somehow the thought was still strong in Fred's mind when, later in the
+morning, he started out to go over to see what Sid Wells might be
+doing. And it even took him out of his way, so that instead of making
+his usual short cut across lots to his chum's house, he passed along
+the street where Miss Muster (the boys called her Miss Mustard on
+account of her peppery temper) lived.
+
+He even turned his head while passing, and looked in toward the rather
+expensive building (for a small place like Riverport) where the old
+maid lived alone with her colored "mammy" and her several pets.
+
+He could see the big bulldog that was chained to his kennel, placed
+under the windows of the room the maiden lady slept in. Yes, Beauty was
+asleep on the top of his box then, curled up as if not "caring whether
+school kept or not."
+
+"Boy! boy, come over here! I want you!"
+
+Fred at first thought that it was the talking bird calling to him in
+this way, for he had heard Black Joe rattle along just like an educated
+poll parrot. Then he recognized the shrill tones of Miss Muster; and at
+the same moment caught sight of the maiden lady.
+
+She was standing on her broad porch, and beckoning to him.
+
+Being close to the gate, he pressed the latch, and passed through into
+the yard, where there were a great many flowers. Possibly Fred felt a
+queer little thrill as he walked toward the porch, where Miss Muster
+awaited him. He remembered the proposal Bristles had made, and which he
+had seen fit to turn down.
+
+The old lady was peering at him through her glasses.
+
+"Oh! you are the boy who was in here with my--er--nephew that time?"
+she remarked; and at first Fred thought she was about to say she had no
+use for anyone who would keep company with Bristles, but she did not,
+much to his relief.
+
+"Yes, ma'am, I remember being in here with Bris--er--Andy Carpenter,
+once," Fred remarked. "And you were kind enough to show me a lot of
+mighty interesting things, too, Miss Muster. What can I do for you this
+morning, ma'am?"
+
+The sharp face softened a little, and the faintest shadow of a smile
+crept over the old maid's features.
+
+"Let me see, what's your name?" she asked.
+
+"Fred Fenton, ma'am. We have not been in Riverport much more than a
+year. I think my mother said she met you a while ago, down in the
+grocery, and had a nice talk with you."
+
+"I remember, and a fine little lady Mrs. Fenton is, to be sure. If she
+is your mother, boy, you've good cause to be satisfied. And I wouldn't
+say that about many women, either. But I was just wanting a little
+assistance, and called to the first person who happened to be passing
+along the street. My old servant is laid up to-day with an attack of
+lumbago; and the gardener is off on an errand that will take him two
+hours. Could you give me a few minutes of your time, Fred?"
+
+"Why, yes, ma'am, sure I can. I was only going over to look up a chum,
+and talk about the chances we have in a boat race that is going to come
+off soon. What do you want me to do, Miss Muster?"
+
+She looked at him again, with that suspicious gleam in her eyes.
+Somehow, Fred could not help feeling a little indignant. Because she
+chose to think the worst of her poor innocent nephew was no reason why
+Miss Muster should believe ill of every fellow.
+
+He was almost tempted to say what he thought, and free his mind.
+Perhaps, then, she might understand that even a boy has feelings, and
+can suffer mentally, as well as bodily.
+
+But on second thought Fred wisely kept his peace. There might be a
+better way to teach the old maid a needed lesson than by sharp talk,
+which would only serve to make her feel more bitter toward "upstart
+boys" in general.
+
+Evidently Miss Muster must have gained a favorable impression from her
+survey of the lad, whom she had called inside.
+
+"I guess after all there _is_ a difference in boys," she muttered, much
+to the secret amusement of Fred, who could easily imagine that she was
+comparing him with poor Bristles, and evidently much to the
+disadvantage of the latter.
+
+He waited for her to speak, and wondered whether she wanted him to do
+something in the garden that possibly old Jake had neglected to look
+after, before going upon his errand; or if he would get an invitation
+to enter that big house again.
+
+And as he involuntarily glanced toward the spot where the ugly-looking
+bulldog, called Beauty by his mistress, was now stretching his
+broad-beamed body, after his recent nap, Fred resolved to draw the line
+there. If she wanted him to approach the defender of the manse, he
+thought he would be showing the proper discretion if he politely but
+positively declined.
+
+"Are your shoes clean, Fred?" she finally asked, looking down at his
+feet while putting the question.
+
+"Why, yes, ma'am, they seem to be. There is no mud; and I'm in the
+habit of keeping my shoes clean at home," he replied, understanding
+from this remark that it must be the house, and not the garden, where
+his task awaited him.
+
+"Then come into the house with me," she continued, as if thoroughly
+satisfied with her scrutiny.
+
+Fred took off his cap and walked up the steps leading to the broad
+veranda. He would not have been a real boy had he not speculated as to
+what the lady wished with him. And it was in this frame of mind that he
+followed her into the wide hall of the house, which was to Bristles the
+home of mystery and the seat of all his trouble.
+
+"Come right into this room, Fred," said Miss Muster, leading the way
+into what he remembered to be her living room, where she sat most of
+the time she was home, reading, writing letters, and paying attention
+to her business matters; for she had considerable money invested, and
+insisted on looking after the details herself, rather than trust a
+lawyer with them.
+
+The first thing Fred saw upon entering was the pet cat, a big Persian,
+with long hair, and a handsome face. Then a restless movement from
+above called his attention to the raven, perched upon a curtain
+fixture, or pole, close to the ceiling, and, looking down wisely at
+them as they entered.
+
+Fred immediately wondered whether he could be looking at the sly thief,
+who had been secretly making way with the old maid's treasures, as he
+noted the cunning aspect of Black Joe.
+
+Miss Muster shook her finger angrily at the bird.
+
+"Now we'll see whether you can defy me so impudently, you sly baggage!"
+she remarked, in rather a tart tone; and it burst upon Fred that,
+singularly enough, his unexpected visit to the mansion of the rich old
+maid was evidently in connection with something that had to, do with
+Black Joe.
+
+Why, it really looked as though the luck that had come to the Fentons
+only the day before might still be following him, even in his desire to
+do his chum a good turn.
+
+Perhaps the golden opportunity to find out something about Black Joe's
+tricks might be close at hand. How little he had dreamed of this when
+leaving his home only a few minutes before.
+
+"Once in a great while," the lady went on to explain, "Joe gets a
+stubborn fit, and refuses to mind when I tell him to come to me. It
+always exasperates me; and twice before I've sent for the gardener to
+come and get the step-ladder, so that he can chase the rascal from
+pillar to post until finally he would fall into my grasp. I punish him
+by chaining him fast to that perch for a week; and as a rule he seems
+to amend his ways for a long time. But the last occasion failed most
+miserably, I must confess. Do you think you are strong enough to carry
+the step-ladder up from the basement, Fred?"
+
+Fred had some difficulty in keeping his face free from a smile. The
+idea of her doubting his muscular ability, after all the athletic
+exercises he practiced; but then of course Miss Muster would not know
+that; so he only replied that he believed he would have no difficulty
+in doing all she required.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE MISSING OPALS AGAIN
+
+
+Following out the injunctions of Miss Muster, Fred easily found where
+the step-ladder was kept in the basement. Nor did he have the slightest
+difficulty in carrying it up the stairs after he had discovered it.
+
+He noticed that the lady was very particular to keep the door of the
+living room closed; and remembered that it had been in that condition
+at the time of their first arrival.
+
+"The artful rogue," Miss Muster explained; "would be only too glad to
+fly out, and scour the entire house, laughing at me, and mocking me as
+though possessed of the spirit of evil our great poet Edgar Allan Poe
+gave to the raven. But now that you have succeeded in getting the
+ladder, we shall soon corner him."
+
+Fred was highly amused at the comical way the old raven watched the
+preparations being made, looking to his capture. He would cock his head
+on one side, as he looked down, and occasionally utter some droll word
+that seemed to fit the occasion exactly.
+
+Having had considerable experience in chasing the mutinous bird all
+over the big room, Miss Muster seemed to know just how to manage things
+in order to get results with as little waste of time as possible.
+
+"Fred, you take the ladder, and place it under this picture," she went
+on to say; "he always comes back there after each little flight. Then,
+with the broom I will shoo him off that curtain pole. He does get so
+excited, and goes on at such a terrible rate. Why, I sometimes seem to
+suspect that some of those strange words he uses may be what that
+Portuguese sailor, from whom I purchased him while over in England,
+taught him."
+
+And indeed, once she started the bird flying wildly about, Black Joe
+did shriek out all manner of phrases, some of which Fred could
+understand, while others he was able to make nothing out of.
+
+Fred knew the part he was expected to take in capturing the rebellious
+raven. He crouched there on the step-ladder, waiting for his chance.
+Trust a lively, wide-awake boy for being able to outwit any raven that
+ever lived. Black Joe may have believed himself smart, but he could not
+match wits with an up-to-date lad.
+
+Fluttering his feathers indignantly, and still giving vent to a volume
+of angry cries, the raven presently, just as his mistress had said
+would be the case, settled on the top of the big picture frame.
+
+Instantly a hand shot upward, and there was a squawk that seemed to be
+choked off, as Fred's fingers closed around the body and neck of wily
+Black Joe.
+
+"Oh! please don't hurt him any, Fred!" cried the lady, dropping the
+broom, and hurrying over to take the bird from Fred's hands.
+
+Indeed, the boy was not sorry to get rid of the savage creature, which
+was trying its best to give him vicious pecks, and struggling with
+wings and claws to break away.
+
+Once in the possession of Miss Muster, however, it seemed to become
+very meek. She stroked it, murmuring endearing words, and proceeded to
+fasten a nickeled chain about one of it's legs, so that it could not
+fly away from the perch over in the corner by one of the windows, that
+were covered with wire mosquito netting.
+
+"That was very cleverly done, Fred," remarked Miss Muster, in a tone
+that rather caused the boy to alter the opinion he had formed
+concerning her. "Poor old Jake is so clumsy he makes half a dozen
+attempts before he is able to catch the speedy bird. Once he upset the
+step-ladder, and sprawled all over the floor. And upon my word, I have
+always believed that sad wretch there laughed at him. It sounded like
+it, at any rate."
+
+She was beginning to thaw out, and Fred found himself wondering if,
+after all, under the surface, Miss Muster might not have more feeling
+than she chose to let people believe.
+
+He actually began to like her. And more than ever did he hope that
+something might come along to enable him to bring about a better
+understanding between the rich old maid and her once favorite nephew,
+now under an unmerited cloud.
+
+"Sit down a few minutes, Fred," she continued. "And get your breath
+back after all the exertion of lugging that heavy ladder up here. Then
+I'd like you to take it back to where you found it. And I think I've
+got a book you'd like to own. I did mean to give it to Andrew on his
+birthday next week, but I have changed my mind."
+
+Fred did not exactly like the way she pursed up her thin lips when she
+said this. She was doing Bristles an injustice, he felt sure. Of course
+he could not decline to take the book she meant to present him with, as
+pay for his services; but in his mind, as he was carrying back the
+ladder, Fred was determined that he would consider that it belonged to
+Bristles, and not himself.
+
+Once more he entered the living room, where he found Miss Muster
+waiting for him, seated in her easy chair. The raven sat on his perch,
+with all his feathers ruffled up, as though he knew he was in disgrace
+with his indulgent mistress.
+
+"Here is the book I want you to accept from me, Fred, and I hope you
+will enjoy reading it," and as she said this she held out a volume,
+which he saw was just such as a boy who loved athletic games would most
+enjoy.
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," he hastened to say, seeing his opening. "I know I
+will like it; but I feel bad because you meant it for Bristles--I mean
+your nephew, Andrew."
+
+She frowned at once.
+
+"Please forget all about him just now, Fred," she said, decisively.
+"It's hard work for me to keep him out of my mind; but I never could
+bear deception; and, as for a sly little rascal, who looks you in the
+face, and denies everything, when you know he is _positively_ guilty,
+bah! I wash my hands of him forever. I could never believe him again,
+never!"
+
+"But Miss Muster, he is innocent," said Fred; at which she started
+violently, and looked keenly at him.
+
+"Then he has fooled you as well as me," she snapped. "I warrant you he
+is chuckling in his sleeve right now because he managed to deceive me
+so handily. Much he cares about my feelings, when I was beginning to
+have a foolish old woman's dreams about Andrew inheriting all my money,
+and making the name of Carpenter famous one of these days. Oh! it did
+hurt me cruelly, boy."
+
+"But you are mistaken, ma'am, when you think he doesn't care," Fred
+went on hastily. "Why, he can't sleep nights, thinking about it."
+
+"Well, that doesn't prove anything," Miss Muster remarked
+sarcastically. "A guilty soul often writhes when being punished; and I
+suppose my last note to my niece, his mother, brought him into a peck
+of trouble. I suppose now he does lie awake nights, thinking. Perhaps
+he wonders what he can do with my lovely opals, now he's got them. Or
+he may be scheming how to lay hands on the balance."
+
+"He was in to see me this morning, ma'am," Fred observed.
+
+"Oh! is that so? And do you think, Fred, that nice little mother of
+yours would like it, if she knew you were keeping company with a boy
+who was suspected of abusing the confidence of, his fond aunt, and
+helping himself to her possessions."
+
+"I think," said Fred, stoutly, "that if she heard all Andy had to say,
+and saw how he suffered, she'd believe just as I do, that he is
+innocent, and never touched your opals, Miss Muster."
+
+"Well, somebody did;" the old lady snapped; though evidently more or
+less affected by the staunch way Fred stood up for his chum; "does he
+have any idea who could have done it? Perhaps he thinks my old black
+Mammy did; or poor, but honest, Jake Stall. He was always a fanciful
+boy, and it might be he suspects I walk in my sleep, and go around
+secreting my own property?"
+
+"No, ma'am he has never hinted at any such thing; but he says, while
+lying awake at three o'clock this morning, thinking and thinking how he
+could prove his innocence, he suddenly seemed to guess who it might be
+taking your pretty stones."
+
+Fred turned and pointed toward the blinking raven as he spoke.
+
+"Well, now," remarked Miss Muster, looking surprised, and then smiling
+disdainfully; "if that isn't just like Andrew for all that's out, to
+accuse my poor pet of doing so mean a thing. It is true, I know they
+will steal, and secrete such things as they particularly fancy; but I
+watch Joe closely. Besides, there is another good reason why he
+couldn't have taken those opals."
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said Fred, when she paused as if for breath.
+
+"He has been chained to that perch for more than a week past, and I
+only set him free this very morning. So you see how Andrew's brilliant
+theory falls to the ground. He must think up something else, if he
+hopes to prove his own innocence. I wish he could, indeed I do. My
+heart feels very heavy these days, for I was beginning to have some
+faith in boys. But say no more. If you are going, Fred, please come
+into the other room with me. I want to show you a splendid specimen of
+a saw, taken from a sawfish down in the West Indies, and sent to me. It
+is more than three feet long. You will be interested, because nearly
+all boys like everything pertaining to fishing."
+
+So Fred followed her across the wide hall. She opened the door of the
+parlor, in which he remembered he had been on that former visit, at the
+time she showed him the little bowl containing the opals, and other
+valuable curios.
+
+After opening the door Miss Muster passed in, Fred followed, but
+remained a respectful distance behind her, a fact for which he
+afterwards had reason to be thankful.
+
+Some sudden notion seemed to take possession of the old lady for
+quickly crossing over she took down the little Japanese bowl, as if to
+count the opals remaining. Fred heard her give a startled cry. Then she
+hastily looked again, after which she set the bowl down on a table with
+a hand that trembled violently, and turning angrily upon Fred, she
+cried in her sharpest tones:
+
+"He sent you here to follow up his miserable trick! All boys are
+thieves, and in spite of the lovely little mother you have, Fred
+Fenton, you are as bad as the rest of them!"
+
+Fred could hardly believe his ears when thus accused. He stood there
+for several seconds, no doubt turning red and white by turns, as he
+tried to restrain the indignation that swept over him like a great
+wave.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+FRED'S BRAVE STAND
+
+
+"Excuse me, ma'am, but surely you do not believe that," Fred managed to
+say in another minute; and his voice may have trembled a little with
+emotion; though his manner was as frank and fearless as ever, as he
+looked straight into the snappy black eyes of the angry old lady.
+
+"Three more of the gems are gone, and they were here this morning,
+because I took them out in my hand, and counted them," she declared,
+furiously; yet beginning to feel uncomfortable under his steady look.
+
+"But why should you even think that I took them, Miss Muster?" he
+demanded.
+
+"Because--you are the only person besides myself who has been in this
+room the entire day. Mammy has been sick in bed since nine o'clock; and
+Jake Stall did not put a foot inside the house to my personal
+knowledge," but although she said this as if to signify that her mind
+was made up, Fred could detect a little hesitation.
+
+She already began to realize the absurdity of the accusation.
+
+"Stop and think, ma'am, and I'm sure your own sense will tell you that
+you are wronging me when you say that," the boy argued, with the same
+positive air of conviction that had made his father declare he would
+make a good lawyer, if ever he felt inclined to study for the bar.
+
+"In what way, boy?" Miss Muster faltered.
+
+"Because in the first place you called me into your house of your own
+accord, when I was passing. I wouldn't have come, only that you said
+you were in some sort of trouble, and needed help. Then, think again,
+Miss Muster--you opened this door which had been shut all the time; you
+hurried into this room, and over to that stand. You know, ma'am, I was
+never within six feet of that little bowl. Right now I am half way
+between the table and the door. My arms would have to be pretty long to
+reach over there, wouldn't they now, Miss Muster?"
+
+She saw his point. And indeed, even before he clinched the fact in this
+ingenious way the old lady was ready to admit that she had been
+unwisely hasty in making that passionate accusation.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Fred," she hastened to say, holding out her hand,
+which he did not hesitate to take. "I was entirely wrong, and acted
+from a foolish impulse when I found that, in spite of all my
+precautions, more of my opals had mysteriously disappeared. You could
+not have taken them had you wanted to; and I do not believe you would
+touch them if you had a dozen chances."
+
+That was saying a good deal for Miss Muster; and Fred, who knew
+considerable about her sharp tongue, felt that he could hardly have
+been paid a higher compliment.
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," he said, smiling in a satisfied way. "If you
+please, then, we'll consider the thing closed. But that doesn't explain
+where the opals have gone to; does it?"
+
+"Indeed, it does not," she replied. "I have been deeply stirred by this
+mystery; but Fred, believe me, it was not the value of the jewels one
+quarter so much as the shock given to my faith in human nature. I
+believed that the boy had been tempted beyond his power of resistance.
+Perhaps he wanted a certain sum of money for some purpose, and
+conceived the wicked idea that he could sell the stones, and get it
+that way. Oh! I would have gladly given him five, yes ten times their
+value, if only he had not given way to temptation."
+
+"But Miss Muster," said Fred, quick to take advantage of his splendid
+opportunity; "you were just as sure, right now, that I was the thief;
+and yet how easy it was for me to prove my innocence. Wouldn't you be
+glad if I could do the same for my chum, Brist--I mean Andy?"
+
+"Indeed, I would, Fred," she replied, warmly. "Do that, and there will
+be a whole shelf of boys' books come to your house, and an old woman's
+blessing in the bargain. But I'm afraid you'll find it a harder task
+than clearing your own skirts."
+
+"But give me the chance, won't you, please, ma'am?" Fred insisted.
+
+"Do you want to speak now about it, Fred?" she asked, eagerly enough.
+
+"Why, yes, if you don't object, ma'am," he replied. "You know there's
+an old saying that 'it's best to strike while the iron is hot'."
+
+"And you think that I'm pretty warm just now; is that it?" she asked,
+smiling a little in a way that made her thin face look almost friendly
+to the boy's imagination.
+
+"Well, while we were on the subject I thought I'd like to call your
+attention to just one thing," Fred continued, persistently. "And after
+you've heard what I want to say, I think you'll agree with me that
+Bris--er, Andy, couldn't well have been guilty of taking these last
+opals. Why, he surely hasn't been in your house this whole day, has he,
+Miss Muster?"
+
+"N--no, not that I know of, for a fact, Fred," she said, slowly.
+
+"You keep the doors locked, don't you, ma'am, so Bristles, or any one
+else for that matter, couldn't have come in this morning, _after_ you
+counted those things?"
+
+"Yes, the doors are always locked. I am very particular about that.
+When the grocer's boy or the one from the butcher, come for orders,
+they wait in the kitchen while Mammy comes to me here, and we talk over
+what we need."
+
+"Did that happen this morning, ma'am? Were both those boys inside here
+to-day?" Fred asked.
+
+The old lady looked sharply at him when he said this.
+
+"Ah! now I see in what direction your suspicions lie, Fred," she
+remarked, her face lighting up. "And if you can prove to my
+satisfaction that one of those boys took my opals, and they are
+returned to me, I will say nothing, do nothing, to prosecute the guilty
+one. Perhaps I was foolish to leave the door of opportunity open; the
+temptation within their reach. In that case the fault was partly mine."
+
+"But I haven't accused anybody, ma'am; only I wondered whether one of
+those tradesmen's boys could have done it," Fred went on. "I'm going to
+look them up right away, and if I can recover the opals, and make the
+thief confess before you, then that will end the affair, will it?"
+
+"So far as he is concerned, it will," the old lady answered; "but I
+shall never forgive myself for suspecting my niece's son of such a
+thing. Fred, do you suppose he would come to see me if you took him a
+message?"
+
+"Who, Andrew?" exclaimed the delighted Fred. "Why, I'm as sure of it
+as that I draw breath. He'd almost fly here, he'd be that glad you
+believed him innocent. Do you want me to tell him, ma'am?"
+
+"Wait, let it go for a little while. When I send you word, you may tell
+him all that has occurred here to-day, and how a silly old woman had
+her eyes opened to the truth by a clever boy. Meanwhile, please do not
+say a word to any one, will you, Fred?"
+
+He was a little disappointed, because it would have given him so much
+pleasure to carry the joyful news to Bristles; but then, a little more
+delay could not hurt. And besides, it would give him a chance to look
+around, find out just what the habits of both the grocer's and the
+butcher's boy were, and possibly make the guilty one confess, on
+promise of immunity from punishment.
+
+"I'll promise to do just whatever you say, ma'am, though I hope for the
+sake of poor Bristles you won't keep me waiting long," he answered.
+
+"Fred, shake hands with me again," said the old maid, surveying him
+with kindling eyes. "I take back a lot of the mean things I've been
+thinking about boys these few days. There _is_ something worth while in
+some of them. My better nature told me so right along. They're not all
+bad. I reckon now, you'd sooner do most anything than to break the fond
+heart of that fine little mother of yours; wouldn't you, Fred?"
+
+"Oh! I haven't always been above suspicion, ma'am," Fred hastened to
+say, in confusion. "I'm no better than the average fellow, and I'm
+afraid I haven't always been just the boy I ought to be, either. I
+suppose I've made her feel bad a lot of times. But as to doing anything
+real wicked like stealing things--the worst I ever did was to get in
+some neighbor's orchard at night, when we had plenty of good apples at
+home."
+
+Miss Muster laughed at that frank admission, as though she thought it
+quite an original plea for the boy in general.
+
+"Oh! I understand all boys have failings like that," she said; "and
+sensible people wouldn't have them grow up like little saints. But
+Fred, I'm sure you'll never either as a boy, nor yet as a young man, do
+anything that would grieve your mother's heart. I'm ashamed of what I
+wrote my niece, and when I can muster up enough courage I'm going right
+over to her house, and explain. It makes me feel that it's worth while
+living, now that, through you, I've found that Andrew is innocent."
+
+The way she said that last word told Fred that she was near the
+breaking-down point, and he thought he had better leave. He went away
+from that place with a heart that was considerably lighter than when he
+first started to pass the fence behind which the property of Miss
+Muster lay. He had had a wonderful experience, and from that time on
+must feel differently toward the old maid, whom the boys of Riverport
+always looked upon as hateful. She had shown him that, under the
+surface, she was a lovable woman after all, and possessed of a woman's
+heart, somewhat starved it is true, but still there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE TRIAL SPIN
+
+
+"Which way are we going this afternoon for a practice spin?" asked
+Corney Shays, as he came alongside Fred Fenton.
+
+There was a lively crowd around the long, low shed in which the new
+boat was temporarily quartered, while the new building, a start upon
+which had already been made, was being erected.
+
+Several score of persons had gathered to see the boys row, for it began
+to look as if the whole community was going wild over the prospects of
+another school victory coming to Riverport. Baseball and football, it
+seemed, did not wholly satisfy the appetites of the now aroused
+Riverport athletes. They had beaten both of their rivals again this
+season on the diamond; and now, with Fall a long way off, this boating
+fever had seized upon them in its full strength.
+
+Of course most of those present were boys and girls, enthusiastic
+believers in the fellows who carried the honor of good old Riverport
+school in their hand. It goes without saying that every member of the
+crew probably had at least one fair admirer present, who believed that
+without _him_ the chances of victory must be mighty small indeed.
+
+"Oh!" replied Fred, turning to greet Corney, who was a bit late in
+arriving, but was now dressed ready for business; "down-river, of
+course."
+
+"Why do you say 'of course,' Fred?" persisted the other, who always
+wanted to understand everything he talked about, and who would go into
+details indefinitely until everything was plain. "There's a fine course
+up-river. You remember we rushed it with Buck's crowd. And I understand
+that it will like as not be made the official course when the great
+boat race is pulled off."
+
+"That's true, Corney," Fred continued; "but there are several reasons
+why Brad has picked out the other side of the town for all our trial
+spins. First of all, you know the big, broad channel the Mohunk has for
+three miles between here and Paulding?"
+
+"Sure I do; and a splendid place to make good speed, too," the other
+admitted.
+
+"Then, again, if we kept going up the river we'd be apt to interfere
+with the practice of the Mechanicsburg fellows, who have no other
+course but that one between the two towns."
+
+"And they'd be more apt to get a line on what sort of time we were
+making; isn't that so, Fred?"
+
+"Just what I was going to add, Corney. Now you know about all the
+reasons Brad has for going down the river to-day, and other days as
+well."
+
+"And is it true that he's got a three mile course all marked off?"
+asked Corney.
+
+"Brad says he was down there with Colon on their wheels this morning,"
+Fred went on to say. "They carried a long tape line, and as the road
+runs close to the bank of the river, they marked every eighth of a
+mile."
+
+"How did they do it?" questioned the other. "You see I want to be
+posted, so I can get a pointer on our speed if I happen to look along
+the bank while we're making a spurt."
+
+"That's the time you'd better keep your eyes glued on the coxswain, and
+the stroke oar, and not bother trying to find out for yourself what the
+speed is. Brad will look out for all that, Corney."
+
+"But if you know, you're going to tell me, I hope?" pursued the
+tireless one.
+
+"Oh!" Fred replied, with a laugh, "if you really want to know, I
+understand that every eighth of a mile is marked with a single small
+white rag; each quarter has a blue one; while the mile shows a plain
+red one. I hope some meddlesome fellow doesn't go to changing the
+signals on Brad, and make him think he's doing a record stunt. But I
+believe he's got some other secret sign of his own to depend on besides
+the flags."
+
+He managed to break away just then; and as Corney saw that it was a
+very pretty girl who had beckoned Fred over, he made no attempt to
+question him further. In fact, Fred would have firmly declined to stay,
+because it was Flo Temple who had signalled.
+
+Flo was the prettiest girl in all Riverport. She and Fred had long been
+the best of friends. It was he who always took her to singing school in
+winter, and to the school dances, sometimes given in country barns,
+where a long sleigh ride was necessary to reach the scene.
+
+Once Buck Lemlngton had aspired to keep company, girl and boy fashion,
+with Flo. She and Buck used to squabble frequently, and then come
+together again for a short time. But with the arrival of Fred Fenton in
+town all this had been changed. Which was another reason for the enmity
+of Buck toward Fred.
+
+Like some of the other girls Flo waved a little flag which was made of
+purple and gold silk, the adopted school colors for Riverport. This she
+used to considerable advantage; and Fred thought that when it came up
+against her face the contrast with her rosy cheeks and sparkling hazel
+eyes made her look prettier than ever.
+
+"I suppose you will be getting away soon now, Fred?" she asked as he
+joined her.
+
+"In five minutes we will launch the boat, and be off," he replied; "you
+see, all the subs are on hand, and ready to jump in if any one of the
+regulars fails to show up, or is taken sick. They'll wait around an
+hour or two while we're down-river. When we get back Brad's promised to
+take them off for a spin, and some exercise."
+
+"Yes," she remarked, with a merry laugh, "I've been listening to some
+of them talking here. They do hope so much, poor fellows, that a chance
+will come along to put them on the regular crew. Why, I fairly believe
+they'd be happy if some of the rest of you had to leave town on
+vacations. But Fred, take care!"
+
+She raised her forefinger as if in warning, and looked about her in
+quite a mysterious way when saying these last words in a low tone.
+
+"What about, Flo?" he asked, not at all worried.
+
+"I understand that the other crew went down the river an hour or two
+ago," she continued; and he could guess who was meant without asking.
+
+"Well," he answered, "there's plenty of room for half a dozen crews to
+practice without interfering with each other. You remember the river
+gets very wide between here and Paulding. In fact lots of people always
+refer to it as 'the lake.'"
+
+"But it would have to be an ocean that would be wide enough to keep
+Buck Lemington from carrying out any of his pet schemes, Fred. And
+somehow he seems to have picked on you as his especial enemy. It seems
+so strange, when I know you've never gone out of your way to do him the
+least harm."
+
+The demure lassie looked at Fred out of the corners of her merry eyes
+when she said this, and it was hard for him to refrain from declaring
+that she ought to know that Buck's hatred for him began when she
+started to bestow her favors on the new boy in Riverport. However, Fred
+held himself in, and only remarked:
+
+"It has happened that lots of times Buck and myself have been up
+against each other in what should have been friendly rivalry. Because
+fortune was generally kind to me, and allowed me to carry off
+undeserved honors, he has made up his mind that I'm always trying to do
+him out of everything he wants to win. And he never loses a chance to
+let me know what he thinks of me."
+
+"You haven't been the one to suffer _very_ much, up to now, Fred, if
+half that I hear is true," Flo went on to say, with a pride in her
+voice that somehow thrilled the boy, and made him very happy.
+
+"Oh! I've had lots of good luck, I must say. But there's Brad
+beckoning, and I'll have to be going, Flo. Will you be here when we get
+back?"
+
+"Perhaps," she answered. "I've an invitation to go in Judge Colon's new
+auto, to watch the practice from the shore down below. If you happen to
+see us waving, why please do your best to give us confidence. They say
+those big Mechanicsburg boys are fearfully strong, and can pull a
+professional stroke. And they have a coach, too, you know, Fred."
+
+"We're going to have one too after to-day, for Corney's father used to
+be on a big college crew, and has consented to train us."
+
+With this Fred had to hurry off, but he turned and waved his hand to
+_somebody_ in the crowd just as he took his place, a few minutes later,
+in the eight-oared shell; nor did any one seem to doubt for whom the
+good-bye signal was intended; at any rate there was an unusual flutter
+to Flo Temple's purple and gold flag just about that time.
+
+The crew quickly fell into the swing, and the boat fairly flew
+down-stream under their vigorous strokes. Brad, however, was keeping
+them down. He did not want to let everybody know just what Riverport
+could do. Doubtless more than a few of Mechanicsburg's admirers would
+be ready to take every opportunity possible to time the rival crew, so
+as to get a pointer with regard to their capacity. That could not be
+helped; but Brad was determined to be as cautious as possible.
+
+Soon they were down to the broad stretch, where the little fluttering
+rags of various hues close to the edge of the water told the parts of
+the mile.
+
+Here the coxswain thought it good policy to increase the stroke, and
+they were soon hitting up a lively pace. How splendidly the delicate
+boat flew over the water, just for all the world as a swallow skims
+along the surface of a pond! The boys were enthusiastic over their
+work, and Brad did not hesitate to give them the praise they deserved.
+
+"We'll turn here, and pull up-stream," he said, as they rested for a
+few minutes. "That will come harder, and try you more. But it's all a
+part of the game. Once more, now, my hearties, with a will!"
+
+They covered the distance up to what Brad had marked as the turning
+point, in better time than he had believed possible. A buoy had been
+floated to serve as the upper end of the course. Rounding this they
+shot down the river with tremendous velocity, as though striving for
+victory on the home stretch.
+
+For some reason Brad took them down further than before, so that they
+even drew near the sharp bend before he gave the signal to stop rowing.
+The boat continued to glide along with the current, though gradually
+easing up.
+
+And it was just at that moment, when the young oarsmen of Riverport
+were breathing hard after their recent exertions, that they heard a
+sudden crash as of splintering wood, immediately accompanied by a
+conglomeration of shouts, all in the plain, unmistakable voices of
+boys.
+
+Startled, they stared at each other, as if not knowing what to make of
+it; and thrilled by the knowledge that danger must be threatening some
+fellows around the bend just below.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+SNAGGED AND WRECKED
+
+
+"What in the world's that?" exclaimed Dave Hanshaw.
+
+"Sounds like some fellows might be in a pickle. Listen to 'em howl;
+would you?" cried Corney Shays.
+
+"Isn't one of the lot whooping it up for help?" asked Fred.
+
+"You're right, Fred; and we've got to get a move on, and turn that bend
+yonder, when we can see what's what. Ready, boys!" called out Brad, at
+which every young oarsman dropped back into his place; for they had
+been turning half around at the time, desirous of seeing what it all
+meant.
+
+"Must be that Buck Lemington bunch!" sang out Sid, who perhaps had
+recognized one of the loud voices; for he and the bully of Riverport
+had been in conflict so often in the last twelve years, that it would
+be very strange if the excited tones of the other might not be known
+when heard.
+
+"Then it's good-bye to that old college shell," declared Corney.
+
+"You're right," asserted Dick Hendricks; "because that smash must have
+ended its days of usefulness forever."
+
+As the signal to drop oars and pull was given, the boat once more took
+on new life, and rushed down upon the nearby bend. When they shot
+around this, of course the coxswain was the only one who immediately
+saw the exciting scene presented. And it certainly spoke well for the
+discipline under which that novice crew labored that not a single one
+of them tried to twist his head around, in order to gain advance
+information.
+
+They left details to Brad, knowing that they would quickly be upon the
+scene, and able to see for themselves, without a breach of discipline.
+
+What Brad saw was just what he anticipated, but all the same it must
+have given the boy a thrill. Sure enough, the delicate boat which had
+once won a big college race, and had been kept for some years by the
+gentleman over in Grafton, simply because his dead son had rowed on the
+winning crew, was piled up on some sort of a hidden snag, or concealed
+rock, at a point where the swirling water must have warned any cautious
+coxswain to keep away.
+
+Several boys were clinging to the wreck. Others were swimming around
+like rats deserting a sinking ship, two being already on the way to the
+nearest shore. And about every fellow was letting his lungs give full
+vent to his feelings; so that the racket was tremendous.
+
+"Help! help! I can't keep up much longer! This way, fellers! Get hold
+of me!" one of those in the river shouted; spluttering over the words,
+as though he might already have swallowed a considerable quantity of
+water.
+
+"Aw! let up on that squawk, Clem Shooks; can't you?" shouted Buck
+angrily, as he swam toward the fellow who declared that he was
+exhausted, and sinking. "Want any of that bunch to give you a hand? I'd
+see myself asking favors of Brad Morton or his crowd. We'll get you
+ashore, all right, never fear. Hi! there, Whitey, this way, and you
+too, Oscar. Give this ninny a helpin' hand and tow him to dry land."
+
+Apparently Buck was in a towering rage. He had been steering the boat
+when it struck the snag, and hence must be held responsible for the
+accident that would deprive the outlaw crew of a racing craft for the
+remainder of the season.
+
+There was not one of Brad's chums, however, but who felt sure that
+sooner or later the bully would try to put the blame on one of his
+companions. That seemed to be the natural way with him; a scapegoat was
+as necessary to Buck's manner of doing things as it was for him to take
+all the credit when success came along.
+
+Some of those who clung to the wreck were, however, not averse to
+accepting assistance from the regulars of the Boat Club. Brad directed
+them how to hang on, and in this way towed them close to the shore.
+
+When the water shoaled enough to admit of their standing up, with it
+only waist high he stopped the boat.
+
+"That'll do for you, fellows," Brad said, pleasantly; "and we'll go
+back now for the other pair."
+
+"Aw! you needn't bother yourselves about them," broke out Buck, who had
+managed, with the assistance of Whitey and Oscar, to get the weak-kneed
+Clem Shooks in the shallow water; "they're on the way right now."
+
+It turned out to be as Buck said. The last pair, realizing that they
+would be apt to incur the anger of their leader if they waited to
+accept favors from those Buck hated so bitterly, had indeed abandoned
+the wreck, and were even then swimming toward the shore.
+
+None of Brad's crew laughed, though the aspect of the wrecked ones was
+most forlorn, and doubtless they wanted to make merry.
+
+"We're sorry for your accident, Buck," Brad ventured to say, in as
+pleasant a tone as he could ever use when addressing the boy he
+detested so much deep down in his heart.
+
+"Nobody wants you to be sorry!" grated the other, in an ugly humor.
+
+"We've been talking about that race your bunch gave us yesterday, and
+honestly we hoped it would be repeated," Brad went on to remark; for he
+fancied he could understand how such a disaster must upset any fellow;
+and he tried to make excuses for the surly temper Buck was displaying.
+
+"Oh! let up on that sort of talk; won't you?" growled the other. "I
+s'pose you'd just want to use us as a practice crew; hey? Well, it's
+off, anyhow; and all owin' to Clem Shooks here taking a crab, just when
+I was starting to steer clear of that nasty snag!"
+
+"Why, I nev----" the astonished Clem started to exclaim, though he had
+swallowed so much water that it was difficult for him to get his breath
+as yet; when the irate bully turned on him like a flash, and shook his
+big fist threateningly.
+
+"Don't you go to denyin' it, now, Clem Shooks!" he roared, furiously.
+"I ought to know, hadn't I, when I saw the whole thing? And didn't you
+get throwed further than any of the rest? That was because you didn't
+have any oar left to hold on to. You ought to be made to pay for the
+boat, that's what. No back talk now, or else I'll show you who's boss
+here. Button up your lips, d'you hear, Clem Shooks?"
+
+And poor Clem, who was doubtless as innocent as he claimed, dared not
+speak further. By degrees the blame would be settled on his shoulders,
+without his venturing to protest in the hearing of the bully.
+
+Fred and his chums exchanged significant looks. It was as much as
+saying: "Didn't I tell you Buck would fix it all right?" They knew the
+ways of the bully to perfection. And if Buck noticed the nods and sly
+grins, he thought it good policy to pay no attention to them just then.
+
+"Well, since we're not wanted here any longer, let's be going, boys,"
+remarked Sid, as usual thoroughly disgusted with the actions of the
+bully.
+
+"Good-bye then!" sneered Buck, and Bristles noticed with a sudden
+thrill that he looked at the trim boat belonging to the regulars with a
+malicious gleam in those black eyes of his.
+
+They once more backed into the deeper water, and were soon alongside
+the wreck.
+
+"Shall we tow it ashore for them, boys?" Asked Dick.
+
+"What say?" Brad remarked.
+
+"Better leave it alone, if you know what's good for you," Sid spoke up.
+"Once you touch it, and there's no telling what Buck will try to tell
+people. Perhaps he'd even say we ran into him, and did the damage. But
+I reckon some people ashore saw it all; for there's Judge Colon's auto,
+standing up yonder; and they've got their field-glass leveled this way.
+It's Flo Temple, too, who's doing the looking."
+
+"Better leave it alone then, fellows," Brad went on to say, being
+convinced by the logic of Sid that it was dangerous business meddling
+with anything belonging to Buck Lemington, even in a spirit of sporting
+fairness. "It's so smashed anyway, that it'll never again be worth
+fixing up. Too bad, too, for it was a boat with a history."
+
+"How d'you reckon it happened?" asked Colon; "for of course Clem Shocks
+never caught that crab, or some of the other fellows would have jumped
+on him? Didn't you all see how silly they looked when Buck was accusing
+Clem? They knew, as well as he did, that it wasn't so, but not a single
+fellow had the grit to declare the truth."
+
+"Oh!" Brad went on to remark, "Buck may have heard us coming around the
+bend, and forgot for a few seconds to keep as bright a lookout for
+snags as he ought. So they ran on this one at full speed. Say, wasn't
+that a fierce crash, though?"
+
+Once more rounding the bend that shut out all sight of the wreck, and
+the forlorn members of the outlaw crew, who would have a walk of five
+miles and more before they could get to town with their sad news, the
+regulars put in some time in diligent practice.
+
+"You're rounding out in fine shape, fellows," Brad declared
+enthusiastically, as they finally started up-river, bound for home.
+"To-morrow we're promised the valuable assistance of Mr. Shays, who
+knows the ropes from beginning to end. He'll be apt to give us a heap
+of valuable information, and correct a lot of our blunders; for I know
+we can do better work than this, once we get on to the right swing."
+
+It was in this happy frame of mind that they came in to the little
+float that had been made by using a number of empty water-tight oil
+barrels; and from which the boat was to be launched, as well as taken
+from the water.
+
+Every one of them felt thankful it had not been their craft that had
+met with disaster on this sunny afternoon.
+
+Of course, when the startling news was told to the crowd that lingered
+around the boat shed, it created a big sensation. As Buck really had no
+admirers present, few felt very sorry for him. He had long been the
+terror of the town, and every decent boy and girl went in his company
+as little as possible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+LYING IN WAIT
+
+
+Fred, after some time, saw that Bristles was lingering nearby while he
+chatted with Flo and some of the others. He fancied that the boy with
+the mop of hair was trying to catch him alone, as though he wanted to
+say something in private.
+
+That caused Fred to remember that he knew something which Bristles
+would give considerable to hear; and it also pained him to think that
+his promise to Miss Muster would prevent him from telling, until she
+gave the word.
+
+But then perhaps it might be something not so personal that Bristles
+wished to say to him. Fred had noticed the way the other looked, at the
+time they were leaving Buck and his shipwrecked crew down the river.
+And perhaps he had made the same discovery that Bristles had.
+
+Flo Temple, about that time, declared she must be running home, and
+left, accompanied by some of the other girls, her chum, Cissy Anderson,
+whom Sid liked; and Mame Wells, the little hoyden sister of Sid, who
+seemed to be more than, half boy, because she dearly loved to play
+baseball, ice hockey, go fishing, and even aspired to go hunting when
+she got older, and her father would buy her a gun.
+
+Thus Fred saw no reason why he should any longer hold aloof from
+Bristles, who immediately came bustling up to him, with a mysterious
+wink, and drew him aside.
+
+"I made up my mind I ought to say something to a few of the fellows,
+Fred," he began, by remarking; "and you're one of the select. Colon and
+Corney I've seen already, and they're of the same opinion as myself."
+
+"Well, what's all this row about, Bristles?" asked Fred, somewhat
+amused; and at the same time pleased because the other did not seem
+about to put questions to him which he might find it difficult to
+dodge, without arousing suspicion.
+
+"Why, about Buck, to be sure," replied the other, confidentially.
+
+"But since his boat has gone to flinders, isn't he out of the game
+altogether?" demanded Fred.
+
+"That's just it, Buck being out of business is the kind of a fellow who
+can't bear to see anybody else prospering. He won't have a boat for the
+whole summer; and we have. All the fun's going to come our way. That
+makes Buck grit his teeth, and feel ugly. Are you following me, Fred?"
+
+"Sure I am, and it might be I understand what you're going to say
+better than you think I do," answered the one addressed, with a smile
+on his face.
+
+"Looky here, did you see how Buck glared at our boat when we started
+off, and did you notice the cunning expression, almost like a grin,
+that came over his face? Tell me that, Fred Fenton."
+
+"Yes, I saw all that," answered Fred.
+
+"And what did you think it stood for?" queried Bristles.
+
+"Oh! I just kind of thought Buck was wishing we'd run on a snag, the
+same way he did, and lost our boat, too, replied Fred, promptly; at
+which Bristles chuckled.
+
+"I see you're on, all right, Fred," he continued; "but as you don't
+know Buck quite as well as some of the rest of us, you're not on to his
+curves as much. Now, I'm willing to risk my reputation on it that when
+Buck eyed our boat, and then let that half grin come on his black face,
+he was thinking how easy it would be to make sure that something
+_did_ happen to upset all our calculations."
+
+"Do you mean he'd put a snag in the course, so that Brad would run on
+it, never dreaming there was such a thing there?" asked the indignant
+Fred.
+
+"Huh! worse than that," pursued Bristles with vehemence; "Buck wouldn't
+stop a minute to hack our boat to pieces, or even set fire to that old
+shed, if he believed he could do it on the sly, and not be caught!"
+
+Fred saw that his chum meant every word of what he said. The idea was
+startling.
+
+"That's a pleasant lookout then, we've got before us, Bristles," he
+observed.
+
+"All right, it's what I believe, just the same," the other went on,
+firmly. "If we let things just slide along I give you my word some fine
+night we'll be aroused by the fire whistle, and get down here in time
+to find the boathouse ablaze, and our new shell ruined for keeps."
+
+"If that seems to be the opinion of several of the boys, we ought to do
+something to prevent it," Fred declared, positively.
+
+"That just brings me to the point," ventured Bristles. "Are you in with
+our little bunch--Colon, Corney, perhaps Sid, and me?"
+
+"I'm ready and willing to do anything I can to defend the boat, if that
+is what you mean," came the ready response.
+
+"Shake on it, then. Wait here till I send the other fellers around.
+Then we'll just have a little confab, and see what we can fix up. I'll
+sound Sid while we're coming along; though if you're in, he's sure to
+say yes, because he always sticks by you like a plaster."
+
+A minute later Colon arrived, wearing a serious look; and then Corney
+followed. The three had just got started talking when Bristles hove in
+sight, bearing Sid along with him.
+
+"Here we are, now, the whole big five," Bristles said, loftily, as he
+came up. "Now, let's go all over this thing, and see if we agree."
+
+He again told what he had seemed to read upon the malignant face of
+Buck at the time they left him standing knee-deep in the river.
+Afterwards he called on Fred to describe what he had seen, and the
+impression it made on him at the time.
+
+"You see!" Bristles cried, triumphantly, in conclusion; "both of us
+thought about the same thing. Buck is up to some meanness. He would be
+just delighted if we lost our boat, because he doesn't like to see
+anybody having a good time when he can't be doing the same. And as it
+isn't likely we'll hit a snag, or set fire to the old shanty ourselves,
+why, he might think to save us the trouble."
+
+"Then there's only one thing to be done," said Colon, with set lips.
+
+"We five must guard the boat each night!" declared Bristles.
+
+"Right along?" exclaimed Corney, with something like dismay in his
+voice; "sure I'm willing to do all I can, but I must sleep once in a
+while!"
+
+At that the others laughed.
+
+"Don't be silly, Corney!" burst out Bristles. "Of course we'll take the
+job by relays. We can draw for to-night, the two getting the short
+straws bunking out in the house. After it gets dark blankets can be
+smuggled down here. Don't say a single word to anybody, not even Brad
+just now. Fred, you've got the key to the door; haven't you?"
+
+"Yes, Brad asked me to keep it at our house for the present," replied
+Fred.
+
+"Now, let's draw, and see who has the honor of keeping the first
+watch," and as he spoke Bristles hunted around until he had found five
+straws, which he broke off until they were all different lengths.
+
+Each of the other four drew, after Bristles had concealed one end in
+the palm of his hand.
+
+"Now measure and see. Oh! slush!" he continued, eagerly; "you left me
+the longest, after all, when I was hoping it'd be me. And it turns out
+to be Colon and Fred. Well, fellows, here's wishing you luck. To-morrow
+night I'm just bound to do the camping-out act, anyhow."
+
+When Fred got home he explained to his folks the necessity of some of
+the crew guarding the boat. His father quite agreed with him, and
+readily gave permission that he spend the night out.
+
+So, a little later, Fred bundled up a blanket, and made his way down
+along the river bank unseen. In due time he came to where the old
+building, squatty and dilapidated, stood under the bank.
+
+A dark figure arose in front of him. He heard the low whistle that he
+and Colon had agreed upon as a signal each might recognize in the dark.
+
+"Glad you came along," Colon declared; "was just getting tired waiting;
+been here half an hour, 'cause I heard the church clock strike; but it
+seemed like five times as long."
+
+Fred opened the door carefully, and they entered the shed. A lantern
+hung on a hook nearby, ready for use. They would need its light so as
+to get things in readiness for passing the night. Besides, Colon had a
+little idea of his own he wanted to put into practice; and which had
+been suggested by the sight of a big empty hogshead that stood outside
+the door, on the shelving beach.
+
+"I'm going to lay a neat little trap, and see what luck I have," he
+chuckled as Fred asked why he wanted the lantern, after they had fixed
+their blankets and made ready for taking things easy.
+
+Colon was gone quite some little time. Fred could hear him working away
+like a beaver at something. And as a rope seemed to figure in the
+affair he felt a little curiosity to know what sort of a trap the
+ingenious fellow could be constructing, all by himself.
+
+Finally tall Colon came in again.
+
+"It's all fixed, and the door locked once more, Fred," he said.
+
+"Then the quicker you blow that glim out the better," remarked the
+other; "for you see, one of those fellows might come around to spy out
+the land, and noticing a light in here, he'd be suspicious."
+
+Colon took the hint, and put out the lantern, which, however, was kept
+near, so that in case of a sudden alarm it could be quickly brought
+into use again.
+
+After that the two lads made themselves fairly comfortable, though they
+did not remove their shoes. In case of trouble they wanted to be in
+condition for active and immediate work.
+
+Fred had filled several old buckets, so as to be ready to fight fire.
+And for a little while they lay there, occasionally whispering to one
+another.
+
+Finally Colon went to sleep. Fred knew this from his steady breathing;
+and since he was feeling more or less tired himself, after the
+strenuous labor of rowing in the afternoon just passed, he too allowed
+his senses to be lulled into the land of Nod.
+
+How time passed Fred had not the remotest idea, when he was suddenly
+awakened by a terrific clamor, that, to his excited imagination,
+sounded like a railroad train running off the track, and smashing into
+a kitchen, where the walls were lined with all manner of tinware.
+
+Both he and Colon sat up suddenly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+NIPPED IN THE BUD
+
+
+"Hear that, Fred?"
+
+Of course it was foolish of Colon to ask such a question as this of his
+companion. That racket was enough to awaken the soundest sleeper. But
+then he was so excited he just felt that he had to say something.
+
+Fred threw his blanket aside. Then he reached out for the lantern, and
+his handy match-safe, so that they could get some light on the subject.
+
+As soon as this little task had been accomplished, he and Colon started
+for the door full-tilt. Opening this, they passed out.
+
+The noise of falling tinpans had by now entirely ceased. Of course the
+artful Colon had piled up all the waste cans he could find, so that if
+they were toppled over they would make considerable racket. Once upon a
+time there had been some sort of manufactory connected with the shed;
+and back of it Colon had discovered a regular mine of what he wanted in
+the way of rusty cans, large enough to suit his purpose, and make all
+the noise heart could wish.
+
+"Look! I got one!"
+
+Colon pointed excitedly as he said this, and as Fred looked he burst
+out into a loud laugh. Evidently Colon's trap had worked. A boy was
+dangling by the heels, held up in the air by the loop of a rope, which
+seemed to pass over a post connected with the building, and then extend
+to the hogshead, partly filled with stones, and which was now half way
+down the beach, the rope taut, and holding the victim in his elevated
+position.
+
+"It's Conrad Jimmerson!" exclaimed Colon, as they arrived close to the
+boy, who was kicking furiously, and groaning dismally.
+
+His coat hung down over his head in such fashion that he could not see
+what was going on; Colon must have recognized him by his clothes, or
+through some boyish instinct.
+
+"Oh! get me down, quick!" moaned the trapped prowler. "All the blood's
+agoin' to my head, and I'll be a dead one soon! Please cut me down,
+fellers! I won't run!"
+
+"I'm right sure you won't," remarked Colon, drily; "but while I've got
+you held up so neat, I might as well make it doubly certain."
+
+With, that he secured the other flourishing leg so that when Conrad was
+lowered to the ground he could not move without their permission.
+
+"Give us a hand here, Fred, and we'll get him out of the trap,"
+remarked the proud inventor of the running-barrel game. "You see, he
+stepped right up on this box, just as I figured, and touched the
+trigger. With that he started the heavy barrel rolling down-grade; and
+the loop caught him by one leg, instead of both, as I meant it should."
+
+"But what was all the fierce noise that woke us up?" asked Fred, as he
+assisted Colon to take the victim down, by dragging in on the rope, so
+as to slacken the loop around the leg of the trapped one.
+
+"Oh! shucks! just a pile of tin cans I built up, to be knocked over
+when the barrel got to turning around. You see, I was a little afraid
+that we mightn't hear when the trap was sprung, and I wouldn't want to
+miss this funny sight for anything. Here, you are, Conrad; lie there
+now, till we can drag you inside the house."
+
+The boy was evidently very much frightened. He had thought his ankle in
+the grasp of some unseen giant, when the loop tightened, and snatched
+him upwards. No wonder he trembled and wheezed as he cowered there.
+
+"We'd better go in right now, then," remarked Fred. "Some of that crowd
+might take a notion to come back and see what has happened to Conrad.
+Take hold of him on that side, Colon, while I look after this one."
+
+"Oh! what you a-goin' to do with me?" queried the prisoner. "I haven't
+done a single thing, fellers, cross my heart if I did. Just wanted to
+see if anybody was a-sleepin' in the old shed. Buck told me to be sure
+and not hurt the boat. He says that its bad enough because we lost
+ours, without anything a-happenin' to yours. I wouldn't do a little
+thing, sure I wouldn't. Hope you believe me boys. Don't lick me! I got
+about all I ought to have already. I'm shiverin' to beat the band. Quit
+jerkin' me that way, Chris Colon; I ain't hurt you!"
+
+"Oh! come along, you silly!" said the tall boy, who had a contempt for
+so great a sneak and coward as Conrad Jimmerson.
+
+Fred closed and locked the door again after they had entered. The sound
+of the key being turned in the lock started the frightened boy into
+protesting again. He judged others by Buck's standard, and the bare
+thought of finding himself alone and a prisoner, in the power of those
+he would have injured, seemed to give him a case of the "trembles," as
+Colon called it.
+
+"Now I want you to take a look into his pockets," the tall boy
+remarked.
+
+Immediately he uttered a triumphant exclamation.
+
+"See here, Fred, he had a whole lot of matches with him!" he called
+out. "Looks like he was ready for business, all right."
+
+"Say, I always carry matches with me, and you know it, Chris Colon,"
+protested the alarmed prisoner, vigorously.
+
+"Perhaps you do, but never so many as these," Colon went on. "I kind of
+reckon you thought you'd have good need of 'em this night. But what're
+you carrying under your arm that way, Fred? Saw you step over, and pick
+somethin' up outside there. Find anything worth while; another feller's
+cap, maybe?"
+
+"No, it was this," and Fred held an object up.
+
+"What's that? Looks like a bundle of old rags!" remarked Colon,
+quickly; while the prisoner gasped and shivered worse than ever.
+
+"There was something more; what do you think of this?" and for the
+second time Fred elevated his hand, containing an object that made
+Colon utter a cry of rage.
+
+"A bottle!" he ejaculated. "What's in it, Fred? Three to one I c'n
+guess. Kerosene!"
+
+"That's just what it is," returned the other, gravely. "Some fellows
+came here to-night prepared to throw this stuff over one end of the old
+shed, and start a fire going. Perhaps they even meant to break in, and
+scatter the oil over the boat, so nothing could save it, once the fire
+got started. We've nipped as mean a little game in the bud as I ever
+heard about."
+
+Colon turned on the prisoner with a black face, and gritting teeth.
+
+"Who set you on to this thing, Jimmerson?" he demanded. "You never
+thought of it by yourself, because you haven't got the brains. Tell me
+now, wasn't it Buck Lemington who got you to come here, and try to set
+the shed afire?"
+
+Conrad tried to look defiant, but somehow he lacked the spirit. He saw
+those two frowning lads on either side of him, as he stood there
+leaning against the wall of the boathouse, his ankles tied with the
+rope; and he began to weaken.
+
+"I never would a' thought of coming here to spy if it wasn't for----"
+he had just started to say, when there came a loud whistle, twice
+repeated, from outside, which must have been recognized by the fellow
+as a terrible threat of what would happen to him if he opened his lips
+to betray his cronies; for he shivered as if he had been showered with
+ice water, nor could they influence him after that, either by threats
+or promises, to say another word.
+
+Fear of what Buck would do seemed to have a greater influence over him
+than the possibility of punishment because of what he had tried to do.
+One was sure, while the other might be set down as only a chance.
+
+Besides, perhaps the fellow began to realize that Fred and Colon really
+could not prove that he had been carrying that bundle of old rags, as
+well as the bottle containing the kerosene. No court would decide that
+because they had been found there on the ground, he had brought them.
+
+Fred understood this and it was what made him say presently:
+
+"Well, we might as well let this fellow loose, Colon. After all, the
+proof, if there is any, must rest in these rags and this bottle. If we
+can find out just where they came from, we'll be satisfied in our own
+minds whom we have to thank for this midnight alarm."
+
+"Just as if there could be any doubt about it!" scoffed Colon. "Didn't
+we hear that whistle, and don't I know who gave it? Buck carries a
+little silver whistle and likes to communicate with his bunch that way.
+They've got a regular code, I've heard tell. And didn't you notice how
+quick Conrad, here, buttoned up his lips when he heard that order to
+keep mum?"
+
+"Another night," said Fred, threateningly, "we'll have a shotgun handy;
+and it'll go hard with prowlers, if we get a sight of them. Unfasten
+his legs, Colon, and then show him the door."
+
+The prisoner seemed to regain a little of his lost courage upon finding
+that they did not mean to hurt him any.
+
+"And you just stop pinching me when you do untie this rope, Chris
+Colon," said Conrad. "I want you to know you don't own the earth. A
+feller what lives in Riverport all his life ought to have the right to
+walk along the river here without having tricks played on him, and
+bein' yanked head-down up in the air. You'll pay for your fun yet, see
+if you don't, Chris Colon."
+
+"Shut up!" roared the exasperated Colon, shaking the other, whom he was
+now escorting to the door, with the intention of ejecting him, just as
+Fred had directed. "You ought to be tarred and feathered, if you got
+your dues. Like to see our boat go up in smoke; would you? And Buck
+aims to keep us from using the river, just because he was foolish
+enough as to smash his own boat? You tell him to come himself the next
+time. We'll be glad to see him; and perhaps he might meet with a
+surprise worse than the one I sprung on you, Conrad. Now don't forget
+to tell him; you hear me!"
+
+Colon had managed to get the door open while speaking. Then he gave the
+other a little push, as if to start him going. Conrad somehow seemed to
+suspect what was coming, for he tried to hug close to the tall boy,
+who, however, gave him a shove. So Conrad, thinking he had a chance,
+made a bolt; but that long leg of Colon shot out, and caught him fairly
+and squarely, sending him flying.
+
+The boy who was thus thrown out picked himself up, and thinking he
+heard his enemy coming toward him, fled into the darkness, howling in
+mingled pain and fear.
+
+Colon, laughing heartily, closed and fastened the door, after which he
+rejoined his watch-mate, to see out the balance of the eventful night
+in Fred's company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+IN THE HOLLOW OAK
+
+
+After that there was no further alarm, and the two watchers secured
+quite a fair amount of sleep before the coming of dawn warned them to
+hie away home. They left the blankets at the boathouse, for they had
+purposely brought old ones; and hence, when it came time for the next
+watch to take up their duties, there would be no occasion for them to
+duplicate.
+
+On second thought the boys had come to the conclusion that it might be
+wise for them to tell Brad what had happened. The fact that the
+vengeful Buck had not stopped at such a grave thing as setting fire to
+the shed, worried them both.
+
+So a little later they both met again, having had breakfast. Together
+they hunted up the other three who were in the game; indeed, Bristles
+was meanwhile searching the whole neighborhood for Fred, having called
+at his house after he had gone.
+
+"Well," he remarked, after he had caught up with Fred, Sid and Colon,
+on their way to get Corney and himself; "seems to me you fellows are in
+a big hurry this same morning."
+
+"We are," replied Fred. "We wanted to get the entire committee
+together, and go in a body to see Brad. He ought to know that the boat
+is always going to be in danger unless something is done to curb Buck
+Lemington."
+
+"Say, was I right?" cried Bristles, exultantly.
+
+"You were," replied Colon, solemnly.
+
+"Then he _did_ try to break in, so's to cut the boat, and injure her?"
+the other went on, eagerly.
+
+"Worse than that!" said Colon.
+
+"Far worse!" Fred added, looking mighty solemn himself.
+
+"Oh! come, let up on that sort of thing; open up and tell me what
+happened!" the excited boy demanded.
+
+When they did give him the whole story he could hardly contain himself,
+between his natural indignation because of the meanness of the act, and
+his delight over the success of Colon's little trap.
+
+"Caught that sneak Conrad Jimmerson, and strung him up like a trapped
+'possum, did you?" he cried, clapping his hands in glee. "Gee! what
+tough luck that I wasn't around to see it. Always my bad fortune,
+seeing lots of game when I haven't got a gun; and never a thing when
+I'm heeled for business."
+
+"You see Colon and myself got to talking it over," said Fred; "and we
+made up our minds that it was hardly fair to keep the thing from Brad.
+He's our head in the boat club, and ought to know all that's going on.
+Besides, when toughs begin to want to burn down houses just for spite,
+that's going pretty far. Something ought to be done to stop it."
+
+Brad was of course duly impressed when he heard the story. He laughed
+heartily at the comical element connected with Colon's man-trap; but
+took the other part seriously.
+
+"I'm going over and see my uncle about it," he declared in the end.
+"Being a lawyer, and a judge at that, he'll tell me what to do. I think
+he'll say he wouldn't mention a single name; for you know all lawyers
+are mighty cautious how they give cause for a suit for slander. But
+he'll tell me we ought to scatter the story all over town, and also let
+it be known that from now on there'll be somebody in that house every
+night, armed, and ready to fire on trespassers. See you later,
+fellows."
+
+Fred found a chance a little later to get away from his other chums. He
+really did have an errand for his mother in one of the stores, but he
+remembered something besides that he had intended doing at the earliest
+opportunity, and it was this that swayed him most.
+
+Now, it chanced that the place he had to visit to leave an order was
+the largest grocery store in Riverport. And one of the boys employed
+there was Toby Farrell. Fred knew that he was generally sent out each
+morning on a wheel, to visit a line of customers, and take down their
+orders; though most of them had telephones for that matter, and could
+have wired in their necessities.
+
+Still, this grocer was enterprising, and instructed his boy clerk to
+tell each customer just what new and attractive goods they had received
+fresh that morning, possibly strawberries, vegetables and the like.
+
+And in the course of his wheeling about Toby was accustomed to visit
+the establishment of Miss Alicia Muster each and every day. In fact,
+Toby was one of the two boys hired by trades-people whom Fred suspected
+of being the person guilty of taking the old maid's opals from the
+parlor.
+
+Both of them were allowed to cool their heels in the kitchen for
+possibly ten minutes at a time, while the aged "mammy" consulted her
+mistress in her private room. And an inquisitive half-grown boy might
+become so familiar with the premises that, in a spirit of curiosity, or
+from some other reason, he would look around him a little at such
+times.
+
+Mr. Cleaver, the grocer, was in a good humor, and when Fred mentioned
+that he knew someone who had shown an interest in his young clerk, he
+immediately broke out in Toby's praise.
+
+"Best boy, barring none, I ever had, Fred," he declared. "Never late in
+the morning, neat in his work, obliging in his manners to my customers,
+and willing to stay after hours if there is a rush. In fact I'm so well
+satisfied with Toby that I expect to add a couple of dollars to his
+wages this very next Saturday. And I'm told he's the idol of his
+mother's eye. She's a widow, you know, with three small children, Toby
+being the eldest. He shows signs of being like his father; and Matthew
+Farrell was one of our leading citizens up to the time of his death. I
+hope she gets his pension through; it'll mean several thousand dollars
+for her. He died really of wounds received long ago in the war. Never
+would apply for the pension he was entitled to. Toby's all right, you
+tell your friend; and he's promised to stick right here. Some day he
+might be a partner in this business, who knows?"
+
+Well, after that, Fred was ready to throw up his hands in so far as
+Toby was concerned. He felt that he could never strike pay dirt in that
+quarter. There never was, and never would be again, quite such a
+paragon as Toby Farrell. It would be wasting time to try and bark up
+this tree. The scent had evidently led him in the wrong quarter.
+
+Accordingly, he turned toward the butcher's, and here he fully
+anticipated getting on the track of something. Gabe lived in an
+outlying quarter, and when he went home in the evening, or at noon, he
+took a short-cut through Ramsey's woods, where there was a convenient
+path.
+
+Now it happened that Fred knew this fact, for he had many a time seen
+the butcher's boy going and coming. Gabe had a big whistle, and used to
+amuse himself as he walked to and from home in trying to get the airs
+from the popular ragtime songs of the day.
+
+Fred had heard it said that the boy who whistles is generally an honest
+fellow, and that guilt and this disposition seldom, if ever, go hand in
+hand. How much truth there was in this saying he did not know; but it
+was on his mind now to try and find out.
+
+Perhaps the fact that it was about ten minutes of twelve influenced
+Fred in what he set out to do.
+
+First he passed all the way through the strip of woods. It was not very
+thickly grown, and there was really only a stretch of about one hundred
+feet where he did not find himself in sight of some house or other.
+
+Fred secreted himself about midway here. It was rather a gloomy spot,
+considering that it happened to be so near a town. The trees grew
+pretty thick all around the rambling path; and one big, old, giant oak
+in particular caught Fred's attention, on account of the fact that it
+seemed to be rapidly going into decay, being full of holes, where
+perhaps squirrels, or it might be a raccoon, had a den.
+
+Then he heard the whistle from the factory in town, immediately
+followed by the ringing of the church bells. Noon had come, and if Gabe
+carried out his regular programme he would soon be coming along the
+trail.
+
+Yes, that must be his whistle right now, turning off the latest air
+that had caught his fancy. Fred wanted to see him at close quarters.
+Perhaps he even had some faint idea of stepping out, and walking with
+Gabe, to judge for himself whether the other had a guilty air or not.
+
+But if such were his plans he soon found cause to change them. Gabe
+came whistling along, looking behind him occasionally, and then all
+around. Fred became deeply interested. He fancied that this must mean
+something; and it did.
+
+Suddenly the whistling stopped. Looking, he saw Gabe hurry over to the
+old tree trunk. He seemed to thrust his hand in, and draw something
+out. Fred, watching sharply, noticed that the boy was deeply interested
+in what he had taken from the hollow trunk; and he could give a pretty
+good guess as to what this must be.
+
+But Fred did not move from his place of concealment. Lying snugly
+hidden he saw Gabe replace the little package, after which he stepped
+out into the trail, picked up the ragtime air just where he had dropped
+it, and came walking smartly along, a satisfied grin on his face.
+
+Waiting until he had passed out of sight around a bend in the path, and
+his loud whistle began to grow fainter in the distance, Fred hurried
+over to the big tree.
+
+He had noted that particular crevice in the hollow trunk too well to
+make any mistake now. A minute later and he had fished up a little
+cardboard box, not over four inches in length, and secured with a
+rubber band.
+
+With trembling fingers Fred took this fastening away, and raised the
+lid; just as Gabe had recently done, no doubt being consumed by a
+desire to feast his eyes once more on the contents.
+
+Fred gave a satisfied sigh. It was all right, and Bristles' reputation
+had been cleared; for in that little cardboard box which Gabe Larkins
+had secreted so carefully lay seven milk-white opals, doubtless of
+considerable value.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A PLAN TO CATCH THE THIEF
+
+
+"That settles it!"
+
+Fred was saying these three words over several times to himself as he
+stood and stared at the seven little opals. They had appeared rather
+pretty when he looked at them in Miss Muster's best room, on the
+occasion of his visit there in company with Bristles. They gave him a
+shiver now; just because he knew that they had tempted weak Gabe
+Larkins to commit a terrible wrong.
+
+What had he better do about it?
+
+Fred had, in fact, about made up his mind that there was only one
+course open to him in case he found the opals. This was to go to Miss
+Muster at once, and let her know what had come to pass.
+
+She would be glad, for the sake of Bristles and his parents--yes, Fred
+began to believe the old maid really had a heart of her own, and would
+herself rejoice over the vindication of her nephew.
+
+But should he take the opals along with him? He decided against this as
+unwise. To fully prove his case, he should be able to catch Gabe in the
+act of handling the precious stones, and with a witness present.
+
+So he put the small cardboard box back into the cavity of the hollow
+oak, just as near where he had found it as he could. Then, with a
+cautious look along the trail, to make sure Gabe was not already
+returning, Fred hurried away.
+
+He was unusually quiet at lunch time, his mother and sister noticed.
+They even asked him if he felt unwell; but Fred laughingly replied that
+he never was better in all his life.
+
+A little while later Fred took his way to the large house in which Miss
+Muster lived. His heart beat high with satisfaction, because of the
+fact that he had in so brief a time fully proved the innocence of
+Bristles.
+
+At sight of Fred it was remarkable what a sudden look of expectation
+flashed over the thin face of Bristles' aunt. Apparently, then, she had
+come to place considerable confidence in the boy, whose manly bearing
+must have impressed her, as it did nearly everyone with whom Fred came
+in contact.
+
+"You are bringing me news, Fred!" she exclaimed, as she put out her
+hand toward him. "Your smiling face tells me that, for you cannot hide
+it. Oh! I hope I am not mistaken. Have you found my opals?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, the whole seven that you said you'd lost," he answered,
+promptly.
+
+"That is good news," the lady went on; "but tell me more; have you
+learned who the thief is, Fred?"
+
+A vein of anxiety might have been noticed now in her voice; for she
+could not help fearing that after all it might prove to be her nephew.
+
+"I saw him take a little cardboard box out of the hollow of a tree,"
+Fred started to say, "look at what it held, and then stick it back.
+After he went away, ma'am, I examined that same box, and found the
+opals there."
+
+"W--who was the boy?" she faltered, her hands shutting tightly as she
+kept her eyes fastened on Fred.
+
+"Gabe Larkins, ma'am!"
+
+"Oh! the butcher's boy!" and she gave a great sigh, as of relief.
+
+"Yes, ma'am. On the way home from the shop to get his lunch, he had to
+stop and take a look at his treasures," Fred continued.
+
+"He did not see you watching him, I suppose, Fred?"
+
+"Oh! not a bit of it," replied the boy, smiling. "I looked out for
+that."
+
+"Have you the opals with you now, my dear boy?" she asked.
+
+"No, ma'am," replied Fred. "You see, I thought it would be better if
+you could see Gabe handling the things, and know by the evidence of
+your own eyes he was the guilty one."
+
+"That sounds very clever of you, Fred," Miss Muster remarked, with a
+look of sincere admiration. "Perhaps now you may even have figured out
+some sort of plan that would allow of my doing such a thing?"
+
+"I have; that is, if you don't think it too much bother," he answered.
+
+"Too much bother?" she echoed; "after what I have done in my haste to
+bring sorrow into the happy home of my niece, nothing could ever be too
+much trouble for me to attempt. And, besides, I should really like to
+face that unhappy boy, to reproach him for his wrongdoing. I know his
+mother, and she is a very good woman. Yes, tell me, Fred, what is your
+plan?"
+
+"It's simple enough, to be sure," observed the boy. "Just give Gabe an
+extra chance to-morrow morning to slip into that parlor again. He's got
+the habit, I guess, and can't resist, if he sees an opening. Then, at
+noon, on his way home, why, of course, he'll stop at the big oak to add
+what he took to the others. You will be hiding right there with me and
+we can give Gabe the surprise of his life."
+
+"I should think that would be a splendid idea, Fred," Miss Muster said,
+nodding her head approvingly. "I suppose that it would be what they say
+in the newspaper accounts of an arrest in the big cities, 'caught with
+the goods on!'"
+
+"Then you'll agree to do it, ma'am?" asked Fred, eagerly.
+
+"Yes. I will give Master Gabe the finest chance he ever saw to slip
+into my best room; and then about half-past eleven will meet you
+wherever you say. And, Fred, after it is all over, you will have full
+permission to tell Andrew; for my part, my first duty will be to go to
+his home, and ask his mother to forgive a foolish old woman because of
+her unjust suspicions."
+
+The particulars were soon arranged. Fred mentioned a place where he
+would be on hand the next day, rain or shine, at eleven-thirty; and
+Miss Muster promised just as faithfully to keep the appointment.
+
+After that they separated. Just as luck would have it, as Fred came out
+of the house he heard his name called; and looking up saw his chum,
+Bristles. Surprise was expressed upon the face of the other, to
+discover Fred issuing from his aunt's home. A dozen questions could
+also be seen there; but Fred put a damper on all these.
+
+"Don't ask me a single thing, Bristles," he remarked mysteriously.
+"I've taken hold of your case, and things are working splendidly. All
+I'm going to tell you right now is that there's great hope you'll hear
+something, say by to-morrow afternoon. You ask me when we meet, about
+two or three, and perhaps I'll have some; news that'll surprise you.
+Now let's talk about the race that's going to be pulled off pretty
+soon. Have you had a line about what Mechanicsburg's doing?"
+
+In this way, then, he closed his chum's mouth. Bristles was puzzled to
+account for the actions of his friend; but at the same time he had so
+much confidence in Fred Fenton that he accepted his explanation, and
+even began to take on a more cheerful appearance.
+
+That afternoon the boys had the benefit of a coach; for Corney's
+father, the old college grad. and oarsman, gave them an hour of his
+time. He corrected numerous little faults that, as amateurs, they had
+naturally fallen into, and when finally Brad took his crew for a
+three-mile working-out spin, he was tremendously pleased at hearing the
+compliments bestowed upon them by Mr. Shays.
+
+"You are doing finely, boys," declared the coach, in a tone as though
+he meant all he said. "The improvement in your style of rowing is
+decidedly worth seconds to you; and they count big in a race, you know.
+I shall come out again the next time you want me, and show you some
+more little faults in the way you recover after giving the stroke. I
+can save several of you more or less unnecessary exertion, which in
+turn means a concentration of energy for the final spurt that
+accompanies every boat race."
+
+The boys thoroughly enjoyed having so pleasant a coach, and went home
+that evening convinced that their chances for victory in the coming
+struggle had been increased fully twenty per cent.
+
+"Don't forget your promise, Fred," said Bristles, rather pathetically,
+as he parted from his chum where their ways separated.
+
+"Depend on it, I just won't, Bristles," answered the other, positively.
+
+It seemed a very long time until eleven o'clock the next morning; and
+Fred kept around the house, for he did not want to run upon Bristles,
+and have the other look at him in that eager way.
+
+When he reached the place appointed for the meeting with Miss Muster he
+found her there, a heavy veil hiding her face. Together they made their
+way along the path that Gabe was accustomed to take as a short cut
+home.
+
+"Do you think he took another of the opals, ma'am?" Fred asked, as
+they drew near the big hollow oak.
+
+"I really had not the heart to look," she replied. "I gave him all the
+opportunity he could ask; and when he talked with me later on, I
+thought the boy looked confused; but I felt so sorry to think he had a
+mother who would be heart-broken, that I would not go into the parlor
+to examine. But guilt was written large on his face, or I am a poor
+judge of boy nature. Perhaps I am, after the mistake I made about my
+own nephew."
+
+Fred soon found a spot where both of them could hide, and yet be very
+close to the big tree; indeed, a few steps would carry them alongside
+when the time came for action.
+
+Then they settled down to wait. After a time the sound of bells told
+that noon had come. A few minutes later, and Fred touched the arm of
+his companion.
+
+"That's Gabe coming now," he remarked.
+
+And the trembling old maid could distinctly hear a very boisterous
+whistle that kept getting louder and louder as the butcher's boy strode
+jauntily along the path, heading in their direction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+TELLING THE GOOD NEWS
+
+
+Gabe Larkins' big whistle suddenly stopped. The boy was looking
+craftily around him, up and down the winding path, as though anxious to
+make sure that no person was in sight.
+
+Convinced of this act, he quickly stepped over to the big oak, and
+thrust his arm into the hollow. Miss Muster fairly held her breath with
+excitement as she saw him take out the little cardboard box, and
+opening it, drop something in, which he had drawn from the depths of a
+pocket.
+
+Fred arose; and the lady, taking this as a signal, did likewise.
+Together they began to advance upon the crouching Gabe. The boy seemed
+to be so intent upon his business of admiring the gems that he was
+unaware of the presence of others, until possibly the rustle of the
+lady's dress startled him.
+
+Then Gabe looked up, and his face turned ashy pale when he saw Miss
+Muster. In that one terrible moment he knew that his thievery had been
+found out. Nobody could ever know the thoughts that flashed through the
+boy's mind with the rapidity of lightning.
+
+"Give that to me!" said Miss Muster, holding out her hand toward Gabe.
+
+He dared not refuse; and as she received the little cardboard box the
+old maid, glancing in, counted ten of her opals there, just half of the
+entire collection. Gabe had increased his "take" that morning, and
+added three to his plunder. His apparent success was making him daily
+bolder.
+
+He tried to face the indignant, yet sorrowful, lady, but his eyes
+quickly fell before her look.
+
+"Have you ever stopped to think where you are going to land, if you
+keep on this way, Gabe?" she asked slowly.
+
+The boy made no reply. Perhaps he was inclined to be ugly and sullen;
+but, on the other hand, as he was a young offender, It might be
+conscience began to awaken. And Miss Muster believed that, since she
+meant to let him off this time, she at least ought to impress a lesson
+of some kind on him.
+
+"It means the penitentiary for a boy who begins to steal, as you show
+signs of doing, Gabe; yes, and a broken heart for your poor mother. Oh!
+I do hope this will be a warning that you will keep before you always.
+Because of that mother I am going to let you off this time, my boy; but
+unless you mend your ways there is only one end before you. Fred here
+will keep your secret also; you can depend on him. And make up your
+mind, Gabe, that even though you think you have succeeded in doing some
+evil deed in secret, the truth will sooner or later come out, Now you
+can go. I shall not speak to your employer, nor tell your mother; but
+from time to time I am going to have something to say to _you,_ my boy.
+I want to be your friend."
+
+Gabe had never opened his mouth to utter a single word, and when he
+hurriedly took his departure Fred was not sure but what it was a wide
+grin that appeared on his face; as though he fancied that he had gotten
+off cheaply after all. Whether Gabe would take his lesson seriously and
+reform, was a question in Fred's mind.
+
+"That ends it, thank goodness!" remarked Miss Muster, after they had
+seen Gabe turn the path in the direction of his own home. "And now,
+Fred, you get your lunch. After Ive had my own I shall drop in to see
+my niece, and confess all my shortcomings. I fancy she will be too
+happy at learning her boy is innocent to hold any grudge against her
+wretched old aunt."
+
+"Thank you," said Fred, laughing; "I do feel kind of hungry now. Just
+knowing what bully good news I've got for Bris--I mean Andy--seems to
+give me an appetite. I'll get there just in time to sit down with
+mother and Kate; because father doesn't come home at noon from the
+works."
+
+"And, Fred, believe me when I say that I'll never forget what you've
+done for me and mine," were the parting words of the old spinster, as
+she squeezed the boy's hand.
+
+"I'm glad, because I just know you'll make it all up with Bris--that
+is, Andy," he said; and she nodded her head in the affirmative.
+
+And at the lunch table, after making them promise that it should go no
+further than the head of the Fenton family, Fred interested his mother
+and sister by a recital of the strange case of the disappearing opals.
+
+"And remember, Kate," Fred went on, shaking his linger at his younger
+sister; "you must never, under any circumstances, mention a single word
+of all this to even one girl. Just forget you ever heard it I'm going
+to make poor Bristles mighty happy this afternoon; and the thought of
+it gives me so much delight that I guess I'll be off now to find him."
+
+He hurried out of the room, followed by the admiring glances of those
+who knew only too well what pleasure It gave Fred to be of value to a
+chum.
+
+Bristles was not at home, it turned out, having gone down to the river
+to hang around the boat-house, and wait for Fred to join him; because
+something seemed to tell him the other was going to bring good news.
+
+But Fred did see Miss Muster coming down the road as he turned away;
+and from what she had said, he understood that the determined old maid
+meant to "eat humble pie," as Fred called it, by asking Bristles'
+mother to forgive her mistake.
+
+None of the other boys happened to be around when Fred came upon
+Bristles. The latter was sitting on a pile of boards which were going
+to form part of the new house being erected for the Riverport Boat
+Club. As he heard the sound of approaching footsteps Bristles looked
+up, and smiled broadly to see Fred.
+
+"Now tell me what's on the bills, Fred," he entreated. "I just feel it
+in my bones that you've got news for me. Have you found out where the
+opals went?"
+
+"That's right," replied Fred, promptly.
+
+"Say, you don't mean to tell me you've got 'em back for Aunt Alicia?"
+gasped Bristles, turning red, and then pale, by rapid turns, and
+leaning weakly against the pile of boards.
+
+"Every one," declared the other; "your aunt says there isn't a single
+opal missing."
+
+"And was it that cunning old bunch of feathers, Black Joe, after all;
+was my guess good, and did you find out where the old bird was hiding
+them?" continued Bristles, possibly pluming himself a little on having
+conceived a very brilliant idea.
+
+"'Not for Joseph, not for Joe,'" sang Fred, merrily. "Fact is, when I
+told what you had in your mind to Miss Muster she said it was a fine
+thought, but she was sorry to say in this case no raven need apply.
+'Cause why--well, she'd chained Joe to his perch for a week because he
+got sassy, and wouldn't mind; and so you see, if he had to stay there
+all the time he couldn't hop or fly into the other room and get away
+with the opals every other day or so."
+
+"Shucks! I should say not," replied the grinning Bristles; "but do take
+pity on a poor fellow, Fred, and tell me the whole story. Who stole the
+opals?"
+
+"Gabe Larkins, the butcher's boy," replied the other, soberly.
+
+"You don't say?" was Bristles' comment, after he had given a whistle to
+emphasize his astonishment. "And yet, after all, I oughtn't to be much
+surprised, because I happen to know he's always reading the sporting
+page of the city paper his mother takes; and I've heard him even
+talking about horse races and betting. But, however in the wide world
+did you get on to him; and does Aunt Alicia know it all?"
+
+"I think she's with your mother at this minute, telling her how sorry
+she is for suspecting you; and also what she means to do for you in the
+future to make it up. Now listen, and I'll make your eyes open a
+little, I reckon, Bristles."
+
+"Never heard the like of it in all my life!" declared Bristles, when
+the narrative had reached its conclusion with the detection of Gabe in
+the act of adding his morning's spoils to the balance of the plunder
+which he had hidden in the old hollow oak. "I'll never pass that tree
+without thinking of what you've just told me. Gee! I'm glad I wasn't in
+Gabe's shoes when Aunt Alicia caught him. I can just see the look of
+fury in her snapping black eyes."
+
+"You're wrong there, Bristles," said Fred, quickly. "Unless I'm mighty
+much mistaken there were tears in her eyes, when she looked down at
+Gabe cowering there. Your Aunt Alicia is a different woman these days
+from what you used to believe her. She's seen a light. She knows there
+are boys, and then again boys; and that not all of them are alike in
+everything."
+
+"But what can I say to you, Fred, for getting me out of this pickle?"
+continued Bristles, with a quiver in his voice, as he squeezed the hand
+of his chum. "Only for you, look what would have come to me? I owe you
+a heap, sure I do; and I only hope the chance will come some day to
+show you how much I feel it."
+
+"Oh! let up on that sort of talk, Bristles," said Fred, laughingly.
+"You'd have done just as much for me, or any of your chums, if the
+chance came your way; and you know it."
+
+"You just better believe I'm going to keep on the watch to pass this
+along," declared the other, fervently.
+
+"That's the way to talk," Fred remarked, looking pleased at being given
+the opportunity to bring happiness to one he thought so much of as
+Bristles; "and perhaps you'll be able to pull a better oar, now that
+this load is off your mind."
+
+"Why, Fred, believe me," said Bristles, soberly, "I feel right now as
+though I'd be able to put more vim into my work than ever before in all
+my life. Wow! if I had wings I could hardly seem more like flying, my
+heart is that light!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE START OF THE RACE
+
+
+The great day of the boat race between Riverport and Mechanicsburg
+opened with a clear sky. This made happy the hearts of the hundreds of
+young people belonging to the two towns on the Mohunk River.
+
+Daily the husky crew of the town up the river had been busily engaged
+in practicing; and all sorts of ominous rumors were current among the
+more timid Riverport boys and girls as to the astonishing speed they
+had shown.
+
+But when those who had faith in the ability of their own crew to come
+in ahead heard these tales, they only laughed, and nodded, as though
+they felt no fear. As to the ability of their rivals to "make circles"
+around the boys of Riverport, did they not realize that these stories
+were being industriously circulated for the very purpose of making them
+count the race lost even before it was started?
+
+The clever coach, Corney Shays' father, warned them against believing
+anything of this sort. He said it was an old trick, and had been used
+by college men as far back as he could remember.
+
+"Just believe you can do the job up clean, and pay attention to
+everything your coxswain tells you; and it'll come out right," he
+declared.
+
+Early in the afternoon crowds began to assemble along the banks of the
+river, where the course had been marked off. Those in charge, being a
+committee of older pupils from each school, had taken all necessary
+precautions looking to having a clear course. They had also marked the
+turning point, where the rival boats must start on the return trip
+toward the home goal.
+
+This latter was a boat anchored in the middle of the river, and bearing
+a large red flag, with the words "Stake Boat" in white. Each contestant
+had to turn this, without fouling, in heading for home; and the one
+capable of accomplishing this with as little waste of time and distance
+as possible would gain an advantage that might count heavily in the
+final result.
+
+It was indeed a gay scene about half-past three that afternoon; the
+time of the race being scheduled for four exactly. Thousands of people
+lined both banks of the river, for the entire country had become deeply
+interested in the result, and taken sides, one way or the other.
+
+While Paulding had no proper boat club as yet, evidently every boy and
+girl attending school there, together with many older persons, had
+flocked to witness the sight of a river regatta so near at hand.
+
+School flags were waving everywhere, and class cheers accompanied their
+appearance, as the young people gathered in groups, the better to chant
+their patriotic songs.
+
+When the long shell from above came speeding down to the starting
+point, the occupants were given a rousing welcome from friends and foes
+alike. For everybody admired the game, sportsmanlike qualities of those
+Mechanicsburg fellows.
+
+"Who are they all, Flo?" asked Cissy Anderson, as she cuddled down
+alongside her chum, who was using a field glass; the girls being in the
+midst of a group that had a particularly fine place for witnessing the
+start and close of the race.
+
+"Oh! we know everyone of them, because they've figured in the battles
+on the diamond and the gridiron," replied Flo.
+
+"Wagner, of course, is among them; they say he has been made the
+coxswain of the Mechanicsburg crew; and then there must be Sherley, who
+was such a dear captain in their football games last fall; yes, and
+Waterman and Gould, too."
+
+"That's right, Cissy," the girl with the glasses continued; "and
+Hennessy is stroke oar, for I can tell him by his big, bushy crop of
+hair. He makes me think of Bristles Carpenter, who, they say, is
+pulling a wonderful oar these days. Let's see, there's Harkness, too,
+and Boggs--how many is that, Cissy? Just six oarsmen, you say? Well, I
+can see Smith there, I'm sure; and the other, why, of course it's that
+fussy Bob Jones. Don't they look splendid; and how evenly they pull."
+
+"You don't think now, for a minute, do you, Flo, that they can beat our
+boys?" the other girl asked, somewhat fearfully.
+
+"Of course I don't, silly," replied Flo, who had the utmost confidence
+in the sterling ability of Fred and his fellows to hold their own, no
+matter whether on the football field, the baseball diamond, in a hotly
+contested hockey match on the ice, a snowball battle, or in athletic
+sports; and consequently in aquatic matters as well.
+
+"There comes Sid and the rest!" exclaimed Cissy; just as though, in her
+eyes at least, the whole chance of success for the Riverport boys lay
+in the stalwart figure of Sid Wells alone.
+
+As Brad Morton led his eight sparsely-clad young oarsmen from the new
+building, bearing the glistening and carefully kept shell on their
+shoulders, a cheer started that gained force as it ran along the crowds
+lining the banks of the river, until it died away far in the distance.
+
+It had been decided to use the up-river course. And as the stake boat,
+which was to mark both the start and finish, was directly opposite
+Riverport, the turning point upstream must be just a mile and a half
+away; for the course was intended to represent exactly three miles,
+which was considered a long enough pull for young crews.
+
+The first half would be against the strong current of the Mohunk, now
+pretty high for the beginning of summer; but when the two rival boats
+had made the turn, they could come down with greater speed. It was this
+rush along the home stretch that all of the spectators were most
+anxious to witness. And this accounted for the throngs on both shores
+of the river near where the boat containing the judges of the race was
+anchored.
+
+It was now getting very close to four o'clock, and everybody began to
+breathe with eagerness, and possibly a little anxiety. No matter how
+loud the adherents of each school may have shouted for their colors,
+when it came right down to a question of supremacy the opposing crew
+began to loom up as a very dangerous factor; and they felt a faintness
+come into their hearts while watching the splendid way the rival eight
+carried themselves.
+
+"They're getting them placed in line!" shouted a small fellow, who
+carried a megaphone almost as long as himself, and through which his
+voice carried as far as a mile, when he strained himself to give a
+yell.
+
+This was a cousin of tall, long-legged Colon, and whose name of
+Harrison had long ago given way to that of Semi-Colon, to distinguish
+him from his big relative.
+
+"Look at poor old Buck Lemington; would you?" remarked another, close
+to the bevy of girls around Flo Temple and Cissy Anderson. "He's in an
+ugly humor to-day, because he threw away his chance to be pulling an
+oar in our boat, and went off to get up a boat club of his own."
+
+"And then smashed his shell on a snag the first thing," continued
+Semi-Colon, who had heard what was said.
+
+"Wasn't it just like him to try and say poor Clem Shooks was to blame,
+when everybody knows it must have been only Buck's fault, because he
+didn't remember about that stump under the water," one of the girls
+remarked.
+
+"And I even guess he'd have cared precious little if our boat had been
+burned up, when some of those tramps, they say, tried to set things on
+fire," a second girl broke out with; which remark appeared to amuse
+Semi-Colon very much, for he roared through his megaphone the word:
+
+"Tramps! Ha! Ha!"
+
+Evidently, while officially it had been decided to keep secret the
+facts connected with the finding of the bottle of kerosene and the
+rags, at the time Conrad Jimmerson was caught in Colon's trap, enough
+had leaked out among the boys connected with Riverport school to give
+them a pretty fair idea Buck must have been the leading spirit behind
+the miserable game.
+
+"Silence there! the referee wants you to keep still while he says
+something to the crews!" roared a heavy voice through a megaphone.
+
+"He's going to advise 'em what not to do," broke out Semi-Colon, for
+the benefit of the girls; "and that a willful foul with carry a
+penalty. There goes Coach Shays in that little launch; he's going to
+get in that car belonging to Judge Colon, and be whirled along the
+road, which keeps pretty near the river all the way. So you see, he can
+every little while shout out his directions to the coxswain."
+
+"There, the referee is talking to them now," said Flo Temple, plainly
+excited, since the critical moment was at hand. "Oh! don't I just hope
+our boys will leave them away behind right in the beginning! Because,
+they say that the first one around the turning boat will have a big
+advantage. Every second on the down-current will put yards between
+them, that the second boat may never be able to make up."
+
+"Brad Morton knows that, make up your mind, girls; and he won't let
+those Mechanicsburg fellows turn first, if he can help it," Semi-Colon
+advised.
+
+"That's it, if he can help it!" mocked a girl near by, who was boldly
+waving the banner of the up-river town right in the stronghold of the
+rival school.
+
+"Watch, they're going to start!" cried Cissy Anderson, shrilly.
+
+Every sound seemed to cease like magic, as doubtless thousands of eager
+eyes saw that the decisive moment was at hand.
+
+Then suddenly there came the sharp report of a pistol, which they all
+knew was to be the signal that would send those two boats forward with
+all the power that sixteen pairs of trained and muscular arms could
+bring to bear in exact unison!
+
+Immediately a roar arose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+A GREAT VICTORY
+
+
+"They're off!"
+
+"Mechanicsburg leads!"
+
+"Yes, she does, smarty; better look again! They're tied, neck and
+neck!"
+
+"But watch that stroke, will you; did you ever see anything so fine?
+Oh! you poor Riverport, get your tear-rags ready to weep!"
+
+"Wait a little. You'll be laughing out of the other side of your mouth,
+Crabtree!"
+
+So the various backers of the two teams bantered each other as they
+kept their eyes fixed on the rival shells. Thef boats were pushing up
+against the strong current of the Mohunk, steadily biting into it, and
+increasing the distance between them and the stakeboat that was
+presently to mark the closing scene of the river drama.
+
+Steadily they kept on, nearing the bend that would shut them out from
+the sight of the great crowds gathered on either bank near the judges'
+boat. If the cheering diminished in volume at that point, it was taken
+up above, until one long wave of sound arose, every conceivable noise
+being used to create an uproar, from horns and whistles to megaphones,
+and class yells from the various schools.
+
+It was a time long looked forward to, and which would last for so short
+a period that everyone seemed to think it necessary to exhaust himself
+or herself as speedily as possible.
+
+"There they are, turning the bend now!" declared the anxious Cissy.
+"Oh! which one leads, Flo; tell me, please?"
+
+"As near as I can make out, they seem to be running evenly," the other
+girl replied, with the glasses to her eyes, as though she could not
+drop them, or even gratify the curiosity of her best chum by allowing
+her a peep.
+
+"And do you see Sid, and is he showing all the others how to keep cool,
+and hold himself in reserve against the last home quarter-stretch?"
+demanded Cissy.
+
+"Well, I like that, now!" exclaimed the indignant Flo, who, as we
+chance to know, also had someone she admired in that school crew; "just
+as if there didn't happen to be seven other fellows rowing alongside
+Sid Wells. I know one at least who plays second fiddle to nobody."
+
+"There they go around the bend!" cried another girl.
+
+"And listen to the roars above there; will you?" called a boy passing
+by, who was decked out in Riverport colors. "Why, there must be a whole
+mob of people up to see 'em turn the other boat. I'd like to be there
+right now, if I could jump back here to see the finish."
+
+"Watch the signals!" now arose on every hand.
+
+Everybody knew what this meant, and consequently the eyes of the entire
+multitude began to be fastened on a particular place up at the bend.
+Here arrangements had been made by those in charge of the race, whereby
+the news would be flashed to those far down the stream which one of the
+rival boats had managed to make the turn ahead.
+
+"Which are the signals?" one boy asked, as though he had become
+slightly confused, owing to the excited condition of his mind; and
+which, after all, was not to be wondered at, with all that racket
+around him, and his pulses thrilled with the hope he hugged to his
+heart that Riverport might win.
+
+"Red if Mechanicsburg is ahead, and blue if Riverport turns first!"
+someone obligingly called out.
+
+"There goes the flag up!" shrieked a voice just then.
+
+There was a tall pole at the bend, and they could see some dark object
+mounting rapidly upward. The flag was bunched in some manner, to be
+released when it reached the top of the mast And how those few seconds
+did seem like hours to the anxious hearts of the onlookers, who were
+holding their very breath in suspense.
+
+Then a mighty shout broke out that was like the great billows dashing
+on a rock-bound coast:
+
+"It's blue! Riverport turns first!"
+
+"Oh! you Mechanicsburg, how we pity you right now!"
+
+"A runaway! They'll never be in sight when we cross the line!"
+
+"The easiest thing ever! Football, baseball, and now rowing; why,
+you're not in it at all, Mechanicsburg!"
+
+"Sure they are--in the soup!"
+
+However, in spite of all this brave talk, those who taunted the
+up-river boys understood that it was quite too soon to do much crowing.
+What if Riverport had succeeded in getting the inside track of their
+rivals, so as to turn the upper boat first, that did not mean the
+others would lie down, and allow their old-time enemies of many a
+hard-fought game to triumph over them. Mechanicsburg players had the
+reputation of being stayers, who would not admit defeat until the last
+man was out, or the concluding yard been passed over.
+
+Doubtless both boats were even now coming down the river at a marvelous
+pace. The question remained to be seen whether Mechanicsburg could
+throw enough power into their strokes to cut down the lead their rivals
+had obtained, and forge ahead as they drew near the goal.
+
+"Will Colon overdo himself again?"
+
+That was the question one white-faced Riverport boy put to a mate as
+they stood there, with their eyes glued on the bend above, around which
+the boats must come flying at any second now.
+
+"Aw! come off with you, Tatters," was the immediate and scornful reply;
+"you know mighty well what made him drop that other time. Hadn't he
+been pretty near drowned the day before, so that his nerves shut up on
+him like a jack-knife? He's fit as a fiddle now, they say; and Bristles
+Carpenter is pulling like a race-horse. You watch and see. We're bound
+to win this race in a walk."
+
+"There they come!"
+
+The boats shot around the bend, and it was seen that while Riverport
+still held the lead, it was only by a margin of part of a length. As
+yet, then, it might be called anybody's race, since a very slight thing
+would serve to turn the tables.
+
+On the river road could be seen the car belonging to Judge Colon,
+racing along from point to point; and above all other sounds the
+spectators could hear the sharp, shrill voice of Coach Shays as he
+shouted words of cheer to his crew; or warned them against some
+possible fatal blunder.
+
+Despite the gruelling pull against the current that had marked the
+first half of the fiercely contested race, both young crews seemed to
+be keeping in perfect rhythm with the movements of their coxswains. And
+doubtless those shrewd leaders were keenly on the alert for any
+advantage that might come to them through either a quickening of the
+pace, if they thought the rowers capable of standing it, or some other
+change in the existing conditions.
+
+Louder grew the shouts and songs as the two boats came flying down the
+stream, the young oarsmen pulling like mad to either retain or secure
+an advantage. Hope flickered up again in the hearts of the loyal
+Mechanicsburg rooters, who had well nigh taken a slump when they
+learned that their favorites were behind at the half-way boat.
+
+How they did cheer their boys on! It was enough to almost make any
+fellow try to perform impossibilities, and strain himself to the
+breaking point, to hear how his comrades were banking all their hopes
+on him in particular. Loud and dear sounded each name of the
+Mechanicsburg rowers through a megaphone, backed by a voice that had
+Semi-Colon's put out of the running:
+
+"Hennessy--Sherley--Harkness--Gould--Smith--Boggs--Waterman--Jones--
+Wagner--_everybody pull!_"
+
+And they did certainly pull for all they were worth, desperately
+anxious to overcome that half boat-length that still lay between them.
+
+But, on the other, hand, an equal number of young athletes in the other
+shell were just as doggedly determined not to yield one inch, if it
+could be held by any power of theirs. Brad believed he could call for
+just one more little advance in the stroke, and he was only waiting
+until they reached a certain spot marked in his mind as the place where
+the final spurt must be made.
+
+"Now, Riverport, once more, and for the last time, _give way!_" came in
+the shrill tones of the coach.
+
+Immediately the final spurt was on. Mechanicsburg, too, had been
+holding just a mite in reserve for this killing last quarter of a mile.
+As a consequence, the two boats seemed to retain about the same
+relative position as before, despite this change of stroke to a faster
+one.
+
+The excitement ashore, as they drew rapidly nearer the line, was
+tremendous. Some fellows jumped up and down, waving their hats, and
+shrieking; while girls swung their colored banners frantically any way,
+in order to add to the confusion.
+
+But there was not a single one who would remove their eyes for even a
+second from the stirring spectacle of those two shells, spinning side
+by side down the river, with only the little space of a second, as it
+were, marking the difference between victory and defeat.
+
+Now they were close on the line, and Mechanicsburg gave one mighty
+pull, as if hoping to send their boat at least level with that of their
+antagonists, so that the chances of a tie might be improved.
+
+"Look at Riverport, would you? They've been keeping it back all the
+time!"
+
+"Oh! my, what a spurt! See 'em go, boys! We win! we win! Riverport
+takes the race! Hurrah! whoop! R-i-v-e-r-p-o-r-t! Siss! boom! ah!"
+
+Amidst the roar of uncounted voices, the booming of several cannon held
+in readiness for just this very purpose, the bleating of horns, and
+everything else that could be utilized to create a racket, the
+Riverport shell shot pass the deciding stakeboat, fully a length ahead
+of their rivals.
+
+It had been a clean race, with not a single note of discord. Although
+beaten, Mechamcsburg had carried their colors with honor; and a mighty
+shout from friend and foe alike attested to the satisfaction felt by
+all who had witnessed the close contest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+BRIGHT SKIES
+
+
+Riverport went fairly wild that night over the success of the school
+crew in the race against the crack oarsmen of Mechanicsburg. Perhaps
+there were a few fellows who took little or no satisfaction in the
+great victory. Buck Lemington might be set down as one of these;
+because, as a rule, Buck never enjoyed seeing his school win, unless he
+could be the central attraction, the hero to whom the plaudits of the
+cheering throngs were mainly given.
+
+But no one cared much what Buck Lemington thought. Surely Fred Fenton
+was of a mind that the Lemingtons, father and son, were soon to be
+routed, horse, foot and artillery, when the long missing Hiram
+Masterson returned, as he had promised to do in that letter from far
+away Hong Kong, and tell all that he knew about the scheme of those in
+the syndicate to cheat Mr. Fenton out of his just rights.
+
+And Bristles, too, was a happy fellow those days. He had known what it
+was to taste of the bitterness of having unfounded suspicion cast upon
+him. The pleasure of feeling that his name was fully cleared made him
+secretly resolve that if he knew it, his mother would never have to
+experience the sorrow that was evidently in store for Gabe Larkins'
+parent, unless that tricky boy changed his ways.
+
+Nor was Bristles apt to forget that he owed most of his present
+condition of satisfaction to the earnest efforts of his good chum, Fred
+Fenton. Who but Fred would have taken it upon himself to interview Miss
+Muster, and get acquainted with the facts in the case? And who but he
+could have guessed the identity of the guilty party; which he later on
+proved so wonderfully well, in the presence of the old maid who had met
+with the loss of her precious jewels?
+
+Bristles never told what a siege of suspense he had passed through. And
+if there were any curious ones among his mates, who took it upon
+themselves to wonder why their usually lively, wide-awake comrade
+moped, as he had done for a time, they had to take it out in guessing.
+
+Fred did have one very pleasant little surprise sprung upon him, and
+which made him feel more drawn to the old maid than ever.
+
+On the very night of the boat race, when the atmosphere of all
+Riverport was vibrating with parading crowds, and bonfires were already
+springing up, to celebrate the great victory of the young oarsmen,
+Fred, returning home about supper time, found a little packet beside
+his plate.
+
+It had not come by mail, and undoubtedly his mother knew something
+about who sent or brought it; for there was a glow in her eyes as she
+watched him handle it, with a questioning look in his own.
+
+"Suppose you open it, Fred, instead of trying to guess," proposed his
+sister Kate.
+
+"Well," he replied, laughingly, "that does seem like a sensible thing
+for you to say, Kate. Perhaps I am a little dazed or rattled; who
+wouldn't be after taking part in such a grand race as that? You were
+there, Mom; for I noticed you waving your pocket handkerchief; and I
+wager now, you never saw anybody but the Fenton boy who was on the
+crew. I say, now, what's all this mean?"
+
+Father, mother, and sister all watching him, Fred had opened the little
+packet; and out upon the table rolled three handsome opals, that seemed
+to take on all the hues of the rainbow as the light of the evening lamp
+fell upon them.
+
+He also unrolled a sheet of paper on which were a few lines in a rather
+crabbed hand; which Fred would once have said was just like the
+character of the whimsical old maid herself, but which he now knew must
+be caused by age.
+
+    "Dear Boy:--I want you to accept these few tokens of my esteem, to
+    know that I shall never forget what you have done to show me how
+    necessary it always should be to look well before you leap. You
+    will make me happy by keeping these, and saying nothing about the
+    folly of
+
+    "Your Old Maid Friend,
+
+    "Alicia Muster."
+
+"Just to think, she sends me these valuable opals, because I happened
+to help prove that Bristles didn't take her gems," Fred said,
+wonderingly, as he looked down at the handsome present that had been
+given to him.
+
+"Well, I think you earned them," remarked Mrs. Fenton, proudly; "and
+when your father hears the whole story, which I have only kept from
+telling him because I wanted you to have that pleasure, I'm sure he'll
+agree with me. Yes, you ought to be a lawyer, Fred. You are cut out for
+a successful one."
+
+"And then to think that he was on the crew that beat those smart
+Mechanicsburg fellows," Kate declared, as though to her mind that fact
+dwarfed everything else; "but, Fred, they are beginning to talk already
+how they mean to get even with Riverport this Fall. You know they had a
+fine gymnasium given to them by a rich man, and already they have
+started to practice all sorts of track events. I understand they mean
+to challenge Riverport to a meet; and having the advantage of that
+gymnasium, they expect to pay us back for the times we've beaten them."
+
+"Oh! they do, eh?" remarked Fred, as though not greatly worried; "well,
+there will be two who must have a say in that, Riverport as well as
+Mechanicsburg. Perhaps they may turn out to have the better all-'round
+athletes; time will tell."
+
+And time did tell; for the proposed athletic meet came to pass in the
+Fall. What stirring things happened along about that time, as well as
+the inspiring incidents connected with the great meet itself, will be
+recorded in the next story of this series, to be called: "Fred Fenton
+on the Track; Or, The Athletics of Riverport School."
+
+Of course the Fentons were looking eagerly forward to the time when
+Hiram Masterson would redeem his promise to return and testify against
+the overbearing syndicate that was endeavoring to get possession of
+that rich Alaska mine, which had once belonged to Fred's uncle.
+
+Days might pass, but each one meant in all probability that the missing
+witness, abducted by orders of the powerful combination of capitalists,
+was drawing closer; and every night on his return home Mr. Fenton fully
+expected to find the man from Alaska sitting at the table awaiting his
+coming.
+
+True, he seemed to have so much knowledge of the almost unlimited
+powers of he syndicate, with which Squire Lemington was connected in
+some way, that Hiram had declared his intention of coming in some sort
+of disguise, so that he could give his evidence under oath before his
+unscrupulous uncle even knew that he was on this side of the ocean.
+
+And so, on the whole, those summer days were times of almost unlimited
+pleasure to Fred Fenton. After his unsuccessful attempt to burn the
+racing boat of the Riverport schoolboys, Buck Lemington had remained a
+long time quiet. Possibly he feared that his crony, Conrad Jimmerson,
+when he was caught in Colon's quaint trap, might have told something of
+the truth before his mouth was closed by hearing that threatening
+signal outside. And Buck was waiting now to learn if anything was about
+to be done, in order to bring him to punishment.
+
+Of course such a nature as his could not remain very quiet for any
+great length of time; and as the days grew into weeks doubtless his
+resentment toward Fred would once more become hot.
+
+Then there would be more exciting times; for when Buck really worked
+himself up to a certain pitch, things were apt to happen.
+
+The boys and girls of Riverport always did manage to have a good time
+during the summer holidays. True, there could be no singing school, and
+dances in the barn, such as winter brought along in its train; no
+skating on the river, sleighing over country roads with a pretty girl
+alongside, and the merry chime of bells in the air; but then picnics
+were held every little while; and as for the group of boys who somehow
+looked upon Fred as a sort of leader, there was hardly a weekday during
+the entire vacation that they did not go fishing, or at least pay a
+visit to the old "swimming hole."
+
+When together, Bristles and Fred often talked about the affair of the
+opals. The latter said that his aunt kept in constant touch with Gabe
+Larkins, and seemed to be gaining considerable influence over the wild
+lad.
+
+"I don't just know whether he means to reform, or is only pulling the
+wool over Aunt Alicia's eyes," Bristles declared; "but, anyhow, he
+seems to be walking a straight line now. Why, his mother told mine just
+yesterday that she didn't know what had come over Gabe, he was that
+considerate of her feelings nowadays. She wondered if he could be
+feeling ill, and expectin' to die. But maw just told her not to worry;
+that she reckoned he was only feelin' sorry because he'd been so bad in
+the past."
+
+"I hope he means it," said Fred, with considerable earnestness in his
+voice. "It's a pretty hard thing for the leopard to change his spots,
+father says; but if Gabe does turn over a new leaf, he certainly ought
+to be helped by everybody."
+
+"Oh!" said Bristles, quickly, "I stopped and shook hands with him the
+last time we met. And say, Fred, there did seem to be something a
+little different about his eyes; looked me square in the face, and you
+know he used to be seeing somethin' over your head every time before. I
+wonder now does it mean anything?"
+
+But that again was another thing that only time could prove. Whether
+Gabe did really see a light, and mean to change his ways, or was
+playing a foxy game for some purpose, there could be no way of telling,
+until he chose to come out into the open.
+
+Here, with the horizon looking so bright for those in whose fortunes we
+have come to feel such a deep interest, it may be as well for us to say
+good-bye for the present, and leave a further recital of their
+adventures and contests to another time.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS SERIES
+
+By CAPTAIN JAMES CARSON
+
+12mo.    Illustrated.    Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
+
+All lads who love life in the open air and a good steed, will want to
+peruse these books. Captain Carson knows his subject thoroughly, and
+his stories are as pleasing as they are healthful and instructive.
+
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS OF THE ROCKIES
+  _or Lost on Thunder Mountain_
+
+Telling how the lads started out to solve the mystery of a great noise
+in the mountains--how they got lost--and of the things they discovered.
+
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON
+  _or The Hermit of the Cave_
+
+A weird and wonderful story of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, told
+in a most absorbing manner. The Saddle Boys are to the front in a
+manner to please all young readers.
+
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS ON THE PLAINS
+  _or After a Treasure of Gold_
+
+In this story the scene is shifted to the great plains of the southwest
+and then to the Mexican border. There is a stirring struggle for gold,
+told as only Captain Carson can tell it.
+
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS AT CIRCLE RANCH
+  _or In at the Grand Round-up_
+
+Here we have lively times at the ranch, and likewise the particulars of
+a grand round-up of cattle and encounters with wild animals and also
+cattle thieves. A story that breathes the very air of the plains.
+
+
+THE SADDLE BOYS ON MEXICAN TRAILS
+  _or In the Hands of the Enemy_
+
+The scene is shifted in this volume to Mexico. The boys go on an
+important errand, and are caught between the lines of the Mexican
+soldiers. They are captured and for a while things look black for them;
+but all ends happily.
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers,    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE SPEEDWELL BOYS SERIES
+
+By ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+Author of "The Dave Dashaway Series," "Great Marvel Series," etc.
+
+12mo.    Illustrated.    Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
+
+All boys who love to be on the go will welcome the Speed well boys.
+They are clean cut and loyal lads.
+
+
+THE SPEEDWELL BOYS ON MOTOR CYCLES
+  _or The Mystery of a Great Conflagration_
+
+The lads were poor, but they did a rich man a great service and he
+presented them with their motor cycles. What a great fire led to is
+exceedingly well told.
+
+
+THE SPEEDWELL BOYS AND THEIR RACING AUTO
+  _or A Run for the Golden Cup_
+
+A tale of automobiling and of intense rivalry on the road. There was an
+endurance run and the boys entered the contest. On the run they rounded
+up some men who were wanted by the law.
+
+
+THE SPEEDWELL BOYS AND THEIR POWER LAUNCH
+  _or To the Rescue of the Castaways_
+
+Here is an unusual story. There was a wreck, and the lads, in their
+power launch, set out to the rescue. A vivid picture of a great storm
+adds to the interest of the tale.
+
+
+THE SPEEDWELL BOYS IN A SUBMARINE
+  _or The Lost Treasure of Rocky Cove_
+
+An old sailor knows of a treasure lost under water because of a cliff
+falling into the sea. The boys get a chance to go out in a submarine
+and they make a hunt for the treasure.
+
+
+THE SPEEDWELL BOYS AND THEIR ICE RACER
+  _or The Perils of a Great Blizzard_
+
+The boys had an idea for a new sort of iceboat, to be run by combined
+wind and motor power. How they built the craft, and what fine times
+they had on board of it, is well related.
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers,    NEW YORK
+
+
+THE FRED FENTON ATHLETIC SERIES
+
+By ALLEN CHAPMAN
+
+Author of "The Tom Fairfield Series," "The Boys of Pluck Series" and
+"The Darewell Chums Series."
+
+12mo.    Illustrated.    Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
+
+A line of tales embracing school athletics. Fred is a true type of the
+American schoolboy of to-day.
+
+
+FRED FENTON THE PITCHER
+  _or The Rivals of Riverport School_
+
+When Fred came to Riverport none of the school lads knew him, but he
+speedily proved his worth in the baseball box. A true picture of school
+baseball.
+
+
+FRED FENTON IN THE LINE
+  _or The Football Boys of Riverport School_
+
+When Fall came in the thoughts of the boys turned to football. Fred
+went in the line, and again proved his worth, making a run that helped
+to win a great game.
+
+
+FRED FENTON ON THE CREW
+  _or The Young Oarsmen of Riverport School_
+
+In this volume the scene is shifted to the river, and Fred and his
+chums show how they can handle the oars. There are many other
+adventures, all dear to the hearts of boys.
+
+
+FRED FENTON ON THE TRACK
+  _or The Athletes of Riverport School_
+
+Track athletics form a subject of vast interest to many boys, and here
+is a tale telling of great running races, high jumping, and the like.
+Fred again proves himself a hero in the best sense of that term.
+
+
+FRED FENTON: MARATHON RUNNER
+  or _The Great Race at Riverport School_
+
+Fred is taking a post-graduate course at the school when the subject of
+Marathon running came up. A race is arranged, and Fred shows both his
+friends and his enemies what he can do. An athletic story of special
+merit.
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers,    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE TOM FAIRFIELD SERIES
+
+By ALLEN CHAPMAN
+
+Author of the "Fred Fenton Athletic Series," "The Boys of Pluck
+Series," and "The Darewell Chums Series."
+
+12mo.    Illustrated.    Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
+
+Tom Fairfield is a typical American lad, full of life and energy, a boy
+who believes in doing things. To know Tom is to love him.
+
+
+TOM FAIRFIELD'S SCHOOLDAYS
+  _or The Chums of Elmwood Hall_
+
+Tells of how Tom started for school, of the mystery surrounding one of
+the Hall seniors, and of how the hero went to the rescue. The first
+book in a line that is bound to become decidedly popular.
+
+
+TOM FAIRFIELD AT SEA
+  _or The Wreck of the Silver Star_
+
+Tom's parents had gone to Australia and then been cast away somewhere
+in the Pacific. Tom set out to find them and was himself cast away. A
+thrilling picture of the perils of the deep.
+
+
+TOM FAIRFIELD IN CAMP
+  _or The Secret of the Old Mill_
+
+The boys decided to go camping, and located near an old mill. A wild
+man resided there and he made it decidedly lively for Tom and his
+chums. The secret of the old mill adds to the interest of the volume.
+
+
+TOM FAIRFIELD'S PLUCK AND LUCK
+  _or Working to Clear His Name_
+
+While Tom was back at school some of his enemies tried to get him into
+trouble. Something unusual occurred and Tom was suspected of a crime.
+How he set to work to clear his name is told in a manner to interest
+all young readers.
+
+
+TOM FAIRFIELD'S HUNTING TRIP
+  _or Lost in the Wilderness_
+
+Tom was only a schoolboy, but he loved to use a shotgun or a rifle. In
+this volume we meet him on a hunting trip full of outdoor life and good
+times around the camp-fire.
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers,    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE DAVE DASHAWAY SERIES
+
+By ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+Author of the "Speedwell Boys Series" and the "Great Marvel Series."
+
+12mo.    Illustrated.    Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
+
+Never was there a more clever young aviator than Dave Dashaway. All
+up-to-date lads will surely wish to read about him.
+
+
+DAVE DASHAWAY THE YOUNG AVIATOR
+  _or In the Clouds for Fame and Fortune_
+
+This initial volume tells how the hero ran away from his miserly
+guardian, fell in with a successful airman, and became a young aviator
+of note.
+
+
+DAVE DASHAWAY AND HIS HYDROPLANE
+  _or Daring Adventures Over the Great Lakes_
+
+Showing how Dave continued his career as a birdman and had many
+adventures over the Great Lakes, and how he foiled the plans of some
+Canadian smugglers.
+
+
+DAVE DASHAWAY AND HIS GIANT AIRSHIP
+  _or A Marvellous Trip Across the Atlantic_
+
+How the giant airship was constructed and how the daring young aviator
+and his friends made the hazardous journey through the clouds from the
+new world to the old, is told in a way to hold the reader spellbound.
+
+
+DAVE DASHAWAY AROUND THE WORLD
+  _or A Young Yankee Aviator Among Many Nations_
+
+An absorbing tale of a great air flight around the world, of adventures
+in Alaska, Siberia and elsewhere. A true to life picture of what may be
+accomplished in the near future.
+
+
+DAVE DASHAWAY: AIR CHAMPION
+  _or Wizard Work in the Clouds_
+
+Dave makes several daring trips, and then enters a contest for a big
+prize. An aviation tale thrilling in the extreme.
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers,    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE WEBSTER SERIES
+
+By FRANK V. WEBSTER
+
+Mr. WEBSTER'S style is very much like that of the boys' favorite
+author, the late lamented Horatio Alger, Jr., but his tales are
+thoroughly up-to-date.
+
+Cloth.    12mo.    Over 200 pages each. Illustrated.    Stamped in various
+colors.
+
+Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
+
+Only A Farm Boy
+  _or Dan Hardy's Rise in Life_
+
+The Boy From The Ranch
+  _or Roy Bradner's City Experiences_
+
+The Young Treasure Hunter
+  _or Fred Stanley's Trip to Alaska_
+
+The Boy Pilot of the Lakes
+  _or Nat Morton's Perils_
+
+Tom The Telephone Boy
+  _or The Mystery of a Message_
+
+Bob The Castaway
+  _or The Wreck of the Eagle_
+
+The Newsboy Partners
+  _or Who Was Dick Bost_
+
+Two Boy Gold Miners
+  _or Lost in the Mountains_
+
+The Young Firemen of Lakeville
+  _or Herbert Dare's Pluck_
+
+The Boys of Bellwood School
+  _or Frank Jordan's Triumph_
+
+Jack the Runaway
+  _or On the Road with a Circus_
+
+Bob Chester's Grit
+  _or From Ranch to Riches_
+
+Airship Andy
+  _or The Luck of a Brave Boy_
+
+High School Rivals
+  _or Fred Markham's Struggles_
+
+Dairy The Life Saver
+  _or The Heroes of the Coast_
+
+Dick The Bank Boy
+  _or A Missing Fortune_
+
+Ben Hardy's Flying Machine
+  _or Making a Record for Himself_
+
+Harry Watson's High School Days
+  _or The Rivals of Rivertown_
+
+Comrades of the Saddle
+  _or The Young Rough Riders of the Plains_
+
+Tom Taylor at West Point
+  _or The Old Army Officer's Secret_
+
+The Boy Scouts of Lennox
+  _or Hiking Over Big Bear Mountain_
+
+The Boys of the Wireless
+  _or a Stirring Rescue from the Deep_
+
+Cowboy Dave
+  _or The Round-up at Rolling River_
+
+Jack of the Pony Express
+  _or The Young Rider of the Mountain Trail_
+
+The Boys of the Battleship
+  _or For the Honor of Uncle Sam_
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers,    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Fred Fenton on the Crew, by Allen Chapman
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRED FENTON ON THE CREW ***
+
+***** This file should be named 21594.txt or 21594.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/5/9/21594/
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.