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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:37 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:37 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12735-0.txt b/12735-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec38782 --- /dev/null +++ b/12735-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7245 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12735 *** + +The Grammar School Boys in Summer Athletics + +or, Dick & Co. Make Their Fame Secure + +By H. Irving Hancock + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTERS + I. A Jolt on a Quiet Day + II. The Vanishing Man + III. Dick Marches His Nine On + IV. The Story of the Uniforms + V. North Grammars Play Real Ball + VI. Setting With a Teaser + VII. Ted Teall Faces the Storm + VIII. Two Rivals Plan Dire Revenge + IX. Hi Martin Tries to Make Terms + X. "Babbling Butt-in" + XI. Ted Feels the Flare-Back + XII. The North Grammar Captain Grilled + XIII. "Big Injun---Heap Big Noise" + XIV. "Crazy as a Porous Plaster" + XV. Bluffing Up to the Bug Game + XVI. "Ted's Terrors" Full of Fight + XVII. Dodge and Ripley Hear Something +XVIII. Hi's Swimming Challenge + XIX. Dave Darrin Flashes Fire + XX. Arranging the Swimming Match + XXI. Old Dut Gives Wise Counsel + XXII. Hi Hears Something Elevating +XXIII. Who Won the Swimming Matches? + XXIV. Conclusion + + + + +Chapter I + +A JOLT ON A QUIET DAY + + +"There's just one thing that I keep thinking about on a day like +this," Dave Darrin sighed contentedly. + +"What's that?" Tom Reade wanted to know. "Supper?" + +Darrin turned, favoring Reade with a flash of disgust from his +large, dark eyes. + +"I'm still waiting for the information," insisted Tom after a +short pause. + +"You may as well wait," retorted Dave. "You wouldn't understand +what I feel, anyway. Any fellow who can keep his mind on supper, +on a grand June day like this-----" + +"I imagine that you'll keep your mind on the meal when you reach +the table," predicted Tom, grinning. + +"That'll be time enough," Dave rejoined. "But I'm not going to +profane the woods, on a perfect June day, by thinking of kitchen +odors." + +"Say, aren't you feeling well?" asked Tom gravely. + +"That's just the point, I guess," broke in Dick Prescott, with +a light laugh. "Dave is feeling so extremely well and happy-----" + +"Now, you're shouting," Darrin assented. "But it's no use for +poor Reade to ponder over the glories of nature. All he can think +of is the region bounded by his belt." + +"Glories of nature?" repeated Reade. "If that's what you're talking +about, why didn't you announce your subject earlier? Yes, sir; +nature is at her greenest best to-day. Just look off through +that line of trees, and see how the light breeze moves the tops +in that field of young corn, and-----" + +"Corn?" flared Dave. "Something to eat, of course! Tom, you're +hopeless when it comes to the finer things of life. You ought +to have been born in a pen, close to a well-filled trough. Corn, +indeed!" + +"This country would probably be bankrupt if there were no corn +crop, and you'd be digging hard for a living, instead of being +a lazy schoolboy," retorted Reade, with an indulgent smile. "Let +me see; how many hundred million dollars did Old Dut tell us the +annual corn crop brings in wealth to this country?" + +All of the other boys, save Dave, glanced at Tom, but all shook +their heads. Statistics do not mix well in a Grammar School boy's +head. + +"Oh, well, it was a lot of money, anyway," Tom pursued his subject. +"I wouldn't mind having all the money that the American corn +crop brings." + +"So you could buy the fanciest kinds of food, I suppose?" jeered +Dave Darrin. + +"Never mind, Darry; if I had a lot of money I'd buy you the biggest +and softest mattress I could find, so that you'd have nothing +to do but lie off by yourself, look up at the green leaves and +dream your summers away. That lying on your back and looking +up at the sky is what you call reverie, isn't it?" + +"Quit your kidding!" ordered Dave. + +"Is it reverie?" asked Harry Hazelton, "or just plain laziness +that ails Dave?" + +"Laziness, of course," laughed Tom. "Dave, I guess Harry has +more sense in naming things than any of us. Yes; that's it! +And Dick thought it was merely poetic temperament." + +"Temperament? What's that?" grinned Dan Dalzell. "Is that what +you get in June by adding up the column of figures in the thermometer?" + +To signify his lack of interest in the talk, Darrin rolled over +on his side, turning his gaze away from the other boys. In another +minute Dave's eyes were closed, his lips open and his breath coming +regularly and audibly. + +Such was the droning effect of the warm June breezes on this glorious +afternoon. + +"Give Dave the chorus of 'He Was the Sleepiest Boy,'" whispered +Greg to the others. "Put a lot of steam into every line!" + +At a sign from young Holmes the drowsy chorus rolled out, punctuated +by timely yawns. + +Darry rolled over, yawning, too, an easy-going smile on his face. + +"Greg," he charged, "I'm certain that you put the crowd up to +that outrage. When I summon up energy enough I'm going to thrash +you." + +"All right," agreed Greg, "I'll take boxing lessons within a year +or two, so as to be prepared for you." + +"I wish this were to-morrow afternoon," grumbled Harry Hazelton. + +"I'm glad it's to-day," sighed Dave easily. + +"But to-morrow will be Monday, and we can play baseball." + +"And just because to-morrow will be Monday," retorted Dave, "Old +Dut will expect us to bring in those fifteen examples in insurance." + +"We'll be all past that, by afternoon," Dan broke in. "Then, +as soon as the bell rings to dismiss school, we'll all pile outside +and have a ripping practice on the diamond." + +"Yes; we'll have to get a lot of practice," Dick assented. "Otherwise, +you know, the North Grammar will just wipe up the field with us +Wednesday afternoon." + +"The North Grammar!" sniffed Greg scornfully. "Hi Martin's crowd? +Huh!" + +"Those North Grammar boys have been practising," Dick insisted. +"Hard work is what tells in athletics." + +"Well, hang it, didn't you keep us running all through the spring?" +demanded Dalzell. "Didn't you say that would put us away at the +top in Grammar School baseball?" + +"It will help us a long way," assented Dick. "Yet it won't do +everything. Each of us has to be as nearly perfect as possible +in the position that he has to play. That's why we really need +a lot more practice than we've had on the real field." + +"The worst of it is" suggested Tom, "that we've got all of the +best players in the school on our regular nine, and the scrub +nine isn't made up of fellows who can really give us any work." + +"Don't croak, Dick," begged Dave. "This day is too perfect to +have it spoiled by any calamity howling." + +Presently Darrin rolled over on his side once more. Greg took +a peep, became suspicious, and started to hum: + +"He was the Sleepiest Boy." + +Smack! came a small sod, with which Dave had slyly provided himself +in advance. + +"Ugh! Gr-r-r-r!" sputtered young Holmes, leaping to his feet +and spitting out the stuff from his mouth. It was mostly the +grass side of the sod that had struck his teeth, but a little +of the loam had gone in with it. + +"Good enough for me, I suppose," grimaced Greg, seating himself +once more when he had cleaned his mouth fairly well. Dave, who +had turned over to grin at Greg, soon rolled back to his old posture +on the grass. + +Greg, however, was not disposed to let the matter pass as easily +as the others imagined. Shortly Holmesy jumped astride of Dave +and rolled that youth over on to his back. + +"I didn't eat all of the sod," young Holmes announced. "You may +have the rest, Darry. How does it taste?" + +Dave shut his mouth tightly, but Greg held his nostrils. The +instant that Darrin opened his mouth for air Holmes rammed in +the piece of sod. Then he jumped up, retreating. + +It was now Dave's turn to jump up and work vigorously getting +the stuff out of his month. + +"Tastes immense, doesn't it, Dave?" called Holmes tantalizingly. + +No answer in words came from Darrin, but he suddenly wheeled, +charging straight at Greg. Doubtless the latter would have gotten +out of the way safely, but that Dick thrust out a foot, tripping +Dave as he bounded by. + +Darrin came down upon his knees. The hotheaded youth was now +very close to being angry in earnest. + +"Hold up, Dave!" Prescott advised. "You started it, you know. +You will have to show that a joke is just as funny whether it's +going or coming." + +"That's right, old chap," agreed Dave, halting and beginning to +cool. "Greg, come here and shake hands." + +"You shake hands with Tom," Holmes retorted suspiciously. "I +appoint Tom my substitute, with full powers." + +"I'd sooner fight Tom than you," mused Dave, gazing down at Reade, +who did not appear to be very much disturbed. "Tom is the fellow +who's always bringing his appetite along on the finest days that +heaven has sent us." + +Dick Prescott lazily drew out his watch and glanced at it. Then +he rose, remarking: + +"You may stay here and get all the comfort you can out of nature, +Dave. But it's half past five and I guess the rest of us will +want to be nearer to the source of kitchen odors." + +"Whew! If it's any such time as that I'm going to move fast," +cried Harry Hazelton, leaping to his feet. "At our house supper +is on at six o'clock, and anyone who gets in late has to take +what's left." + +"Are your folks so poor as that?" laughed Tom. + +"Hardly," returned Harry. "But both dad and mother are sticklers +for everyone being in his seat on time." + +By this time five of the chums had started across the broad, sunny +field toward the rather dusty road. + +"Coming, Dave?" Dick called, looking back. + +"Oh, yes," grunted Darrin. "But I hate to see all of you fellows +running as though you didn't know whether you'd ever get another +meal." + +"I wonder what is Dave's sudden grouch against the eats," Tom +mused aloud. "I've seen him at a few meals, and he was always +a clever performer." + +"Probably Dave has been eating too much for this time of the year, +and has a touch of indigestion," Greg laughed. + +Darrin overheard the discussion as he came along, but he did not +choose to enlighten his friends. However, unintentionally, Greg +had touched upon a part of the trouble. Dinner, that Sunday, +at the Darrin cottage, had been unusually tempting, and Dave had +eaten heavily. For that reason, when he had joined the crowd +in the early afternoon, Dave had felt just a bit sluggish. The +walk out into the country had roused his digestion a bit, and +had left him in just that state where he could contentedly lie +on the grass and doze half of the time. + +On this bright Sunday all six of our Grammar School boys had attended +church and Sunday school as usual. Then, the day being so fine, +they had met and gone away on this tramp, which had ended in a +"resting match" on the cool grass under the shade of trees. + +All of our readers are familiar with these six fine American boys. +Our readers were first introduced to Dick & Co., as Prescott +and his chums were locally known, in the first volume in this +series, "_The Grammar School Boys Of Gridley_." Therein the reader +made the acquaintance of six average American boys of thirteen, +and followed them through their sports and adventures---which +latter were many and startling indeed. + +In the second volume of the series, "_The Grammar School Boys +Snowbound_," the same six were shown at winter sports just before +Christmas. The detection, on Main Street, of a trio of Christmas +shopping thieves led to a long chain of rousing adventures. Right +after Christmas, Dick & Co., securing permission from their parents, +went for a few days of forest camping in an old log cabin of which +they had been given the use. Another phase of their adventure +with the shopping district thieveries turned up in the woods and +contributed greatly to the excitement of their experience. While +still camping in the old, but weather-proof cabin, the Grammar +School boys found themselves snowbound in one of the greatest +blizzards that had happened in that section in years. Being +hardy boys from much outdoor life, however, Dick & Co., as our +readers know, turned hardship into jolly fun, and incidentally +made a great discovery in the woods that turned their camping +expedition into the local sensation of the hour. The reader also +remembers how some of the poorer specimens of High School boys +and a few local young "toughs," under the leadership of Fred Ripley +and Bert Dodge, tried to drive them from their forest camp. + +In the third volume of the series, "_The Grammar School Boys In +The Woods_," Dick Prescott and his chums, each now fourteen years +of age, found the most startling of all the exciting happenings +that had been crowded into their short lives. How they came upon +two dangerous, tattered specimens of humanity in the woods, how +these two contrived to make Dick and Greg take unwilling part +in an attempt to rob one of the local banks, the mystery of the +haunted schoolhouse, and a host of other lively incidents---all +these are so familiar to the reader of these volumes as to need +no repetition. And Dick & Co., through the series of exciting +adventures they had encountered, had become the best-known boys +in and around the little city of Gridley. Being leaders of other +boys, they had naturally made some enemies, but that is to be +expected in the case of all who are born to lead, or who fit themselves +for leadership. + +And now, on this glorious June Sunday afternoon, we find our schoolboy +friends enjoying the sacred day quietly, yet looking forward to +the opening of the contests on the diamond between the three local +Grammar Schools, the North, Central, and South Grammars. + +The road they had chosen on this Sunday afternoon was one over +which they had seldom traveled. It was not the road to Norton's +Woods, to the great forest, nor yet the one that went by the "haunted +schoolhouse." It was in a wholly different direction from Gridley. + +"It's a long way home, this," complained Tom Reade, as the boys +plodded along the dusty highway. "And I'm hungry." + +"Hungry?" snorted Darrin. "Of course you are. You fellows sang +a verse to me a while ago. Tom, how do you and your fellow-porkers +like this lay?" + +Taking a deep breath, Dave started to sing a travesty, to the +air of "America." + +_"My stomach, 'tis of thee, +Sweet gland of gluttony, +To thee I sing! Gland---"_ + +"Stop it," ordered Tom threateningly, as he advanced upon Darrin. + +"Stings, does it?" inquired Dave sarcastically. + +"Yes, it does," Reade retorted bluntly. "To my mind 'America' +is as sacred as any hymn ever written, and I won't hear it guyed! +That's no decent occupation for an American boy." + +"That's right," nodded Greg Holmes. + +"Well, I won't yield to any of you in being American to the backbone," +Dave retorted hotly. + +"Prove it," said Tom more quietly. + +"I'll prove it by my whole life, if need be," Darrin went on warmly. +"Tom Reade, I'll be glad to meet you when we're sixty years old, +talk it all over and see who has been the better American through +life!" + +"Great!" laughed Dick Prescott approvingly. "That'll be a fine +time to settle the question. And that time is---let me see---forty-six +years away." + +The other boys were grinning now, and Dave and Tom, catching the +spirit of the thing, laughed good-humoredly. + +"But this does seem a mighty long way home," Dan complained. + +"I can show you fellows a shorter way, if you want it," Prescott +proposed. + +"We all live on Missouri Avenue. Show us," begged Hazelton. + +"It's through the woods," Dick continued. "I warn you that you'll +find some of it rough going." + +"Then I don't know about it," Greg replied with fine irony. "We +fellows are not very well used to the woods." + +"It's twenty minutes of six," declared Dan, glancing at his watch. +"Some of us are in danger of eating nothing but cold potatoes +tonight if we don't get over the ground faster. Find the short +cut, Dick." + +"It starts down here, just a little way," Prescott answered. +"I'll turn in when we come to the right place." + +Dick and Darrin were now walking side by side in advance. Right +behind them came Greg and Dan, while Tom and Harry, paired, brought +up the rear. + +"In this way," called Dick, turning sharply to the left and going +in under an archway of trees. It was over velvety grass that +he led his chums at first. After something like an eighth of +a mile the Grammar School boys came to deeper woods, where they +had to thrust branches aside in making their way through the tangle. + +"My Sunday suit will look like a hand-me-down by the time I get +home," muttered Greg Holmes. + +"It does now," Dave called back to him consolingly. + +"We suspected that Darry's grouch was due to dyspepsia," laughed +Holmes. "Now I am sure of it. David, little giant, take my +advice---fast to-night." + +"I will, if the rest of you fellows will," challenged Darrin quickly. + +"The truth is out," Tom burst out laughing. "Darry, by that slip +of the tongue you admitted that you've been eating too much and +that you're all out of sorts." + +Dave did not deny. He merely snorted, from which sign of defiance +his chums could gain no information. + +They had gone another quarter of a mile through the woods when +Dick, now alone in the lead, suddenly halted, holding up one hand +as a signal to halt, while he rested the fingers of his other +hand over his lips as a command for silence. + +"What is it?" whispered Darrin, stepping close. + +"Fred Ripley, Bert Dodge and some of their fellows," Dick whispered, +at the same time pointing through the leaves. + +"Well, we don't have to halt, just because they're around," retorted +Darrin, snorting. "If they try to pick any trouble with us we +can give 'em as good as they send. We've done it once or twice +already." + +"But we don't want to go to fighting on Sunday, if there's any +way to avoid it," young Prescott urged, at which four of his chums +nodded their heads approvingly. + +"I'm not looking for any fight, either," muttered Dave. "Yet +it goes against the grain to halt just in order to let that gang +slip by without seeing us." + +"There are five of us against your single vote, Darry," Dick reminded +him. "Let us have our way." + +"Well, we don't need to skulk, do we?" queried Dave. + +"Oh, no," Dick assured him. "All we will do is to keep quiet +and not bring on a fight with that tough lot." + +"Huh!" muttered Darrin, as though he could not see the difference +between that and skulking. + +Presently, after holding a hand behind him to signal silence and +stealth, Prescott started on in the lead. He wanted, if possible, +to see just where Ripley, Dodge and their crowd went, so that +the Grammar School boys would not run too suddenly into them. +The "Co." trailed on in Indian file behind their leader. + +Finally Dick halted again, his chums crowding on his heels. They +looked out into a clearing beyond. There, amid trees, stood a +small three-room house, looking still quite new in its trim paint, +though the building had stood there idle for some five years. +At one time the city had planned a new reservoir site on a hill +just above, and this little cottage had been intended for the +reservoir tender. Then a better site for the reservoir had been +found, and, to date, the cottage had not been removed. + +"Ripley and his crew went around that cottage to the door side," +Dick whispered. + +"Are they in the cottage?" Dave demanded. + +"I don't know. They went around to the other side. Let's wait +and see if we can guess what's up." + +So, forgetful of their suppers for the time being, Dick & Co. +waited, screened by the bushes. + +"There's smoke coming up out of the chimney," whispered Tom Reade. + +"Yes," nodded Dick. "I had just noticed that. I'm wondering +what it can mean. No one has any right to break into the cottage." + +"Fred Ripley and Bert Dodge, because they have a lawyer and a +bank officer for fathers, don't feel that they need any rights +when they want to do a thing," muttered Darrin resent fully. + +It was impossible to see what might be going on inside the cottage, +for the simple reason that all of the windows were shuttered tightly. + +"Let's go ahead," begged Dave, after a few more moments spent +in idle watching. "I want to know why that crowd has broken into +the cottage." + +Truth to tell, even the leader of Dick & Co., usually very discreet, +felt himself a victim of curiosity. + +"Shall we try to find out the secret, fellows?" Prescott inquired. + +"That's just what we ought to do," responded Greg. "Especially +as Ripley and Dodge have always been so mean to us." + +Dick went forward, with his best imitation of the way he imagined +an Indian scout would approach a strange house. Greg and Dan +were at his heels, while Dave and Harry went around the other +side of the cottage, Tom remaining well to the rear to watch. + +Some low, vague sounds came from within the cottage. These were +not such noises as scurrying rats would make, so the boys were +quick to conclude that human beings were moving inside. + +But what could possibly be going on? The noises that the Grammar +School boys heard were hard to classify. + +At last Dick and Dave met before the door of the little cottage. +Nor were they much surprised at finding that the door of the +cottage stood perhaps a half an inch ajar. + +This, however, did not furnish light enough to give a glimpse +of what was happening inside. + +"Two or three of us may as well slip inside, eh?" whispered Dave +to Dick. + +"Wait! Listen!" counseled Prescott. "We don't want to please +that crowd by stepping right into a trap. And I've an idea that +by this time they must know that we're around here." + +"If they knew, they'd be out here making faces at us," retorted +Darrin wisely. + +"And ordering us to get off the earth," supplemented Greg, in +a whisper. + +"Listen," whispered Dick. "Perhaps we can guess what they're +doing." + +"I can guess what they're doing," murmured Reade, who had now +moved around to the front with his chums. "I've been watching +the smoke of that fire come up through the chimney. Humph! I +don't believe Rip and Dodge are doing anything worse than a little +camping. There must be a stove in there, and they're cooking +some supper---playing at camping out." + +"I don't smell anything cooking in there," rejoined Dick with +a shake of his head. "We can't hear anything sizzling over the +fire, either." + +"Then what-----" began Harry curiously. + +Bang! interrupted a crashing explosion inside the building. +Boom! Then the door flew wide open, followed by a single great +belching of white smoke. + +Through the center of this cloud was hurled a human figure. A +man struck the ground and lay there, senseless or lifeless, a +pool of blood quickly forming on the ground beside him. + + + + +Chapter II + +THE VANISHING MAN + + +For the first few seconds the Grammar School boys stood as if +chained to the ground, their eyes staring with alarm and horror. + +They stared at the man, apparently of middle age, who lay there, +and they beheld the blood. + +What on earth could have happened? + +Boom! It was a lesser explosion that now sounded inside, yet +it was enough to galvanize the boys into action. + +"Come on!" cried Tom Reade, setting off in the lead. "We don't +know nor care what's in there!" + +"The house may blow up next," added Greg, following him. + +All the members of Dick & Co. were now in full retreat. They +were courageous lads, but, with the immediate landscape in seeming +danger of blowing up, getting away was the wisest possible course. + +"Say, what do you make of that?" demanded Greg breathlessly, when +the Grammar School boys had halted, well out of sight of the cottage +and down in the woods. + +"Bang!" replied Tom dryly. "That's all I heard." + +"And blood," almost chattered Hazelton. + +"But what it means is a big puzzle," Dick added. "If Rip and +his crowd are or were in the cottage, they would hardly explode +anything purposely and perhaps kill a man. That man appeared +to be dead---he must be dead. Rip and Dodge are mean fellows, +but they're hardly up to killing people." + +"There was an explosion," remarked Tom judicially, though his +voice was still husky. "Now, while I don't know everything, I +believe there always has to be an explosive in order to bring +about an explosion. Am I right?" + +"You stand on ground that no one can dispute," nodded Dick. "But +how did the explosive come to be in a building that belongs to +the water company, and which is supposed not to have been occupied +in some years?" + +"What was the man doing in there, for that matter?" demanded Tom. + +"He wasn't very well dressed," observed Harry. + +"Yet he didn't look like a tramp," Dave put in. + +"But the man himself, and the fact that he's hurt or dead, are +our two first points to consider," spoke Dick quickly. "If he's +hurt we are bound to bring him help. If he's dead, we'll have +to notify---some one." + +"I'd like to go back there and have a look at him," quoth Tom, +"but the biggest explosion of all may come out of that cottage +at any moment now." + +"Yet the facts are that another explosion hasn't come, and that +the man ought to have help, as a matter of common decency," Dick +urged. + +"I'll run to the nearest house where people are living," suggested +Tom, pulling off his jacket and making ready for a run. + +"What are you going to tell the folks?" Prescott queried. "That +the poor fellow is living or dead? I'm going back to find out +which." + +"We'll all go," offered Dave. + +"But what happened to Rip and his mean crew?" asked Hazelton. + +"We haven't seen any signs that they were in the cottage at all," +Dick responded. "If they were, as none of them came out, they +must be badly hurt---perhaps worse." + +As a matter of fact, Ripley and his party had not gone into the +cottage, but had continued directly towards their homes. + +That grisly thought gave all the boys a shudder as they plodded +up the slope, between the bushes and thence stepped into the clearing. + +"Talk about dreaming!" muttered Dick, halting abruptly and staring +hard at the ground around the cottage. + +In the first place, the cottage door was closed. There was no +smoke now coming out of the chimney, and all looked peaceful and +deserted, save for the presence of the Grammar School intruders. +There was no injured man lying on the ground. + +"Crackey!" gasped Greg. "Yet we didn't all dream together, did +we?" + +"Certainly not," muttered Dick, again starting forward. The others +followed him. + +"This is where we saw the man fall, isn't it?" asked Dick. + +"Yes," nodded Greg. + +"But there was blood on the ground then," urged Dave. "I don't +see any now." + +"It must have been goblin blood, then," laughed Tom rather unsteadily, +for this mystery began to look unearthly. + +"Hold on," hinted Dick. "Doesn't it look as though fresh earth +had been sprinkled here?" + +"Of course it does," nodded Harry. "And the earth has soaked +up the blood." + +"I don't see any soaked-up blood," objected Greg. + +"No; because it's so well covered and soaked up," argued Hazelton. +"But wait until I find a stick, and we'll stir up that dirt. +Then we'll find the red stuff mixed to a sort of mud, and-----" + +"Come along out of this, you ghoul!" uttered Tom almost wrathfully, +as he seized his friend by the arm. + +"We'll go to the door," Dick suggested. "Perhaps we can get inside. +At any rate, we can find out whether there is any one inside +who wants help." + +Dick put his hand on the doorknob, giving it a turn and a hard push. + +"Door's locked tightly now," he announced. + +"And it takes human hands to lock a door," Reade observed sagely. + +"Is there anyone inside who needs any help?" Prescott called loudly. + +All was silent inside. Then Dick played a tattoo on the locked +door with his fists. Still no sound from inside. + +"All together, now," urged Dick. "Any---one---want---help?" bawled +six lusty young voices in unison. + +"There is only one voice that answers," continued Dick, after +a pause, as he turned to the others. "That's the silent voice +of good sense." + +"What does it say, then," challenged Dave. + +"That we've done about all we can do here," Dick replied. "All +we know is that a man seemed to have been hurt here. If he was, +he was able to take himself away, and to conceal the signs of +his hurt before going. Therefore we've no further excuse for +meddling around here that I can see." + +"Let's get along then," Tom urged. "And---whew! It's after half +past six!" + +"You'd better run, then," jeered Dave. "Your stomach won't allow +any more fooling!" + +"Now, what ought I to say to a crank like Darry?" demanded Reade, +turning to Prescott. + +"You'd better overwhelm him, by saying what the man on the clubhouse +steps said," urged Dick. + +"And what was that?" asked Tom eagerly. + +"We-ell," hesitated Dick, "I believe that's still a secret." + +The Grammar School boys were now walking rapidly through the woods, +but at mention of the clubhouse topic all had gathered close to +their young leader. + +"Aren't you going to tell us now?" demanded Greg. + +"I'm afraid not right away," responded Prescott slowly. + +"See here, Dickins," growled Dave Darrin, "for months you've been +stringing us about what the man on the clubhouse steps said. +Time and again you've sprung that on us, and you've never given +us the slightest satisfaction. Now, you'd either better tell +us, or shut up about the man on the clubhouse steps." + +"All right," sighed Dick. "I'll-----" + +"Well?" insisted five boys in the same breath. + +"I reckon I'll shut up," Dick rejoined. + +"Say, somebody ought to hit Dickins!" grunted Reade. + +"That's right," grinned Dan. "Well---let Tom do it." + +Dick continued to smile mysteriously. He enjoyed this good-natured +teasing of his chums. + +"What are we going to tell folks about what we saw at the cottage?" +queried Dan after another five minutes of trudging. + +"If we tell anything at all," suggested Prescott, "I'll tell you +how we can win a prize." + +"How?" demanded Tom innocently. "By telling the truth," Dick +smiled. Soon after the Grammar School boys came out on the road. + +"See that group 'way ahead there?" asked Tom, pointing down the +road. + +"Yes," nodded Dick. "That's Rip's crowd, so we know they didn't +get hurt." + +"Then the only one who did get hurt," Tom added, "was the man +who was very soon able to take mighty good care of himself." + +"So we don't need to bother about the matter any more," Greg hinted. +"And, gracious! I hope mother has saved some supper for me." + +"It'll be a cold hand-out for me," groaned Hazelton. + +The Grammar School boys were soon on Main Street now. They hurried +along, as they had not yet come to the point of parting. + +"Look at that crowd down the street," called Dave. "There's some +excitement in the wind." + +"I'm not nosey," observed Tom. + +"No," scoffed Darrin; "you're too hungry." + +"I'm going to see what the excitement is about, anyway," muttered +Hazelton, starting forward off a run. + +One by one the other boys yielded to curiosity and started at +a jog-trot for the corner where the crowd was gathered. + +"No; the poor fellow isn't crazy in the ordinary sense of the +word," Dick heard a tall man, finely dressed in black, say to +some of the bystanders. "He's harmless enough, and his mind isn't +permanently astray, if only he can have prompt and good care. +But he's inclined to get away by himself and ponder over his +inventions. If he leads a too solitary life long enough he may +be past the possibility of a cure one of these days. That is +why Colonel Garwood is so anxious to find his son, and offers +such a handsome reward for information." + +"Some one missing?" asked Dick in a low voice. + +"Yes," nodded a man in the crowd. "A crazy inventor is lost, +or he's loose, at any rate, and his old father is trying to find +him. There is a reward of twenty-five hundred dollars for the lucky +fellow who finds this inventor with the monkey wrenches in his +brain." + +"What does the man look like?" asked Dick. + +The tall man in black overheard the question and wheeled quickly. + +"Amos Garwood is the missing man," said the tall man. "He is +forty-seven years of age, about five feet eight in height, slightly +stooped, very pallid and with cheeks slightly sunken. When last +seen Amos Garwood was rather poorly dressed. He has just escaped +from a sanitarium, and the only person who has seen him since +reports that he looked 'hunted' and anxious, and that his cheeks +were considerably sunken. Garwood has dark hair, slightly gray +at the temples. He probably weighs about-----" + +"Pardon me, sir," Dick interposed. "What kind of beard does the +missing man wear?" + +"Dick Prescott has found him," laughed one man in the crowd. + +"Garwood has no beard at all, save for what there may be for three +or four days' lack of shaving," quickly replied the tall man. + +"Where is the missing man, Dick?" laughed another man in the crowd. + +"Yes; Dick has found him," called another. + +"I rather think so," Dick nodded. "At least, I believe our crowd +has seen Garwood very lately." + +Prescott's evident confidence aroused instant curiosity. + +"Where?" demanded a dozen voices quickly. + +"I wish you young men wouldn't answer, but just come with me," +spoke the tall man quickly. "If your information proves correct, +and we find the missing man, the reward will be yours." + +Dick turned to nod to his companions, as the tall man in black +turned to lead the way. Their guide, after making sure that Prescott +was at his side, walked rapidly down the street a few doors, halting +before the street door of one of the office buildings. + +"Come upstairs and tell Lawyer Ripley whatever you know," requested +the tall man. + +"I don't believe you'll find him in Sundays," replied Dick. + +"We shall to-day," responded their guide confidently. "Mr. Ripley +is helping us in this search." + +This, then, looked like proof that the Garwood family was well-to-do, +for Lawyer Ripley seldom worked for small fees. + +Running ahead, the tall man threw open the door of the lawyer's +office. + +"Mr. Ripley," he called, "here are some boys who think they have +seen Amos Garwood. Probably these youngsters are half dreaming, +yet they may have some information of value." + +"I know these boys," nodded the lawyer, looking up, "and they +are dependable. They are good, bright boys. Prescott, come forward +and tell me just what you know, or think you know." + +"First of all, sir," urged Dick, "let me give the best description +I can of the man we've seen." + +"A good idea," nodded Mr. Ripley. "Go ahead." + +Nor had young Prescott been engaged very long in his task of description +before the tall man broke in excitedly: + +"That's our man, beyond a question! Where did you see him? When?" + +Dick hastily recounted the strange happenings at the supposedly +untenanted cottage of the old water-works project. + +"We must get there without delay," called the tall man to two +other men who, so far, had kept in the background in the lawyer's +office, but who had been deeply interested hearers. "One of you +boys must go up there with us. How far is it from here?" + +"Come through into my rear office," suggested Mr. Ripley, "and +I can show you the spot from a window. Come along, Prescott, +and tell me if I'm right. Hello! There seems to be some trouble +up that way," added Mr. Ripley, as he reached one of the windows +at the rear. + +"There's a fire up there under the hill," cried Dick Prescott, +as he pressed forward to another window. "Mr. Ripley, from the +location of the smoke, I should say that the cottage itself is +afire!" + +"And I believe you're right," agreed the lawyer. + +"Poor Amos!" groaned the tall man. "The poor fellow may have +set fire to the place to destroy himself! Ripley, I can't wait +here, inactive, another second. We must start! Can I get a cab +here?" + +"I think I can get an automobile for you inside of five minutes," +replied the lawyer, hurriedly leading the way to the front office. + +"Five minutes?" groaned the stranger. "Why not wait a year?" + +"An automobile will save you much more than five minutes' time +on the way," returned the lawyer, snatching up his desk telephone. +"Central, give me 163-J in a hurry!" + +A few minutes later the automobile was at the door. The tall +stranger and two other men who had been in the lawyer's office +were now on the sidewalk. + +"Crowd on all the speed you can, my man," appealed the tall stranger. +"If you get into any trouble with the authorities I'll pay all +the fines you incur. This is a matter of life and death." + +The speaker and his two men crowded into the car. + +"You come, too," called the tall one to Dick. + +"Is there room for one other boy?" asked Dick. + +"Yes; we can squeeze him in." + +"Want to come, Dave?" Dick inquired. + +Darrin was by his chum's side in an instant. + +"Let out the speed!" ordered the tall man. "Prescott will tell +you where to go." + +Four members of Dick & Co. had been worrying about their suppers, +but now not one of them but would have waited indefinitely for +a chance to go on that one especial auto trip. + +"Greg, tell my folks where I've gone, and why," Dick shouted back. + +Then---whizz! The automobile was down the street and around a +corner before anyone could say "Jack Robinson!" + + + + +Chapter III + +DICK MARCHES HIS NINE ON + + +The automobile party arrived just in time to see the blazing roof +of the little cottage crash inward, sending up a shower of sparks +against the sky of the dying day. + +"I hope Amos wasn't inside, hurt and helpless!" gulped the tall +stranger, leaping outside. "But why hasn't the fire department +been out here?" + +"The Gridley fire department doesn't respond outside of city limits, +except on request and by permission of the mayor, sir," Prescott +answered. + +"I'll drive down and telephone any message for you," offered the +chauffeur, who had left his ear behind and had traveled on foot +up to the cottage. + +"Firemen would be of little use now," replied the man in charge +of the party. "We can do nothing until the blazing embers cool, +which won't be for hours yet. Still, We might go as close to +the blaze as possible, and see if there are any signs of a human +body in the embers." + +While this was being done darkness came down over the summer day. +There was plenty of light, however, around the destroyed cottage. + +For some time the searchers explored as well as the heat of the +glowing embers would permit. + +"I am satisfied," said the tall man at last, "that no human being +was consumed in this fire. If so, we would certainly see some +evidences of remains. Still, these ashes, when cool, must be +searched." + +"You don't need me any more, do you, sir?" asked Dick. + +"Is it near your bedtime yet?" smiled the stranger. + +"I haven't had my supper yet," Prescott smiled. "Neither has +Darrin." + +"Bless me! What a brute I am to forget a boy's stomach!" cried +the tall one. "Here," taking a banknote from his pocket, "I will +have the chauffeur drive you back to town and then return for +us. Take this money and get the best supper you can for two, +at the best restaurant in Gridley." + +"Thank you, sir," replied Dick, shrinking back; "our parents wouldn't +allow us to do that." + +"Are your parents any easier on such questions?" smiled the stranger, +turning to Darrin. + +"Not a bit, sir, thank you," Dave responded. + +"I may at least pay you something for your kindness and trouble +in coming out here with me," urged the stranger, still offering +the cash. + +But both boys shook their heads, declining with thanks. Neither +had been reared to accept money for doing a human kindness. + +"If you don't need us any more," Dick went on, "we'll just find +the road and jog back." + +"If you won't accept anything else," retorted the tall man, "you +will at least allow me to send you back in the auto. And you +will also accept the thanks of John Winthrop, and of Colonel Garwood, +whom I represent." + +Both boys protested, with thanks, that they were able to get home +on their own feet. Mr. Winthrop, however, insisted on their going +in the car. Truth to tell, both youngsters had used their feet +so much that day that they did not object to being taken home. + +"I hope you will find your man, sir, and alive," Dick called, +as he and Dave were leaving. + +"I believe that we shall," replied Mr. Winthrop. "Yet it will +be by beginning the search from this point." + +The chauffeur drove them home in good time, for he was under orders +to report back to Mr. Winthrop as speedily as possible. + +Neither Dick nor Dave had any trouble in getting a late supper +served at home. + +"You've brought home a good tale, as you often do, to pay your +mother for her extra trouble," laughed Mr. Prescott. + +"I hope that poor, half-witted fellow didn't destroy himself in +his own fire," murmured Dick, as he fell to at the meal. + +By morning the people of Gridley knew that the ruins of the abandoned +water-works cottage had been explored, and that the remains of +Amos Garwood had not been found there. + +But an editorial in the "Blade" suggested that the cottage was +not very likely to have taken fire unless the blaze had been started +by Garwood. While the latter was declared not to be dangerous, +the "Blade" hinted that his malady might suddenly have taken a +dangerous turn. + +"The good people of this section will feel much easier," concluded +the editor, "when they know that Garwood has been found and returned +to the sanitarium that awaits him. A cash reward of twenty-five +hundred dollars should be incentive enough to set many people +to the task of finding the unfortunate man." + +Yet, for Dick & Co., the adventure of the afternoon before dropped +very quickly into the background. Here was Monday; on Wednesday +the boys of the Central Grammar must meet the boys of the North +Grammar on the diamond. Then the first of a series of baseball +games was to be played for the local Grammar School championship. +The South Grammar would also enter a nine. + +Intense rivalry prevailed between the schools. The fact that +the respective nines were made up almost wholly of boys who were +soon to be graduated from the Grammar Schools did not in any sense +lessen the rivalry. Each young player was proud of his own school +and anxious to capture the laurels. + +"Are you going to win Wednesday's game from the North Grammar, +Dick?" asked Len spencer, when that reporter met Prescott on Main +Street at noon on Monday. + +"Of course we are," Dick replied instantly. + +"You seem very positive about it," quizzed Len. + +"That's the only way to go into athletics," claimed Dick. "A +team must enter with the determination and the knowledge that +it is going to win. Then there's little left to do but to walk +home with the victory." + +"But Hi Martin was telling me, this morning, that Central hasn't +a ghost of a show against North," pursued Len. + +"Hi Martin will know better, day after tomorrow, won't he, Dave?" +queried Dick, appealing to Darrin, who had just come along. + +"He surely will," nodded Dave. + +"By the way," asked Len, "have you seen any of the new uniforms +of the North Grammar?" + +"No," Dick admitted, his face falling a trifle. "I understand +that Martin's fellows are going to wear pretty dandy uniforms, +though." + +"They are," Len nodded. "I've had a look at the uniform." + +"Well, North Grammar is attended by a lot of sons of pretty well-to-do +men," Dave put in. "Our boys don't come from as wealthy families, +so we have to be content with less of the showy things in life." + +"What are your uniforms going to be like?" inquired Len Spencer. + +"We haven't any," Dick replied promptly. + +"No uniforms at all?" demanded the "Blade" reporter. + +"None at all," Dick continued. "Neither have the South Grammar +boys. In the glories of uniform the North Grammar nine will be +all in a class by itself." + +"It's too bad," muttered Len. + +"No, it isn't," Prescott retorted. "We fellows from Central are +going to show that uniforms don't necessarily make players. We +don't mind---that is, not very much---the absence of uniforms." + +"We'll try to show that we have something uniform about our team +play, and let it go at that," said Dave cheerily. "Come along, +Dick, or we'll be late at school." + +Away the pair raced. Lessons went about as usual that afternoon +with Old Dut's class, which was surprising, as nearly every boy +in the room had his mind much on baseball. + +Captain Dick Prescott, of the Central Grammar nine, had called +practice for that afternoon, from half past four to six o'clock. + +At recess, that afternoon, a pleasant, somewhat rotund-looking +man was seen engaged in conversation with Old Dut in a corner +of the schoolyard. At the close of the afternoon session that +same man stepped into the schoolroom, accepting the principal's +offer of a chair on the platform. + +"Attention!" called Old Dut, striking the bell. "I am glad to +be able to state that no pupil has incurred the penalty of remaining +after school to-day. However, I am going to ask the members of +the Central Grammar baseball nine and their substitutes to remain +for a few minutes. I pledge myself not to interfere with the +scheduled practice," continued the principal dryly. "All other +pupils will file out promptly, and not loiter in coatrooms or +corridors." + +Within two minutes the place had been cleared of all but Dick's +baseball squad. + +"I now wish, young gentlemen," began Old Dut, "to introduce to +you Mr. Edson Brown, who is interested in baseball, and who has +a slight favor that he wishes to ask of you." + +"It's very simple," declared Mr. Brown, rising and stepping down +from the platform. "I have been greatly interested in baseball +for a number of years. Among other things I have a considerable +collection of figures concerning school teams, their sizes and +weights, I would like, with your permission, young gentlemen, +to take a few measurements. I won't detain you more than a few +moments." + +"Do you want a suggestion, sir?" asked Tom Reade. + +"Of course," nodded Mr. Brown, smilingly. + +"Then the real crowd that you ought to measure are the fellows of +the North Grammar nine. You'd get a fine lot of chest measurements +there, I can promise you." + +"Why?" asked Mr. Brown. "Are the North Grammar boys better developed +physically?" + +"I can't say about that," Reade replied seriously, "but they're +the only Grammar School fellows in Gridley that have baseball +uniforms, and I understand that they're the chestiest lot of young +fellows that any one ever saw." + +"I'll consider the North Grammar boys later, then," nodded Mr. +Brown, smiling. "Now, will each young man oblige me by removing +his coat and vest and stepping forward for the measurements that +I want to take?" + +In a notebook Mr. Brown jotted down the measurements that he made. +There being five substitute players, there were fourteen boys +in all whose measurements he recorded. + +"That is all," nodded Mr. Brown finally, snapping his notebook +and tucking it away in a pocket. "I am deeply indebted to all +of you young men. + +"And now I beg to add," said Old Dut, "that, as all of you youngsters +are in a hurry, there will be no criticism if you see fit to race +through the corridors." + +Out on the field, just before half past four, Captain Dick Prescott +lined up his squad of fourteen, himself included, and quickly +added four more to the number, thus organizing two nines. + +"Now, play ball," he called. + +"Do it in a hurry," supplemented Tom Reade. + +"Speed is all right," Dick retorted. "But we want to play with care, +even more than with speed. The scrub nine will go to bat." + +Dick himself ran quickly out to the pitcher's box, twirling his +ball impatiently. A High School boy had been secured for umpire, +and all was in readiness. + +Of course the school nine won over the scrub. Never mind the +score, which looked badly for the scrub. Dick was satisfied that +his nine was doing the best that was in it. + +Tuesday afternoon there was more practice, though Captain Dick +did not allow it to continue too long. + +"Now, don't take a single chance with yourselves," called Prescott, +in dismissing the squad on the field near the schoolhouse. "Don't +any one of you get a sore toe or strain a 'wing' before to-morrow +afternoon. Fellows, I believe that we are going to be able to +put it all over the North Grammar to-morrow afternoon. But we +can't do it unless we are all in the best of shape. Be careful +at table. Don't any one of you overeat between now and the game. +And all get into bed early to-night and have a long sleep." + +"I put every young man in this room on honor for to-day," stated +Old Dut, facing his class, the next morning. "No matter what +the disorder or breach of discipline, no boy will be kept in after +school this afternoon, for I know that every one of you, whether +player or 'booster,' wants to be at the inter-school ball game +this afternoon. So remember, young men, that you are all on your +honor to-day. Prove yourselves worthy of it." + +Never had discipline been better preserved in the eighth grade +classroom than during that day. + +Soon after four o'clock scores of Gridley schoolboys had found +their way to the big vacant field not far from the Central Grammar, +the owner of which permitted its use freely by schoolboy athletes. + +The principal of the South Grammar, too, was there, flanked by +rough-and-tumble Ted Teall and the South's baseball delegation. +Captain Ted had to play the Centrals on Saturday, and he wanted +to view their style. Though North Grammar was well represented, +the principal of the school did not appear, being "detained by +pressure of important duties." + +"Old Dut will know enough to be here," remarked one of the Central +boys proudly. "Nothing but disaster could keep him from showing +interest in our work." + +Cheering was started by a big group of North Grammar boys. A +stage had just been sighted, and this bore the North Grammar's +diamond champions. A few moments later the stage drew up at the +edge of the field, and Hi Martin and his fellows piled out, each +proudly resplendent in showy uniform of red and white, with red +caps and stockings. The North Grammar boys were dandies, and +they appeared to want, everyone to realize the fact. They formed +at the roadside and marched on to the field in step. + +"Halt!" commanded Captain Hi Martin. Then he looked around curiously. + +"If the Centrals are here yet, why don't they come out of the +crowd and receive us?" inquired Martin rather pompously. His +insinuation that Dick's fellows might be mixed with the crowd was a +slur on the Central boys not possessing uniforms. + +"Our fellows are not here yet, but they will be soon, you bet," +called back a Central boy. "It's only twenty minutes past four." + +"Spread out, men, and practice," directed Hi Martin. + +"Yah! yah!" jeered a Central boy. "Get all the practice you +can---you'll need it." + +"These ragamuffins are pretty full of brag," observed Hi scornfully +to one of his lieutenants. + +"They're just the kind of fellows that always do brag," returned +the player addressed. "Their brag will all be gone within a half +an hour. You'll see." + +"Yes," agreed Hi thoughtfully. "If we can't trim this crowd to-day, +then they're some wonders at ball. They don't have any idea how +long we've been training in order to give them this trimming." + +Some of Hi's players had already spread out over the field, and +were doing some rapid passing. Certainly Hi's fielders promised +well, from the little glimpse of their skill that was now had. + +Then one of their best batsmen took up the willow, driving a few +long, swift fielders. + +"This will get the Centrals nervous before they start, if they +see any of our work," laughed one of Hi's players. + +Truth to tell, the North Grammar boys did show some pretty work. +Ted Teall looked on approvingly. + +"Prescott has met his match to-day," remarked Ted to a friend. + +"These Norths will bother you, too, won't they, Ted?" + +"Us? No; not a bit. We can play all around the Norths. But +Central will have to take third place when the series is done." + +"The Centrals haven't got rattled and skulked, have they?" called +Hi Martin at last. + +A disdainful yell came back from the assembled Central boys. + +"Then some one hurry over and tell 'em that it's time to hustle +on to the field and take their medicine," urged Hi. "We don't +want to have the game called for darkness before we're half through." + +"The Centrals will be here on time," called back one of Old Dut's +boys. "Don't you worry any about them. Dick Prescott is holding +the watch over our crowd." + +"It's four twenty-seven," announced Hi, consulting his gold watch. + +"Four twenty-five and a half," corrected a Central boy. + +"Go get your watch fixed," retorted Hi scornfully. "And some +one else run and see if he can find out where the Centrals are +hiding." + +"Here they come!" yelled one excited Central boy. "Whoopee! +They will answer for themselves!" + +In an instant the Central cheering became tumultuous. Even Ted +Teall rubbed his eyes and gasped. + +For the Central Grammar School squad was marching toward the field, +having just left the schoolhouse. At the head of all, chin well +up, marched Old Dut. Back of him, two and two, marched Dick Prescott +and his players. What marvel had been worked? For the Central +boys wore uniforms that made Hi Martin's fellows look like so +many gaudy figures on a cheap poster! + + + + +Chapter IV + +THE STORY OF THE UNIFORMS + + +"Great Scott!" gasped Hi Martin, in sheer dismay, his gaze fixed +on the approaching Centrals. + +"Where in the mischief did they get those uniforms?" demanded +Tom Percival, of the North Grammars, his mouth agape. + +"Well, they have 'em, anyway," added Bill Rodgers. "And they +certainly look more than fine, don't they?" + +"The uniforms are made of cheap stuff, I'll wager," muttered Hi +hoarsely. There was a choke in his throat over seeing his own +nine so badly eclipsed in appearance by the despised Central Grammars. + +Not less astonished were the Central Grammar boy spectators themselves. +Not one, outside of the baseball squad, had known that any uniforms +were to be worn on the field. + +"Huh!" remarked Ted Teall, captain of the South Grammars, to one +of his lieutenants. "We are the only school nine in town now +without a uniform. When we get on the field to play we'll look +like a lot of rag-pickers, won't we?" + +"I know where they got 'em," choked Hi at last. "Their principal, +Old Dut Jones, wouldn't see his boys look too badly compared with +us, so he bought 'em as good uniforms as he could afford. It's +a shame. That's what it is." + +If Captain Dick and his baseball players walked rather proudly +onto the field, it may have been partly due to the fact that they +now knew that their uniforms were anything but "cheap." In point +of fact, their uniforms had cost more than twice as much as those +worn by Hi Martin's players. + +"How did they get such uniforms?" That was the question that +passed from lip to lip. + +The answer was very simple, though as yet none of the onlookers +knew what it was. + +Not until one minute past four did the Central Grammar players +know anything about the uniforms. Old Dut had dismissed the rest +of the school, detaining Dick's players. + +"Young men, we shall now hasten up to Exhibition Hall," announced +the principal. He marched them up there, where they found the +smiling Mr. Brown, backed by an assistant. Several boxes, opened, +lay upon the floor. + +"Now, young men," called Mr. Brown jovially, "let us see how quickly +you can take your baseball uniforms and get into them." + +"But what-----" began Dick, then paused in absolute bewilderment. + +"It's all right," Mr. Brown cheerily assured the dazed boys. +"The uniforms are all paid for---won't cost you a cent." + +"But you---you told us," protested Captain Dick Prescott, "that +you were collecting measurements of members of schoolboys' baseball +clubs." + +"Well, that's the truth," protested Brown, with a mock air of +injured innocence. "I'm a traveling salesman for the Haynes Sporting +Goods Company, one of the biggest baseball outfitting companies +in this part of the country. It's my business to travel and take +orders." + +"But we didn't give you any orders," gasped Dave. + +"Some one did," laughed Mr. Brown. + +"Who did?" blurted Tom Reade. + +"Did you, Mr. Jones?" cried Dick. + +"Not I," laughed the principal. "But I'll tell you, boys, who +did. Prescott, you remember Mr. Winthrop, who is acting for Colonel +Garwood in trying to find the latter's son? Amos Garwood hasn't +yet been found, but Mr. Winthrop is satisfied that they are close +at his heels, and that they will soon find him. Colonel Garwood +is a very wealthy old man, and very fond of his missing son. +Mr. Winthrop inquired how he could best serve the boys who had +brought him the first word. Some one, I believe it was Len Spencer, +the 'Blade' reporter, told about your not having uniforms. Mr. +Winthrop wired the Haynes Company, placing an order for the best +of uniforms, provided they could be finished to be delivered this +afternoon. And here they are." + +"When do you youngsters play?" called out Brown laughingly. "To-day +or some other day?" + +"I would recommend you to make good time," Old Dut urged. "You +don't want to start the season by being late, do you. Besides +the North Grammar boys might then claim the game by default." + +That was enough to set Dick Prescott and his dazed comrades at +work in earnest. + +The uniforms were of blue, and of fine texture. Even baseball +shoes had been provided. The stockings were blue. Then came +the trousers. The blue jersey shirts bore proudly in front two +golden letters each, "C.G." This inscription stood, of course, +for "Central Grammar." Then there were coats of blue, to slip +on over the jersey shirts; caps of blue and belts of blue, the +latter edged with golden yellow to match the shirt initials. + +Besides there were a catcher's mask, gloves for the different +field players, half a dozen baseballs and an even dozen of bats. + +"Finish dressing as quickly as you can," urged Old Dut. "Your +time is slipping away." + +At last they were ready. Carrying masks, bats, gloves, they fell +in by twos, Principal Jones marching them from the building, along +the street and into the field where their arrival had created +such a furor. + +Yet, excited as he was, Dick had not forgotten to ask both Mr. +Brown and Old Dut not to fail to express their deepest thanks +to Mr. Winthrop and to Colonel Garwood. + +Ben Tozier, of the High School baseball nine, had been accepted +as umpire for the day. He now came forward to meet Captain Dick's +company. + +"My, but you youngsters look about the finest ever," announced +Ben. "I hope you can play as well as you look. Captain Prescott, +do you claim any time for practice?" + +"Not if it's time to begin playing," Dick answered. + +"Yes; it is. I'll call Martin, and you two will attend me for +the pitch of the coin." + +"Wait a moment, please," called Hi, from across the field. + +"What's the matter?" shouted a spectator. + +"The North Grammars want to go home and change their uniforms," +shouted another onlooker. + +There was a great laugh at this, which caused Hi Martin to color +and look belligerent. He came stalking across the field. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," shouted Ted Teall, affecting the manner +of an announcer, "I beg to state that the game about to begin +will be between two famous nines, known as the Gentlemen and the +Chromos." + +At this there was more laughter, while Hi Martin shook with rage. +Looking at the bright red so prominent in the North Grammar uniforms, +there could be no doubt as to which nine had been dubbed the "Chromos." + +"Mr. Umpire," called Hi angrily, "have you power to preserve order +here to-day?" + +"I'll do my best," agreed Tozier. "But this is an open field +that any one may enter, and there are no police here." + +"Play ball, you red-heads!" jeered a boy, referring to the bright +red caps of the North Grammars. "Don't holler for the police +until you find out whether you can stand up to the Centrals." + +"Now, let us stop all guying of the players and all other nonsense," +called Tozier firmly, as he held up his right hand. "Remember +that we are here to see a game and not to listen to cheap wit." + +That held the unruly ones back for a few moments. Tozier drew +a coin from one of his pockets, exhibited it to the captains, +and asked: + +"Who will call the toss?" + +"Martin may," nodded Captain Dick. + +"Ready, then." + +Ben Tozier sent the coin spinning skyward. When it turned to +fall Hi called out: + +"Tails." + +"Heads win," declared Umpire Tozier. + +"Captain Martin, have you any choice?" inquired Prescott politely. + +"I didn't win the toss," Hi returned sulkily. + +"But we'll give you your choice if you have any," Dick insisted. + +"We'd rather go to bat," Hi observed. + +"Then, Mr. Umpire," continued Dick, turning to Tozier, "the Centrals +choose the field." + +"Get to your places," nodded Ben. "Martin at bat; Percival on +deck," called the score-keeper. + +Dick ran down to the pitcher's box, while Greg, slipping on mask +and glove, took up his position behind the plate. + +Tozier carelessly broke the seal on the package enclosing a ball, +inspected it, and dropped it into Dick's hands. Dick threw an +overshoot to Greg, who mitted it neatly. + +But Ted Teall could not let the occasion go by without some nonsense. + +"Whack!" shouted Teall. "Woof! Did you hear it strike? And +it hurt, too. Who has the arnica bottle?" + +There was laughter, but Dick ignored it, sending in a neat drive +over the plate. Greg caught it and sent the ball back. + +As it once more reached Dick's hand Umpire Tozier shouted: + +"Ready! Play ball!" + +Greg Holmes signaled what he wanted. Dick gave the ball a twist, +and the game was on. + + + + +Chapter V + +NORTH GRAMMARS PLAY REAL BALL + + +"Say, dress a kid up swell, and send him on the street---did you +ever know him to be any good?" demanded Ted Teall scornfully of +those who stood near him. "Well, that's what ails the Centrals. +They're wearing a bale of glad dry goods and they can't keep +their eyes off their togs long enough to find the ball." + +Dick and Dave heard this as they went to grass at the end of the +third inning. + +So far, though the Centrals had made some bases, none of their +players had succeeded in scoring at the plate. One of Hi Martin's +players had scored a run in the first inning and another in the +third. + +"Teall is a torment, isn't he?" whispered Dick. + +"He is now," muttered Dave. "He won't be after this game is finished." + +"Why not?" + +"I'm going to trim some of the funny talk out of him after the game." + +"Don't do anything foolish, Dave," urged Dick. + +"That won't be foolish. It's necessary." + +"Don't do it, Dave, or even think of it. You'll give the Centrals +the name of not being able to stand defeat." + +Then Dick ran over to the box to begin pitching for the fourth +inning. His arm had not given out. Prescott had been doing some +pretty good pitching, and Greg had backed him up well. But the +North Grammars had a few batsmen who seemed to guess the ball +in advance. + +"Hey, Mr. Umpire," shouted a boyish onlooker, as Dick faced the +plate, ball in hand, "better call the game and let the Centrals +play some weak primary school team." + +Even at this cheap witticism there was considerable laughter. +It made Dick's face flush. + +"I'll show 'em whether we can play or not," he muttered to himself, +as he caught the signal from Greg. "We've got to start, too, +for we've got to match those two runs and then pick up this game +for our own." + +Hi Martin was again at the plate. He swung his bat idly, grinning +mockingly at Prescott. + +"I'll let you off without trying, if you'll give me second base," +offered Hi tantalizingly. + +"If the batsman talks again he will be ordered off the grounds," +declared Umpire Tozier sternly. + +But Dick felt the sting of his opponent's taunt and longed to +be even. Greg signaled for a drop ball---a difficult one for +a schoolboy to throw. It was the first time in the game that +Greg had asked for this. + +Dick "made up" the ball with extra care, then let it go. It looked +like a chest-high ball as it came, and was so slow that Hi threw +back his bat to slam it. + +"A home run on this!" thought Hi exultantly. + +From the sides of the field came a mocking laugh, for the ball +had dropped, leaving Hi pounding wildly at the air. + +"Strike one!" called Ben Tozier, slipping a pebble to his other +hand. + +Dick smiled quietly as the ball came back to him. Greg signaled +for an outshoot. But Dick "made up" the ball and imitated his +delivery of the throw before. + +"I'll get down and get it, this time!" flashed Martin resentfully. +He did, only to find himself no nearer the ball than before. + +"Strike two!" + +Tittering came from the sides now, also some applause. The spectators +had just begun to understand that Dick Prescott was pitching better +ball. + +"Ball one!" + +Hi felt a bit better for a moment. Then: + +"Strike three! Out!" + +With a muttered growl of disgust, Captain Martin gave up his post +to Percival. + +"What has got into Prescott?" demanded Rodgers, of the Norths, +anxiously. + +"Oh, we'll pound him to pieces soon," muttered Hi. + +"Strike one!" sounded the umpire's steady, low voice. + +In a moment or two more it was: "Strike three. Out!" + +Then a third batsman took post. Dick Prescott, his face now flushed +with pleasure, not humiliation, and his eyes flashing battle, +put the third man out for the Norths. + +Yet, though the Central Grammars put two of their men on bases, +they, too, went back to grass ere a run could be scored. + +The fifth inning was almost a duplicate of the fourth; no ground +gained. In the sixth, after having two men struck out, the Norths +took two base hits away from Prescott, and had men on first and +second. In an unwary moment for the Centrals the man at second +made third just ahead of the ball. + +"We'll have a third run in a moment, if our boys keep their heads," +murmured Hi Martin confidently. "That will keep us at three to +nothing." + +At that instant Dick delivered a ball that the North batsman tapped, +but just hard enough to drive it for a fair catch into Prescott's +hands. + +"You idiot!" glared Martin at the offender, as the Norths took +the field. + +However, all predictions were still in favor of the North Grammars, +who had two runs put away while they had kept Prescott's men from +scoring. + +"Fellows, we've got to do something, and we must make it strong!" +muttered Dick, as his side came in. + +Reade went to bat---was struck out. + +"That wasn't very strong," sighed Tom, as he passed Dick going +to the plate. + +Dick Prescott had his favorite bat in his hand. He gripped it +a little harder for an instant, then relaxed and waited for Hi's +puzzling delivery. + +"Strike one!" + +Dick swung for the next one that came. Almost mechanically Tozier +opened his mouth to call: + +"Stri-----" + +But Dick's willow cut in with a "whack!" + +"Woof! Whoop!" Central boys among the spectators sent up an expectant +yell, then watched breathlessly. Was the luck about to change? + +"Go it! Go it! Go it!" yelled the Central boys in three different +pitches of enthusiasm. + +Dick, as he struck first and turned, took a fleeting look at the +North's right fielder, still in pursuit of the long fly that had +gone by him and was rolling over the field. Then, straining lungs and +nerves, Dick sprinted toward the second bag. + +"Go it! Hustle!" + +Behind him Dick heard the whistle of the coming ball. Just ahead +of him was the plate. He took a long leap, then slid. Second +baseman held up the ball in his right hand. + +"Safe, safe!" yelled the gleeful Central spectators. + +"Out! That was out!" hoarsely declared the boosters for the North +Grammars. + +"Safe at second," called Ben Tozier steadily. + +"Oh, you ape of an umpire!" grunted Hi Martin disgustedly, as +he mitted the ball from second. For an instant he watched Dick, +who was edging away from second. Then he turned to send in a +drive past Greg, who now hovered over the plate. + +Greg Holmes went to two strikes and three balls, Hi all the time +alertly watching Prescott at second. + +Crack! And now Greg was running. Norths' left-fielder muffed +the ball, then recovered and threw like a flash to third. But +Dick was there a shade of a second ahead of the leather. + +"Safe" declared the umpire. + +Hi Martin flashed a warning look at the catcher for his nine, +then sent a sweeping glare around the bases. Greg and Dick smiled +sweetly back. + +"Play ball!" ordered Umpire Tozier. + +Dan Dalzell was now at bat, tingling with anxiety, though his +grin seemed a yard wide. + +"Oh, you Danny Grin! Eat the leather!" appealed a Central rooter +from the side. + +Dan grinned again, his look seeming to say, "Watch me!" + +Two strikes, with no called balls. Dick, dancing away from third, +felt himself on tenterhooks. Not all of his perspiration was +due to the heat of the day. + +Again Dan offered. Crack! A wild, gleeful whoop went up from +some of the Central rooters, while others held their breath. +The ball went high, and right field came running in for it. As +it happened, the fielder underestimated the length of the flight. +It struck the ground to his rear and rolled. Before the outfielder +could pick it up Dan had kicked the first bag. + +"Prescott! Prescott!" + +Dick was in, scoring the first run, while Greg was at second, +and Dan hugging first as though he dared not be found two yards +away from that bag. + +Henderson now went to bat, accompanied by the grave anxiety of +the members of his nine, for Spoff was not one of the star players. +True to expectations Spoff struck out. + +"Do it, Hazelton! You've got to do it!" yelled the Central fans +despairingly. "Don't miss any tricks!" + +Harry, however, could find nothing safe to hit at. He took first +on called balls, advancing Greg to third and Dan to second. + +Wrecker Lane now swung the willow. On his face was a do-or-die, +dogged expression. Wrecker was not a brilliant player, though +he was one to whom defeat came hard. + +"Go after it, Wrecker. Put it over hard! Slam!" + +After two strikes and one ball had been called Wrecker let go +in deadly earnest. Bang! The blow split the leather, which went +in an erratic though by no means short course. Greg dashed in +over the plate amid wild cheers. Dan, hotfooting as he had never +before done in his life, crossed the plate also. Wrecker, panting, +reached first, looked at the fielder almost on the ball, sped +on, then prudently turned and make back for first. + +Toby Ross now went to bat, and struck out in crisp one-two-three +order. + +"Wrecker, that was a bully liner!" glowed Dick, grasping the hand +of the boy who had saved the score in its critical moment. "You +seemed to have Hi Martin's delivery down to a certainty." + +"Yes, and it was a wonder, too," confessed Wrecker, still a bit +dazed. "I couldn't see the ball at all, but I knew that it was +up to me to do something." + +"How do you feel now, Chromos?" bawled Ted Teall at the beginning +of the seventh. + +The score was now three to two in favor of Central Grammar. + +It was still there when the seventh ended, and also at the finish +of the eighth. Then the North Grammars went to bat for the first +half of the ninth. + +"You fellows simply must do something---do a lot," had been Hi's +almost tearful urging as be addressed his fellows at the bench. + +It was Bill Rodgers who stood before him as Dick twirled the ball, +awaiting Greg's signal, which came a second later---a drop ball. + +Bill swung for it, then looked foolish. Two more bad guesses, +and he was out. + +A second man was soon out, and then a third. Not one of the trio +had been able to judge Dick's ball. + +Central Grammar had won the first game by the close score of three +to two. That, however, was as good for all purposes as any other +could possibly be. + +"What ails you Norths?" amiably remarked Ted Teall. "Is it the +gayness of your uniforms? The red gets in your eyes and keeps +you from seeing the ball." + +"You're not funny," glowered Hi Martin. "You're merely a clown." + +"Wait until my nine plays yours," retorted Teall genially. "Then +we'll see who looks more like a clown---you or I." + +But now there was time, and Dick Prescott and his fellows had +to tell scores of eager inquirers how they came by their new uniforms, +when they had not expected to have any. + +"Just what I thought, or as bad, anyway," muttered Martin when +the news was brought to him. "These muckers couldn't buy their +uniforms, as our fellows did. They had to depend upon charity +to make a good appearance on the field." + +"Hold on, there, Martin," angrily objected one of the Central +fans. "I suppose it was charity, too, when you gave our fellows +the game, eh? It was mighty kind of you, too." + +"Huh!" retorted Hi. "This is only one game lost, and by a hair's +breadth. Wait until the end of the season, and see who carries +the laurels." + +"Prescott, what do these letters mean on your jersey?" asked Ted +Teall, halting and squinting at the golden yellow emblems. + +"C.G.?" smiled Dick. "That's for Central Grammar, of course. +But the letters have been put on so that they can be easily changed +around to read G.C." + +"What'll that stand for?" quizzed Teall, winking at some of the +other fellows. + +"Why, we'll change the letters around after we've played this +series, and then the letters will stand for Grammar Champions." + +"Oh, I see," grinned Ted. "My, but that will be kind of you, +to give our fellows the jerseys." + +"You haven't won them yet," retorted Dick. "The Centrals will +keep their own jerseys and wear the G.C. by right of conquest." + +"Perhaps they will, and perhaps they won't," muttered Hi Martin +angrily to himself and Tom Percival. + + + + +Chapter VI + +SETTLING WITH A TEASER + + +Saturday morning, about eight o'clock, the entire team of the +Central Grammar met at Dave Darrin's house. In the front yard +they waited for their captain. + +"Queer Dick should be a bit late," muttered Torn Reade. "He's +our model of punctuality." + +"You'll see him come around the corner 'most any minute," Greg +predicted. + +Nor was Holmes wrong in this. When Prescott arrived he came on +a jog trot. + +"We wondered what kept you, our right-to-the-minute captain," +announced Dave. + +"Well, you see," replied Dick quizzically, "I've been thinking." + +"Thinking?" repeated Tom. "Oh, I understand. You've been thinking +about what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"Well, hardly anything as big as that," teased Dick. "I'm afraid +that you fellows are growing impatient on what is, after all, +not a very important matter." + +"So, then, the speech of the man on the clubhouse steps wasn't +very important?" inquired Tom, seeking to pin their leader down. + +"Why, that would depend on how you happened to regard what the +man on the clubhouse steps said," Dick laughed. + +"Is that what you're going to tell us?" almost bowled Hazelton. + +"I don't know that I am going to tell you much of anything," Prescott +continued. + +"What did the man on the clubhouse steps say?" asked Dan, advancing +with uplifted bat. + +"You'll never drag the secret from me by threats or violence," +retorted Dick, with a stubborn shake of the head. + +"We're getting away from the point," Tom went on. "You said you +had been thinking." + +"Well?" + +"You've made the claim of having been thinking, but you haven't +offered the slightest proof." + +"What I was thinking, fellows, was that we are obliged to meet +the South Grammar nine on the diamond to-day." + +"We're not afraid of them," scoffed Dave. + +"No," Dick went on, "but I've an idea that we're up against an +ordeal, after a fashion. You all know what a guyer Ted Teall +is---how he nearly broke up our match with the Norths last Wednesday +afternoon." + +"Ted can't do any guying this morning," declared Greg readily. +"If he does, the umpire will rule him out of the game, and that +would snap all of Ted's nerve. No; Ted won't guy us to-day." + +"But I'll tell you just what will happen to us," Dick offered. +"The spectators who come from the South Grammar aren't under +the umpire's orders. You may be sure that Ted has posted the +fellows from his school on a lot of things that they can yell +at us. Oh, we'll get guyed from the start to the finish of the +game." + +"If they go too far," hinted Dave, "we can thrash some of the +funny ones afterwards." + +"I shan't feel like thrashing anyone for having a little fun with +us," remarked Reade. + +"Thrashing wouldn't do any good, anyway," Dick continued. "Besides +which, we might just happen, incidentally, to be the fellows that +got the worst thrashing if we started anything like that going. +I don't object to good-natured ridicule. But the South Grammar +fellows may have some things to yell at us that will rattle our +play. That's what I want to stop." + +"How can you stop it?" queried Greg. + +"That's what kept me home a little later than I intended to stay +there," Dick replied. "I have been thinking, since last night, +how I could take some of the starch out of Ted Teall, and have +some way of throwing the horse laugh back on the South Grammar +boys in case they start anything funny enough to rattle us." + +"How did the thinking get on?" Tom wanted to know. + +"I believe I've something here that will do it," Prescott replied, +taking an object from one of his pockets and holding it up. + +"It looks like a home-made ball for babies to play with," remarked +Dan Dalzell, grinning. + +"It's a home-made ball, all right," Dick nodded. "Yet I don't +believe that I'd let a baby have it to play with." + +"What's the matter with it?" Tom asked. "Loaded?" + +"Some one told you," protested Prescott, pretending to look astounded. + +"What are you going to do with that thing?" Dave insisted. + +"If I have a chance I'm going to get Ted Teall up in the air, +and before the crowd, too," Dick asserted. + +"With this ball?" Greg asked, taking it from his friend's hand. + +"Yes." + +"Hm! I don't see anything about it to shatter the nerves of a +hardy youth like Ted Teall," Greg muttered. "This ball is just +wound with string and covered with pieces of old glove. Why, +it's so soft that I don't believe I could throw it straight." + +Greg raised the home-made ball to throw it. + +"Here! Don't toss it, or you may put it out of business," objected +Prescott, taking it away from his friend. + +"If the ball can't be thrown, then what on earth is it good for?" +questioned Darrin. + +"I'll come to that by degrees," Dick promised. "Did you know +that dad has secured a license this year to sell fireworks at +his store?" + +"Yes," nodded several of the boys. + +"Well, yesterday, Dad had a lot of samples come in from the +manufacturers. There were a few of the extra big and noisy +torpedoes," Dick explained. "I got one of them and wrapped this +string and leather around it." + +Then, in low tones, Dick confided to his comrades the use to which +he hoped to put the ball. There were a good many grins as the +plot dawned on the young diamond enthusiasts. + +"That'll be a warm one, if it works," grinned Reade. + +"Say, but I shall be hanging right around to see it happen," declared +Darrin. + +Originally this Saturday game had been scheduled for two in the +afternoon. However, so many of the schoolboys in town wanted +to have Saturday afternoon for other fun that the time had been +changed to nine in the forenoon. + +"Hadn't we better be starting?" asked Dick, looking at his watch. + +"Yes; I want to be in at the death of Teall," agreed Reade. + +All in uniform the Central Grammars started down the street, though +this time they did not march. As they moved along other boys +joined them, some from the Central and others from the North Grammar. +By the time that Dick's nine and substitutes neared the field +more than a hundred fans trailed along with them. + +Nearly three hundred other boys were walking about on the field, +or lying down under the trees. + +Already the South Grammar boys were on the field, practicing by +way of warming up. + +"Hello! Here come the bluebells!" yelled a group of South Grammar +fans and rooters. + +"Blue? You bet they'll be blue when the game is over!" + +"Hey, Prescott! What'll you take for the letters on your shirt?" + +"Gimme that yellow curl over your forehead? I saw it first." + +"Oh, my, don't the Little Boys Blue look sweet?" + +In silence the Central players marched by their tormentors. Dick +gazed across the field to see Ted Teall swinging a bat at the +home plate. + +"Teall!" called Dick, as he and the others dropped their jackets +at the batters' benches. + +"Hello!" returned Ted. "I'm glad to see that you fellows really +had the nerve to come to-day." + +"I saw you doing some pretty wild batting, Teall," laughed Dick +Prescott. "That kind of work won't save you when I get started. +Shall I throw you in a few real ones---hard ones---before we +get at it in earnest?" + +"Go on!" retorted Ted scornfully. + +"Oh, I won't hurt you," Prescott promised. + +"You bet you won't," boasted Teall. + +"He's afraid, even before the game starts," jeered a group of +Central Grammar boys. "That's right, Ted. Guard your life." + +"Don't be afraid, Teall," Dick urged tantalizingly. "Trying to +hit some of my deliveries will be something like an education +for you." + +"Bosh!" sneered Teall. + +"Then why won't you try a few?" + +"I will, if you really think you can throw a ball that will rattle +me any," Teall agreed, grinning broadly. + +"Go at him, Dick!" + +"Whoop! Show him what a cheap batter he is." + +Laughing, balancing a ball in his hands, Dick glided out on to +the diamond. + +"Ready, Ted? Just see what you can do with one like this," Dick +mocked. + +It was a swift ball, but a straight one. To a batsman of Teall's +skill it was not a difficult one to hit. Ted swung his bat and +gave the ball a crack that sent it far out into outfield. + +"Is that the best you can do?" jeered Ted. + +"Oh, I've one or two better than that," replied Dick, pretending +to feel flustered. + +Again Prescott sent in a swift one, and once more Teall sent the +leather spinning over the field. Hoots and cat-calls from the +Souths filled the air. The Central fans began to look a bit uneasy. +What was their champion pitcher doing, to let Teall get away +with his deliveries as easily as this? + +A third ball Dick drove in, with the same result as before. + +"Say, what you fellows need is practice," leered Ted. + +"Look out that I don't catch you yet," mocked Dick Prescott, bending +to scoop up the returning ball from the ground. Then he wheeled +like a flash to confront the batsman. + +This time, by a quick substitution, Dick held the home-made ball. +He twirled it for an instant, then sent it in toward the plate. + +"Just---as---easy!" scoffed Ted, whirling his bat, then reaching +out for the ball. + +Crack! Teall hit it soundly. + +Bang! With such force had the batsman struck that he exploded +the large torpedo inside the home-made ball. There was a rattling +explosion, and Teall, unable to figure, in that first instant, +what had happened, sent the bat flying. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" yelled startled Ted, leaping up into the air. When +he alighted he ran a dozen or more steps as fast as he could go, +then halted and looked around him. For an instant Teall's face +expressed panic. + +Then mocking laughter from hundreds of throats greeted him. + +"I knew any little thing out of the ordinary would rattle you," +smiled Dick. "Don't lose your nerve. It wasn't anything." + +"Just a fresh idiot's attempt to be funny!" growled Teall, his +face now red with mortification. + +"Laugh, Ted, confound you!" urged Tom Reade. "Laugh! Don't be +a grouch." + +"What you need, Teall," teased Dave Darrin, "is some nerve tonic. +You ought not to let yourself get into such bad shape that you +almost faint when you hit the ball." + +For once Ted Teall's ready tongue went back on him. He could +think of nothing to say that would not make him look still more +ridiculous. + +"I guess he'll be good, for one game at least," grimaced Dick +as he turned to his teammates. + + + + +Chapter VII + +TED TEALL FACES THE STORM + + +The game had gone into the third inning, with the Centrals retired +from the bat and the Souths now in from the field. + +In the second inning Greg, backed splendidly by Tom and Dick, +had scored a run for his side---the only run listed as yet. + +In this third inning, with South Grammar now at the bat, two men +were out, and one on second when Ted Teall stepped to the plate. + +"Put a real slam over on 'em, Ted!" shouted a South fan. + +"Drive a ball over into Stayton and then fill up the score card +while the Centrals are looking for it!" advised another Teall +partisan. + +"Centrals?" jeered another boy from the South. Grammar. "Centrals? +Show 'em they're just plain hello-girls!" + +Ted grinned broadly at this "hello-girls" nickname. Just then +another fan from the southern part of Gridley piped up: + +"Ted, eat 'em. They're only nine pieces of blue cheese!" + +That was going too far, and it was time for Central Grammar to +take notice effectively. + +"Bang!" roared one half of the Central fans. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" yelled the other half of the Central boosters, leaping +up into the air. + +Even Ted Teall had to laugh at this mortifying reminder of his +terror when he had struck the torpedo ball. The next instant +his face went deep red, for everyone on the field appeared to +be laughing and jeering at him. + +"Confound Prescott and his tricks!" muttered Teall under his breath. +"It'll take a lot of thinking for me to get even with that trick." + +Whizz-zz! went the ball by Ted's body, just below shoulder-high. + +"Strike one!" called the umpire sharply. + +"Centrals will get me rattled with that bang-ow-ow! of theirs +every time they spring it on me," thought Ted savagely. + +"Strike two!" + +Again Ted had failed to realize that the ball was coming. In +his anger be wondered whether he'd rather throw his bat at the +umpire or at smiling Dick Prescott. + +"Strike three!" called the umpire's steady voice. "Side out." + +Then Ted, in sheer exasperation, did hurl his bat a score of feet +away. + +"Bang!" came in a volley of Central voices. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" wailed the other half of Old Dut's boys while the +North Grammars joined in. + +"Go it, you boobs!" muttered Ted, shaking his fist at the spectators. + +"Hurrah!" cheered Spoff Henderson from the subs' bench. "We know +how to stop Ted Teall's mouth now!" + +Teall happened to hear the remark. + +"Oh, you fellows are a lot of boobies!" sputtered Ted wrathfully. + +"Anyway," Toby Ross leered back at him, "we're not so young that +we yell when we hit a ball by mistake." + +In the fourth and fifth innings the Central Grammars, though they +booked some base hits, did not succeed in getting any runs through. +However, they succeeded in preventing Teall's nine from scoring, +which kept the score still at one to nothing. In the first half +of the sixth Harry Hazelton was brought home from third by a good +one by Dan. Then the side went out. In this inning Teall again +had a chance at bat. Before batting he stalked over to where +a lot of his schoolfellows were grouped and muttered: + +"Don't you fellows shoot any funny remarks in this inning. Keep +quiet." + +"Huh!" shot out one of the boys. "What's the matter with you, Ted?" + +"No matter. But I don't want any funny line of talk steered over +to the Centrals to-day." + +"Seems to me you've changed a lot, Ted," grinned one of his classmates. +"Yesterday afternoon you put us up to a lot of funny things to +holler to-day." + +"Forget 'em," ordered Ted. + +"Dick Prescott certainly stabbed you with that torpedo," grinned +another South. "Ted, your nerve is gone for to-day." + +"Don't get too funny with me, or I'll see you after the game," +threatened Teall, as he stalked away, for he was now on deck, +and due to go next to bat. + +The second man for the Souths struck out. + +"Teall at bat!" called the score-keeper. + +Hi Martin and a lot of the North Grammar boys had come to the +field late. Hi didn't like to see the score two to nothing in +favor of the Centrals. He would have preferred to have the Souths +win. + +"Let's get Prescott rattled?" whispered Martin. + +"I don't believe you can do it," replied Bill Rodgers. "Prescott +is a mighty cool one." + +"Yes, we can," insisted Hi. "I'll tell you what to boiler just +the instant that Teall picks up the stick and Prescott starts +to twist the ball." + +Ted, all unsuspicious, and believing that he had stilled his own +band of teasing torments, picked up his bat and went to the plate. + +"Put it over the robbers, Ted!" came from Hi Martin's crowd. +"Don't be afraid of the Centrals---the fellows who stole their +uniforms from a lunatic in the woods." + +Dick heard the senseless taunt and understood it. But it didn't +anger or confuse him. Instead, the ball left his hand with surer +guidance. + +But a crowd of Central fans also heard, and imagined that the +yell came from one of the groups of Souths. + +"Bang! bang!" yelled a lot of Central Grammar boys with enthusiasm. + +"Ow-ow-ow! Ow-ow-ow!" came the response. + +"Strike one!" called the umpire. Ted, his face crimson and his +eyes flashing fire, threw his bat from him. + +"Teall, pick up your bat," ordered the umpire. "If you do that +again I'll order you from the game." + +"I don't care if you do!" trembled on Ted's lips, but he caught +the words in time. He gulped, swallowed hard, hesitated, then +went tremulously to pick up his stick. However, his grit was +gone for the day. He struck out and retired. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" yelled a few of the Central fans in the eighth, and +Dave Darrin struck a two bagger, bringing Prescott in safe from +second, scoring a third run and landing Darrin on second. Had +not Ross struck out immediately afterward there would have been +other runs scored. The count was now three to nothing in favor +of the Central Grammars. + +"Prescott's fellows are playing some ball," declared Bill Rodgers. + +"Hub! You mean that the Souths don't know how to play," sneered +Hi Martin. + +"Teall's fellows are playing well," argued Rodgers. "If you watch, +you'll see that the luck of the Centrals depends a lot on the +way they run the bases. Whew! They go like greased lightning +when they're sprinting around the diamond." + +"Well, why shouldn't they run?" demanded Hi. "Prescott and his +fellows have been running every day since the snow went away." + +"I wish our Norths had been running all the time, too," sighed +Bill. + +The Souths were playing desperately well in the field. Dick's +side came in for the ninth, but did not succeed in getting another +run. + +"Now, watch 'em closely, fellows," counseled Dick, as, from the +benches, he started his men out to the field. "The Souths are +mad and game, and they may get runs enough in this last half to +beat us. Play, all the time, as if you didn't know what it was +to be tired. Keep after 'em!" + +Dick struck the first South Grammar fellow out. The next man +at bat took first on called balls. The next hit a light fly that +was good for a base. The player who followed sent a bunt that +Dave, as short-stop, fumbled. And now the bases were full. + +"Oh, you Ted!" wailed the South fans hopefully. "Do your duty +now, Teall!" + +Ted gripped the bat, stepping forward. As he reached the plate +he shot at his schoolmates a look of grim resolution. + +"I'll bring those three fellows in, if I have to kill the ball, +or drive it through a fielder!" muttered Ted resolutely. "If +we can tie the score then we can break this fearful hoodoo and +win the game yet." + +"Don't let that pitcher scare you, Ted!" yelled a South encouragingly. +"He hasn't a wing any longer. It's only a fin." + +"Codfish fin, at that," mocked another. + +"Bang!" retorted a dozen Central fans. + +Before the answering chorus could come Dick Prescott held up a +hand, looking sternly at his sympathizers. + +"Strike one!" called the umpire, and once more Teall reddened. + +"I've got to brace, and work myself out of this," groaned red-faced +Teall. "There's too much depending on me." + +"Ball one!" + +"Now, I hope the next one will be good, and that I can hit it +a crack that will drive it into the next county," muttered Ted, +feeling the cold sweat beading his forehead. + +He judged wrongly, on a drop ball. + +"Strike two!" + +"Drive a plum into that pudding in the box, Ted," sang out one +of his classmates. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" shrieked a score of watching Central Grammar boys. +That was the last straw. Ted felt the blood rush to his head +and all looked red before him. + +"Strike three! Side out! Game!" came slowly, steadily from the +umpire. Then the score-keeper rose to his feet. + +"Central Grammar wins by a score of three to nothing." + +This time Ted Teall didn't throw his bat. Gripping it savagely, +he stalked over to a group of his own schoolmates. + +"What fellow was it that started the yelling?" demanded Ted huskily. + +"Why?" challenged three or four of the Souths. + +"I want to know who he is---that's all," muttered Ted. + +In a moment there was a mix-up. But Teall wasn't popular at that +moment. A captain who had led his men into a whitewash was entitled +to no very great consideration. + +"Let go of that bat!" roared Ted, as he felt it seized. "Let +go, or I'll hit some one with it." + +"That's what he wants to do anyway," called out one of the boys. +"Yank it away from him!" + +The bat torn from him, Ted Teall was fighting mad. He was so +ugly, in fact, that he was borne to the ground, three of his own +classmates sitting on him. + +"You're all right, Ted," announced one of his classmates. "All +that ails you is that you've got a touch of heat. Cool off and +we'll let you up." + +"There's one guyer who has lost his hold on his favorite pastime +of annoying other people," remarked Tom Reade grimly. + +"Dick's trick was the slickest that ever I saw done in that line," +chuckled Dave Darrin. "But I wonder how our fellows tumbled to +the idea of calling 'bang' first, and then following it up with +'ow-ow-ow'?" + +"Want to know very badly?" Tom questioned. + +"I surely do," Darry nodded. + +"Well, then," Tom declared, "I put some of the fellows up to that +trick." + + + + +Chapter VIII + +TWO RIVALS PLAN DIRE REVENGE + + +"I wonder what Ted Teall will do after this when he wants to play +rattles on the other side?" inquired Harry. + +Dick & Co. were now making the most of Saturday afternoon. Having +no money to spend, and no boat in which to enjoy themselves on +the river, they had gone out of Gridley some distance to a small, +clear body of water known as Hunt's pond. + +When sufficient time after dinner had passed, they intended to +strip and go in swimming, for this pond, well in the woods, was, +by common understanding, left for boys who wanted to indulge in +that sport. + +"I don't believe Ted will get very funny, in the immediate future," +replied Tom reflectively. "His fellows came to the field, all +primed with a lot of funny remarks they were going to shoot at +us during the game. Yet the only fellows who got hit by any flying +funny talk were the Souths themselves. I have been wondering +if 'Bang---ow-ow' was what cost the Souths the game?" + +"I don't quite believe that," replied Dick. "Yet I am certain +that it took a lot of starch out of Ted himself. Do you remember +that time when he went over and spoke to his fellows?" + +"Yes," nodded Greg. + +"Well," Dick pursued, "I've heard since that that was the time +when Ted went over and begged his fellows to 'can' all funny talk +until the game was over." + +"But they didn't," chuckled Dan. + +"That was why Ted was so angry at the end." + +"Anyway," Tom insisted, "Teall isn't likely to bother us any more." + +"Either he'll quit on the funny talk," agreed Prescott, "or else +he'll go to the other extreme and be more tantalizing than ever." + +It would greatly have interested these Central Grammar boys had +they known that the subject of their conversation was even then +listening to them. Ted Teall, sore and angry, had come away from +town all by himself. He wanted a long swim in the pond, to see +if that would cool off the anger that consumed him. + +Hearing voices as he came through the woods, Ted halted first, +then, crawling along the ground, made his way cautiously forward. +And now the captain of the South Grammar nine lay flat, his head +hidden behind a clump of low bushes. + +"Having fun over me, are they?" growled Ted. + +"It was a rough trick to play, of course," laughed Dick. "But +I felt so wholly certain Ted's fellows would start in to break +us up that I felt I had to spring that torpedo trick in order +to shut the other crowd up in advance." + +"Oh, you did, did you?" thought Teall angrily. + +"But now there's something else to be thought of," Prescott went +on. "Teall is bound to feel sore and ashamed, and he won't rest +until be has done his best to get even with us." + +"Teall had better leave us alone," replied Tom, shaking his head. +"Ted's brain isn't any too heavy, and he'll never be equal to +getting the better of a crowd with a Dick Prescott in it." + +"We won't do any bragging just yet," Prescott proposed. + +"That's right. You'd better not," Ted growled under his breath. + +"Fellows," announced Dan Dalzell, "I've made an important discovery." + +"I wonder if he saw me?" flashed through Teall's mind, as he tried +to lie flatter than before. + +"Name the discovery," begged Hazelton. + +"Look at your watches, fellows," Dan continued, "and I think you'll +find that it's now proper time for us to go in swimming." + +"So it is," Darrin agreed. "Hurrah!" + +Little more was said for a few moments. All the fellows of Dick +& Co. were busy in getting their clothing off. + +"Say, but I hope you fellows get far enough away from your duds!" +breathed Teall vengefully, as he watched through the screen of +leaves. + +"Do you fellows think we had better leave a guard over our clothes?" +queried Dick, as they stood forth, ready for swimming. + +"Not!" returned Dalzell with emphasis. "If I agreed to it, it +would be just my luck to have the lot fall to me. For the next +half hour I don't want to do a thing but feel the water around +me all the way up to my neck." + +"What's the use of a guard over our clothes?" queried Dave. "There +isn't another soul besides ourselves in these woods this afternoon." + +"Go on thinking that!" chuckled Teall. + +Running out on a log and putting his hands together, Dick dived. + +"How's the water?" called Tom. + +"Cold," Prescott answered, blowing out a mouthful as he struck +out for the middle of the pond. "You'd better keep out." + +"He wants the pond all to himself," muttered Tom, and dived at +once. + +In a moment all six boys were in the water, sporting about and +enjoying themselves. + +"I wish they'd get further away from here," thought Ted wistfully. +"They're hanging right around here. If I show myself they'll +all swim in. There wouldn't be time to do anything." + +All too late Ted heard some one coming through the woods behind +him. He crouched, ready to crawl away to privacy, but found himself +too late. Hi Martin parted the bushes as be forced his way through. + +"Hello, Teall," called the North Grammar captain. + +"Hush---sh---sh!" warned Ted, putting a finger to his lips. + +"What's the matter?" + +"Prescott and his crew are out there swimming, and their clothes +are right below." + +"I see," nodded Martin. "You want to get the clothes?" + +"Sit down here, out of sight, and keep quiet, won't you?" urged +Teall. + +Hi sat down quietly. He didn't like Teall especially, but he +disliked Prescott, and perhaps here was a chance to serve Dick's +discomfort. + +"If they'd only swim away for a little stretch!" whispered Ted. + +"I see," nodded Hi Martin rather pompously. "Too bad, isn't it? +Now, Teall, you and Prescott both come from mucker schools, and +I don't know that I ought to butt in any. But I don't mind seeing +you torment Prescott a bit. You wait. I'll go in, and maybe +I can challenge those fellows to swim down the pond that will +take them away from this point." + +Ted's face had flushed sullenly at Hi's remark about "mucker schools." +At another time Teall might have been ready to fight over a +slighting word like that. Just now, however, he craved help against +Prescott more than anything else. + +"All right," urged Ted. "You decoy that crowd away from here +for a few minutes, and maybe I won't do a thing to them!" + +"I'll see what I can do for you," returned Martin, going down +to the edge of the pond. + +"How's the water, fellows?" called Hi. + +"Fine," returned Dick with enthusiasm. + +"Room enough in the pond for another?" Hi asked. + +"Surely. Come on in." + +"I believe I will," Hi answered, seating himself and fumbling +at his shoe-lacings. + +A couple of minutes later Hi dived from the log and swam out to +the other boys. + +"Are you fellows any good on swimming distances?" Martin asked, +as, with lazy stroke, he joined Dick & Co. The North Grammar +boy was an expert swimmer and proud of it. + +"I guess we can swim a little way," Prescott replied. "I don't +remember that we ever swam any measured courses." + +"Can you swim down to that old elm?" asked Hi, indicating a tree +at the further end of the pond. + +"We ought to," smiled Dick. + +"Come along, then," invited Hi, starting with a side stroke. + +Dick & Co. started in irregular fashion, Darrin and Reade soon +spurting on ahead of Martin. + +"How long can you tread water?" inquired Hi, after they had reached +the neighborhood of the elm. + +This sport is always interesting to boys who are good swimmers. +Forthwith some endurance tests at treading were started. Then +Hi showed them all a few "stunts" in the water, some of which +Dick & Co. could duplicate easily, and some which they could not. + +Thus the minutes slipped by. Hi, for once in his life, went out +of his way to be entertaining to Central Grammar boys. But, at +last, he muttered to himself: + +"I guess Teall has had plenty of time for his tricks. If he hasn't, +then all afternoon wouldn't he time enough." + +"Hello, Hi," called Dick. "Where are you going?" + +"Back to dress," Martin replied. "I've been in long enough." + +"I guess we all have," Dick nodded, himself turning back. His +chums followed. + +"I don't know whether I'll dress or not," remarked Tom Reade, +as he shot ahead of the others. "If I find I don't want to dress, +then I'll just sit on the bank and dry my skin before going in +again." + +Continuing his spurt, Tom kept on until be reached the log from +which the first diving had been done. He waded ashore, looked +about in some bewilderment, and then called over the water: + +"Say, fellows, just where was it that we left our clothes?" + +"Why, barely a dozen feet back of the log," Dick called from the +water. + +"Hardly ten feet from where my clothes lie," added Hi Martin, +his face solemn, but with an inward chuckle over the rage of six +boys that he knew was soon to follow. + +"But where are your clothes, Martin?" asked Tom, staring about +him. "Where is anybody's clothes?" + +The look in Hi's face changed rapidly. He took a few swift, strong +strokes that bore him to shore. + +Then, indeed, Martin's wrath and disgust knew no bounds. For +his clothing was as invisible as that of the Central Grammar boys. + + + + +Chapter IX + +HI MARTIN TRIES TO MAKE TERMS + + +"Confound that fellow Teall!" + +This angry expression slipped past Hi's lips unguardedly. + +By this time Dick Prescott was on shore. His quick, keen glances +took in the patent fact that some one had removed all the discarded +clothing from sight. + +"So Ted Teall was around here, and you knew that he was going +to take our clothing?" demanded Dick, flashing a searching look +at Hi Martin. + +When too late, Hi Martin saw how he had put his foot into the +mess by his indignant exclamation. + +"And, knowing that Teall was going to slip away with our clothing," +Dick went on, "you went into the water and lured us away to the +lower end of the pond. That was what you did to us, was it, Martin?" + +Hi shook his head, then opened his mouth to utter an indignant +denial. + +"Don't try to fool us," advised Dick bitterly. "Martin, you may +have thought it funny, but it was a mean trick to serve us, and +I am glad that Teall has shown you how little he likes you." + +Under ordinary circumstances Ted might have left Hi Martin's clothes +behind. It had been Hi's impolitic remark about "mucker schools" that +had decided Ted to take away Hi's belongings as well. + +"That Teall is a dirty sneak," cried Hi. + +"He was simply a comical genius as long as he took only our clothes," +Dick retorted. "But now that your things are gone as well, it's +a mean, low-down bit of business." + +"Martin," observed Tom Reade dramatically, "thine own ox is gored." + +"Talking won't bring back any duds," grunted Harry Hazelton. +"Teall can't have gotten very far with such a load. Let's rush +after him." + +"You lead the way, then, son," suggested Dick, "and instead of +following you, we'll wait here until you bring the things back." + +"I wonder which way he went?" puzzled Hazelton. + +"Probably straight to the road," smiled Dick grimly. "That's +the shortest cut, and the road isn't far from here." + +"But I can't go near the road in this---this---fix," sputtered +Harry, looking down at his wet, glistening skin. + +"Exactly," nodded Prescott. "Nor can any of us go. That's the +joke. Like it? Ha, ha, ha!" + +Dick's laugh had anything but a merry sound. None of the boys +had a truly jovial look, nor was it to be expected of them. Tom +was solemn as an owl, Harry fussy; Dan was grinning in a sickly +sort of way, as was Dave Darrin. Greg Holmes, utterly silent, +stood with his fists clenched, thinking how he would like to be +able at this moment to pounce upon Ted Teall. + +"It's an outrage!" sputtered Hi Martin, white to the roots of +his hair. He was walking about, stamping with his bare feet on +the ground, the fingers of both his hands working nervously. + +"Oh, well, you won't get any sympathy in this crowd," Tom assured +Hi glumly. "You were party to this, and all that disturbs you +is that any one should dare take the same kind of a liberty with +you. We don't care what happens to you, now, Martin." + +"What shall we do with Martin, anyway?" demanded Dan Dalzell. + +"Nothing," returned Dick crisply. "He isn't worthy of having +anything done to him." + +"Let's call 'Ted' with all our might," proposed Harry. + +"You can, if you want to," Dick rejoined. "I doubt if he is now +near enough to hear you. Even if he did hear, he'd only snicker +and run further away." + +After a few moments more Dick and his chums, as though by common +consent, squatted on the sand near the edge of the pond. It was +warmer for them that way. Martin edged over close to them. Not +one member of Dick & Co. did the captain of the North Grammar +nine really like, but in his present woeful plight Hi wanted human +company of some kind, and he could not very well go in search +of people who wore all their clothing. + +While the swimmers had been occupied in the water at the lower +end of the pond, Ted Teall had been wonderfully busy. + +First of all, Ted had loaded himself with about half the clothing +belonging to Dick & Co. The shoes he had carried by tying each +pair by means of the laces and swinging three pair around his +neck. The first load be carried swiftly through the woods until +be came to a thicket where he hoped he would find concealment. + +Then he had gone back for the other half of the clothing. This, +upon arrival at the thicket, Ted dropped in on top of the first +installment. + +"Now, I guess I ought to hide somewhere where there won't be the +least danger of them finding me. Then I can see the fun when +those fellows come ashore," chuckled Teall. "Hold on, though! +There's one more debt to pay. That confounded Hi Martin called +the South Grammar a 'mucker' school. I believe I'll hide his +clothes, too, for his saying what he did. But I'll have to go +carefully, and see whether the fellows are still out of sight." + +Ted returned with a good deal of caution. Then he discovered, +by the sound of voices, that the swimmers were still at the lower +end of the pond. + +"Plenty of time to get Hi's duds, too," chuckled the pleased joker. +He slipped down close to the beach, gathering up all of Martin's +garments and the hat and shoes. + +"Say, it must be fine to have a pretty well fixed father," murmured +Ted wistfully. "All these duds of Hi's are of the best quality. +I wonder if I'll be able to wear clothes like these when I'm +earning my own money?" + +Then he started off, going more slowly than on his two previous +trips, for he felt that he had plenty of time. But at last the +nearing voices of the returning swimmers warned him. + +"They can't see me," chuckled Ted. "If any of 'em chase me, I +can make a quick dash for the road and they won't dare follow +me there. They'd be afraid of running into other people." + +So Ted even dallied for a while. Some of the angry words uttered +reached his ears and delighted him. + +"Hi Martin is hot with wrath, and I'm glad of it," chuckled Ted +to himself. "So he thought I'd spare him, did he! Huh! The +next time he'd better be a little more careful over his remarks +about 'mucker' schools!" + +Then Ted walked on again leisurely. + +"I believe I'll let these fellows stay here until about dark, +hunting for their clothes, and not finding 'em," reflected Teall. +"Then I'll have Ed Payne drop around and tell 'em just where +to look. They can't thump Payne, for he won't be guilty of anything +but helping 'em. Then maybe Dick Prescott will pitch dynamite +again for me to bat at!" + +Teall gained the thicket that concealed the other clothing. Just +as he was about to cast Martin's belongings after the other wardrobes, +he was disturbed by a sound close at hand. + +With a start Ted looked up. Then he felt uneasy; frightened, +in fact. At his side stood a shabbily dressed man of middle age. +The man's cheeks were sunken, though they burned with an unhealthy +glow. There was, in the eyes, also a light that made Ted creepy. + +"S-s-say, wh-what do you want?" stammered Teall. + +"So you are a thief, and at work?" inquired the man, who had +rested a thin but rather strong hand on Ted's shoulder. + +"A thief?" Teall repeated indignantly. "No, sir! And nothing +like it, either." + +"Is all the clothing in there yours?" demanded the stranger sternly. + +"No, sir," Ted answered promptly. + +"Then-----" + +"You see," Ted went on more glibly, and trying to conceal the +fact that he was very uneasy under those burning eyes, "it's just +a joke that I'm playing on some fellows who are swimming." + +"You consider that sort of a joke humorous?" demanded the stranger, +tightening the grip of his hand on Teall's shoulder until the +boy squirmed. + +"It's not a bit worse than what one of them did to me this morning," +Ted asserted, strongly on the defensive now. "And I don't know +what business it is of yours, mister. Who are you, anyway?" + +"My name," replied the other quietly, "is Amos Garwood." + +"Amos Gar---wood?" Ted repeated. At first the name conveyed no +information to him. But suddenly he remembered the name that +had been on everyone's tongue a few days before. + +"The crazy man?" cried Ted, his voice shaking. Then the woods +rang with his startled combination of whoop and prayer. + +"This is no place for me!" gasped Teall huskily, as, frantically, +he tore himself free of that grip on his shoulder. + +Without more ado Ted Teall broke through cover for the road. +Never before had he realized how fast it was possible for him +to sprint. Terror is an unexcelled pacemaker at times. + +That whoop, followed by the yell of fear, traveled until it reached +the boys at the lakeside. The distance and the breeze must have +robbed the voice of some of its terror, for Dick sprang to his +feet like a flash. + +"That was Ted Teall's fine voice!" he cried, running up the slight +slope. "Come on, fellows! We'll travel straight in that +direction---and we'll find our clothing." + +Nor were any of the boys very far behind Dick in the mad race. +Though two or three of them stepped on stones on the way, no +one gave a thought to so slight an accident. + +Nor was it long ere they burst from cover and came upon Amos Garwood, +standing as though lost in thought, for Garwood was trying to comprehend +Teall's words, "the crazy man." + +All in a flash Dick recognized the man. So did his chums. Hi Martin +alone was in the dark. + +"Good afternoon," was Garwood's greeting, as he looked up as +though coming out of a trance. "You are looking for your clothing, +I imagine?" + +"Marvelous what a good guesser you are, sir," gasped Tom. + +"You'll find your clothing in this thicket," announced Garwood, +indicating the spot with a wave of one arm. + +Dick and Tom piled into the thicket, passing out the mixed-up +articles to the other boys. A quick sorting was made and each +item claimed. + +"Say!" cried Hi, greatly disturbed. "There isn't a single thing +of mine here." + +"Serve you right, then," uttered Tom, as he drew an undershirt +over his head. "You don't deserve anything to wear." + +"You fellows didn't hand out my things," uttered Hi, darting into +the thicket. He searched savagely at first, then despairingly. +Not a shred of his wardrobe was to be found. + +"What became of my clothes?" Martin demanded, stepping out into +the open. Tears brimmed his eyes now. + +"Clothes? Your clothing?" asked Amos Garwood, again coming to +a realization of things about him. "Why, I believe the boy who +yelled and ran away from here carried one armful of things with +him." + +"Which way did he run?" throbbed Hi. + +"That way." Garwood pointed to the road. + +"You fellows get a few things on and run after Teall as fast as +you can go," ordered Hi. "Quick! Don't lose a moment. Do you +hear?" + +"Yes," nodded Prescott. + +"Hustle, then!" + +"Forget it," requested Dick, deliberately drawing on a shoe over +a sock, next doing the lacing slowly and with great care. + +"Which one of you will go!" asked Hi, turning appealingly to the +others. + +"Hear the echo?" mocked Dave Darrin. "The echo says, 'which one?'" + +"Say, you fellows are meaner than poison!" Hi exploded tremulously. + +"You have a very short memory, Hi," retorted Greg Holmes. + +"Who was it that put up the job on us? Who helped Teall to do +it?" asked Harry Hazelton. + +"But I'm sorry for that," protested Hi Martin, tears again coming +to his eyes. + +"I believe you," Dick nodded cheerily. "You're indeed sorry---sorry +for the way it turned out for yourself." + +"But aren't you fellows going after Teall and my clothes?" insisted +the naked one. + +"We're not going to chase Teall," Darrin answered, "if that's +what you mean. But, see here, Martin, I'm not going to be downright +mean with you." + +"Thank you," said Martin gratefully. "You always were a good +fellow, Darrin." + +"I'm going to be a good fellow now," Dave pursued. "I'm not going +to chase Teall, for we don't know which way he went, and he'll +be hiding. But I'll go around to your house and tell your folks +where you are, and what a fix you're in." + +I'll go to-night, just as soon as I've eaten my supper." + +"You---you great idiot!" exploded Hi. + +"Now, for that insult, I take back my promise," Dave retorted +solemnly. "You needn't talk any more, Martin. I won't do a blessed +thing for you now." + +"Dave, you're altogether too rough on a fellow that's in hard +luck," remonstrated Greg, then turned to Martin to add: + +"Hi, it's no use to go chasing Ted Teall, but I'll tell you what +I'll do. I'm all dressed now, and I'll go straight to your house +and get some clothes for you, so you can come out of these woods +and walk home. I'll do it for half a dollar." + +"Thank you, Holmesy, I'll do it," Martin eagerly promised. "And +I'll thank you, too, from the bottom of my-----" + +"You can keep the thanks," proposed Greg gravely. "But you can +hand over the half dollar." + +"E-e-eh?" stammered Hi, nonplussed, rubbing one hand, for an instant, +over his naked thigh in the usual neighborhood of the trousers' +pocket. + +"Fork over the half dollar!" Greg insisted. "This is a strictly +cash-in-advance proposition." + +"Why, you---you---you-----" stuttered Hi in his wrath. "How +can I pay in advance when Ted Teall is a mile away from here with +my---my trousers and all?" + +"Cash right in hand, or I don't stir on your job," insisted Greg. + +"I---I'll pay you a whole dollar as soon as I can get home," Hi +offered eagerly. + +"Hi Martin, after what you've done to us to-day," demanded Greg +virtuously, "do you think there's a fellow in this crowd who'd +take your word for anything? If you don't pay right now, then +I won't stir a step for you." + +Again tears of helpless rage formed in Hi's eyes. Amos Garwood +stood looking on, unseeing. But Dick Prescott's thoughts were +flying like lightning. He knew that, somehow, Garwood ought to +be seized and held until the friends searching for him could be +notified. + + + + +Chapter X + +"BABBLING BUTT-IN" + + +"You fellows seem to think that everything is done when you get +your own old duds back," complained Hi Martin angrily. "You don't +seem to think that there's any need of doing anything for me." + +"Why should we?" demanded Dick curtly. "You're the fellow who +helped put up a job to hide our clothes. Now, you yell because +you can't find your own." + +"I'll go and get you some other clothes, whenever I'm paid for +it in advance," Greg smilingly repeated his offer. + +Dick's brain was busy with plans for holding Amos Garwood until +the latter's father and friends could take charge of him. + +"You're all the meanest lot!" protested Martin, tears of anger +standing in his eyes. + +"And you're the funniest fellow," mocked Tom. "To see a lot of +sport in playing a trick on us, but howling like a dog with a +can tied to his tail when you find yourself the only one stung +by the joke." + +"I'm going to leave here," Dick suddenly declared. + +"Oh, I wish you would find my clothes and bring them to me," begged +Hi. + +"Come along, Greg. You, too, Dave. The rest wait here until +we come back." + +Dick shot a significant look at Tom Reade, then glanced covertly +in Amos Garwood's direction. Reade understood and nodded. + +"I don't really need or want you along with me, Dave," Dick murmured +as soon as the three boys were out of sight of the others. "What +I wanted was a chance to talk to you. Amos Garwood must be held, +if necessary, until we can find some men to seize him and turn +him over to the authorities. Be careful and tactful with him, +but don't let him get away from you. The other fellows will help +you, if necessary. I'm taking Greg with me, just so that Greg +may run in one direction and I in another, in case we don't find +help easily. But you get back and help Tom and the others. Of +course you won't lay hands on Amos Garwood unless it becomes necessary, +but in any case don't let him get away from you. Now, hurry back, +for, if Garwood suspects, and shows fight, it will take all four +of you to hold him. But if you all talk naturally and pleasantly, +I don't believe he will be suspicious, or make any effort to get +away." + +Dave nodded, turning back, while Dick and Greg hastened to the +road. Barely had they turned into the highway, when, a short +distance, ahead, they espied a boy standing under a tree. + +"There's Ted, and he has Martin's clothes with him," called Dick +quietly. "Let's hurry up to him and get him to take the clothes +back." + +"A precious lot I care whether Hi Martin ever has any clothes +again," Greg retorted. + +"Oh, well, Greg, there's such a thing as a joke, and there's such +a thing as carrying it too far. Hi Martin has had his dose of +punishment already. We can afford to be decent and let up on him +now. Hi, there, Ted!" + +Teall looked as though uncertain whether to run or to stand. + +"Don't be afraid, Ted," Dick called pleasantly. "A joke is all +right, and we admit that it was on us." + +So Ted, after a first start of suspicion, decided to remain where +he was. + +"Hi Martin sent you after his duds, I reckon?" inquired Ted as +the other two boys ran up to him. All of Hi's apparel lay on +the ground near Teall's feet. + +"He certainly wanted some one to come," laughed Dick. "But, say, +Teall, the thing has been rubbed in too hard. Run back with the +things. You'll find all hands where you hid our things." + +"And I'll find the crazy man there, too, maybe," ventured Teall. +"Also, I'll run right into a gang that is just waiting to trim +me. I thank you kindly, but if any one is to go back into that +crowd with Hi's things, it will be some one else. I won't go---too +much regard for my health, you know." + +"Greg, you carry Hi's clothes back," urged Dick. "I'll take Ted +with me." + +"I will not," flared Greg in open revolt. + +"Be a good fellow," begged Dick. + +"That's all right," grumbled Greg Holmes. "But I'm no valet to +any North Grammar boy. + +"If you fellows won't either of you do it," protested Dick, "I'll +have to do it myself, and---oh, dear! I'm in such a hurry to +get help to take care of Garwood." + +"What about that crazy man, anyway?" demanded Ted, his mouth agape +with curiosity. + +"I don't believe he's crazy at all, though he may perhaps be a +little flighty in his head," Prescott answered. "At any rate, +he isn't violent. There's no danger in him. Ted, won't you take +back these-----" + +Teall shook his head with vigor. + +In the meantime four Grammar School boys had stationed themselves +around Garwood, who stood under a tree chewing a blade of grass. +Hi, either from modesty or humiliation, had retired into a clump +of bushes. + +"They've gone to find that boy who took the clothes, I suppose," +remarked Amos Garwood, looking towards Dave Darrin. "That was +a strange boy, a very nervous boy," continued Garwood aloud. +"Just as soon as I told him my name, he turned and fled like a +streak of lightning. I wonder what ailed him?" + +"I wonder?" repeated Dave solemnly. + +"And that boy said something else that made me very curious," +went on Amos Garwood. "He said something about a crazy man. +I almost thought he referred to me, though the boy himself was +the only one who showed any signs of being crazy. What did he +mean?" + +"He hasn't told us," Dave rejoined. + +But Hi, who felt that he was being shamefully used by the crowd, +suddenly broke in with: + +"If your name is Garwood, then Ted Teall meant that you're the +one that's crazy. And I know where the boys have gone. They're +not looking for my clothes at all. They're looking for constables +to come and seize you!" + +"You shut up, Hi Martin!" raged Tom Reade, making a dash at Hi's +leafy screen. + +But the harm was done. Amos Garwood changed color swiftly. + +"Ha, ha! Ho, ho!" he laughed harshly. "I begin to understand +now. But no one shall seize me. I won't let any one take me." + +He started madly through the bushes, not seeking a path. Dan, +who was nearest him as be passed, leaped and threw both arms around +the man, bringing him to the ground. Dave leaped to aid Dalzell, +nor was Hazelton long in getting to the spot. Tom Reade decided +to defer the punishment of Martin, and went to the aid of his +friends instead. + +Though he had been downed swiftly, Garwood was almost as speedily +on his feet, fighting desperately. Darrin he seized and hurled +several feet into a thicket. Dalzell sought again to wind his +arms around the fellow's legs, but was brushed aside as though +he had been a fly. + +Tom Reade received a blow against his right shoulder that sent +him reeling away, while Hazelton, in trying to get a new hold, +was boxed over his left ear in a way that seemed to make the earth +revolve about him. + +Hardly had the scrimmage started when Garwood was free. + +"No one shall stop me, or hinder me!" cried Amos exultingly, then +wheeled and raced through the forest. + +After him, as soon as they could recover their faculties, dashed +the Grammar School boys. For a minute or two they had him in +sight. Then Garwood, on his long legs, sped ahead and out of +sight. For another half minute they could hear the man's progress +through the brush. After that all was so still that Darrin and +the others halted, gazing perplexedly at each other. + +"Where is he?" gasped Tom. + +"Which way did he go?" breathed Dan. + +Though they listened, neither sight nor sound now aided them. + +"Of all the sneaks and trouble-makers!" cried Dave Darrin indignantly. +"Hi Martin ought to be tied to a tree and switched until he can't +see! He's a regular babbling butt-in." + +"What good did it do him to meddle in that fashion?" burst from +Reade. "The mean, worthless fellow! And we had plenty of reason +to feel grateful to Colonel Garwood, Amos's father, after the +handsome uniforms that were given us." + +"It must have been Hi's reason for spoiling our plan," muttered +Hazelton. "He didn't want us to be able really to earn the uniforms." + +"Come on," urged Dave. "We mustn't lose a bit of time. If we +spread out and keep on we may sight Garwood again." + +"Huh!" muttered Reade. "If Garwood has gone right ahead at the +speed with which be started, then he's in the next county by this +time. We won't see him again to-day." + +After a few minutes of searching the other boys came to the same +conclusion. + +"Out into the road, then," ordered Dave, who naturally took command +when Prescott was absent. "We want to head off any men Dick may +have found and tell 'em what has happened." + +They turned, making rapidly for the road. As it happened, they +came out near where Ted Teall stood guarding Hi's clothing. + +"Have you seen Dick?" was Darrin's hail. "Yes; he and Holmesy +have run down the road to get some men. Here they come now with +the men," Ted answered, pointing. + +Dick had had the good fortune to find help before going far. +With such a reward as had been offered for the capture of Amos +Garwood, it was not difficult to find men who could be interested +in taking part in such a capture. + +"What are you all doing here?" Dick yelled up the road. + +"Garwood got away from us," Dave shouted back. "Hi Martin spoiled +the game for us, and we simply couldn't hold Garwood." + +Then Dick, Greg and the three men hurried up. Dave and Tom told +the story. + +"What a miserable hound Martin is!" burst from indignant Dick. + +"So that boy spoiled us from getting a good slice of a fat reward, +did he?" growled one of the three men. "Where is he?" + +"Up in the woods," muttered Dick, "waiting until some one takes +him his clothes. Ted Teall, you've simply got to return the booby's +outfit to him." + +"Won't do it," retorted Teall. + +"But you took them away from him," Dick insisted. + +"Suppose I did?" + +"It may prove a serious matter, to steal any one's clothing," +Prescott retorted. "And Hi Martin's father is a hot-tempered +man. Ted, if I were in your place I don't believe I'd run the +risk of being arrested. A joke is one thing, but keeping any +one's clothes, after you've taken 'em, is proof of intention to +steal. I don't believe I'd take the risk, if I were you." + +The men were turning back down the road now, having decided to +telephone the Gridley police and then turn out more men and go +into the woods for an all-night search. Dick & Co. turned to +go with the men. + +"Say, you fellows," Ted called after them. "You going to shake +me like that? Who's going back into the woods with me, if I take +these clothes to Hi?" + +"No one," Dick retorted over his shoulder. "You don't have to +take the clothes back, you know, unless you happen to consider +it safer to do it." + +"Hang those fellows," sighed Ted, as be gazed after the retreating +Dick & Co. "Well, I guess they've got me. The wise thing will +be for me to take these duds to Hi before he catches cold." + +So Ted gathered up the articles of apparel and with them started +back into the woods. + +"Hi, Hi!" he called, as be neared the thicket. + +"Here," came an angry voice. + +"Here's your old duds," growled Teall, as he reached the thicket +that concealed young Martin, and threw the things on the ground. + +"It's about time you brought 'em back," snapped Hi, making a dive +for his belongings. + +"I had a good mind not to do it at all," retorted Teall hotly. + +"You'd have found yourself in hot water if you hadn't done it," +Hi declared testily, as, having drawn on his underclothing, he +seated himself to lace up his shoes. Then he rose and reached +for his trousers. + +"See here, Ted Teall," cried Hi suddenly, holding the trousers +forward, "what did you do with my gold watch that was in the pocket +of these trousers." + +"I didn't see your old watch," grumbled Ted. + +"Then you lost it out of the pocket while running through the +woods, did you?" insisted Hi angrily. + +Teall felt cold sweat come out on his neck and forehead. Well +enough did he remember the gold watch, which was the envy of most +of the schoolboys in Gridley. Nor was there any denying the fact +that the watch was absent. + +"Honest, Hi; honest," he faltered. "I didn't see the watch at all." + +"You've got to find it, just the same," retorted Martin stubbornly. +"If you take things away and lose them you've got to find them, +or make good for them. Now, Mr. Smarty, I'm going home, and you're +going to find the watch." + +"Say, you might help a fellow and be decent about it," pleaded +Ted. + +"I didn't lose the watch, and I won't help you look for it," snapped +back Hi Martin, as he strode away. "But if you aren't at my home +with that gold watch before dark to-night, then you may look for +things to happen to you! Find the watch, or wait and see what +the law will do to you, Mr. Ted Smarty!" + +Right on the spot Ted Teall started to look, a feeling of dull +but intense misery gnawing in his breast. + +"Oh, gracious! But now I've gone and done it!" groaned Teall, +beginning to shake in his shoes. "Now, I'm in a whole peck and +half of trouble, for I'll never be lucky enough to find that watch +again!" + + + + +Chapter XI + +TED FEELS THE FLARE-BACK + + +Ted didn't find the watch, nor did the men searchers get anywhere +near a reliable trail of Amos Garwood. + +As for Dick & Co., they aided in the search for a while, then +went home to supper, feeling that they had done their present +duty as well as boys might do it. + +Ted Teall slunk home considerably after dark. Fortunately, as +it happened, his parents didn't force him to tell his reason for +being late, but Ted sat down to a supper that was cold and all +but tasteless. However, Teall could find no fault with his supper. +He was so full of misery that he didn't have the slightest idea +what the meal was like. + +"I wonder if I'd better run away from home before I'm arrested?" +puzzled Ted, as he secured his hat and stole away from the house. +"Br-r-r-r! I don't like the idea of being hauled up in court." + +It finally occurred to him that, if the officers were on his track, +the news would be known up in town. + +"If I nose about Main Street, but keep myself out of sight, and +keep my eyes peeled for trouble," reflected wretched Ted, "I may +find out something that will show me how to act." + +So to Main Street Ted slowly made his way, keeping an alert lookout +all the time for trouble in the form of a policeman. + +At one corner Ted suddenly gasped, feeling his legs give way under +him. By a supreme effort of will he mastered his legs in time +to dart into a dark doorway. + +"Huh! But that was a lucky escape for me," Teall gasped, as he +came out from the doorway, peering down the street after the retreating +form of Hi Martin's father. "I guess he's out looking for me. +He'll want his son's gold watch. Crackey! I wonder if folks +will think I'm low enough down to steal a fellow's watch?" + +If Teall was rough, he was none the less honest, and had all of +an honest boy's sensitive horror of being thought guilty of theft. + +"Yet the matter stands just this way," Ted reflected as he moped +along. "The watch must have been in the trousers when I snatched +'em up, and the watch wasn't there when I returned the trousers. +What will folks naturally think? Oh, I wonder if there ever was as +unlucky a fellow in the world before?" + +A great lump formed in Ted's throat as he puzzled over this problem. + +"Hello, Teall!" called a hearty voice. "Was Hi much obliged when +you gave him back his duds this afternoon?" + +Dick Prescott was the speaker, and with him were his five chums. + +"Nothing like it," muttered Ted, turning as the boys came up. +"Say, something awful happened to-day, and I'm in a peck of trouble!" + +"Tell us about it," urged Tom Reade. + +Ted started to tell them, mournfully. + +"I don't believe a word of that, Ted," Dick broke in energetically. + +"I'm telling you just as it happened," Teall protested. + +"Oh, I guess you are, all right. But I don't believe Hi had his +watch with him. If he had had it, he would have worn a chain +or a fob, and I didn't see any, did you, fellows?" + +"If I thought he had fooled me-----" muttered Ted vengefully. +Then, with a change of feeling, he continued: + +"But I don't believe he was fooling me. Hi was too mad, and he +looked as though he'd like nothing better than to see me get into +big trouble over it." + +"You went all over the ground where you'd been?" Dick asked. + +"Must have gone over it seventeen times," Ted declared positively. +"I didn't quit looking until it was so dark that my eyes ached +with the strain. But not one sight did I catch of the watch." + +"Don't worry any more about it, Teall," urged Dave Darrin. "Like +Dick, I don't believe, for an instant, that Hi had his watch with +him." + +"Here comes Hi now, out of the ice cream place," whispered Greg. + +Young Martin certainly didn't look much worried as he gained the +street. For a few seconds he looked about him. He saw Dick & +Co. and scowled. Then he caught sight of Ted, despite the latter's +trying to shrink behind Reade. + +"See here, Teall, did you find my watch?" demanded Hi, stepping +over to the group. His manner was aggressive, even threatening. + +"N-n-no," stammered Ted. + +"Then I don't believe you looked for it," insisted Hi. + +"Didn't I, though? Until after dark," Ted rejoined. + +"Then why didn't you find it?" + +"Because I didn't happen to see it---that was the only reason," +Teall retorted. + +"There may have been another reason," observed Hi Martin dryly. + +"Do you mean to say that I tried to steal it?" flared Ted, now +ready to fight. + +"How do I know?" Hi asked. + +"If I thought you meant that-----" + +"Well?" asked Hi Martin, gazing coolly into the flashing eyes. + +"You know better!" choked Teall. + +"Of course you know better, Hi Martin," Dick broke in. "Ted Teall +isn't any more of a thief than you are." + +"You fellows have no share in this matter," Hi retorted coldly. +"I'll thank you to keep out, and to mind your own business." + +A little way down the street Hi caught sight of his father approaching. +He turned to Ted to inquire: + +"You say that you looked faithfully for my watch until dark?" + +"Yes; I did," Ted shot back at him. + +"And you didn't find the watch?" + +"No, sirree; I didn't." + +"Oh, well, then," drawled Hi, "I guess---" + +Grinning broadly, he thrust a hand in under his clothing, drawing +out his gold watch. + +"I guess," Hi continued, "that it's time now to quit looking. +It's quarter of nine. Good night!" + +At sight of that watch Ted Teall's eyes bulged. Then the nature +of the outrage dawned on him. In a moment all his pent-up emotions +took the form of intense indignation. + +"You mean fellow!" hissed Ted, his fists clenching. "You-----" + +"Teall, when you play jokes," warned Martin coolly, "you always +want to be sure to look out for the flare-back. Don't forget that. +Good evening, father!" + +Hi slipped off by the side of his parent just in time for Ted +to slow down and realize that he couldn't very well thrash Hi +with the elder Martin looking on. + +Tom and Greg began to laugh. + +"Oh, cheer up, Ted," Dick smiled. "All's well that ends well, +you know." + +"But this matter isn't ended yet," cried Ted Teall excitedly, +shaking his fist at Hi Martin's receding back. "It isn't ended---no, +sir!---not by a long shot!" + + + + +Chapter XII + +THE NORTH GRAMMAR CAPTAIN GRILLED + + +Nor was Teall long in finding his opportunity to be revenged. + +On the following Tuesday, immediately after school, the North +and South Grammar nines met on the field. It was an important +meeting, for, under the rules governing the Gridley Grammar League, +whichever of these two teams lost, having been twice defeated, +was to retire vanquished; the victor in this game was to meet +the Central Grammar to contest for the championship. + +On the toss Captain Ted Teall won, and elected that his side go +to bat forthwith. + +The instant that Ted stepped to the plate a score of North Grammar +fans yelled: + +"Bang!" + +From another group of Norths came: + +"Ow-ow-ow!" This was followed by some fantastic jumping. + +"Huh! Those fellows don't show much brains!" uttered Teall wearily. +"They have to steal a josh from the Centrals." + +It did not annoy Ted to-day. He had expected this greeting, and +had steeled himself against it. + +Dick & Co., with a lot of other fellows from Central Grammar, +looked on in amusement. + +"It's a pity one of Hi's fellows hasn't ingenuity enough to work +up a new 'gag,'" Tom remarked dryly. + +"They'll never rattle Teall again with a 'bang,'" smiled Prescott. + +When the Souths went to grass, however, and the Norths took to +the benches, all was in readiness for Hi, who came forth third +on the batting list. The first two men had been struck out. + +"Come on in!" yelled a dozen tormentors from South Grammar onlookers. +"The water's fine!" + +In spite of himself Hi frowned. He had been expecting something, +but had hoped that the events of the preceding Saturday afternoon +would be left out. + +Hi made a swing for the ball, and missed. + +"Who's seen my duds?" went up a mighty shout. + +"Confound the hoodlums!" hissed Martin between his teeth. + +As mascot, the Souths had brought along a small colored boy, who +attended to a pail of lemonade for the refreshment of Ted's players. +Ere the ball came over the plate a second time this mascot was +seen running close to the foul lines. Over one arm he carried +jacket and trousers; in the other hand he bore a pair of shoes +and of socks. That the clothing was patched and the shoes looked +fit only for a tramp's use did not disguise the meaning of the scene +from any beholder, for the news of that Saturday afternoon had +traveled through the school world of Gridley. + +"Cheer up, suh!" shrieked the colored boy shrilly. "I'se bringing +yo' duds!" + +Then the ball came from the box, but Hi was demoralized by the +roar of laughter that swept over the field. + +A moment later the rather haughty captain of the North Grammar +nine had been struck out and retired. His face was red, his eyes +flashing. + +"Teall, we might expect something rowdyish from your crowd of +muckers," declared Martin scornfully, as the sides changed. + +"If I were you, Martin, I wouldn't do much talking to-day," grinned +Ted. "It's bad for the nerves." + +A half a dozen times thereafter the colored boy was seen scurrying +with "the duds." He took good care, however, to keep away from +the foul lines, and so did not come under the orders of the umpire. + +Whenever the mascot appeared with his burden he raised a laugh. +Hi could not steel himself against a combination of anger and +hurt pride. Some of the North Grammar girls in whose eyes he +was anxious to stand well were among those who could not help +laughing at the ridiculous antics of the colored lad. + +Toward the close of the first half of the third inning Teall again +came to bat. There were no men out in this inning, and two men +were on bases. + +"Now we'll see how you will stand a little jogging," muttered +Hi under his breath as he crossed his hands in signal to some +of the North Grammar fans. + +Just as Ted picked up his bat a dozen boys squeaked: + +"What time is it?" + +This was followed by: + +"Who stole my watch?" + +Another lot of North tormentors---those who had them---displayed +time pieces. + +"That's almost as bad as a stale one," Ted told himself scornfully. + +Just then the ball came just where Teall wanted it. + +Crack! Ted hit it a resounding blow, dropped his bat and started +to run. Amid a din of yells one of the Souths came in, another +reached third and Ted himself rested safely at second base. + +In that inning the Souths piled up five runs. Thereafter the +game went badly for the North Grammars, for most of the players +lost their nerve. Hi, himself, proved unworthy to be captain, +he had so little head left for the game. The contest ended with +a score of nine to two in favor of the South Grammars. + +"That will be about all for the Norths," remarked Ted, with a +cheerful grin, as be met Hi Martin at the close of the game. +"Your nine doesn't play any more, I believe." + +"I'm glad we don't," choked Hi. "There's no satisfaction being +in a league in which the other teams are made up of rowdies." + +"It is tough," mocked Ted. "Especially when the rowdies are the +only fellows who know how to play ball." + +Hi stalked away in moody, but dignified silence. Yet, though +he could ignore the players and sympathizers of other nines, it +was not so easy to get away from the grilling of his own schoolmates. + +"Huh!" remarked one North boy. "You told us, Martin, that you'd +prove to us the benefit of having a real captain for a nine. +Why didn't you?" + +"Martin, you're all wind," growled another keenly disappointed +North. "You talked a lot about what you'd do with the nine---and +what have you done? Left us the boobies of the league. We're +the winners of the leather medal." + +"Why didn't you play yourself, then?" snarled Hi. + +"I wish I had. But we Norths were fooled by the talk you gave +us about how baseball really ought to be played and managed. +You're the school's mascot, you are, Hi Martin. Not!" + +In the meantime Dick Prescott was being surrounded by anxious +Central Grammar boys. + +"Dick," said one of them, while others listened eagerly, "you +beat the Norths. But you didn't give them any such drubbing as +the Souths did to-day. Are they a better nine than ours?" + +"No," Prescott answered promptly. + +"Yet they whipped the Norths worse than we did. Can we down +the Souths?" + +"Yes," nodded Prescott. + +"Why can we?" + +"For the simplest reason in the world, Tolman. We've got to. +Isn't that a fine reason?" + +"It sounds fine," remarked another boy doubtfully. "But can you +whip another crowd just because you want to?" + +"If you want to badly enough," Dick smiled. + +"Hm! I'll be surer about that when I see it done." + +"It'll happen next Friday afternoon, if rain doesn't call the +game," Prescott promised. + +"What do you say to that, Darrin?" demanded another Central boy. + +"Just what Dick said." + +"What's your word, Tom!" + +"You heard what our captain said," Reade laughed. "I always follow +orders. If Dick Prescott tells me to pile up seven runs against +the Souths I'm going to do it." + +"I hope you do," murmured another boy. "Yet it seems against +us---after the way we saw the Souths play to-day." + +"Or rather," added Dick quietly, "the way the North Grammars didn't +play. They'd have put up a lot better game if their captain hadn't +lost his nerve and his head." + +As the Central Grammar boys left, most of them in one crowd, there +was a rather general feeling that Dick was just a bit too confident. +Or, was he simply "putting it on," in order to bolster up the +courage of his players? + +Dick Prescott, at least, was qualified to know what he really +expected. He really was confident of victory in the game that +should decide the league championship. + +"If you feel that you can't be beaten, and won't be beaten, but +that you've got to win and are going to win, then that's more +than half the points of a game won in advance," he told his chums. +"Fellows, in baseball or anything else, we won't say die, either +now or at any later time in life. We'll make it our rule to ride +right over anything that gets in our way. That way we can't know +defeat." + +"Unless, finally, we ride to our deaths," laughed Tom. + +"What of it?" challenged Dick. "That wouldn't be defeat. The +man who rides to death in the search for victory has won. He has +carried the winning spirit with him to the very finish. Or else +the history we've been studying at school is all a mess of lies." + +"There's a lot in that idea," nodded Dave thoughtfully. + +"There's more in it every time that you think of it," Dick contended. + +Thus Dick was starting, in Dick & Co., the never-give-up spirit +which made them almost invincible later as High School boys. + +Wednesday and Thursday were days filled with eagerness for the +Central Grammar boys. The members of the baseball squad were +not by any means the only ones on tenterhooks. Every boy in the +upper grades of the school was waiting impatiently to learn who +would be the winners of the championship. + +Somewhat to the astonishment of the Central Grammar boys Captain +Dick, on Wednesday afternoon, gave his team only a brief half +hour of diamond practice. Thursday afternoon they didn't play +at all. Instead, the nine and its subs. went off on a tramp +through the woods. + +"What we want to-morrow above all," Dick explained, as he marshaled +his forces, "is steady nerves. There's nothing like a good walk +in the cool and shady spots for tuning up a schoolboy's nerves +for an ordeal. A walk is good whether you're facing an exam. +or a championship game." + +"May the rest of us go with you!" called one of the Central boys +outside the squad. + +"We can't stop you," Dick replied, "but we'd rather you let the +ball squad go by itself." + +"All right, then," cried three or four. The fourteen of the squad +marched away, unhampered by any followers. + +Once outside the town and halted under a grove of trees, Dick +turned to his teammates. + +"Fellows," he said quietly, "I believe some of you have been anxious +to know what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"It's coming, at last!" gasped Tom Reade. "Well, let us hear +what the man on the clubhouse steps said. It must be one of the +choice pieces of wisdom of all the ages." + +"It is," Dick replied quietly. + +"Then let us hear shouted Dave. + +"Not now," Prescott answered, shaking his head solemnly. "But, +fellows, you win to-morrow's game and you shall all hear just +what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"Win?" retorted Tom Reade. "Dick Prescott, with a bribe like +that before us, we're bound to win! We couldn't do anything else." + +Then they went further into the woods. Dick had brought his players +here in search of peace, quiet and nerve rest. Had he had even +one prophetic glimpse of what was ahead of some of them that afternoon +it would have been far better to have remained in town. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +"BIG INJUN---HEAP BIG NOISE" + + +"Say, we don't want to just go on walking. There's no fun in +that," objected Spoff Henderson. + +"We're out for rest more than for fun," Dick replied. "The walk +and the rest this afternoon are all by way of preparing for the +big game to-morrow afternoon." + +"But wouldn't there be more rest about it if we had a little fun?" +Spoff insisted. + +"Perhaps," Dick nodded. "What's your idea of fun?" + +"Why not play 'Indians and Whites'?" put in Toby Ross eagerly. + +"That would be just the sort of game for to-day," Dave approved. + +"That's what I say," nodded Tom. + +"Dick, you're used to these woods," Spoff went on. "You be the +big Injun---the big chief. Choose two more of the fellows to +be Injuns with you, and the rest will be whites." + +"All right," nodded Dick. "Dave and Tom can go with me. Who'll +be your captain?" + +"Greg!" cried Spoff. + +"Holmesy," said Ross in the same breath. + +So Greg Holmes was chosen captain, to command the whites. + +"Give us the full six minutes, Greg, won't you?" Dick called, +as he and his two fellow "Injuns" prepared to enter the deep woods. + +"Of course I will," Greg nodded. "You don't think I'd cheat, +do you?" + +Those of the boys who were proud owners of watches hurriedly consulted +their timepieces. Greg retained his in his hand. + +"Now," called Dick, and away he started, followed by Braves Darrin +and Reade. + +As the Gridley boys had their own version of "Indians and Whites," +a description of the game may as well be given here. + +The Indians always chose a chief, the whites a captain. Chief +and braves started away at the call of time. Six minutes later, +to the second, the whites started in pursuit. The whites must +keep in one band, as must also the Indians. Yet, in trailing, +the whites could spread out, while the Indians must keep together. + +Though the Indians were allowed to double on the trail, they were +not permitted to run. Nothing faster than an ordinary walk was +permitted to them, unless they found themselves sighted by the +whites. + +Moreover, owing to the lack of skill on the part of the whites +in following a trail, the Indians were required to walk as usual, +making no special efforts to hide their footprints. + +The whites were permitted to pursue at any gait. If they sighted +the Indians, then they were expected to yell by way of warning. +If more than half the Indians were captured before the expiration +of an hour from the first departure of the Indians, then the whites +won. Otherwise the Indians were victors. + +Dick walked in advance, Dave and Tom side by side just behind him. + +"We must try to think up some way to fool the fellows," muttered +Reade. + +"Halt!" warned Dick, when they were barely two minutes away from +the starting point. + +Darrin and Reade stopped in their tracks. + +"See that low-hanging limb, and the bushes just beyond?" asked +young Prescott. + +"Of course," assented Dave. + +"We'll go on about a minute further," suggested Dick, who had +kept his watch in hand from the outset. "Then we'll walk backward, +stop here, grab that limb and swing ourselves over past the bushes. +That ought to throw the fellows off the track and get 'em all +mixed up." + +"If the whites are spread enough they'll probably be outside those +bushes," remarked Reade. "Then they'll find where the trail changes." + +"That's one of the chances that we have to take," smiled Dick. +"Let's see if we can't make it work." + +Onward again they went, halting when Prescott gave the word. +Walking backward, they were soon at the oak with the low-hanging +limb. + +"I'll try it first," proposed Dick, "and see if it's easy enough. +Don't walk around here and make enough tracks to call the attention +of the whites to the fact that we stopped here." + +Dick made a bound, catching the limb fairly. Three or four times +he swung himself back and forth, until he had gained enough momentum. +Then he let go, on the last swing, landing on his feet well behind +the bushes. Dave came next, Tom following. Now the three Indians +hurried on again, Big Injun Dick in the lead as before. + +"If we do throw them off, Greg's fighting men will have a hard +job hitting the trail again," chuckled Tom. + +"If they don't find our trail, Dick, where are you headed for?" +whispered Dave. + +"For the road and home," laughed Dick. "Then, while they're trying +to figure out where we've gone, we fellows will be washing up +for supper." + +"I'd like to hear Old Greg grumbling if the 'double' does throw +'em off the trail altogether," grinned Darrin. "Dick, I think +we've more than half a chance to get away." + +"We have about four chances out of five of slipping away from +Greg's soldiers," predicted Prescott. + +For ten minutes Dick and his two braves plodded on. There were, +as yet, no audible sounds of pursuit. + +"We caught 'em, surely enough, that time," chuckled Tom. "Going +to hit for the road now, Dick?" + +"We can't reach the road until our hour is up; we're bound to +keep to the woods," Prescott replied. "However, you'll note that +I am taking a course that will gradually lead us to the road." + +"Right-o," nodded Reade, after taking a look at their surroundings. +All the members of Dick & Co. had spent so much of their time +in the woods that they knew every foot of the way. + +"I wonder where that valiant band of whites is, anyway?" muttered +Dave. "I haven't heard a sound of them." + +"You may hear their battle yell any minute," Dick whispered. +"Be careful not to talk loudly enough to give them any clue." + +For two or three minutes more Dick led the way. Of a sudden he +halted---right up against a huge surprise. For the boys had suddenly +broken into a little circular clearing, not much more than thirty +feet in diameter. Near the center of this clearing, under a flimsy +shelter he had made of poles and branches, crouched Amos Garwood. +He was at work over a low bench built of a board across two boxes. +So intent was Garwood on what he was doing that he appeared not +to have heard the approach of the boys. + +Dick Prescott stood looking on, one hand raised as a signal for +the silence of those behind him. But both Dave and Tom had caught +sight of the stranger at about the same instant. + +"If any who know me have hinted that my brain is not strong enough," +muttered Garwood, whose back was turned to the startled Grammar +School boys, "there is bound to be a great awakening when my wonderful +invention is perfected. Then the world will bow down to me, for +I shall be its master." + +"Crazy as a porous plaster!" muttered Tom Reade under his breath. + +"It will be a new, a strange sensation," continued Garwood, speaking +just loud enough to be heard by the onlookers. "A great sensation, +too, to be master of the world when, during these present dark +days, I am compelled to run and hide for fear envious scientists +will succeed in capturing me and locking me up." + +"I wonder what he thinks he's doing there?" pondered Dick curiously. + +"To think that a few grains of this wonderful substance would +pulverize a regiment!" continued Garwood, in an inventor's ecstasy. +"An ounce of this wonderful material enough to blow up an army +corps. A single pound sufficient to bring the nations of the +world to my feet in awed homage. And I can make a hundred pounds +a day of it! Oh, that I could reach other worlds, to make them +feel my mastery!" + +"If his stuff is as good as he thinks it is, I certainly hope +he won't shoot off any of it accidentally," thought Prescott, +with an odd little shiver. + +"Oh, that I dared trust my secret to one or two others!" murmured +Garwood, as he delved with one hand into one of the boxes that +supported his simple bench. "And now for the great finishing +touch!" + +Amos Garwood placed on the board a fairsized wide-mouthed bottle. +From where he stood, Dick could read the label on the bottle--- +"Potassium Chlorate---crystals." + +"Chlorate of potash?" thought Dick. "That's what Dr. Bentley +gave me once for sore throat." + +Dick, however, was soon to get an inkling of a suspicion that +chlorate of potash might be used to serve other purposes. + +As the mentally queer inventor reached into the box for that bottle, +the three silent, observing "Injuns" saw that Garwood had on the +crude table before him a glass mortar and pestle, the former of +about two quarts' capacity. + +In this mortar lay a quantity of powdered stuff, which Garwood +had evidently been grinding before their arrival. Now he poured +out a heaping handful of the chlorate crystals, dropping them +on top of the mixture in the mortar. + +"A few turns---a little more fatigue of the wrist---and I am the +world's master---its owner!" cried Garwood exultantly. + +"Ker-choo!" sneezed Tom Reade at the worst possible moment. + +Amos Garwood turned like a flash, tottering to his feet. + +"Spies! Traitors! Ingrates!" he gasped in hoarse terror. + +"Nothing at all like it," Dick replied, with a pleasant smile. +"Mr. Garwood, we boys are playing in these woods. If we've meddled +with your affairs you'll pardon us, and let us pass on, won't you?" + +"Didn't you try to find me here?" demanded Garwood, suspicious still. + +"I give you my word of honor that we didn't, sir," answered Dick. +"Until a moment ago we hadn't any idea that you were within +fifty miles of this spot. You see, sir, we're playing Indians +and whites. We're the big Injuns, even if we don't look it. +And behind us, somewhere on our trail, is Captain Greg Holmes, +with a company of his brave soldiers, trailing us relentlessly." + +"Soldiers?" quivered Amos Garwood, his face going ashen. Then +his face suddenly took on a look of intense exultation. "Soldiers?" +he repeated. "It couldn't be better. It is on soldiers that +my amazing discovery should be proved. But I waste time---and +loss of time may be fatal to all my plans. A few turns, and my +discovery is ready. I can then defy whole armies, if necessary!" + +Sweeping the mortar around within reach, so that he could work +and watch the Grammar School boys at the same time, Amos Garwood +began to grind his pestle into the mixture with feverish energy. + +Then all of a sudden the very earth shook and rocked. Big Injun +Prescott and his two braves were in the center of the biggest explosion +they had ever heard! + + + + +Chapter XIV + +"CRAZY AS A POROUS PLASTER" + + +It was terrific, and yet the only effect on the bench on which +the mortar lay was to knock the board sideways from the boxes. +The mortar became as powder itself, though not a splinter was +raised from the wood. + +From the lips of Amos Garwood a fearful yell went up. He plunged +headlong a few feet, then lay on the ground, feebly nursing his +right hand with his left. + +As for Dick, Dave and Tom, their ears rang with the noise until +they felt as though surely their ear-drums had been ruptured by +the force of that awesome detonation. + +An instant later all was quiet. Dick and his chums speedily realized +that they had escaped actual injury, yet their legs shook so that +they could hardly stand. + +"Wh---wh---what was it?" asked Reade in accents that quivered +in unison with his trembling legs. + +"See here, fellows, we mustn't be fools," Dick cried chidingly. +"We're not hurt, and Mr. Garwood is. Let's see what we can do +for him." + +"Do for me, will you?" groaned the injured one. "No, you won't. +You boys keep your distance from me, or you're going to be worse +scared than you are already. Don't imagine that I'm helpless, +for I'm not. In me you behold the master of the world!" + +"Confound him, I've a good mind to go away and let him have the +world to himself," muttered Reade. + +But Dick and Dave had already started toward the spot where Amos +lay. The man scrambled to his feet, the old, hunted look coming +into his eyes. + +"You keep away from me!" he screamed. "Get away! Clear out! +I don't want to hurt you. I wouldn't harm a fly. But I'm not +going to allow any one near me!" + +Dick ventured too near. Garwood swung his uninjured arm so +unexpectedly that Prescott had no chance to get out of the way. +He fell flat on the ground. Warned by the light in the eye of the +world's master, Dick believed it prudent to roll several yards before +be tried to get up. + +"Say," blazed Darrin indignantly. "Are you going to stand for +that?" + +"Don't excite him," murmured Prescott in an undertone. "The poor +fellow isn't responsible for what he's doing. And I'd fight, +too, if I thought any one was trying to seize me." + +"I'm sorry if I had to hurt you," said Amos Garwood in a milder tone. +"But I allow no one to come near me. I have too many enemies +---so many who are jealous of me that I can trust no one." + +"He isn't really dangerous, poor fellow," whispered Prescott to +his companions. + +"No, though he has a habit of blowing up suddenly," muttered Reade. +"He did the same thing once before, you'll remember, at the old +water-works cottage." + +"Are we going to try to catch the fellow this time?" Darrin whispered. + +"Yes," nodded Dick. "We ought to, both for his father's sake +and his own." + +"What do you say, then, if we all three rush him?" pressed Darrin. + +"It would be mean," Dick retorted in an undertone. "The poor +fellow might be tempted to use his injured hand. And you can +see how it's burned. I don't wonder. You saw how the flame of +the explosion leaped all over that arm. It's a wonder it didn't +set him afire." + +"Are you boys going to leave me," inquired Garwood, "or are you +going to remain and thus show me that you are truly of my enemies?" + +"You slip back into the woods, Tom," whispered Dick. "See if +you can find Greg and the other fellows. If you can, bring them +up quickly." + +Dave and I'll stay here, unless Garwood moves away. If he does, +Darry and I will follow him. If you hear any war whoops, come +running in that direction, you and the other fellows. You'll +know that the whoop means that we need you." + +"I hate to leave you two with him," muttered Reade reluctantly. +"If this world-boss gets violent you two won't be enough for +him." + +"We can get out of the way, if we have to," Dick rejoined. "But +hurry, Tom. We need a lot of the fellows, for we ought to seize +this poor fellow and get him into town, even if only that be may +have proper attention for his burned hand and arm. Hustle. You'll +help me more in that way than in any other." + +Thus urged, Tom turned and vanished into the forest behind the +others. + +"Why do you stay here?" demanded Amos Garwood fretfully. "I +don't want to injure you, boys; but if you belong to my enemies, +then I shall be forced to hurt you. Run away before I lose my +temper. I am always sorry afterwards when I have lost my temper." + +The flash in the man's eyes made both boys feel "creepy." Thin +as he was, there was about him, none the less, a suggestion of +great strength and force when put in action. + +"We have a right to stay in the woods, Mr. Garwood," Dick answered. +"I don't want to seem impudent, either, but I would suggest that +if you don't like to be with us here, then there are other parts +of the forest that you can find." + +As Dick spoke he swung one arm, pointing artfully to the woods +in the direction that Tom Reade had gone, and where it was believed +that Greg and his followers were searching. + +"If that's the way you want me to go," smiled Amos Garwood darkly, +"then I believe I'll go in the opposite direction. And, young +men, it won't be wise for you to attempt to follow me!" + +With that hint he started. Dick and Dave waited until they could +see only the top of his head. Then they started on his trail. + +For an instant Amos Garwood was out of sight. Then, with a suddenness +that startled both trailers, Garwood stepped out from behind a +tree and right into their path. + +"I cautioned you both," he announced sharply. "I shall not go +to that trouble again. Keep away from me. Never mind where I +am going, or what I am going to do." + +Then a spasm of pain shot across the poor fellow's face. Calm +as he tried to keep himself, it was plain that his burned hand +and arm were causing him great suffering. + +"Won't you come with us," pleaded Dick, "and get that arm of yours +attended to? We'll take you to the right place." + +"To the right place?" mocked Garwood harshly. "Right into the +camp of my enemies, I suppose? Among those who deride my great +invention, and yet who would capture me and steal my wonderful +discovery from me. Boys, I have already told you that if you +follow me, you will follow me to grave harm. Beware in time. +Run! Leave me! Or your fates be on your own heads, for I am +master of the world and can force you to obey me!" + +As Garwood spoke the last words another change crossed his face. +He reached into an inner coat pocket. + +"You will not obey me," he remarked. "Therefore, I must act to +save myself and my great discovery. 'Tis as you would have it!" + +"Duck!" gasped Dave Darrin, seizing Dick by one arm. "He means +big mischief!" + +What it was for which he had reached in his pocket neither Grammar +School boy saw, for both turned at the same instant, beating a +swift retreat. Sixty feet away, however, they halted, wheeling +about. + +Garwood, seeing the boys run, acted as though he would give them +no further thought. He was already walking in the opposite direction, +his back turned to them. + +"Ugh! He gives me cold chills," cried Darrin. + +"He does the same to me," sighed Dick, "but it's a plain case +of duty to follow him until we can turn him over to those who'll +take good care of the poor fellow." + +Just as Amos Garwood was on the point of vanishing from their +view, the two schoolboys started forward, more cautiously than +before. + +Back of them in the woods, far away, sounded a boyish war-whoop. + +"Hi-yi-yi-yi-_yoop_!" answered Dave Darrin. + +Amos Garwood started forward with a bound like that of a deer. +Then his long legs went into rapid operation. Prescott and Darrin +ran onward as fast as they could go. They were trained to running, +too, but this "master of the world" set them a pace that no +fourteen-year-old boys on earth could have followed with any hope +of success. + +"Whoop, but he's an airship for speed!" gasped Dave Darrin. + +"We couldn't catch him with a locomotive," confessed Dick, when, +panting, he was at last obliged to halt. + +"Hear him---going," gasped Darrin. + +"I can't hear him," confessed Dick, after a moment of listening. + +"That's just the point. He has gotten so far away that we can't +hear him crashing through the undergrowth." + +"I'm afraid we won't catch up with him again to-day," sighed Dick. + +"The folks who are trying to catch Amos Garwood are foolish in +sending detectives to look for him," muttered Dave. "They ought +to hire professional sprinters." + +Away at their rear sounded a fainter whoop. + +"Answer the fellows, Dave," urged Prescott. + +"I will---when I get some wind," muttered Darrin. + +Three times more Greg and his fellows whooped before Dick could +get together enough wind to make his voice travel. Greg repeated +the hail, and again Dick answered. After a few minutes the other +Grammar School boys caught up with Dick and his friend, who told +to the new-comers the story of the encounter with Amos Garwood. + +"Get away from you again?" asked Tom blankly. + +"I don't believe we'll ever chase that streak of light again," +growled Dave. "I don't feel as though I'd ever be able to run +again. Amos Garwood can walk faster than any of us can run." + +"The most that we can do at present," Prescott concluded, will +be to notify Lawyer Ripley or Chief Coy that we've seen the Garwood +flyer again." + +"I wish we could catch him," sighed Torn, while Greg nodded. + +"You two can have the next chance," smiled Dick. "As for me, +I am certain that I can never catch Amos Garwood unless he and +I happen to be running toward each other." + +"All in favor of supper," proposed Dan Dalzell, glancing at his +watch, "say 'aye' and turn homeward." + +"But shan't we try, for a while, to trail Garwood?" queried Greg. + +"What's the use?" cross-questioned Dick disconsolately. "We might +sight him, but we'd never catch him. Nor do I believe he has +stopped running yet." + +"If he hasn't," grumbled Dave, "he's twenty miles from here by +this time." + +So Dan's motion prevailed. The baseball squad of the Central +Grammar School turned toward the road that led homeward. + + + + +Chapter XV + +BLUFFING UP TO THE BIG GAME + + +"That explosion was fearful, what there was of it," Dick declared +to Chief Coy. It was evening, and the head of the local police +department had stopped the boys on the street for additional information +on the subject. + +"What did it look like?" asked Chief Coy. + +"There came a big flash and a loud bang in the same instant, and +Mr. Garwood was hurled over on his side. The queer part of it +was that the explosion didn't do any real damage to the bench, +though there wasn't a piece of the glass mortar left that was +big enough to see." + +"The explosion all went upward. It didn't work sideways or downward?" +asked Chief Coy. + +"That's the way we saw it," Dick replied. "And it didn't hurt +either you or Darrin?" + +"Not beyond the big scare, and the shock to our ear-drums." + +"I wonder what the explosive could have been?" mused the chief +aloud. + +"I don't know what was in the mortar in the first place, sir," +Dick Prescott went on. "All Amos Garwood put in the mortar after +we got there was some chlorate of potash. Then he put the pestle +in and began to grind." + +"And then the explosion happened?" followed up Chief Coy. + +"Chlorate of potash, eh?" broke in a local druggist, who had halted +and was listening. "Hm! If Garwood ground that stuff with a +pestle, then it doesn't much matter what else was in the mortar!" + +"Is the chlorate explosive, sir?" questioned Dick. + +"Is it?" mimicked the druggist. "When I first started in to learn +the drug business it was a favorite trick to give an apprentice +one or two small crystals of chlorate to grind in a mortar. After +a lot of accidents, and after a few drug clerks had been send +to jail for playing the trick it became played out in drug stores." + +"But I've seen powdered chlorate of potash," interposed Tom Reade, +who was always in search of information. + +"Yes," admitted the druggist. "I can show you, at my store, about +ten pounds of the powdered chlorate." + +"Then how do they get it into a powder, sir?" pressed Tom. "Do +the manufacturers grind it between big millstones?" + +"If any ever did," laughed the druggist, "they never remained +on earth long enough to tell about it. A few pounds of the chlorate, +crushed between millstones, would blow the roof off of the largest +mill you ever saw!" + +"But what makes the stuff so explosive?" queried Prescott. + +"I don't know whether I can make you understand it," the druggist +replied. "Potassium chlorate is extremely 'rich' in oxygen, and +it is held very loosely in combination. When a piece of the chlorate +is struck a hard blow it sets the oxygen free, and the gas expands +so rapidly that the explosion follows." + +On the outskirts of the little crowd stood a new-comer, Ted Teall, +who was drinking in every word that the druggist uttered. Dick +saw him and felt a sudden start of intuition. + +"See here, Teall," Dick called, "you needn't pick that up as a +pointer for the way to serve me with a home-made ball at our game +to-morrow. The trick I played on you wasn't dangerous, but this +chlorate racket is. Mr. Johnson, what would happen if a fellow +should hit a ball with his bat, and that ball was packed with +chlorate of potash?" + +"I'm not sure that the fellow with the bat would ever know what +happened," answered the druggist. + +"Is it as bad as that?" gasped Teall. + +"Worse," replied the druggist grimly. + +"So, Teall, if you had any thoughts of playing a trick like that," +interposed Chief Coy, "take my word for it that such a trick would +be likely to land you in a reform school until you were at least +twenty-one years old." + +"Oh, if it's as bad as that-----" muttered Ted reluctantly. + +"What did you and Darry say, when the explosion came off?" asked +Dan Dalzell, as Dick & Co. walked on again. + +"I don't remember just what Darry said," Prescott confessed reluctantly. +"As for me, I remember just what I said." + +"What?" + +"I said just what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"And what was that?" pressed Dalzell. + +"That's what you're going to find out if you win the game from +South Grammar to-morrow." + +"Then the game is as good as won already," declared Tom solemnly, +"for we're in that frame of mind where we've got to know what +the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +Through the evening, and the long night that followed, Chief Coy +had two of his policemen out searching the woods where Garwood +had last been seen. Mr. Winthrop added three detectives to the +chase. When morning came the "queer" inventor was still at large. +He had not even been seen since Dick and Dave had lost sight +of him. + +"The last time that I put this class on honor," announced Old +Put, when the morning session began, "we had one of the best records +of good behavior during the day that I can remember. I will, +therefore, announce that this class is on honor again to-day, +and that, no matter what the breaches of discipline, no pupil +will be kept after school to-day. All will be allowed to go and +see the great, the glorious game." + +Then, after a pause, Old Dut added dryly: + +"I haven't the heart to keep any one after school to-day. I am +going to the game myself." + +At this statement a laugh rippled around the room. Then every +boy and girl settled down to the serious business of the day. + +At three o'clock Old Put announced: + +"If Captain Prescott so desires, he may withdraw now with his +team, in order to have time to dress and get oiled up on the diamond." + +"I thank you, sir, for that permission," responded Dick, rising +at once. He was followed by the other players. + +"Go out a little more quietly, if you please---that's all," called +Old Dut. + +On tiptoe the members of the squad stole upstairs to the exhibition +hall. There they quickly got into their uniforms, next stowing +their street clothing in a closet, the key of which the principal +had supplied to Captain Dick Prescott. + +In thoughtful silence Dick led his small host from the schoolhouse +to the diamond. When they had halted by the benches Dick began: + +"Now, fellows, each of you keep steadily in mind what we have +at stake this afternoon." + +"Yes, sirree!" grinned Dan Dalzell. "If we win to-day we're going +to learn what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"To-day's victory gives one school or the other the championship +of the Gridley Grammar School League," Dick declared. + +"Oh, that's a side issue, entirely," retorted Tom gravely. "What +we're really burning about is to know what the man on the clubhouse +steps said." + +"Are we going to pitch in to practice now?" asked Greg. + +"You fellows can, if you want to, but don't go at it too hard," +replied Captain Dick. + +"If you didn't want to practice, what were you in such a hurry +to get out of school for?" demanded Holmes. + +"Because I felt that we had been in school about as long as we +could stand on the day of the championship game," laughed Prescott. + +"Wise captain," approved Darrin. + +They had not been on the field many minutes when a whoop sounded +near at hand that caused the boys to look with surprise. + +"Here come the Souths!" called Dave. "They must have been let +out early, too." + +"Hello!" hailed Captain Teall. "You fellows are here early, but +I don't see your shovels." + +"Shovels?" repeated Dick. + +"Yes; to dig holes to get into after the game is over," Ted retorted. + +"Teall," Prescott responded sternly, "if the South Grammars want +any holes to hide in, they'll have to dig them themselves." + +"Humph! We'll see which side feels most like digging a hole when +the score is read!" retorted Ted. "Come along, Souths!" + +Ted led the way down the field for practice. On the way he turned +to shout something back. At that moment he tripped over a small +wooden box and fell flat. + +"Oh, Ted!" called Dick hurriedly. + +"Well?" growled Teall, rubbing his shins. + +"Did you enjoy your little trip?" + +"My---little---trip?" repeated Ted wonderingly. "Oh---pshaw! +Of course you'd think of something like that to say." + +"If you're lamed any by your little trip," offered Tom, "I'll +leave left field to do your base running for you this afternoon." + +"Yah! I'll bet you would," jeered Teall. "And if I let you, +I'd be down on the score card for three less than no runs at all." + +"You will, anyway," said Reade gravely. + +"Somehow," broke in Dan, "I feel unusually happy this afternoon." + +"That's because you know we're going to win to-day," laughed Dick. + +"Oh, that's a part of it, yes," Dalzell agreed. "But the real +cause of my happy feeling is that I'm going to find out what the +man on the clubhouse steps said. That's what I've been aching +to know ever since some time last winter." + +"The time will pass shortly now, Danny Grin," Prescott remarked +comfortingly. + +By this time a score of spectators had arrived. Then came a few +High School boys, among them Ben Tozier, who was again to umpire. +"Tozier, what's the High School delegation for?" Dan asked. +"To find out who'll be handy for the High School nine next year?" + +"Perhaps," Ben replied gravely. "There's some good, young material +in the two nines, all right. The trouble is that a lot of you +fellows won't go to High School." + +"All of Dick & Co. are going to attend High School," Dave proudly +informed Tozier. + +Two more High School boys now appeared who were not as welcome. +Fred Ripley and Bert Dodge walked on to the field side by side. + +"What are they doing here?" asked Dave. + +"We are in luck," spoke up Tom, "if they haven't come here to +start mischief." + +"If they do, if they even try it," Dick predicted grimly, "they'll +be the ones out of luck. We'll turn the boys of two Grammar Schools +loose on them and run them off the field." + +Down the street sounded a noise that could come from only one +cause. Central Grammar School had "let out." All the boys and +many of the girls were now hurrying toward the ball field. It +was natural to take the biggest sort of interest in this game, +which was to decide which school was the "champion." + +"I'm sorry to see your crowd in such high spirits, Prescott," +said Ted Teall, coming up. "It'll be all the harder for Central +Grammar to bear when the score is announced." + +"You're sure of winning, then, Teall?" Dick inquired. + +"Absolutely certain!" Captain Ted rejoined. + +"We're going to set off a big bonfire this evening, Ted," Captain +Prescott rejoined. "If we win to-day will you agree to be on +hand to light the fire?" + +"Yes; if you win," agreed Ted. "But you can't!" + + + + +Chapter XVI + +"TED'S TERRORS" FULL OF FIGHT + + +The umpire's quiet voice called the captains of the nines apart. + +"Who'll call the toss?" asked Ben. + +"Let Teall do it," Dick answered. + +"You do it, Prescott," urged Captain Ted. + +"Well, which one of you is going to call?" inquired Tozier. + +"Teall," Dick again answered. + +"Oh, all right, then," nodded Ted. "I suppose, Prescott, you +feel that, whichever way I call, I'd wish I'd taken the other +way." + +The coin spun upward in the air, for Ben Tozier was a master of +the art of flipping. + +"Tails," announced Teall. + +"It's heads this time," announced Umpire Tozier. "Captain Prescott?" + +"We'll go to bat, then," decided Prescott. "We might as well +begin to pile up the score that we're going to make." + +"We'll show you how you're not going to make it," Ted grinned. +"Remember, Prescott, that I and Wells are the battery to-day." + +"What you need," laughed Dick, "is a good right fielder and a +star third baseman." + +"Huh!" grunted Teall. + +"Get to your places," ordered Tozier briskly. "We want to end +this game some time to-day." + +The umpire inspected a new ball, then sent it grounding to Teall. +Back and forth between the members of the South Grammar battery +the ball passed three times. + +"Play ball!" called the umpire sharply. + +Tom Reade already stood by the plate. He swung his stick idly, +watching Teall. Along came the ball. Tom judged it and hit at it. + +"Strike one!" called Tozier, shifting a pebble to his left hand. + +Ted grinned derisively as he twisted the leather for the next +throw. + +"Ball one!" and a bean followed the pebble into the umpire's left +hand. + +"Strike two! Ball two! Ball three!" + +Ted Teall began to feel angry over the growing pile of called +balls. He delivered one with great care. + +Whack! Tom never waited to see whether the ball was headed inside +or outside of foul lines. He simply dropped his willow, then +gave his best exhibition of the sprinting that he had learned +in the spring. + +It was a fair ball that struck inside of left field. South's +left fielder had to run in for the leather, which struck the ground, +then rolled to one side. Thump! The ball landed neatly in the +first baseman's hands, but Tom had kicked the bag a second before. + +"Runner safe," drawled Tozier. + +Spoff Henderson came next to bat. Ted, with great care, struck +him out. Toby Ross met with similar disaster, nor did Reade have +any chance to steal up to second. Then Greg advanced to the plate. +He had his own favorite stick, which he swung with great confidence. + +"Now, just see what I'll do to you!" was what Ted Teall's impudent +smile meant. + +Crack! Holmes hit the first ball, reaching first and pushing +Tom to second. + +"Danny Grin, don't fail us," begged Prescott, as Dan started for +the plate. "Two men out, remember!" + +As Dalzell faced the pitcher his grin was broader than Teall's. + +Two strikes and two balls were quickly called. Some of Dalzell's +assurance was gone now, but he steadied himself down. It would +never do to strike out at such a time. + +Then Danny Grin made his third strike, but he drove the ball ahead +of him, forcing the right fielder of the Souths to run backward +for it, but he missed the catch and by the time the ball was in +circulation again the bases were full of Central Grammar runners. + +"I'm glad you're going forward," whispered Dave, just as Dick +started towards the plate, his favorite bat in hand. + +"I'll make a monkey of you," muttered Teall, just loudly enough +for the words to reach Prescott. + +"If you can, you're welcome," grunted Dick under his breath. + +Swat! It was the first ball driven in. Had there been a fence +around the field that fair drive would have gone over it. How +it soared and then flew! The right fielder who followed that +ball was nervous from the start. He panted as he fell upon the +ball. + +"Throw it to third!" yelled Teall. + +"Just at that instant Dan Dalzell was nearing the home plate, +which Tom and Greg had already passed. Prescott's ankle turned +slightly or he would have got in ahead of the ball. + +"Runner out at third," called Tozier in a singsong voice. "Side +out!" + +"Yet who cared?" Dick's wonderful blow on the leather had brought +three men in safe. + +The Souths followed at bat. One, two, three, Prescott struck +them out. Ted Teall's face looked solemn, indeed. + +"Wells, we've simply got to hold these fellows down," grunted +Teall to his catcher in the brief conference for which there was +time. "We don't want to be walloped by a score of ninety-four +to two." + +"I haven't let anything get by me, have I?" grunted the catcher. + +"No; but signal for some of my new ones." + +"I don't want to put a crimp in your wing," muttered Wells. + +"That's all right. It's a tough wing. Don't let the Centrals +score anything on us in this inning." + +"I'll do my best to help you hold 'em down," promised the South +Grammar catcher as he hurried to his place behind the plate. + +Dave Darrin, to his intense disgust, was struck out on three of +the most crafty throws that Teall had on his list. Hazelton followed. +Another player reached first on called balls, but the next Central +boy struck a fair, short fly that landed in Ted's own hands. + +"That was more like," grunted Ted, as he met his catcher at the +bench. "In that first inning these Centrals had me almost scared." + +In the second half of this second inning the Souths scored one +run. They did the same in the third and the fourth innings, meantime +preventing Prescott's fellows from scoring again, though in the +fourth inning Prescott saw the bases full with Centrals just before +the third man was struck out. + +In the fifth and sixth innings neither side scored. At last the +spectators began to realize that they were watching two well-matched +nines. + +"I can't see that the Central Grammars are doing such a lot of +a much," grunted Hi Martin to a High School boy. + +"The Centrals are playing fine ball," retorted the High School +boy. "The only trouble is that the Souths rank pretty close to +them." + +"I'd like to play both teams again," asserted Hi. "All that happened +to us was that we struck a few flukes when we played." + +"Humph!" retorted the High School lad, just before turning away. +"Your North Grammar nine was kicked all over the field by both +of these nines. Both Prescott's and Teall's fellows have improved +a lot since they met you." + +Hi subsided, feeling unhappy. It hurt him to hear any one praise +a fellow like Prescott. + +"I wonder if they could beat us, if we had another try?" pondered +Hi. "But what's the use of talking? Prescott would never think +of giving us another chance. He's too thankful to have lugged +the score away from us before." + +In the eighth inning Teall brought in one more run for the Souths, +who now led. + +"We've got to work mighty hard and carefully," grunted Tom Reade. + +"Yes," assented Dick briefly. + +"We're beaten, anyway, I guess," sighed Hazelton. + +Dick Prescott wheeled upon him almost wrathfully. + +"We're never beaten, Harry---remember that. We don't propose +to be beaten, and we can't be. We're going to bat now to pile +up a few more runs. The championship is ours, fellows---don't +let that fact escape you." + +"I wish I had Dick's confidence," sighed Harry, turning to Reade. + +"It isn't confidence; it's nerve," Tom retorted. "If we all show +nerve like Dick's, then nothing but the hardest sort of luck can +take this game away from us." + +Greg went first to bat, securing the first bag. Dick followed, +with a two-bagger that brought frantic cheers from the on-looking +Central Grammar boys. + +"There are our two runs---the ones we need," cheered Darrin to +himself, as he snatched up his bat. "Now if I'm any good on earth, +I'll bring Greg in and perhaps Dick, too." + +Though Dave was excited, he kept the fact to himself, facing Ted +Teall with steely composure. + +Two strikes and three balls were called. The two base-runners, +full of confidence in Darry, were edging off daringly. + +"If I dared," throbbed Dave inwardly, "I'd refuse and walk to first +on a called ball. But Tozier might call a strike on me---most +likely would. Darry, you idiot, you've got to hit the next delivery, +even if it goes by you ten feet from the line." + +Poising himself on tip-toe, Dave awaited the coming of the ball. +Wells, with a wicked grin, signaled for a ball that he felt sure +would catch Dave napping. Earlier in the game it might have done +so, but Ted's right "wing" was now drooping. Hi did his best, +but Dave reached and clubbed the leather. In raced Greg, while +Dick had a loafing time on his way to third. Dave reached first +in plenty of time. + +Two men went out, leaving the nines tied. Dick fumed now at third. + +"I wish some one else than Henderson were going to bat," groaned +Prescott inwardly. + +However, Spoff had the honor of his school desperately at heart. +He did his best, watching with cool judgment and backed by an +iron determination to make his mark. The third strike he hit. +It was enough to bring Prescott in. Dick seemed to travel with +the speed of a racing car, reaching the home plate just ahead +of the ball. + +The side went out right after that. + +"What did I tell you?" breathed Dick jubilantly. "We now stand +five to four." + +"But Ted's terrors have a chance at bat," returned Hazelton. + +"It won't do them any good," Captain Dick affirmed. "Greg, signal +for all the hard ones. Don't have any mercy on my arm. This +is the last inning and the last game of the series. I can stand +being crippled." + +"The last inning and the last game, unless the Souths score now," +Holmes answered. + +"Don't _let_ 'em score!" Dick insisted. "Remember, kill me with +hard work, but don't let the Souths score!" + +Ted Teall went to bat first for his side. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +DODGE AND RIPLEY HEAR SOMETHING + + +Teall's grin, as he swung his stick and waited, was more impudent +than ever. He meant to show the bumptious Centrals a thing or +two. + +Then in came Dick's wickedest drop ball, and it looked so good +that Captain Ted took a free chance. + +"Strike one!" remarked Umpire Tozier. + +Some of the grin vanished from Ted's face, but his eyes now flashed +the fire of resolve. + +"Strike two!" + +Teall began to feel little tremors running all up and down his +spine. + +"Steady, you idiot!" he warned himself. + +"Ball one!" + +Captain Teall began to feel better. Perhaps Dick's arm was beginning +to grow stale. + +"Strike three. Out!" + +Ted started for the bench, hurling his bat before him. He was +full of self-disgust. + +"A fellow never can guess when he has Dick thrashed," he said +to a South beside him. + +"I didn't expect to see you play out before him in the ninth, +Ted," replied the classmate. + +"Neither did I," muttered Teall gloomily. + +"Strike three! Out!" sounded Umpire Tozier's droning voice. + +Then Ted sat up straight, rubbing his eyes. + +"Two out, and no one on bases!" groaned Ted. "Oh, fellows---those +of you who have a chance---do something. For goodness' sake, +do something to save South Grammar." + +A few agonized moments passed while those at the batting benches +looked on at the fellow now performing by the plate. + +"Strike three! Out!" remarked Ben Tozier decisively. Then the +game was given to the Central Grammar boys by a score of five +to four. The championship of the local Grammar League was also +awarded them. + +Ted gulped down hard. Some of his fellows looked decidedly mad. + +"It's a shame!" choked Wells. + +"No; it isn't, either," Ted disputed. "Dick Prescott and his +fellows beat us fairly. Come on we'll congratulate 'em." + +Good sportsman that he was, Ted almost limped across the field, +followed by some of his players, to where Dick and the other Central +Grammar players were surrounded by their friends. + +"Prescott, you fellows are wonders!" broke forcefully from Captain +Ted. + +"Nothing like it," Captain Dick laughed modestly. "Some one had +to win, you know, and the luck came to us." + +"Luck!" exploded Ted unbelievingly. "Nothing like it, either. +No sheer luck could ever have broken down the cast-iron determination +that our fellows had to win. You Centrals are the real ball players +of the town---that's the only answer." + +Whooping wildly in their glee, scores of Central Grammar boys +rushed at Dick Prescott, trying to get at his hand and wring it. + +"Please don't fellows," begged Dick, going almost white under +the torment, after three or four boys had succeeded in pumping +that arm. "You've no idea how sore my arm is." + +"It must be," shouted Greg. "Dick told me to kill his arm, if +I had to, but to signal for the balls that would strike out three +batsmen in lightning order." + +"The left hand, then!" clamored more of Dick's admirers. Laughingly, +Prescott submitted to having his left hand "shaken" almost out +of joint. + +"Don't make such a fuss about it, fellows," begged Dick at last. +"Remember that we have a permit for a bonfire on this lot to-night, +and that the stuff is piled up in the rear of the next yard. +You fellows who didn't have to go lame bestir yourselves now in +bringing on the old boxes and barrels." + +"Whoops!" yelled a Central Grammar boy, starting off. "Bring +out the stuff and pile it high." + +"Let the Souths help!" bawled Ted Teall at the top of his voice. +"No matter who won, we'll all celebrate." + +"Ted, you won't play any funny tricks on that pile of wood?" questioned +Dick a bit uneasily, as he followed Captain Teall. + +"What do you take me for?" demanded the South Grammar boy. "Do +you think that I'm not on the level?" + +"I'm answered," was Dick Prescott's satisfied answer. + +Ere long the material for a monster bonfire was piled. Word was +given out that it would be set going just a few minutes after +dark. + +"We came up here to see what we could find to do, didn't we?" +whispered Bert Dodge, nudging Fred Ripley. + +"Yes," nodded Fred uneasily; "and, so far, we haven't struck a +thing that would be safe to do." + +"The dickens we haven't," chuckled Dodge. + +"What, then?" Fred inquired. Bert whispered in his ear, adding: +"It won't cost us more than a dollar apiece, Fred." + +"It's great," declared Ripley enthusiastically. "But we've got +to move quickly, and at the right minute, or we'll be caught. +I wouldn't give much for our chances of comfort if we're caught +in this thing." + +"We won't be, or we ought not to be," Dodge retorted. "But we'd +better get home and get our suppers on the jump." + +"We can do better than that; we can get a quick meal at one of +the restaurants and then jump back on the job." + +"Rip, you have a great head sometimes," admitted Bert Dodge. + +At a time when every one else was at supper Fred Ripley and Bert +Dodge stole back to the scene of the bonfire. After glancing +cautiously about, they felt sure that no one was observing them. +Then they stole close to the pile of combustibles. For a few +moments they worked there, removing lids from tin cans and planting +them safely out of sight. + +Human nature---of the American brand, at any rate---dearly loves +a bonfire. By dark that evening some two hundred grown-up and +several hundred Gridley boys had congregated on the late ball +field. + +"Touch it off, some one. There's no use in waiting any longer," +urged some of the bystanders. "It's almost dark." + +"No, no! Wait!" urged Tom Reade. "The blaze will be all the +finer after dark." + +"Where's Dick Prescott?" sounded a voice, this being followed +by a dinning clamor for the captain of the Centrals. + +"Here!" called Dick, when he could make himself heard. + +"Pouch it off, Dick! Let the fun start. You're the right one +to set the bonfire going." + +"Not I," Prescott answered. "There is some one else here who +has been appointed to set the blaze going, and who has accepted +the job." + +"Then trot him out and let him get busy!" came the urgent demand. + +"Wait just a few minutes, fellows. We want it really dark," urged +Captain Prescott. + +At last, when he judged it dark enough, Dick stepped forward, +Captain Ted Teall at his side. + +"Friends," Dick explained, "Teall has been good enough to agree +to start the blaze tonight." + +"South Grammar fellows this way, please!" called Teall. "Now, +friends, please don't any of you make any noise until we Souths +have a chance to say just a few words. All ready, South Grammars? +Then three cheers for the Central Grammar School, winners of +the school baseball league series. Let 'em rip out loudly!" + +The cheers were given, followed by a tiger. + +"Is Hi Martin, captain of the North Grammar nine, here?" called +Ted Teall. + +But Hi wasn't, or else he kept his presence very quiet. + +"Hi wouldn't he here," jeered some one. "He didn't win---couldn't +win---and he's sore." + +Again Ted called for Hi Martin, though still without success. + +"Then I'll have to light the fire alone," Ted declared. "I had +hoped that the captains of both of the walloped teams might share +the honor." + +Tom Reade and Dave Darrin hastily emptied a five-gallon can of +oil on the old boxes and barrels and other pieces of wood. + +"All clear?" called Ted. + +"All clear," nodded Tom Reade. + +"Then I'll light the blaze," shouted Ted. "This is a lot easier +than winning ball games," he added good-naturedly. + +Three or four wind-proof matches Teall struck on a box and tossed +into the oil-soaked pile of combustibles. In a moment the increasing +heat of the blaze drove him back several yards. + +Higher and higher mounted the red and yellow flames. Hundreds +stood about, their faces fully illumined by the big glow. + +"It's going to be a great one," Ted called to Dick, as the latter +came toward him. + +"Finest bonfire I've ever seen," Prescott answered. + +"But---" began Teall, a puzzled look on his face. Then---sniff! +sniff! "Queer stuff, that! What a stuffing smoke it makes. +I wonder what it is that burns with such a sharp smell?" + +"It must be pitch," replied Dick Prescott, also sniffing. "Whew! +How sharp it is!" + +Ted began to sneeze. Dick followed suit. Presently all of the +boys who were standing at all near the blazing pile found themselves +sneezing, coughing or sputtering at a great rate. Some of the +men, further away, caught the acrid fumes. + +"This is a mean trick some one has played on us," cried Dick, +falling back before the stifling odors. + +"I hope you don't think I did a mean thing like that?" demanded +Teall anxiously. + +"I'm sure you didn't," Prescott answered. "You're full of tricks, +Ted Teall, but you're a real sportsman after you've been beaten." + +"Say, can this possibly be any of Hi Martin's work?" demanded +Tom Reade, as the boys fell back steadily from the bonfire. + +"Only one objection to suspecting Hi," retorted Teall. + +"What's that?" asked Greg. "Too proud?" + +"No," snapped Teall. "Hi hasn't brains enough to think up anything." + +"This is just like boys. It's really what one gets for turning +out to a boys' bonfire!" growled one man between fits of coughing, +as he rapidly got away from the fire. It's an abominably mean +trick!" + +"Who did it?" asked another man. + +"Oh, you can't find that out now," replied still another. "You +all know the way that boys hang together in mischief. No one +would tell you, or dare to tell you, if he knew." + +"I'd like to know the boy, for about one minute!" snapped one +stout, red-faced man, down whose cheeks the tears were trickling. +"It's that loutish trick of putting red pepper on a fire. No +one but a feeble-minded boy would think of playing an old, moth-eaten +trick like that!" + +"It would pay us to get out of here quickly, if any one suspected +us," whispered Fred Ripley to his friend. + +"Sh! Shut up!" returned Dodge in a hoarse whisper. "It isn't +best for us to be seen whispering. Look innocent." + +From behind a heavy hand descended abruptly on either coat collar, +taking firm hold. + +"Here are the young apes who played the trick!" roared an angry +voice. "I just heard them whispering about it, and when I was +finishing supper I remember that I looked out of the window and +saw these boys fooling about the pile." + +"What did you put on the fire?" demanded a man, stepping in front +of the now frightened youths, who were hemmed in so that they +could not escape. + +"Red pepper," returned Ripley sullenly. He spoke before he thought, +thus admitting his guilt and Dodge's. + +"You idiot!" hissed Bert. + +"You're both of you idiots," retorted the captor, who had now +released both young men. "Besides being a mean, detestable trick, +it's as old as the world. That red-pepper trick was invented +by some stupid lout who lived thousands of years before the Flood." + +"What shall we do with these imps?" demanded a voice. + +"There must be some High School boys here," said the man who had +first seized the humiliated pair by their collars. "Let the High +School boys decide what is to be done with them." + +"We don't care what's done with a pair of simpletons like them," +spoke up Ben Tozier. "Let the crowd go as far as it likes with +such a pair." + +"Don't you dare do anything to us" screamed Ripley, now beside +himself with rage. "It will go hard with any one who interferes +with us. + +"Ha! ha! Ho! ho!" roared some of the crowd. "Listen to the +half-witted pair!" + +While another man spoke up jovially: + +"I'll tell you what to do with them. They came here to spoil +the fun of the Grammar School boys. Let the Grammar School boys +dispose of these stupid fellows as they choose." + +"I tell you," raged Ripley, "that it will go hard with any one +who interferes with our comfort. There are laws in this land." + +"Look at what doesn't want its comfort interfered with!" jeered +another voice. "This comes from a lout who interfered with our +comfort by putting several cans of red pepper on the bonfire. +Turn 'em over to the Grammar School boys. Boys, what do you +want to do with this pair?" + +"We'll make 'em run the gauntlet," spoke up Spoff Henderson eagerly. + +In a twinkling, so it seemed, a long double row of Grammar School +boys was formed down the street. Some of these boys had light +twigs or sticks; others stood ready to use their hands. + +"Start 'em!" yelled Spoff. Some one did start the pair. Bert +and Fred sullenly refused to run, but quickly changed their minds. +Down the street they raced, Ripley in advance, between two parallel +lines of Grammar School boys. Sticks were laid over them, or +hands reached out and administered cuffings. It was a grotesque +sight. Long before they reached the end of the double line Bert +and Fred yelled for mercy, but got none. With final blows they +were turned loose and vanished into the night. Within a few minutes +the pepper in the bonfire had burned out. Then the revelers drew +nearer, piling on other combustible stuff. + +Thus was fittingly observed the victory of Dick Prescott's nine +in winning the local Grammar School championship. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +HI'S SWIMMING CHALLENGE + + +The reader may be sure that the members of his baseball squad +had reminded him of his promise to tell them what the man on the +clubhouse steps said. + +"I promised I'd tell you, if you won that game," Dick admitted. + +"Yes, yes!" the other boys pressed. + +"But I didn't say _when_ I'd tell you, did I?" + +"You're not going to try to sneak out of it that way, are you, +Dick?" Dave Darrin demanded, as the boys met on Main Street the +following morning, Saturday. + +"I'm not going to sneak out of it at all, as you fellows ought +to know," Dick replied. "I'm going to tell you---when the proper +time comes." + +"When will that be?" asked Greg. "And that's all we'll get out +of him, no matter how how much we talk!" muttered Tom Reade. + +"Here comes Hi Martin," announced Greg. "He has Bill Rodgers +with him." + +"It can't be about baseball, anyway," said Dick. "I think Hi +has his fill of that game." + +"Good morning," was Martin's greeting, as he and Rodgers approached. +"I have a message for you from North Grammar." + +"Deliver it, and we'll sign on the book for it," retorted Reade. + +"We're not satisfied to rest the claims of the North Grammar on +baseball alone," Hi went on. + +"I shouldn't imagine you would be," Dick smiled. + +"Therefore we are going to challenge you to another form of contest." + +"A talking match?" Tom wanted to know. + +"No, sir. I bear from the North Grammar boys a challenge to Central +Grammar to meet us in swimming matches in the river. The contests +must be so arranged as to show which school may hold the championship +in swimming. Are you afraid to meet us in the water?" Hi asked. + +"Afraid? No," Dick retorted. "But why didn't you fellows spring +this on us earlier? Next week Thursday will be graduating day." + +"Well, we can swim the Saturday after," Hi proposed. + +"But we'll be graduated then. We won't be Grammar School boys +any more," protested Dick. + +"Is that the way you're going to get out of the challenge that +we've issued?" Martin demanded scornfully. + +"No; and you certainly know better," Dick retorted. "But how +can we hold a school contest when we're no longer enrolled in +the school that we're supposed to represent?" Dick insisted. + +"You can if you want to," Hi sneered. "But I can see that you +fellows don't care about meeting us in a swimming contest. All +right; then I'll go back and tell the North Grammar fellows that +Central funks. + +"There's a way that we can arrange it, I think," put in Dave Darrin, +who had been listening intently. "Dick, why can't we get Old +Dut to authorize us to represent Central Grammar within a day +or two after graduation? If he says it's all right, then surely, +even though we have just graduated, we'll be able to represent +our old school." + +"We can talk that over with Mr. Jones," Dick nodded. + +"My idea is that you fellows are afraid to say 'yes' to our challenge, +sneered Martin. + +"You may go on thinking that, if it gives you any pleasure," said +Dick coolly. "But if you really want our answer, we'll give it +to you on Monday afternoon." + +"The Monday after Christmas?" jeered Hi. + +"We'll give you our answer next Monday afternoon," Dick rejoined +a bit stiffly. + +"Is the South Grammar to be in this?" asked Dave. + +"No; we don't want that crowd," Hi answered quickly before Rodgers +could speak. + +"Then the contest won't be for the championship of Gridley, will +it?" Dick inquired. + +"Yes, it will," Hi assured him. + +"I don't see how it can be, when it's only between two out of +the three Grammar Schools in the town," Dick argued. + +"The challenge is issued only to Central Grammar," wound up Hi, +turning to leave. "And if you haven't accepted before Monday +evening, we of the North Grammar will hold that you have backed +out and don't dare meet us. Oh, by the way, Prescott, you'd better +look out for Ripley and Dodge. They mean to get square with you +for what happened last night." + +"Get square with me for it?" laughed Prescott, unafraid. "All +right, but that's rather rich! Why, I had nothing to do with it." + +"They blame you a good deal for it," added Hi, "and they declare +that they're going to get even with you." + +"All right; let them try it," Dick nodded. + +"What do you think of this swimming challenge?" asked Dave quickly. + +"Why, I think," Dick replied, "that it will bear looking into +closely. There may be some trick about it, and we must look out +that we are not roped into some funny game. We'll see the fellows +at school on Monday." + +"Hi Martin is probably the best swimmer among the Grammar School +boys of Gridley," Tom suggested. + +"I think that he most likely is," Dick agreed. "If he proposes +to stand for North Grammar, and wants us to put up one candidate +against him, then Hi would probably take the race. If we take +the challenge, either we ought to insist on a team race, or else +on a number of separate events by different fellows, each event +to count for so many points on the score. In any match of singles +Hi Martin might win. If we go into this at all, we must look +out that it isn't fixed so that Hi Martin, alone, can carry off +the championship for his school." + +"The very fact that Hi proposed it makes me suspicious that he +has some trick in reserve," Tom urged. + +"I like the general idea," spoke up Greg. "Any swimming contest +that is a real match between the schools, instead of between +individuals, will be good sport and arouse a lot of school +interest. There are a lot of fairly good swimmers in our school, +too." + +"We'll talk it over with the fellows, and with Old Dut also," +Dick went on. "Of course we have no right to act for the school +unless the other fellows are willing." + +When Dick left his chums at noon it was with an agreement to meet +on Main Street again at half past one. + +At fifteen minutes past one the telephone bell rang in the little +bookstore. + +"Have you a copy of Moore's Ballads?" asked a masculine voice. + +"Yes," replied Mr. Prescott; "in different styles of bindings +and at different prices." + +The bookseller then went on to describe the bindings and named +the prices. The customer at the other end of the wire seemed to +prefer an expensive volume, which came at four dollars. + +"Can you deliver the book immediately, with a bill, to Mrs. Carhart, +at the Gideon Wells place?" continued the voice at the other end. + +"Yes; I think so," replied Mr. Prescott. + +"The book must be delivered within the hour," continued the voice, +"as Mrs. Carhart is going on a journey and wishes the book to +read while on the train." + +"I will deliver the book within fifteen minutes," Mr. Prescott +promised. "At the Gideon Wells place, did you say? I didn't +know that it had a tenant." + +"Mrs. Carhart has taken the place for the summer. I will rely +upon you to deliver the book immediately. Thank you; good-bye." + +"I suppose you have an appointment with the crowd, Dick," smiled +his father, as he hung up the receiver. "I don't like to get +in the way of your fun, but I shall have to ask you to deliver +the book, for the profit on that volume is too large to be overlooked." + +"I don't mind going," Dick answered. "I can get back just a little +late. I'm all ready as soon as you have the book wrapped and +the bill made out." + +Three or four minutes later Dick left the store. At the corner +of Main Street he looked to see whether any of his chums were +visible, but none were. So he turned and started, traveling fast. + +Had young Prescott answered the 'phone call himself he very likely +would have suspected that the voice of the customer was that of +Bert Dodge disguised. However, as it was, the Grammar School +boy had no suspicion whatever. He made part of the distance at +a jog trot. He was soon in the less thickly inhabited part of +the town, down in a section of large estates, many of which were +used only as summer homes. + +"This Mrs. Carhart must be a new-comer in Gridley," reflected +Dick, as he hastened along. "I hope she'll buy a lot of books +of us at as good prices." + +He came now to the corner of the Wells estate, the grounds of +which were some eighty acres in extent. He passed the corner +and ran along toward two great elms that grew just inside the +trim wall. + +Just as he reached these elms two figures started up from behind +the wall beyond. The same two figures leaped over the wall, +confronting the Grammar School boy. + +"Howdy, Prescott," called Bert Dodge, with a mocking grin. + +"We were just saying that we'd rather see you than any one else +on earth," leered Fred Ripley, as he stepped in the Grammar School +boy's path. + +"I haven't any time to waste on you two just now," Prescott answered +coldly, trying to step around the pair. + +"Then you'll take the time," scoffed Bert, reaching out to seize +Dick by the shoulder. + +Fred Ripley aimed an unexpected blow that sent the lad to earth +and the book flying several feet beyond. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +DAVE DARRIN FLASHES FIRE + + +"That was just like you---it was so cowardly and low down!" cried +Dick hotly, as he leaped to his feet. + +He was now near the package containing the book. Doubtless he +could have snatched up the book and sprinted to safety. But that +was not his way of meeting so great an affront. + +"Don't you get saucy!" warned Fred, edging in closer. Bert Dodge +veered around so that be could attack Dick from one side. + +"It would be honoring you too much to talk to you in any vein," +Dick retorted sarcastically. "You're a pair of the most worthless +rowdies in Gridley." + +"Go for him, Bert!" called Ripley. + +"Why don't you?" sneered Dick, making a leap forward, straight +at Ripley. + +Dodge swung in from behind, hitting Dick over the head. But Prescott's +movement, in the same moment, made the blow only a glancing one. + +Bump! Dick landed on Fred Ripley's nose with force and weight +enough to make the lawyer's son stagger. + +"Pound his head off, Bert!" howled Ripley putting a hand to his +injured nose. + +But Dick wheeled just in time to avoid a treacherous blow from +the rear. With all the fury of the oppressed, Prescott leaped +in, planting one foot heavily on some of Bert's toes and striking +a blow that landed over that indignant youth's belt-line. Bert +fell back, panting. + +"If you two have enough now," remarked Dick more coolly, "I'll +pick up my package and go on about my business." + +"You can wager you won't get away until we've settled with you!" +snarled Dodge. "Rip, never mind your nose. Help me close in +on this scamp and show him what we can do to a fellow that we +don't like." + +In another moment Dick was the center of a cyclone, or so it felt +to him. Both boys were larger and stronger, even if not quite +as quick as he. They rained blows upon him. + +"Don't try to holler," jeered Fred Ripley. "That won't do you +any good. We'll tell you when you've had enough. Take it from +us and never mind your own opinions." + +Dick did not answer. Sore and winded, he fought with all the +spirit that was in him. + +So busy were all three of the boys, that none of them noted the +approach of a light express wagon drawn by a single horse. The +driver hauled up, a few yards away, then advanced, driving whip +in hand. + +Slash! + +"O-o-o-h!" yelled Fred Ripley, as he felt the whip land on his +legs. + +Slash! slash! + +"Quit that, you fiend!" begged Bert Dodge, doubling up and screaming +with pain. + +"I'll quit when I think you've had enough!" hissed Dave Darrin, +his face ablaze with anger, his eyes flashing fire. + +Slash! slash! slash! + +Dave plied the whip relentlessly until he had inflicted half a +dozen more blows on the legs of each High School boy. + +"If you try to run away," warned Dave, "either of you, I'll run +after you and lay on ten times as much as I'm giving you." + +"Quit, now, Dave," urged Dick, running to his chum and laying +a hand on Darrin's active right arm. "They've had lots---plenty. +Such things as they, can't stand a man's dose." + +"I'm not a bit tired," retorted Dave ironically. "Besides, I +rather enjoy this exercise." + +"We'll have you arrested, Dave Darrin!" moaned Ripley. + +"You will, eh?" Dave demanded, breaking away from Prescott's +restraining hold and making for Fred. + +"No, no, no!" cried Ripley, cowering. + +"Yes, we will---you can wager we will!" yelled Dodge from a safer +distance. + +"Arrested---for what?" demanded Darrin. + +"For assaulting us," returned Bert Dodge. "Oh, you'll catch it!" + +"Have I been guilty of any more of an assault than I found you +fellows engaged in", Dave asked coolly. "Don't you think you'd +look rather funny in court when it was known why I laid the whip +over you?" + +"We'll get the better of you, just the same," yelled Ripley, who +had now retreated to the side of his friend and felt bolder. +"My father's a lawyer---the smartest in the town." + +"And he's also a gentleman," broke in Dick. "I wish his son took +after him. As for arrest---and trouble in court---bosh! Try +it on!" + +Prescott now walked coolly to where his little package lay, and +found it uninjured. + +"How did you happen to come along on the wagon?" Dick asked, as +Fred and Bert limped away from their Waterloo. + +"One of the express company's drivers was late coming back from +dinner, and there was a package that had to be delivered at once," +Darrin answered. "The manager offered me ten cents to make the +delivery. I am glad that I took the job. Where are you going?" + +"In there," Prescott answered, pointing to the house. "I've got +to deliver this book collect to a Mrs. Carhart." + +"Get up on the seat and I'll drive you in there," proposed Dave. +"Though I don't believe there's any one living in the house. +All the front doors and windows are boarded up." + +After five minutes of doorbell ringing Dick concluded that he +would find no Mrs. Carhart there. + +"I guess I understand," nodded Prescott. "Either Dodge or Ripley +must have sent that 'phone message. That was their way to get +me alone where they could both handle me without much danger of +interference." + +"It turned out finely---for them," chuckled Dave, as both boys +climbed back to the seat of the wagon. "But say, do you think +they could really make any trouble for me for using the whip over +them?" + +"I don't know. I don't believe they'll try, anyway," Dick answered +thoughtfully. "It wouldn't be very nice for Fred to have his +father find out how his son spends his time and pocket money." + +Dave drove back to Main Street, letting Dick off at his corner. +Down the side street a few doors and into the bookshop he hurried. + +"Back again?" was Mr. Prescott's greeting. "What was the matter---the +volume not satisfactory!" + +"No such party at the address," his son answered. "But I think +I can explain why the order was 'phoned in." + +Dick then proceeded to narrate what had happened. His father +listened with growing anger. + +"What a low, worthless trick that was to play," he cried. "Dick, +if you'll stay here and attend the store I'll step around to Mr. +Ripley's office and speak to him about it. Then I'll go over +to the bank and see Bert's father." + +"Don't, dad; please don't," begged the boy. + +"It seems to me that such action is highly necessary," maintained +Mr. Prescott. + +"I hope you won't do it, dad. The best way to treat boys' rows +is to let them settle among themselves. If you interfere in this +matter, dad, I shall get a name among other boys for running to +my father for protection. That will turn the laugh on me all +over town. I'd much rather fight my own battles and take an +occasional pounding." + +"Well, perhaps you're right about it," admitted his father +thoughtfully. "At all events, I'm glad to see that your disposition +is to take care of your own troubles. I won't interfere, though I am +certain that Mr. Ripley would like to know something about this affair." + +"I already do know something about it," gravely announced a voice +behind them. There stood Lawyer Ripley, who had dropped in to +buy a magazine. + +"I shall be glad if you will tell me more about this," the lawyer +went on solemnly. + +Gladly would Dick have gotten out of it. He was inclined to say +very little, though what he did say was added to by his father. + +"Is this the book, in this package?" inquired Mr. Ripley, as be +picked up the parcel. + +"Yes," nodded Mr. Prescott. + +"And the price?" + +"Four dollars." + +"Mr. Prescott, kindly charge this book to my account, unless I +return it by Monday morning," the lawyer went on. "I shall try +to see young Darrin this afternoon. Then I shall question my +son when I return home. I don't consider it fair to condemn him +unheard, but if I find that he had such a part in this afternoon's +affair as has been described, then I shall tell him that he is +bound to take goods that he has any part in ordering. In that +connection, when I hand him his next allowance of pocket money, +I shall keep out four dollars and hand him the book in place thereof. +That ought to make him rather careful about ordering goods in +which he is not really interested." + +"But, as I now recall the voice over the telephone," urged Mr. +Prescott, "I am inclined to think that it was young Dodge's voice, +disguised, that I heard." + +"If my son had any share in the transaction, it will make no +difference," replied Lawyer Ripley very gravely. "This book will +then become a part of his small library, and at his own personal +expense. I thank you both. Good afternoon." + +"Well, of all the queer turn-overs, that's the best!" grinned +Dick appreciatively, after the lawyer had gone. "Wouldn't I like +to see Rip when he gets that book of ballads handed him as the +larger part of his pocket allowance!" + +"It's certainly a clever way for his father to handle the affair," +smiled Mr. Prescott. "However, in making the charge for the book +I shall deduct the profit. Like yourself, son, I don't want to +profit by tale-bearing. And now, why not run out and see if you +can find your young friends? I don't believe I shall need you +further this afternoon." + +Inwardly Dave Darrin was a good bit disturbed when, a few minutes +later, Lawyer Ripley walked into the express office and inquired +for him. Fred's father asked a good many questions, which Dave +answered truthfully though reluctantly. + +"Assuming that the affair was as you describe, Darrin," stated +the legal man at last, "I wish to thank you for teaching the young +man what must have been a needed lesson." + +When Dave learned from Dick, a little later, the story of Fred's +unintentional purchase of a four-dollar book, there was a big laugh. + + + + +Chapter XX + +ARRANGING THE SWIMMING MATCH + + +"See no reason why you can't represent this school in an athletic +meet a day or two after graduation," said Old Dut, when asked +about it. "If the North Grammar boys believe they excel at that +sport, they should be given a chance. Naturally they are disappointed +over finding themselves at the bottom of the list in baseball." + +"Go after 'em to-day, Dick!" yelled the boys. "Perhaps we can +beat them in the water, too." + +"Find Hi Martin this afternoon and settle it," added others. + +"I won't serve alone," Dick retorted, shaking his head. "If you +fellows want me to serve on a committee and will give us full +powers to act, I'm willing." + +"I think that will be the best way to go about it, boys," approved +Old Dut. "There should be a committee, and then you must be prepared +to stand by any arrangements that the committee may make." + +"What's the matter with choosing a committee of ten?" proposed +Toby Ross. + +"Too many," smiled Old Dut wisely. + +"There'd be too much talking then. A committee should have but +a very few members." + +"Are nominations in order?" queried Spoff Henderson. + +"Yes," nodded Old Dut. "Since I've been consulted, I'll preside +at this yard meeting." + +"Then I nominate Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin and Greg Holmes," +Spoff continued. + +"Second the motion," called Ross. + +Old Dut put the motion, which was carried. "As Master Prescott +was first named," announced the principal, "he will naturally +be the chairman of the committee." + +"I move the committee have full powers in arranging for the race," +Spoff added. + +This was also carried. That afternoon, when school was out, the +boys hurried along Main Street, keeping a sharp lookout for Hi. +At last they espied him, with Bill Rodgers. + +"What are you going to do about the swimming race?" called Hi +from across the street. + +"This is our committee, duly appointed by the Central Grammar +boys," Dick called back. "When will your committee be ready?" + +"We're ready now," answered Hi. "Come over here and we'll talk +about it." + +Hi leaned against the fence on his own side of the street, determined +not to concede anything to the Central Grammar boys. + +"Have you two been regularly appointed as a committee?" asked +Prescott. + +"We don't have to be," Hi answered indifferently. "We know what +we're talking about." + +"You'll have to be regularly appointed by your school before we'll +talk with you," Dick retorted. + +"You're afraid to meet us in a swimming match," Hi jeered. + +"So afraid," Prescott answered, "that we've appointed a committee +regularly; but you fellows, who have been doing all the talking, +aren't willing to get together and elect a regular committee to +represent your school." + +"You're afraid, I tell you," sneered Hi, while Bill Rodgers grinned. + +"No; we're ready to arrange the match when your school sends a +regular committee." + +"Come on over here and talk it over, if you're not afraid," urged +Hi Martin. + +"We can't talk it over with you, as you've admitted that you don't +represent your school." + +"Well, then, we do represent it," claimed Hi. + +"That statement comes too late. Hi, we'll meet you at this same +place at half past four to-morrow afternoon. If you fail to show +up it will be all off. And your committee will have to bring +a note, signed by your principal, naming the members of your committee +and stating that it has been regularly appointed. We'll bring +the same from our principal. + +"I guess the swimming match between the two schools is all off, +then," yawned Martin. "You fellows don't want to go into it, +for you know you'd be beaten stiff. That's why you try to hedge +behind a committee." + +"It's all off if you fellows don't go at it in a regular way," +Dick contended firmly. "We're not going to enter a match and +then find that you and Bill Rodgers represent no one but yourselves." + +"What's all the noise about?" good-naturedly asked Reporter Len +Spencer, who, turning the corner, had halted behind Prescott and +his friends. + +Dick explained the situation. + +"Prescott is right," decided Len. "Martin, if the boys at your +school are not enough in earnest to arrange the contest through +an authorized committee, then folks will understand that the North +Grammar didn't really want a swimming contest." + +"But we do want one," blustered Martin. + +"Then go about it in a regular way, after consulting your principal, +as the Central Grammar boys have done," urged Len. "And, instead +of meeting here on a corner, you can meet at my desk at the 'Blade' +office." + +Hi Martin was "stumped" at this point, and he knew it. If he +backed out now he would make himself and his school ridiculous. + +"All right," agreed the North Grammar boy reluctantly. + +"Don't forget to bring a note from your principal to the effect +that the boys named are the regular school committee," Dick called +after him. + +"We'll do the thing in our own way," Hi retorted. "Come along, +Bill." + +"I thought Martin might be up to some tricks," muttered Dick Prescott. + +"If he is, tricks won't help him or his school," laughed Len. +"We'll see this thing put through in regular shape." + +So, on Tuesday afternoon, Dick and his fellow members of the committee +were at the "Blade" office punctually. + +At ten minutes past the time no boy from the North Grammar had +appeared. + +"You won't have to wait much longer," smiled Len. "It looks as +though the North Grammar boys were bluffing." + +At ten minutes of five Dick and his chums rose to leave the "Blade" +office. + +"Wait a minute," urged Len at the door. "I believe I see your +rivals coming now." + +Hi Martin, Bill Rodgers and Courtney Page strolled rather indolently +up to the door and entered. + +"You're late," said Len crisply. "If you boys go into a race, +I believe you'll be just as late at the finish." + +"There wasn't any use in hurrying," grunted Eel. "There's lots +of the day left." + +"Unless you regard an appointment as a gentlemen's agreement, +and to be kept," marked Len Spencer, rather severely. "I have +been giving up my time to this affair of yours, and my time is +worth something. But take seats. Have you boys any paper to +show that you represent your school?" + +"Yes," admitted Hi, producing an envelope. "Our principal gives +us the proper authority." + +Len read the note, nodding. "The Central Grammar boys have also +produced their authority to act, so now we can get down to the +details of the contest. The North Grammar boys are the challengers, +are they not?" + +"Yes," claimed Hi. + +"Then what sort of a swimming contest do you propose?" Len asked. + +"Each school to appoint its best swimmer, and arrange a half-mile +race between the champions of the two schools," Hi answered promptly. +"The school whose champion wins is to be declared the champion +in swimming." + +"We expected that," nodded Dick, "and we won't agree to it. If +this match is to be held for the school championship, then there +should be several boys entered from each school----say five, six +or seven from each school. Then the contest would really represent +the schools." + +"But one boy would win, just the same, in any case," retorted +Martin. "What difference would it make?" + +"The way that I propose," urged Dick, "no single boy could win +for his school. Suppose we enter seven boys from each school. +Then the school whose seven boys are in ahead of the seven boys +on the other side will win the contest. In other words, of the +fourteen swimmers, one is bound to come in last of all. The school +to which this last-in swimmer belongs is the school that loses +the match." + +"Huh! I don't see anything in that idea," retorted Hi. "That, +perhaps, wouldn't mean anything at all for the school that happened +to have the one best swimmer of all." + +"It would make it impossible for either school to enter one real +swimmer and six dummies, and still win the match," Dick argued. +"My plan will stop the contest from being a one-boy race and +will give the contest to the school that has the best average +swimmers." + +"Huh! I don't see it," said Hi doggedly. + +"I think Prescott has the better of the argument," broke in Len +Spencer, who had sat tapping his desk with a pencil. + +"Then I don't care much for your idea, either, Spencer," retorted +Martin. + +"It may be that my idea isn't any good," nodded Len indulgently. +"I won't even claim that I know anything about sports. But you +must surely know who the umpire is in any such dispute. It's +always the editor of the local paper. So, Martin, if you won't +agree with Prescott, and if you won't admit that I know anything +about it either, suppose we lay the question before the editor +of the 'Blade.' I think he's in just now." + +"As for me," spoke up Bill Rodgers, breaking his silence, "it +seems to me that Prescott's idea is good and fair." + +"What do you say to that kind of stuff, Page?" inquired Hi quickly. + +"I---I---er---well, I am agreeable to anything that pleases the +rest of you," stammered Courtney Page, by nature, a sail trimmer. + +"You're a chump, then," Hi retorted elegantly. "The whole reason +why Prescott objects to one boy representing each school is that +he's afraid I can out-swim any boy that Central Grammar can produce." + +"And I take it, Martin," Dick retorted, "that your reason for +insisting on the one-boy race, is due to your belief that you +can win from any one boy. Very likely you are the fastest and +strongest swimmer in any Gridley school. But a race with seven +boys on a side will better represent the average abilities of +the two schools. In baseball we tried to find out which school +had the average best players. We didn't try simply to find out +which school could boast of the one star player." + +"That's right," nodded Len Spencer. + +"Prescott, you're afraid to race with me, you or any other one +fellow in Central Grammar!" exclaimed Hi indignantly. + +"No; I'm not afraid to swim against you," Dick declared quietly. +"I won't have the championship between the two schools rest on +any such race, but I'll enter a separate race against you---any +distance---this in addition to a seven-fellow race between the +schools." + +"Now, I guess you haven't a leg left to stand on, Martin," smiled +Spencer. "Prescott proposes a seven-fellow race between the schools, +the school responsible for the last man who comes in to lose the +contest. That is to be for the school championship. Then, if +you think you can outswim Prescott, he agrees to enter an individual +and personal race with you." + +"If Prescott and I swim against each other, then we won't swim +in the seven-fellow race, anyway." protested Hi. + +"I'll agree to that," Dick nodded. + +After some more talking the details were arranged. Len reduced +them to writing and the committees for both schools signed. + +"I'll publish this in the 'Blade' to-morrow morning," said Spencer. +"Then the whole town will know the terms of the race." + +Friday, if pleasant, was the date chosen, the seven-fellow race +to begin as soon as possible after two P.M., the personal race +between Prescott and Martin to follow. Such details as choosing +the officials of the race were to be left to the principals of +the two schools. + +"It's all settled, then, gentlemen," said Spencer, rising and +holding out his right hand. "If you don't see me before you may +be sure of my being on hand to report the races themselves. I +shall do all I can to encourage schoolboy sports in Gridley. +I've a notion, too, that there will be on hand Friday a goodly +showing of High School athletes. The young men of the High School +will naturally want to look over the contestants and see who is +going to make good material for the High School teams." + +"I'm thankful to say," retorted Hi stiffly, "that I do not expect +to attend Gridley High School. My father is going to send me +to one of the best prep. schools in the country. Page and Rodgers +are going to good schools, too." + +"I hope none of your fathers will be disappointed," remarked Spencer +gravely. "Personally, I consider the Gridley High School one +of the best schools in the United States." + +"It will do, of course, for those who really can't afford to go +to better and more select schools," Hi conceded. "Prescott, look +out that you don't get drowned when you're practicing to beat +me on Friday." + +"I'm not really sure that I shall practice swimming before Friday," +Dick smiled in answer. "I'm going to be pretty busy until after +graduation." + +"Dick," asked Greg seriously, when the three chums were by themselves, +"have you any idea in the world that you can win out against Hi +Martin?" + +"Oh, I may not win," Prescott replied. "Yet, if I don't I'll +promise you to be the hardest pace-maker that Hi Martin ever had +behind him in the water." + + + + +Chapter XXI + +OLD DUT GIVES WISE COUNSEL + + +Boys attired in their best tip-toed about in creaking new shoes, +resplendently polished for the occasion. Every boy had a flower +in his upper button-hole. + +Exhibition Hall, usually so bare and barnlike in appearance, was +now a jungle of potted plants and ferns, with clumps of bright +flowers everywhere. + +Over the broad stage hung a fourteen-foot American flag. Flags +of other nations, in smaller bits of bunting, trailed off on either +side. The piano stood before the center of the stage, down on +the floor. Grouped near were the music stands and chairs for +other members of the orchestra on this festal day of graduation. + +Here and there women teachers still superintended little squads +of girls who were putting on the last bright touches of ornamentation. +One teacher was drilling a dozen much-dressed-up boys of the +seventh grade, who were to act as ushers on this great Thursday +afternoon. It was half an hour before the doors were to be opened. + +Curiously enough, there were no eighth-grade pupils present. +These were assembled in Room 1, on the floor below, seated behind +the desks that had been theirs during the school year. + +"Young ladies and gentlemen," began Old Dut, rapping on his desk +and rising. As he looked about there was a curious expression +on his face, and some water in his twinkling eyes. + +"I am going to take occasion to say the last few words that I +shall have a chance to say to you confidentially and in private," +continued the principal. "I am conscious that I am taking one +of my last looks at you all as my pupils. I might call this the +dying class, if it were not for the fact that, for most of you, +to-day will be the real birth. You will go forth into the world +to-day, the larger portion of you. You will leave school behind +and tackle the world as budding men and women. You will begin +soon to grapple with the work, the problems, the toil---the tears +and the joys that come with the beginnings of grown-up life. +Those of you who are to be favored with a chance to go further +in your education, and who will be schoolboys and schoolgirls +yet a while, I most sincerely congratulate. For those who, on +the other hand, will step straight from Exhibition Hall into the +world of work---aye, and the world of deeds and triumphs, too---I +bid you to be of good cheer and courage! + +"Be bold, true and loyal! If you have any wonder, any misgivings +as to what the world and life may have in store for you, I tell +you that these are questions that you will decide mainly for yourselves. +It's the hardest thing in this universe to down any man or woman +who faces grown-up life with a good and honest claim on the good +things of existence. Yet on this subject one word more. Uprightness +of heart, of word and deed are not alone sufficient. There is +one more great quality that you must link with general honesty +and loyalty. Castle Great cannot be stormed except by those who +move forward with backbone---Courage! Be bold, steadfast, unwavering. +Never lose anything that you justly want through fear that you +can't get it. Go after it! The soldier is the type of courage +and a good one. Yet you don't find more than one of our soldiers +of life in a military uniform. There are soldiers, boys, in every +crowd that you mingle with on the street. Be one of them yourselves! + +"Boys, be brave, but be gentle. Remember that the bravest men +are gentle as any woman. As a soldier proves his courage by his +conquests, so must you prove your courage, if you have any to +show, by your achievements in the life that starts to-morrow for +most of you. Honor and courage! Together they will carry you +to lofty heights. If you fail, then reflect that you don't possess +these two qualities of manhood. Get these qualities---at no matter +what cost---and start out again to victory. + +"Girls, be women. Stop and think what it means to be women. +All the sweetest, truest and gentlest attributes of the human +race. Be women, every minute of your lives, and you will have +reached heights where not even the most soldierly boys may follow +you. Be women, and the men of our race will reverence and honor +you. + +"Young ladies and gentlemen, this day comes to me once in every +year. It is an old practice with me, as I see each class go forth +in our last hour together, to feel that I am watching the departure +of the best and truest class that I have yet taught. But this +year I am moved more than ever to that feeling. There are those +among you who have shown me traits of character that have filled +me with even more much more than my usual amount of faith in the +future of the American nation. Young ladies and gentlemen, my +fellow citizens, permit me to thank you for your loyal work to +make this graduating class what it is, and what it is destined +to become. Go forth to uphold the traditions of Gridley and the +glory of America, and may God bless you, one and all." + +His voice rather husky, and his eyes a little more wet, Old Dut +sank back into the well-worn chair from which he had taught so +many eighth-grade classes. + +"Three cheers for our principal!" proposed Danny Grin. The cheers +were given lustily, with half a dozen tigers. + +"Master Dalzell," replied Old Dut, "coming from the boy who, as +the records show, has been disciplined more frequently in the +last year than any other pupil present, I consider that a tribute +indeed." + +"I meant it," said Dan simply. + +Later the pupils of the five upper grades marched solemnly into +Exhibition Hall, the appearance of the graduating class being +greeted with applause by enthusiastic relatives and friends. +The orchestra played triumphal marches until all had marched in +to their seats. + +Then the orchestra paused, only to begin a moment later with the +first measures of the opening chorus, sung by more than three +hundred youthful voices. It was the usual medley, contributed +by pupils who could really sing and by others who really couldn't. +An undertone of varying discord ran along under the truer melody. + +Then, after his name had been called by the principal, Dick Prescott +rose. Very stiff and starched, and painfully conscious of the +creaking of his shoes as he went forward in that awesome stillness, +Dick ascended the platform, advanced to the front center, made +an elaborate bow, and then, in an almost scared voice he began +to tell the assembled hundreds of grown-ups why they were there +as though they didn't know already. This performance, which admitted +of very few gestures, was stated on the programme to be "The Salutatory." +From his being chosen to render this address, it was easily to +be inferred that Dick was regarded as the brightest boy of the +class. + +Then other exercises followed. Two members of the Board of Education +also had pieces to speak. One told of the educational policy +and methods followed in the Gridley schools, on which subject +he knew vastly less than any of the eight smiling teachers present. +The other member of the Board of Education gave a lot of chilled +advice to the members of the graduating class, he did this at +much greater length and with far less effect than Old Dut had +lately done in his last private talk with his class. + +There were a lot of other pieces to be spoken, most of them by +the youngsters. There were songs, also exercises in vocal gymnastics. +Pupils of the lower classes displayed their expertness at mental +arithmetic. Then, after more singing, the superintendent of schools, +who had just arrived, mounted the platform and presented each +graduating one with a diploma, showing that the recipients had +faithfully and successfully completed their Grammar School course. + +More music, after which Laura Bentley, a pretty little vision +in white cloud effects, with yards of pink ribbon for the sunshine, +stepped to the platform, made her bow and launched into the valedictory. + +"And now," called Old Dut from the audience, "the old eighth grade +is no more. The exercises are over. I thank all who have contributed +to make this occasion so pleasant." + +"Three cheers for Old---Mr. Jones, the principal!" yelled Dan Dalzell, +as the scrambling to get out began. Needless to say, the cheers +were given. Now that the ordeal was over, it was nothing to the +discredit of fine Old Dut that the youngsters would have cheered +a yellow dog had they been so requested. + +Old Dut had slipped down to the egress. There he shook hands +with each graduate, wishing them all possible success in life. + +"And be sure to come back to these exhibitions whenever you can +in after years," the principal called as the last members of the +late class were going down the stairs. + +"Dick," chuckled Harry Hazelton, as they descended, "when Old +Dut was calling on you to go forward and do your little stunt, +did you notice the fly on the left side of his nose that he was +trying to brush off without letting any one see the move? Ha, +ha, ho!" + +"Shut up, Hazy," growled Prescott almost savagely. "Haven't you +any idea of reverence? We're going down these steps for the last +time as Central Grammar boys. I'd rather do it in silence, and +thoughtfully." + +"Isn't Dickins the queer old chap?" demanded Harry Hazelton, falling +back by Reade's side. + +"It's a pity you couldn't be queer, just for once, and hold your +tongue until we are outside the good old schoolyard," grunted Tom. + +"They're a pair of cranks," muttered Harry to Dave Darrin. + +"Imitate 'em for once," Darry advised dryly. "Remember, it's +the cranks who make the world go around." + +For the most part, both boys and girls got their hats very quietly. +Then they passed out into the open, walked across the yard and +gathered in little groups outside, each holding his beribboned +diploma in his right hand. + +"It's all over," sighed Tom Reade outside the gate. "Somehow, +I wish that I had another year to go---or else that I'd been a +little more decent to Old Dut." + +"It was a good old school," sighed Dick, looking back almost +regretfully. "And, by the way-----" + +"Speech, Dick!" cried a dozen of the boys, crowding around him. + +"Get out!" laughed Prescott. "I spoke my piece two hours ago." + +Yet the boys continued to crowd about him. + +"He's going to tell us now what the man on the clubhouse steps +said!" proclaimed Danny Grin hopefully. + + + + +Chapter XXII + +HI HEARS SOMETHING ELEVATING + + +"Do you fellows really want to know what the man on the clubhouse +steps said?" Prescott asked, looking about him with a tantalizing +smile. + +"Do we?" came in a chorus. + +"Hurry up and tell us!" + +"Quit your kidding," begged Tom Reade. "Dick, we've waited for +months to have the mystery solved. Now, surely, we ought to know. +Look at these diplomas; they certify that we know everything +else. So trot on the speech of the man on the clubhouse steps." + +"Or look for trouble!" added Harry Hazelton warningly. + +Dick appeared to hesitate. The boys around him, highly curious, +thought he was debating within himself whether or not to give +the desired information. + +"Come, get swift," desired Spoff Henderson. + +"See here, fellows, I'll tell you what I'll do," proposed Dick +at last. + +"You'll tell us what the man on the clubhouse steps said," broke +in Toby Ross. + +"Yes," Dick agreed; "but you'll have to let me do so on my own +conditions and in my own way. You see this diploma?" holding +it up. "I've been working hard for eight years to win this document. +Now I'm going to hurry home and put this in a place of safety. +After that I'll put on my everyday clothes, and then I'll meet +you at the usual corner on Main Street at five o'clock. If any +of you fellows really want to know, then, what the man on the +clubhouse steps said, I'll tell you." + +"You won't postpone telling us, and you won't try to crawl out +of it?" pressed Dave Darrin. + +"On my honor, I won't," Dick promised. + +"On your honor, you won't tell us what the man on the clubhouse +steps said?" demanded Tom Reade suspiciously. + +"On my honor, I won't try to dodge out of it, or postpone it a +minute beyond five o'clock. On my honor I'll tell you, at five +o'clock, to-day, what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"Good!" cried many voices. + +"Will many of you be there?" Dick inquired. + +"We'll all be there," declared Spoff Henderson. "But, remember, +Dick Prescott, you're in honor bound to tell us at last." + +"You won't find me dodging or up to any tricks," Dick agreed solemnly. +"Until five o'clock, then." + +Dick started along. At first quite a crowd went with him, but +by degrees the number decreased until only his own five immediate +chums were with him. + +"Say," suggested Reade suddenly, "since you're going to make a +public, show of this, Dick, you ought to let our little crowd +in on a private view." + +"What do you mean?" Prescott quizzed. + +"You know well enough what I mean," Tom retorted. "You ought +to tell our own little crowd in advance what the man on the clubhouse +steps said." + +"Do you really think so?" Prescott asked. + +"I do," affirmed Tom. + +"And so do the rest of us," asserted Dave Darrin. + +"Well-----" Dick paused hesitatingly. + +"Come, hurry up!" begged Greg. + +"It's no more than fair to us," insisted Dan. + +"On the whole," Dick continued, "I don't believe it would be fair +to the other fellows." + +"You big tease!" blurted Harry Hazelton indignantly. + +"No; I don't mean to tease you," Dick rejoined, his eyes twinkling. +"But I believe in playing fair in life. Don't you, fellows?" + +"What has this to do with being fair?" demanded Tom. + +"Why, just this: I promised to tell you all at five o'clock. +Now, if I were to tell a special few before that time, it would +be a bit unfair!" + +"Not a bit," retorted Dave. "You've had us dangling from the +string longer than you have the rest of the crowd. Therefore, +we ought to know the answer before the other fellows." + +"It's a question of conscience with me," Dick replied soberly. + +"Humph!" snorted Tom. "Well, I suppose we may as well give it +up, fellows. The only way we could worm it out of Dick would +be to rub his nose in the dirt. And he might fight if we did. +This is where I have to leave you. So long! I'll meet the army +at five o'clock." + +Smiling broadly, Dick went on his way home. He put away his diploma, +next removing his best suit and laying it carefully away. Then +he donned his more accustomed clothes and ran down to the store. + +"It was a very enjoyable exhibition, Dick," said his father. + +"And I suppose our son feels that he's a man now?" smiled Mrs. +Prescott. + +"No; I'm not, mother, and I don't want to be in any hurry, either. +There's too much fun in being a boy. And now I've an appointment +to meet a lot of the fellows." + +"Don't let that appointment make you forget supper time," his +mother called after him. + +Spoff Henderson and Toby Ross were already at the place of appointment. + +"Here comes Dick!" called Spoff. "Now, tell us." + +"Wait until the crowd gets here." returned Prescott. + +"Ain't you the mean one?" growled Toby. "And we ran all the way +home and back." + +"Too much hurry is said to be one of the greatest American sins," +laughed Dick. + +"Well, you're going to tell us, anyway, aren't you?" pressed Spoff. + +"Yes; but give the crowd a chance to get here." + +Dave and Dan came along, then Tom, Harry and Greg. Tolman and +a few other fellows hurried up. + +"You might tell us all about that business, now," suggested Tolman. + +"I see some more fellows coming up the street," Prescott replied. +"I don't have to tell more than once." + +Five minutes later there were more than thirty boys at the corner, +and still others were in sight, coming from both ways. + +"Say, get busy, Prescott!" called some of the newer corners. + +"Let the crowd all get here," Dick insisted. + +Presently the crowd numbered more than fifty a lot of their elders, +seeing such an unusual crowd of youths on one corner, halted curiously +near by. Then Reporter Len Spencer came along. + +"What's all the excitement?" demanded Len, ever keen for local +news. One of the boys exclaimed to him what was in the wind. + +"Then you'd better hurry up with your statement, Dick," Len advised. +"There'll be a riot here soon." + +"Five o'clock was the time named," Prescott rejoined. + +Just then the town clock began to strike. + +"It's five o'clock now, Dick," called Greg. + +"Yes," nodded Dick, "and I'm ready at last to redeem my promise." + +"He's going to tell us!" + +"Hurrah!" + +"Shut up! We want to hear." + +"You are all assembled here," Prescott continued, "to hear just +what it was that the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"Cut out the end-man explanations. Give us the kernel!" shouted +one boy. + +"What the man on the clubhouse steps said," Dick went ahead, "should +be a model to everyone. It is of especial value to all who are tempted +to talk too fast and then to think an hour later." + +"Yes, but what _did_ he say---the man on the clubhouse steps?" howled +Harry Hazelton. + +"You will know, in a minute," Dick assured his hearers. "Yet, +before telling you, I want to impress upon you that, whenever +you are tempted to be angry, to be harsh in judgments, or when +you can think only ill of your neighbor, then you should always +hark back to just what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +There was a pause and silence, the latter broken by Danny Grin +demanding impatiently: + +"Well, what did he say?" + +"You see," Dick explained, "the man was all alone on the clubhouse +steps." + +"Yes, yes." + +"And he wasn't exactly sociable by nature." + +"Go on!" + +"As I have explained," smiled Dick Prescott, "the man on the clubhouse +steps was alone, and-----" + +"Get ahead faster!" + +"So, being alone, he just naturally said-----" + +"Well?" breathed the auditors. "Well?" + +"He just naturally said---_nothing_!" + +"What?" + +Dick dodged back, laughing. There were a few indignant vocal +explosions among the assembled youngsters, followed by dangerous +calm and quiet. + +"Whenever you find yourself under trying circumstances, or when +anger is surging within you, fellows, believe me, you'll always +find it wiser to say just what the man on the clubhouse steps +said---which was nothing," Dick urged. + +"And you got us all the way up here, at an appointed time, just +to hear that?" demanded Spoff Henderson. + +"It's worth the time it has cost you," Dick urged. + +"Rush him fellows!" bawled Toby Ross. "Don't let him escape!" + +Indeed, there was no time or chance for getting away. Dick Prescott +was rushed, caught and pinned. + +"What'll we do with him?" rose the chorus. + +"To the fountain! Duck him!" + +With a cheer the boys started, carrying Dick along on the shoulders +of a few tightly-wedged boys. + +Dick's chums made no effort to rescue him. Indeed, perhaps they +felt that he deserved what was right ahead of him. But they ran +along in the press of boisterous lads. + +Len Spencer, grinning hard, rushed along at the head of the juvenile +mob. + +"Boys, you'd better reconsider!" shouted the young reporter. +"Don't write yourselves down as louts. The man on the clubhouse +steps, on account of just what he said, proved himself one of +the sages of the ages. Prescott, in telling you just what he +said, has performed a public service, if only you fellows were +bright enough to comprehend." + +"Get out of our way, Spencer!" ordered Spoff Henderson. "As sure +as guns we're going to duck Dick Prescott in the public fountain." + +"If you won't listen to reason, then," roared Len, using his long +legs to put him well in advance of the juvenile mob, "then I'll +use enchantment to spoil your foolish work. You shall not duck +Prescott! Hi, pi, yi, animus, hocus pocus! That enchantment +will foil you!" + +Having reached the fountain, Len drew aside dramatically. + +"In with him!" shouted the youngsters. + +Then they halted in sheer amazement. For the first time the boys +noted that no water was running in the fountain, and that the +basin underneath was wholly dry. + +"My enchantment has worked," chuckled Len. + +"How did you do it?" demanded one puzzled youngster. + +"Never mind," Len retorted mysteriously. "Now, if you don't instantly +put Dick Prescott on his feet and leave him alone, I'll work an +enchantment that will raise hob with every boy who lays as much +as a finger on Dick." + +So Prescott was allowed to slide down to his feet. He was laughing, +enjoying every moment of the fun. + +"We could have run him down to the next fountain," suggested one +of the schoolboys. + +"It would do you no good, and Prescott no harm," Len retorted +dryly. "At three o'clock this afternoon the fire department turned +off all of the public fountains in order to clean 'em." + +Now Dick's late tormentors began to feel that they had been badly +"sold" all around. After the manner of boys, they grinned sheepishly, +then more broadly and finally ended by laughing heartily. But +the crowd did not break up at once. All waited, with a vague +hope that some kind of mischief would happen. + +A smaller boy went by, calling the evening newspaper. Tom Reade +bought one and stood at the edge of the crowd, reading. + +"Here comes Hi Martin!" called someone. That youth had just turned +a corner, swinging from his left hand a pudgy rubber bag of the +kind that is used for holding a wet bathing suit. + +"Hello, Prescott," was Hi's greeting. "Are you all ready to be +left behind in the spray tomorrow?" + +"If you can leave me there," Dick smiled. "Been out for a practice +swim, have you?" + +"Yes," nodded Hi; "and if you had seen my speed this afternoon +you'd have been scared away from the river for to-morrow." + +"Well, I hope one of us wins," grinned Dick. + +"One of us?" sniffed Hi. "Of course, one of us has to win when +there are only us two in that race. And, after I beat you to-morrow," +Hi added consequentially, "I'll be off and away for a good time. +Saturday father is going to take our family to New York for three +weeks." + +"Going to stop at one of the big hotels there?" Reade inquired, +looking up from his newspaper. + +"Of course we are," Hi rejoined, swelling out his chest. "We +shall stop at one of the biggest and finest hotels in the city." + +"Then don't get a room too high up from the ground," advised Tom. +"I've just been reading in the evening paper that the city authorities +in New York have taken all the elevators out of all the biggest +hotels." + +"Why?" demanded Hi. + +"The paper says it's because the elevators are considered too +dangerous," Tom replied innocently. + +"I don't believe it," scoffed Hi. "Why, how could people get +up to their rooms on the fifteenth or eighteenth floor of one +of the skyscraper hotels?" + +"Oh, well," Tom replied artlessly, "according to the paper the +hotels are all going to be equipped with safety-raisers." + +"Safety-razors?" demanded Hi Martin blankly. "You idiot, what +good would safety-razors be for getting people up twenty floors +in a hotel?" + +There was a moment's pause. Then a few chuckles came, followed +by a few more. + +"Whoop!" yelled Danny Grin. Snatching the bathing suit bag from +Hi's hand, Dalzell got a good hold on the tie strings, then swung +the bag, bringing it down on the top of Hi's head. + +"Run along home, Martin!" jeered Dan. "If don't tumble before +bed time, then ask your father how it is that dangerous elevators +can be replaced with safety-raisers. Here's your bag. Scoot---before +an idea hits you!" + +Red-faced and angry, but still puzzled, Hi snatched at his bathing +suit bag and hastily decamped. + +"Now he'll beat you at swimming or die tomorrow," predicted Dave +grimly. + + + + +Chapter XXIII + +WHO WON THE SWIMMING MATCHES? + + +Thanks to Len Spencer's interest in schoolboy athletics, there +was a goodly crowd gathered at the river bank the next afternoon. +Many people came out in boats. There were at least a dozen launches, +including the one that bore Len Spencer, who had been chosen to +conduct the races. + +The owner of a two room boathouse which adjoined a long wharf +had yielded to Spencer's request for a loan of this property. +In the boathouse the two school teams disrobed and donned their +bathing suits. + +Dave Darrin had been called upon to captain the swimming squad +from the Central Grammar. With him were Tom, Greg, Dan, Harry, +Henderson and Ross. It was as good and representative a team +as Central Grammar could furnish. + +Bill Rodgers captained the squad from North Grammar. Bill had +had his fellows three times in the water, and was proud of them. + +Just ten minutes before the time for calling the contestants Dave +Darrin led his squad from the boathouse. Out along the pier they +ran and dived in. + +"The water's just fine for swimming to-day," ecstatically remarked +Tom Reade, as he came up, blew the water from his mouth and took +a few strokes. "In fact, the water's too fine." + +"Too fine?" queried Dave. "How so?" + +"Why, it makes a fellow feel so fine," retorted Tom, "that I'm +afraid it will make us all winners, and then there won't be any +glory for either school." + +The North Grammar boys now splashed in. Len Spencer, who had +just seen to the placing of the further stake boat, now returned +in the launch. + +Both the squad race and the individual contest were to be for +a quarter of a mile straightaway, with the start from a moored +raft down the river. + +"Every one pile aboard!" called Len, the launch that he was on +gliding in at the pier. Wet swimmers dropped into the launch +until it was filled. Then another small gasoline craft took aboard +the left-overs. The crowd preferred to remain at this end of +the course to see the finish. + +"It won't take North Grammar long to wind your crowd up in the +water," declared Hi Martin, as he and Dick stood at the end of +the pier watching the departure. Both were already in their bathing +costumes. + +"Maybe not," Dick assented. "Yet you mustn't forget one fact, +Hi." + +"What is that?" + +"You mustn't forget that our fellows have already got their winning +gait on this season." + +"Humph! We'll see." + +"It won't take us long, either," Dick continued. "There, the +fellows are piling on the raft." + +From the distance the spectators could see the two swimming teams +lining up on the raft. They could also make out that Len Spencer +was addressing the boys from the raft. + +Bang! It was the warning shot. Spectators along the Gridley +shore crowded close to the bank to get a better view. + +Bang! At the second shot fourteen boys dived into the water almost +in the same second. Fourteen heads came up, one after another, +and the young swimmers settled down to their work. A launch followed +along on each side of the course, to pick up any who needed help. + +"It was thoughtful of some one to provide launches for the Central +swimmers," leered Martin. + +"I hope neither launch will be needed for any of our fellows," +Dick responded. "If either school has to have a fellow picked +up, then of course that's the school which loses the race." + +Hi didn't answer. Despite his confident brag, he was now very +anxious over the outcome. + +Along came the swimmers, all doing well, making a fine showing +for a crowd of fourteen boys whose average age was only fourteen +years. + +From time to time spectators cheered favorite boys in either squad. + +"Central wins!" yelled one enthusiast, as the swimmers neared +the stakeboat off the pier. + +"Don't you believe it," yelled another. "Wait for the finish." + +There wasn't long to wait. As the swimmers came nearer it was +seen that Dave Darrin was ahead of all the swimmers, though Tom +Reade was pressing him hard. Behind Tom came Bill Rodgers, then +Greg Holmes, next two more North Grammar boys. Dan was next, +with Harry following. The three tailenders were North Grammar +boys. + +"Central Grammar wins handily," announced Len Spencer through +a megaphone. + +Hi Martin's face darkened. "Anyway, I'll have the satisfaction +of showing Dick Prescott my heels all the way up the course," +he grunted. + +"Now, you two individual racers tumble aboard, and get ready for +your work," warned Len, as the launch ran in alongside the pier. + +"Wipe him up, Dick!" + +"Don't show him any mercy, Hi!" + +Various other comments wafted to the pair as they sat in the launch +facing each other. + +"Some of those people must think we can both win," laughed Dick +good-humoredly. + +"I'll soon show you that only one of us can win," retorted Hi +almost savagely. + +Arrived at the raft, Len Spencer spoke briefly: + +"At the first shot of the pistol you two youngsters take up your +positions, ready to dive. At the second shot, or as soon after +as you wish, you may dive and begin the race. Either contestant +who dives before the second shot is heard will be disqualified +and then the race will go to the other contestant." + +Dick waited, tingling with the desire to win, though he knew that +Martin was a splendid swimmer for his age. + +"Are you ready?" asked Len in a low voice. Both boys nodded. + +Bang! Len fired a revolver into the air, calling the attention +of all spectators. Dick and Hi stepped nimbly to the edge of +the raft, poising with hands pointed. + +Bang! The splash was simultaneous as the swimmers struck the +water. Each swimmer made a shallow dive and came up. Hi at once +dropped into an overhead stroke, Dick relying upon a side stroke. + +For the first seventy-five yards, as nearly as the onlookers could +judge, the boys swam nose and nose. + +"I'll tire this fellow out with a good pace, and then take a better +one," thought Hi Martin. "I'm going to make a finish that will +stop Dick Prescott from bragging whenever he sees me around hereafter." + +Dick still swam well, but gradually Martin stole ahead of him. + +"Where's Prescott now?" jeered a dozen North Grammar boys. + +"Centrals, send out a launch to tow your champ! Then maybe he'll +make better time." + +Hi swam steadily and rapidly until he had more than half covered +the course. Then he ventured on a look behind him. + +"Prescott won't catch up all day," grinned Hi to himself. "Oh, +I'm glad I insisted on this individual race!" + +Gradually, and, to those on shore it seemed painfully, Dick gained +on the leader. Still, when the race was almost over, Hi was well +in the lead. + +"Hi Martin! Hi Hi Hi!" yelled the North Grammar boys, dancing +and tossing their caps in their glee. "Prescott, where art thou? +Say, what did you try to get into the race for?" + +"Now, I'll show the folks a few things," Hi resolved, putting +on the best spurts of speed that were in him. It was truly a +fine performance for a Grammar School boy. + +Yet, to the amazement of most of the onlookers, Dick also was +doing some very speedy swimming now. A yard he gained on Martin, +then another and another. When they were still fifty yards from +the stakeboat Dick suddenly changed his stroke and surged ahead, +distinctly in the lead. + +"Confound the human steam launch!" gasped Hi, almost choking, +as he saw the powerful strokes of the swimmer ahead. "He'll make +me look like a fool if I don't haul up on him---and the distance +left is so confoundedly short!" + +Now it could be seen that Martin was exerting every ounce of energy +and strength that he possessed. Yet still young Prescott gained. + +Then Martin foolishly lost his head altogether. + +"If I can't win I'll make it look like a fluke!" he gritted. + +Just as Dick was nearing the stakeboat, Hi threw up one hand. + +"I've got a cramp!" he shouted. "Help!" + +To some on shore he appeared about to sink. Dick passed the stakeboat, +then turned like a flash and swam back toward Hi. + +"Prescott wins!" called Len Spencer. + +A few more strokes brought Dick up to where Hi pretended to flounder. + +"Keep quiet, Hi, and let me get a hold on you," Dick offered. +"I'll have you at the pier in a jiffy." + +"You get away from me," snarled Martin. "I don't want any of +your kind of help." + +With that Hi appeared to forget his recent complaint of "cramp," +for he made a lusty plunge toward the pier and pulled himself up. + +Then, an instant later, he must have remembered, for he assumed +an expression of pain and limped. + +"There's that mean cramp again," he muttered. "I'd have won by +a good many yards if it hadn't been for that." + +Some of the Central Grammar boys nearby were impolite enough to +laugh incredulously. + +"Oh, I've dropped my handbag into the river!" exclaimed one woman +to another suddenly, at the end of the pier. + +The other woman turned, giving a quick, startled glance toward +the water. + +"I---I don't know how it happened," gasped the loser. "There +it is, away down the stream, floating toward that boathouse. +Oh, Master Prescott, do you feel able to go and get it for me?" + +"I'll do it with pleasure, madam," Dick nodded. He looked for +a moment. Then, seeing a black floating object, he started after +it, his stroke apparently none the weaker after his swift race. + +It had floated nearly under the boathouse at the water end. The +building in question belonged to the estate next to that from +which the swimming contests had been conducted. This boathouse +was closed, for the owners had not yet come to Gridley for the +summer. The windows of the little green building were shuttered +from the inside. Over the water the walls came down to within +six inches of the present level of water. + +Keeping his eyes turned toward the black, floating object, Dick +swam easily to the spot. The black object floated under the open +sidewall into the boathouse. Just as Dick got there he dived, +duck fashion, head first, and passed to the interior of the boathouse +at the river end. + +As he came up inside Dick's first discovery was that of artificial +light in the boathouse. Then his gaze rested on the platform +end over the land. + +"Amos Garwood here, of all places!" gasped the astonished Grammar +School boy. + + + + +Chapter XXIV + +CONCLUSION + + +The mentally queer inventor had rigged up a bench just under shelves +on which rested tools and boat supplies. + +Just at the moment the inventor had his back turned to the water +as he stood working at his bench. Dick was able to look at him +while not in immediate danger of being seen himself. + +How quietly the Grammar School boy trod water! He hardly dared +breathe, for fear of giving an alarm. + +Yet, even in all his astonishment, Prescott did not forget to +let one hand close over the handle of the black bag whose recovery +had brought him here. + +"I can't do anything with Garwood alone," reflected Dick swiftly. +"I must get out, if I can, without making a noise, and then give +the hurry alarm. That fellow is mixing something, and, if he +isn't stopped soon, he's quite likely to blow up the boathouse, +himself included." + +Fortunately there was sufficient depth of water at this outer +end of the boathouse. Prescott let himself sink so quietly that +there was barely a ripple above his head. Next, with a few cautious +strokes, he carried himself past the hanging side wall and into +the open upstream. + +"Gracious, but no wonder Garwood has been able to keep away from +pursuers," thought the boy excitedly, as he swam steadily up toward +the other pier. "He has a place where not even a Sherlock Holmes +would ever think of looking for him. Why, he could work, sleep +and eat there and never give a sign of his presence!" + +"Did you get it?" called the owner of the handbag eagerly. + +"Yes, ma'am," Dick replied. + +"The bag wasn't open, was it?" + +"No, ma'am." + +"Let me have it quickly, please. Oh, I'm so thankful! Here is +my purse with all the money safe and sound. Wait, Master Prescott, +I must reward you suitably." + +"No; I thank you," Dick replied, his color rising. "Your thanks +are enough. I've been taught that courtesy can't be repaid with +cash. You are very, very welcome to any service that I was able +to do you." + +As Dick hurried into the Central Grammar "dressing room" he found +all five of his chums waiting to rub him down and help him dress. + +"Here, give me that towel, and get out on other business in a +hurry!" begged Dick. "Dave! Tom! Amos Garwood is in the boathouse +below here, working at a bench. Get some of the men and rush +down there to make a capture. Greg, run and see to it that a +launch moves down to the river end of the boathouse in case Garwood +tries to get out that way when he hears the alarm!" + +Prescott's chums darted out in a hurry. Dick half dried himself +in a few frenzied dabs with the towel. Then he pulled on his clothing +faster than ever before. + +He got outside on the pier just in time to see Dave and Tom leading +a dozen men stealthily toward the door of the boathouse. Out +on the water Len Spencer's launch, with half a dozen men in it, +stood as river sentinel. + +While those approaching the boathouse door were still more than +a score of feet away there came a startling interruption. + +Bang! sounded inside. The door of the building strained an instant, +but did not give way. + +"That's our old friend, Amos bang-bang, to a dot," muttered Tom +dryly, as the advancing party of men and boys halted. + +"I don't care about fooling with a dynamite factory," remarked +one of the men. + +Dick, at a dead run, joined the party. + +"Come along!" he cried. "Let's break down the door and find out +whether the poor fellow is hurt." + +"Yes! And have that 'poor fellow' hand you a peck of nitro-glycerine +for a surprise," retorted a man. + +"Come on, fellows! We can get the door down without help," Dick +called, appealing to his chums. + +All five of them rallied to his support. It took but a few sturdy +shoulder blows to complete the work of the explosion and break +the lock of the door. + +Dick took one quick look inside. + +"Tom, run and 'phone for a physician!" Prescott called back. +"Poor Garwood is unconscious, and cut. He's bleeding. Poor chap, +with his lop-sided mind and his 'mastery of the world' imaginings!" + +Reade sped away. As soon as the crowd found there was no danger +there was a rush to the scene. Darrin and three friends managed +to hold the crowd somewhat at bay, while Prescott assisted two +women in trying to bring the injured man to. + +"I hope he doesn't get away this time," thought Dick. "If Garwood +remains at large much longer he'll fix up a bang-bang that will +carry him clean into the next world!" + +While those having the injured man in charge waited they explored +the boathouse. Of the explosive materials not a particle was +found. Evidently it had all gone up in smoke. But, in a far +corner, the searchers discovered a package of gauze, and another +of salve, with which poor Garwood had evidently attended to the +burns resulting from former explosions. Later it was found that +both packages came from a drugstore some twenty miles away, where +the poor fellow had also bought his explosive materials from time +to time. He must have walked the long distance at night when +other people were abed, for the druggist stated that his customer +came in, on each visit, as soon as the store was opened in the +morning. + +Blankets and a few groceries, found in the loft, explained the +demented man's manner of housekeeping during the last few days. + +It was half an hour ere a physician finally arrived in a touring +car. + +"The man doesn't appear to be badly hurt," declared the medical +man. "It won't take us five minutes to get him into town and +in the hospital, so I believe we had better start to revive him +after we get him there." + +Two strong men were found who were willing to sit in the tonneau, +holding Amos Garwood's insensible body between them. + +As the car started away a subdued cheer arose. The mystery and +the vanishing of Amos Garwood were at an end at last. Those who +had feared having a demented man at large in the community breathed +more easily. + +From the day of the race the summer vacation for the late Grammar +School boys began in earnest. A few days later Dick and his swimming +squad met a similar organization from the South Grammar, and a +match was held on the river. As Prescott's squad again won, Central +Grammar was now undisputed Grammar School champion on the water +as well as in baseball. + +Colonel Garwood tried to pay the offered reward to the members +of Dick & Co., but the parents of the boys refused to entertain +the idea. + +Amos Garwood, not seriously injured in body, was soon well enough +to be taken back to the sanitarium. Here his malady was found +not to be severe. A year later he was discharged, fully cured +of his delusions, and able once more to take his place as a useful +member of society. + +There does not remain a great deal more to be told. + +Many of the boys who have appeared in these pages went no further +in school life, but stepped out into the working world, there +to fit themselves for the men's places in life. + +The more fortunate ones, however, went to High School. All the +members of Dick & Co. were thus favored in being able to go forward +into the fields of higher education. We shall speedily meet with +these manly American boys again, for their further doings will +be described in the _High School Boys' Series_. + +In the first volume of this series, "_The High School Freshmen; +Or Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports_," the friends of +these six wide-awake boys will find them in a new field of action, +and follow them through an exciting series of trials and triumphs. +Dick & Co.'s interest in High School athletics, and the way in +which they won a permanent place in the hearts of the older students +is told so realistically in the first volume of this series as +to make all readers long to know more about them. + +All the big and little boys who wish to continue their friendship +with Dick & Co. will find their further adventures related most +entertainingly in the four volumes of the High School Boys' Series +just published. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12735 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..caecf89 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12735 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12735) diff --git a/old/12735.txt b/old/12735.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..56f7441 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12735.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7637 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Grammar School Boys in Summer Athletics, +by H. Irving Hancock + + +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: The Grammar School Boys in Summer Athletics + +Author: H. Irving Hancock + +Release Date: June 25, 2004 [eBook #12735] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER +ATHLETICS*** + + +E-text prepared by Jim Ludwig + + + +The Grammar School Boys in Summer Athletics + +or, Dick & Co. Make Their Fame Secure + +By H. Irving Hancock + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTERS + I. A Jolt on a Quiet Day + II. The Vanishing Man + III. Dick Marches His Nine On + IV. The Story of the Uniforms + V. North Grammars Play Real Ball + VI. Setting With a Teaser + VII. Ted Teall Faces the Storm + VIII. Two Rivals Plan Dire Revenge + IX. Hi Martin Tries to Make Terms + X. "Babbling Butt-in" + XI. Ted Feels the Flare-Back + XII. The North Grammar Captain Grilled + XIII. "Big Injun---Heap Big Noise" + XIV. "Crazy as a Porous Plaster" + XV. Bluffing Up to the Bug Game + XVI. "Ted's Terrors" Full of Fight + XVII. Dodge and Ripley Hear Something +XVIII. Hi's Swimming Challenge + XIX. Dave Darrin Flashes Fire + XX. Arranging the Swimming Match + XXI. Old Dut Gives Wise Counsel + XXII. Hi Hears Something Elevating +XXIII. Who Won the Swimming Matches? + XXIV. Conclusion + + + + +Chapter I + +A JOLT ON A QUIET DAY + + +"There's just one thing that I keep thinking about on a day like +this," Dave Darrin sighed contentedly. + +"What's that?" Tom Reade wanted to know. "Supper?" + +Darrin turned, favoring Reade with a flash of disgust from his +large, dark eyes. + +"I'm still waiting for the information," insisted Tom after a +short pause. + +"You may as well wait," retorted Dave. "You wouldn't understand +what I feel, anyway. Any fellow who can keep his mind on supper, +on a grand June day like this-----" + +"I imagine that you'll keep your mind on the meal when you reach +the table," predicted Tom, grinning. + +"That'll be time enough," Dave rejoined. "But I'm not going to +profane the woods, on a perfect June day, by thinking of kitchen +odors." + +"Say, aren't you feeling well?" asked Tom gravely. + +"That's just the point, I guess," broke in Dick Prescott, with +a light laugh. "Dave is feeling so extremely well and happy-----" + +"Now, you're shouting," Darrin assented. "But it's no use for +poor Reade to ponder over the glories of nature. All he can think +of is the region bounded by his belt." + +"Glories of nature?" repeated Reade. "If that's what you're talking +about, why didn't you announce your subject earlier? Yes, sir; +nature is at her greenest best to-day. Just look off through +that line of trees, and see how the light breeze moves the tops +in that field of young corn, and-----" + +"Corn?" flared Dave. "Something to eat, of course! Tom, you're +hopeless when it comes to the finer things of life. You ought +to have been born in a pen, close to a well-filled trough. Corn, +indeed!" + +"This country would probably be bankrupt if there were no corn +crop, and you'd be digging hard for a living, instead of being +a lazy schoolboy," retorted Reade, with an indulgent smile. "Let +me see; how many hundred million dollars did Old Dut tell us the +annual corn crop brings in wealth to this country?" + +All of the other boys, save Dave, glanced at Tom, but all shook +their heads. Statistics do not mix well in a Grammar School boy's +head. + +"Oh, well, it was a lot of money, anyway," Tom pursued his subject. +"I wouldn't mind having all the money that the American corn +crop brings." + +"So you could buy the fanciest kinds of food, I suppose?" jeered +Dave Darrin. + +"Never mind, Darry; if I had a lot of money I'd buy you the biggest +and softest mattress I could find, so that you'd have nothing +to do but lie off by yourself, look up at the green leaves and +dream your summers away. That lying on your back and looking +up at the sky is what you call reverie, isn't it?" + +"Quit your kidding!" ordered Dave. + +"Is it reverie?" asked Harry Hazelton, "or just plain laziness +that ails Dave?" + +"Laziness, of course," laughed Tom. "Dave, I guess Harry has +more sense in naming things than any of us. Yes; that's it! +And Dick thought it was merely poetic temperament." + +"Temperament? What's that?" grinned Dan Dalzell. "Is that what +you get in June by adding up the column of figures in the thermometer?" + +To signify his lack of interest in the talk, Darrin rolled over +on his side, turning his gaze away from the other boys. In another +minute Dave's eyes were closed, his lips open and his breath coming +regularly and audibly. + +Such was the droning effect of the warm June breezes on this glorious +afternoon. + +"Give Dave the chorus of 'He Was the Sleepiest Boy,'" whispered +Greg to the others. "Put a lot of steam into every line!" + +At a sign from young Holmes the drowsy chorus rolled out, punctuated +by timely yawns. + +Darry rolled over, yawning, too, an easy-going smile on his face. + +"Greg," he charged, "I'm certain that you put the crowd up to +that outrage. When I summon up energy enough I'm going to thrash +you." + +"All right," agreed Greg, "I'll take boxing lessons within a year +or two, so as to be prepared for you." + +"I wish this were to-morrow afternoon," grumbled Harry Hazelton. + +"I'm glad it's to-day," sighed Dave easily. + +"But to-morrow will be Monday, and we can play baseball." + +"And just because to-morrow will be Monday," retorted Dave, "Old +Dut will expect us to bring in those fifteen examples in insurance." + +"We'll be all past that, by afternoon," Dan broke in. "Then, +as soon as the bell rings to dismiss school, we'll all pile outside +and have a ripping practice on the diamond." + +"Yes; we'll have to get a lot of practice," Dick assented. "Otherwise, +you know, the North Grammar will just wipe up the field with us +Wednesday afternoon." + +"The North Grammar!" sniffed Greg scornfully. "Hi Martin's crowd? +Huh!" + +"Those North Grammar boys have been practising," Dick insisted. +"Hard work is what tells in athletics." + +"Well, hang it, didn't you keep us running all through the spring?" +demanded Dalzell. "Didn't you say that would put us away at the +top in Grammar School baseball?" + +"It will help us a long way," assented Dick. "Yet it won't do +everything. Each of us has to be as nearly perfect as possible +in the position that he has to play. That's why we really need +a lot more practice than we've had on the real field." + +"The worst of it is" suggested Tom, "that we've got all of the +best players in the school on our regular nine, and the scrub +nine isn't made up of fellows who can really give us any work." + +"Don't croak, Dick," begged Dave. "This day is too perfect to +have it spoiled by any calamity howling." + +Presently Darrin rolled over on his side once more. Greg took +a peep, became suspicious, and started to hum: + +"He was the Sleepiest Boy." + +Smack! came a small sod, with which Dave had slyly provided himself +in advance. + +"Ugh! Gr-r-r-r!" sputtered young Holmes, leaping to his feet +and spitting out the stuff from his mouth. It was mostly the +grass side of the sod that had struck his teeth, but a little +of the loam had gone in with it. + +"Good enough for me, I suppose," grimaced Greg, seating himself +once more when he had cleaned his mouth fairly well. Dave, who +had turned over to grin at Greg, soon rolled back to his old posture +on the grass. + +Greg, however, was not disposed to let the matter pass as easily +as the others imagined. Shortly Holmesy jumped astride of Dave +and rolled that youth over on to his back. + +"I didn't eat all of the sod," young Holmes announced. "You may +have the rest, Darry. How does it taste?" + +Dave shut his mouth tightly, but Greg held his nostrils. The +instant that Darrin opened his mouth for air Holmes rammed in +the piece of sod. Then he jumped up, retreating. + +It was now Dave's turn to jump up and work vigorously getting +the stuff out of his month. + +"Tastes immense, doesn't it, Dave?" called Holmes tantalizingly. + +No answer in words came from Darrin, but he suddenly wheeled, +charging straight at Greg. Doubtless the latter would have gotten +out of the way safely, but that Dick thrust out a foot, tripping +Dave as he bounded by. + +Darrin came down upon his knees. The hotheaded youth was now +very close to being angry in earnest. + +"Hold up, Dave!" Prescott advised. "You started it, you know. +You will have to show that a joke is just as funny whether it's +going or coming." + +"That's right, old chap," agreed Dave, halting and beginning to +cool. "Greg, come here and shake hands." + +"You shake hands with Tom," Holmes retorted suspiciously. "I +appoint Tom my substitute, with full powers." + +"I'd sooner fight Tom than you," mused Dave, gazing down at Reade, +who did not appear to be very much disturbed. "Tom is the fellow +who's always bringing his appetite along on the finest days that +heaven has sent us." + +Dick Prescott lazily drew out his watch and glanced at it. Then +he rose, remarking: + +"You may stay here and get all the comfort you can out of nature, +Dave. But it's half past five and I guess the rest of us will +want to be nearer to the source of kitchen odors." + +"Whew! If it's any such time as that I'm going to move fast," +cried Harry Hazelton, leaping to his feet. "At our house supper +is on at six o'clock, and anyone who gets in late has to take +what's left." + +"Are your folks so poor as that?" laughed Tom. + +"Hardly," returned Harry. "But both dad and mother are sticklers +for everyone being in his seat on time." + +By this time five of the chums had started across the broad, sunny +field toward the rather dusty road. + +"Coming, Dave?" Dick called, looking back. + +"Oh, yes," grunted Darrin. "But I hate to see all of you fellows +running as though you didn't know whether you'd ever get another +meal." + +"I wonder what is Dave's sudden grouch against the eats," Tom +mused aloud. "I've seen him at a few meals, and he was always +a clever performer." + +"Probably Dave has been eating too much for this time of the year, +and has a touch of indigestion," Greg laughed. + +Darrin overheard the discussion as he came along, but he did not +choose to enlighten his friends. However, unintentionally, Greg +had touched upon a part of the trouble. Dinner, that Sunday, +at the Darrin cottage, had been unusually tempting, and Dave had +eaten heavily. For that reason, when he had joined the crowd +in the early afternoon, Dave had felt just a bit sluggish. The +walk out into the country had roused his digestion a bit, and +had left him in just that state where he could contentedly lie +on the grass and doze half of the time. + +On this bright Sunday all six of our Grammar School boys had attended +church and Sunday school as usual. Then, the day being so fine, +they had met and gone away on this tramp, which had ended in a +"resting match" on the cool grass under the shade of trees. + +All of our readers are familiar with these six fine American boys. +Our readers were first introduced to Dick & Co., as Prescott +and his chums were locally known, in the first volume in this +series, "_The Grammar School Boys Of Gridley_." Therein the reader +made the acquaintance of six average American boys of thirteen, +and followed them through their sports and adventures---which +latter were many and startling indeed. + +In the second volume of the series, "_The Grammar School Boys +Snowbound_," the same six were shown at winter sports just before +Christmas. The detection, on Main Street, of a trio of Christmas +shopping thieves led to a long chain of rousing adventures. Right +after Christmas, Dick & Co., securing permission from their parents, +went for a few days of forest camping in an old log cabin of which +they had been given the use. Another phase of their adventure +with the shopping district thieveries turned up in the woods and +contributed greatly to the excitement of their experience. While +still camping in the old, but weather-proof cabin, the Grammar +School boys found themselves snowbound in one of the greatest +blizzards that had happened in that section in years. Being +hardy boys from much outdoor life, however, Dick & Co., as our +readers know, turned hardship into jolly fun, and incidentally +made a great discovery in the woods that turned their camping +expedition into the local sensation of the hour. The reader also +remembers how some of the poorer specimens of High School boys +and a few local young "toughs," under the leadership of Fred Ripley +and Bert Dodge, tried to drive them from their forest camp. + +In the third volume of the series, "_The Grammar School Boys In +The Woods_," Dick Prescott and his chums, each now fourteen years +of age, found the most startling of all the exciting happenings +that had been crowded into their short lives. How they came upon +two dangerous, tattered specimens of humanity in the woods, how +these two contrived to make Dick and Greg take unwilling part +in an attempt to rob one of the local banks, the mystery of the +haunted schoolhouse, and a host of other lively incidents---all +these are so familiar to the reader of these volumes as to need +no repetition. And Dick & Co., through the series of exciting +adventures they had encountered, had become the best-known boys +in and around the little city of Gridley. Being leaders of other +boys, they had naturally made some enemies, but that is to be +expected in the case of all who are born to lead, or who fit themselves +for leadership. + +And now, on this glorious June Sunday afternoon, we find our schoolboy +friends enjoying the sacred day quietly, yet looking forward to +the opening of the contests on the diamond between the three local +Grammar Schools, the North, Central, and South Grammars. + +The road they had chosen on this Sunday afternoon was one over +which they had seldom traveled. It was not the road to Norton's +Woods, to the great forest, nor yet the one that went by the "haunted +schoolhouse." It was in a wholly different direction from Gridley. + +"It's a long way home, this," complained Tom Reade, as the boys +plodded along the dusty highway. "And I'm hungry." + +"Hungry?" snorted Darrin. "Of course you are. You fellows sang +a verse to me a while ago. Tom, how do you and your fellow-porkers +like this lay?" + +Taking a deep breath, Dave started to sing a travesty, to the +air of "America." + +_"My stomach, 'tis of thee, +Sweet gland of gluttony, +To thee I sing! Gland---"_ + +"Stop it," ordered Tom threateningly, as he advanced upon Darrin. + +"Stings, does it?" inquired Dave sarcastically. + +"Yes, it does," Reade retorted bluntly. "To my mind 'America' +is as sacred as any hymn ever written, and I won't hear it guyed! +That's no decent occupation for an American boy." + +"That's right," nodded Greg Holmes. + +"Well, I won't yield to any of you in being American to the backbone," +Dave retorted hotly. + +"Prove it," said Tom more quietly. + +"I'll prove it by my whole life, if need be," Darrin went on warmly. +"Tom Reade, I'll be glad to meet you when we're sixty years old, +talk it all over and see who has been the better American through +life!" + +"Great!" laughed Dick Prescott approvingly. "That'll be a fine +time to settle the question. And that time is---let me see---forty-six +years away." + +The other boys were grinning now, and Dave and Tom, catching the +spirit of the thing, laughed good-humoredly. + +"But this does seem a mighty long way home," Dan complained. + +"I can show you fellows a shorter way, if you want it," Prescott +proposed. + +"We all live on Missouri Avenue. Show us," begged Hazelton. + +"It's through the woods," Dick continued. "I warn you that you'll +find some of it rough going." + +"Then I don't know about it," Greg replied with fine irony. "We +fellows are not very well used to the woods." + +"It's twenty minutes of six," declared Dan, glancing at his watch. +"Some of us are in danger of eating nothing but cold potatoes +tonight if we don't get over the ground faster. Find the short +cut, Dick." + +"It starts down here, just a little way," Prescott answered. +"I'll turn in when we come to the right place." + +Dick and Darrin were now walking side by side in advance. Right +behind them came Greg and Dan, while Tom and Harry, paired, brought +up the rear. + +"In this way," called Dick, turning sharply to the left and going +in under an archway of trees. It was over velvety grass that +he led his chums at first. After something like an eighth of +a mile the Grammar School boys came to deeper woods, where they +had to thrust branches aside in making their way through the tangle. + +"My Sunday suit will look like a hand-me-down by the time I get +home," muttered Greg Holmes. + +"It does now," Dave called back to him consolingly. + +"We suspected that Darry's grouch was due to dyspepsia," laughed +Holmes. "Now I am sure of it. David, little giant, take my +advice---fast to-night." + +"I will, if the rest of you fellows will," challenged Darrin quickly. + +"The truth is out," Tom burst out laughing. "Darry, by that slip +of the tongue you admitted that you've been eating too much and +that you're all out of sorts." + +Dave did not deny. He merely snorted, from which sign of defiance +his chums could gain no information. + +They had gone another quarter of a mile through the woods when +Dick, now alone in the lead, suddenly halted, holding up one hand +as a signal to halt, while he rested the fingers of his other +hand over his lips as a command for silence. + +"What is it?" whispered Darrin, stepping close. + +"Fred Ripley, Bert Dodge and some of their fellows," Dick whispered, +at the same time pointing through the leaves. + +"Well, we don't have to halt, just because they're around," retorted +Darrin, snorting. "If they try to pick any trouble with us we +can give 'em as good as they send. We've done it once or twice +already." + +"But we don't want to go to fighting on Sunday, if there's any +way to avoid it," young Prescott urged, at which four of his chums +nodded their heads approvingly. + +"I'm not looking for any fight, either," muttered Dave. "Yet +it goes against the grain to halt just in order to let that gang +slip by without seeing us." + +"There are five of us against your single vote, Darry," Dick reminded +him. "Let us have our way." + +"Well, we don't need to skulk, do we?" queried Dave. + +"Oh, no," Dick assured him. "All we will do is to keep quiet +and not bring on a fight with that tough lot." + +"Huh!" muttered Darrin, as though he could not see the difference +between that and skulking. + +Presently, after holding a hand behind him to signal silence and +stealth, Prescott started on in the lead. He wanted, if possible, +to see just where Ripley, Dodge and their crowd went, so that +the Grammar School boys would not run too suddenly into them. +The "Co." trailed on in Indian file behind their leader. + +Finally Dick halted again, his chums crowding on his heels. They +looked out into a clearing beyond. There, amid trees, stood a +small three-room house, looking still quite new in its trim paint, +though the building had stood there idle for some five years. +At one time the city had planned a new reservoir site on a hill +just above, and this little cottage had been intended for the +reservoir tender. Then a better site for the reservoir had been +found, and, to date, the cottage had not been removed. + +"Ripley and his crew went around that cottage to the door side," +Dick whispered. + +"Are they in the cottage?" Dave demanded. + +"I don't know. They went around to the other side. Let's wait +and see if we can guess what's up." + +So, forgetful of their suppers for the time being, Dick & Co. +waited, screened by the bushes. + +"There's smoke coming up out of the chimney," whispered Tom Reade. + +"Yes," nodded Dick. "I had just noticed that. I'm wondering +what it can mean. No one has any right to break into the cottage." + +"Fred Ripley and Bert Dodge, because they have a lawyer and a +bank officer for fathers, don't feel that they need any rights +when they want to do a thing," muttered Darrin resent fully. + +It was impossible to see what might be going on inside the cottage, +for the simple reason that all of the windows were shuttered tightly. + +"Let's go ahead," begged Dave, after a few more moments spent +in idle watching. "I want to know why that crowd has broken into +the cottage." + +Truth to tell, even the leader of Dick & Co., usually very discreet, +felt himself a victim of curiosity. + +"Shall we try to find out the secret, fellows?" Prescott inquired. + +"That's just what we ought to do," responded Greg. "Especially +as Ripley and Dodge have always been so mean to us." + +Dick went forward, with his best imitation of the way he imagined +an Indian scout would approach a strange house. Greg and Dan +were at his heels, while Dave and Harry went around the other +side of the cottage, Tom remaining well to the rear to watch. + +Some low, vague sounds came from within the cottage. These were +not such noises as scurrying rats would make, so the boys were +quick to conclude that human beings were moving inside. + +But what could possibly be going on? The noises that the Grammar +School boys heard were hard to classify. + +At last Dick and Dave met before the door of the little cottage. +Nor were they much surprised at finding that the door of the +cottage stood perhaps a half an inch ajar. + +This, however, did not furnish light enough to give a glimpse +of what was happening inside. + +"Two or three of us may as well slip inside, eh?" whispered Dave +to Dick. + +"Wait! Listen!" counseled Prescott. "We don't want to please +that crowd by stepping right into a trap. And I've an idea that +by this time they must know that we're around here." + +"If they knew, they'd be out here making faces at us," retorted +Darrin wisely. + +"And ordering us to get off the earth," supplemented Greg, in +a whisper. + +"Listen," whispered Dick. "Perhaps we can guess what they're +doing." + +"I can guess what they're doing," murmured Reade, who had now +moved around to the front with his chums. "I've been watching +the smoke of that fire come up through the chimney. Humph! I +don't believe Rip and Dodge are doing anything worse than a little +camping. There must be a stove in there, and they're cooking +some supper---playing at camping out." + +"I don't smell anything cooking in there," rejoined Dick with +a shake of his head. "We can't hear anything sizzling over the +fire, either." + +"Then what-----" began Harry curiously. + +Bang! interrupted a crashing explosion inside the building. +Boom! Then the door flew wide open, followed by a single great +belching of white smoke. + +Through the center of this cloud was hurled a human figure. A +man struck the ground and lay there, senseless or lifeless, a +pool of blood quickly forming on the ground beside him. + + + + +Chapter II + +THE VANISHING MAN + + +For the first few seconds the Grammar School boys stood as if +chained to the ground, their eyes staring with alarm and horror. + +They stared at the man, apparently of middle age, who lay there, +and they beheld the blood. + +What on earth could have happened? + +Boom! It was a lesser explosion that now sounded inside, yet +it was enough to galvanize the boys into action. + +"Come on!" cried Tom Reade, setting off in the lead. "We don't +know nor care what's in there!" + +"The house may blow up next," added Greg, following him. + +All the members of Dick & Co. were now in full retreat. They +were courageous lads, but, with the immediate landscape in seeming +danger of blowing up, getting away was the wisest possible course. + +"Say, what do you make of that?" demanded Greg breathlessly, when +the Grammar School boys had halted, well out of sight of the cottage +and down in the woods. + +"Bang!" replied Tom dryly. "That's all I heard." + +"And blood," almost chattered Hazelton. + +"But what it means is a big puzzle," Dick added. "If Rip and +his crowd are or were in the cottage, they would hardly explode +anything purposely and perhaps kill a man. That man appeared +to be dead---he must be dead. Rip and Dodge are mean fellows, +but they're hardly up to killing people." + +"There was an explosion," remarked Tom judicially, though his +voice was still husky. "Now, while I don't know everything, I +believe there always has to be an explosive in order to bring +about an explosion. Am I right?" + +"You stand on ground that no one can dispute," nodded Dick. "But +how did the explosive come to be in a building that belongs to +the water company, and which is supposed not to have been occupied +in some years?" + +"What was the man doing in there, for that matter?" demanded Tom. + +"He wasn't very well dressed," observed Harry. + +"Yet he didn't look like a tramp," Dave put in. + +"But the man himself, and the fact that he's hurt or dead, are +our two first points to consider," spoke Dick quickly. "If he's +hurt we are bound to bring him help. If he's dead, we'll have +to notify---some one." + +"I'd like to go back there and have a look at him," quoth Tom, +"but the biggest explosion of all may come out of that cottage +at any moment now." + +"Yet the facts are that another explosion hasn't come, and that +the man ought to have help, as a matter of common decency," Dick +urged. + +"I'll run to the nearest house where people are living," suggested +Tom, pulling off his jacket and making ready for a run. + +"What are you going to tell the folks?" Prescott queried. "That +the poor fellow is living or dead? I'm going back to find out +which." + +"We'll all go," offered Dave. + +"But what happened to Rip and his mean crew?" asked Hazelton. + +"We haven't seen any signs that they were in the cottage at all," +Dick responded. "If they were, as none of them came out, they +must be badly hurt---perhaps worse." + +As a matter of fact, Ripley and his party had not gone into the +cottage, but had continued directly towards their homes. + +That grisly thought gave all the boys a shudder as they plodded +up the slope, between the bushes and thence stepped into the clearing. + +"Talk about dreaming!" muttered Dick, halting abruptly and staring +hard at the ground around the cottage. + +In the first place, the cottage door was closed. There was no +smoke now coming out of the chimney, and all looked peaceful and +deserted, save for the presence of the Grammar School intruders. +There was no injured man lying on the ground. + +"Crackey!" gasped Greg. "Yet we didn't all dream together, did +we?" + +"Certainly not," muttered Dick, again starting forward. The others +followed him. + +"This is where we saw the man fall, isn't it?" asked Dick. + +"Yes," nodded Greg. + +"But there was blood on the ground then," urged Dave. "I don't +see any now." + +"It must have been goblin blood, then," laughed Tom rather unsteadily, +for this mystery began to look unearthly. + +"Hold on," hinted Dick. "Doesn't it look as though fresh earth +had been sprinkled here?" + +"Of course it does," nodded Harry. "And the earth has soaked +up the blood." + +"I don't see any soaked-up blood," objected Greg. + +"No; because it's so well covered and soaked up," argued Hazelton. +"But wait until I find a stick, and we'll stir up that dirt. +Then we'll find the red stuff mixed to a sort of mud, and-----" + +"Come along out of this, you ghoul!" uttered Tom almost wrathfully, +as he seized his friend by the arm. + +"We'll go to the door," Dick suggested. "Perhaps we can get inside. +At any rate, we can find out whether there is any one inside +who wants help." + +Dick put his hand on the doorknob, giving it a turn and a hard push. + +"Door's locked tightly now," he announced. + +"And it takes human hands to lock a door," Reade observed sagely. + +"Is there anyone inside who needs any help?" Prescott called loudly. + +All was silent inside. Then Dick played a tattoo on the locked +door with his fists. Still no sound from inside. + +"All together, now," urged Dick. "Any---one---want---help?" bawled +six lusty young voices in unison. + +"There is only one voice that answers," continued Dick, after +a pause, as he turned to the others. "That's the silent voice +of good sense." + +"What does it say, then," challenged Dave. + +"That we've done about all we can do here," Dick replied. "All +we know is that a man seemed to have been hurt here. If he was, +he was able to take himself away, and to conceal the signs of +his hurt before going. Therefore we've no further excuse for +meddling around here that I can see." + +"Let's get along then," Tom urged. "And---whew! It's after half +past six!" + +"You'd better run, then," jeered Dave. "Your stomach won't allow +any more fooling!" + +"Now, what ought I to say to a crank like Darry?" demanded Reade, +turning to Prescott. + +"You'd better overwhelm him, by saying what the man on the clubhouse +steps said," urged Dick. + +"And what was that?" asked Tom eagerly. + +"We-ell," hesitated Dick, "I believe that's still a secret." + +The Grammar School boys were now walking rapidly through the woods, +but at mention of the clubhouse topic all had gathered close to +their young leader. + +"Aren't you going to tell us now?" demanded Greg. + +"I'm afraid not right away," responded Prescott slowly. + +"See here, Dickins," growled Dave Darrin, "for months you've been +stringing us about what the man on the clubhouse steps said. +Time and again you've sprung that on us, and you've never given +us the slightest satisfaction. Now, you'd either better tell +us, or shut up about the man on the clubhouse steps." + +"All right," sighed Dick. "I'll-----" + +"Well?" insisted five boys in the same breath. + +"I reckon I'll shut up," Dick rejoined. + +"Say, somebody ought to hit Dickins!" grunted Reade. + +"That's right," grinned Dan. "Well---let Tom do it." + +Dick continued to smile mysteriously. He enjoyed this good-natured +teasing of his chums. + +"What are we going to tell folks about what we saw at the cottage?" +queried Dan after another five minutes of trudging. + +"If we tell anything at all," suggested Prescott, "I'll tell you +how we can win a prize." + +"How?" demanded Tom innocently. "By telling the truth," Dick +smiled. Soon after the Grammar School boys came out on the road. + +"See that group 'way ahead there?" asked Tom, pointing down the +road. + +"Yes," nodded Dick. "That's Rip's crowd, so we know they didn't +get hurt." + +"Then the only one who did get hurt," Tom added, "was the man +who was very soon able to take mighty good care of himself." + +"So we don't need to bother about the matter any more," Greg hinted. +"And, gracious! I hope mother has saved some supper for me." + +"It'll be a cold hand-out for me," groaned Hazelton. + +The Grammar School boys were soon on Main Street now. They hurried +along, as they had not yet come to the point of parting. + +"Look at that crowd down the street," called Dave. "There's some +excitement in the wind." + +"I'm not nosey," observed Tom. + +"No," scoffed Darrin; "you're too hungry." + +"I'm going to see what the excitement is about, anyway," muttered +Hazelton, starting forward off a run. + +One by one the other boys yielded to curiosity and started at +a jog-trot for the corner where the crowd was gathered. + +"No; the poor fellow isn't crazy in the ordinary sense of the +word," Dick heard a tall man, finely dressed in black, say to +some of the bystanders. "He's harmless enough, and his mind isn't +permanently astray, if only he can have prompt and good care. +But he's inclined to get away by himself and ponder over his +inventions. If he leads a too solitary life long enough he may +be past the possibility of a cure one of these days. That is +why Colonel Garwood is so anxious to find his son, and offers +such a handsome reward for information." + +"Some one missing?" asked Dick in a low voice. + +"Yes," nodded a man in the crowd. "A crazy inventor is lost, +or he's loose, at any rate, and his old father is trying to find +him. There is a reward of twenty-five hundred dollars for the lucky +fellow who finds this inventor with the monkey wrenches in his +brain." + +"What does the man look like?" asked Dick. + +The tall man in black overheard the question and wheeled quickly. + +"Amos Garwood is the missing man," said the tall man. "He is +forty-seven years of age, about five feet eight in height, slightly +stooped, very pallid and with cheeks slightly sunken. When last +seen Amos Garwood was rather poorly dressed. He has just escaped +from a sanitarium, and the only person who has seen him since +reports that he looked 'hunted' and anxious, and that his cheeks +were considerably sunken. Garwood has dark hair, slightly gray +at the temples. He probably weighs about-----" + +"Pardon me, sir," Dick interposed. "What kind of beard does the +missing man wear?" + +"Dick Prescott has found him," laughed one man in the crowd. + +"Garwood has no beard at all, save for what there may be for three +or four days' lack of shaving," quickly replied the tall man. + +"Where is the missing man, Dick?" laughed another man in the crowd. + +"Yes; Dick has found him," called another. + +"I rather think so," Dick nodded. "At least, I believe our crowd +has seen Garwood very lately." + +Prescott's evident confidence aroused instant curiosity. + +"Where?" demanded a dozen voices quickly. + +"I wish you young men wouldn't answer, but just come with me," +spoke the tall man quickly. "If your information proves correct, +and we find the missing man, the reward will be yours." + +Dick turned to nod to his companions, as the tall man in black +turned to lead the way. Their guide, after making sure that Prescott +was at his side, walked rapidly down the street a few doors, halting +before the street door of one of the office buildings. + +"Come upstairs and tell Lawyer Ripley whatever you know," requested +the tall man. + +"I don't believe you'll find him in Sundays," replied Dick. + +"We shall to-day," responded their guide confidently. "Mr. Ripley +is helping us in this search." + +This, then, looked like proof that the Garwood family was well-to-do, +for Lawyer Ripley seldom worked for small fees. + +Running ahead, the tall man threw open the door of the lawyer's +office. + +"Mr. Ripley," he called, "here are some boys who think they have +seen Amos Garwood. Probably these youngsters are half dreaming, +yet they may have some information of value." + +"I know these boys," nodded the lawyer, looking up, "and they +are dependable. They are good, bright boys. Prescott, come forward +and tell me just what you know, or think you know." + +"First of all, sir," urged Dick, "let me give the best description +I can of the man we've seen." + +"A good idea," nodded Mr. Ripley. "Go ahead." + +Nor had young Prescott been engaged very long in his task of description +before the tall man broke in excitedly: + +"That's our man, beyond a question! Where did you see him? When?" + +Dick hastily recounted the strange happenings at the supposedly +untenanted cottage of the old water-works project. + +"We must get there without delay," called the tall man to two +other men who, so far, had kept in the background in the lawyer's +office, but who had been deeply interested hearers. "One of you +boys must go up there with us. How far is it from here?" + +"Come through into my rear office," suggested Mr. Ripley, "and +I can show you the spot from a window. Come along, Prescott, +and tell me if I'm right. Hello! There seems to be some trouble +up that way," added Mr. Ripley, as he reached one of the windows +at the rear. + +"There's a fire up there under the hill," cried Dick Prescott, +as he pressed forward to another window. "Mr. Ripley, from the +location of the smoke, I should say that the cottage itself is +afire!" + +"And I believe you're right," agreed the lawyer. + +"Poor Amos!" groaned the tall man. "The poor fellow may have +set fire to the place to destroy himself! Ripley, I can't wait +here, inactive, another second. We must start! Can I get a cab +here?" + +"I think I can get an automobile for you inside of five minutes," +replied the lawyer, hurriedly leading the way to the front office. + +"Five minutes?" groaned the stranger. "Why not wait a year?" + +"An automobile will save you much more than five minutes' time +on the way," returned the lawyer, snatching up his desk telephone. +"Central, give me 163-J in a hurry!" + +A few minutes later the automobile was at the door. The tall +stranger and two other men who had been in the lawyer's office +were now on the sidewalk. + +"Crowd on all the speed you can, my man," appealed the tall stranger. +"If you get into any trouble with the authorities I'll pay all +the fines you incur. This is a matter of life and death." + +The speaker and his two men crowded into the car. + +"You come, too," called the tall one to Dick. + +"Is there room for one other boy?" asked Dick. + +"Yes; we can squeeze him in." + +"Want to come, Dave?" Dick inquired. + +Darrin was by his chum's side in an instant. + +"Let out the speed!" ordered the tall man. "Prescott will tell +you where to go." + +Four members of Dick & Co. had been worrying about their suppers, +but now not one of them but would have waited indefinitely for +a chance to go on that one especial auto trip. + +"Greg, tell my folks where I've gone, and why," Dick shouted back. + +Then---whizz! The automobile was down the street and around a +corner before anyone could say "Jack Robinson!" + + + + +Chapter III + +DICK MARCHES HIS NINE ON + + +The automobile party arrived just in time to see the blazing roof +of the little cottage crash inward, sending up a shower of sparks +against the sky of the dying day. + +"I hope Amos wasn't inside, hurt and helpless!" gulped the tall +stranger, leaping outside. "But why hasn't the fire department +been out here?" + +"The Gridley fire department doesn't respond outside of city limits, +except on request and by permission of the mayor, sir," Prescott +answered. + +"I'll drive down and telephone any message for you," offered the +chauffeur, who had left his ear behind and had traveled on foot +up to the cottage. + +"Firemen would be of little use now," replied the man in charge +of the party. "We can do nothing until the blazing embers cool, +which won't be for hours yet. Still, We might go as close to +the blaze as possible, and see if there are any signs of a human +body in the embers." + +While this was being done darkness came down over the summer day. +There was plenty of light, however, around the destroyed cottage. + +For some time the searchers explored as well as the heat of the +glowing embers would permit. + +"I am satisfied," said the tall man at last, "that no human being +was consumed in this fire. If so, we would certainly see some +evidences of remains. Still, these ashes, when cool, must be +searched." + +"You don't need me any more, do you, sir?" asked Dick. + +"Is it near your bedtime yet?" smiled the stranger. + +"I haven't had my supper yet," Prescott smiled. "Neither has +Darrin." + +"Bless me! What a brute I am to forget a boy's stomach!" cried +the tall one. "Here," taking a banknote from his pocket, "I will +have the chauffeur drive you back to town and then return for +us. Take this money and get the best supper you can for two, +at the best restaurant in Gridley." + +"Thank you, sir," replied Dick, shrinking back; "our parents wouldn't +allow us to do that." + +"Are your parents any easier on such questions?" smiled the stranger, +turning to Darrin. + +"Not a bit, sir, thank you," Dave responded. + +"I may at least pay you something for your kindness and trouble +in coming out here with me," urged the stranger, still offering +the cash. + +But both boys shook their heads, declining with thanks. Neither +had been reared to accept money for doing a human kindness. + +"If you don't need us any more," Dick went on, "we'll just find +the road and jog back." + +"If you won't accept anything else," retorted the tall man, "you +will at least allow me to send you back in the auto. And you +will also accept the thanks of John Winthrop, and of Colonel Garwood, +whom I represent." + +Both boys protested, with thanks, that they were able to get home +on their own feet. Mr. Winthrop, however, insisted on their going +in the car. Truth to tell, both youngsters had used their feet +so much that day that they did not object to being taken home. + +"I hope you will find your man, sir, and alive," Dick called, +as he and Dave were leaving. + +"I believe that we shall," replied Mr. Winthrop. "Yet it will +be by beginning the search from this point." + +The chauffeur drove them home in good time, for he was under orders +to report back to Mr. Winthrop as speedily as possible. + +Neither Dick nor Dave had any trouble in getting a late supper +served at home. + +"You've brought home a good tale, as you often do, to pay your +mother for her extra trouble," laughed Mr. Prescott. + +"I hope that poor, half-witted fellow didn't destroy himself in +his own fire," murmured Dick, as he fell to at the meal. + +By morning the people of Gridley knew that the ruins of the abandoned +water-works cottage had been explored, and that the remains of +Amos Garwood had not been found there. + +But an editorial in the "Blade" suggested that the cottage was +not very likely to have taken fire unless the blaze had been started +by Garwood. While the latter was declared not to be dangerous, +the "Blade" hinted that his malady might suddenly have taken a +dangerous turn. + +"The good people of this section will feel much easier," concluded +the editor, "when they know that Garwood has been found and returned +to the sanitarium that awaits him. A cash reward of twenty-five +hundred dollars should be incentive enough to set many people +to the task of finding the unfortunate man." + +Yet, for Dick & Co., the adventure of the afternoon before dropped +very quickly into the background. Here was Monday; on Wednesday +the boys of the Central Grammar must meet the boys of the North +Grammar on the diamond. Then the first of a series of baseball +games was to be played for the local Grammar School championship. +The South Grammar would also enter a nine. + +Intense rivalry prevailed between the schools. The fact that +the respective nines were made up almost wholly of boys who were +soon to be graduated from the Grammar Schools did not in any sense +lessen the rivalry. Each young player was proud of his own school +and anxious to capture the laurels. + +"Are you going to win Wednesday's game from the North Grammar, +Dick?" asked Len spencer, when that reporter met Prescott on Main +Street at noon on Monday. + +"Of course we are," Dick replied instantly. + +"You seem very positive about it," quizzed Len. + +"That's the only way to go into athletics," claimed Dick. "A +team must enter with the determination and the knowledge that +it is going to win. Then there's little left to do but to walk +home with the victory." + +"But Hi Martin was telling me, this morning, that Central hasn't +a ghost of a show against North," pursued Len. + +"Hi Martin will know better, day after tomorrow, won't he, Dave?" +queried Dick, appealing to Darrin, who had just come along. + +"He surely will," nodded Dave. + +"By the way," asked Len, "have you seen any of the new uniforms +of the North Grammar?" + +"No," Dick admitted, his face falling a trifle. "I understand +that Martin's fellows are going to wear pretty dandy uniforms, +though." + +"They are," Len nodded. "I've had a look at the uniform." + +"Well, North Grammar is attended by a lot of sons of pretty well-to-do +men," Dave put in. "Our boys don't come from as wealthy families, +so we have to be content with less of the showy things in life." + +"What are your uniforms going to be like?" inquired Len Spencer. + +"We haven't any," Dick replied promptly. + +"No uniforms at all?" demanded the "Blade" reporter. + +"None at all," Dick continued. "Neither have the South Grammar +boys. In the glories of uniform the North Grammar nine will be +all in a class by itself." + +"It's too bad," muttered Len. + +"No, it isn't," Prescott retorted. "We fellows from Central are +going to show that uniforms don't necessarily make players. We +don't mind---that is, not very much---the absence of uniforms." + +"We'll try to show that we have something uniform about our team +play, and let it go at that," said Dave cheerily. "Come along, +Dick, or we'll be late at school." + +Away the pair raced. Lessons went about as usual that afternoon +with Old Dut's class, which was surprising, as nearly every boy +in the room had his mind much on baseball. + +Captain Dick Prescott, of the Central Grammar nine, had called +practice for that afternoon, from half past four to six o'clock. + +At recess, that afternoon, a pleasant, somewhat rotund-looking +man was seen engaged in conversation with Old Dut in a corner +of the schoolyard. At the close of the afternoon session that +same man stepped into the schoolroom, accepting the principal's +offer of a chair on the platform. + +"Attention!" called Old Dut, striking the bell. "I am glad to +be able to state that no pupil has incurred the penalty of remaining +after school to-day. However, I am going to ask the members of +the Central Grammar baseball nine and their substitutes to remain +for a few minutes. I pledge myself not to interfere with the +scheduled practice," continued the principal dryly. "All other +pupils will file out promptly, and not loiter in coatrooms or +corridors." + +Within two minutes the place had been cleared of all but Dick's +baseball squad. + +"I now wish, young gentlemen," began Old Dut, "to introduce to +you Mr. Edson Brown, who is interested in baseball, and who has +a slight favor that he wishes to ask of you." + +"It's very simple," declared Mr. Brown, rising and stepping down +from the platform. "I have been greatly interested in baseball +for a number of years. Among other things I have a considerable +collection of figures concerning school teams, their sizes and +weights, I would like, with your permission, young gentlemen, +to take a few measurements. I won't detain you more than a few +moments." + +"Do you want a suggestion, sir?" asked Tom Reade. + +"Of course," nodded Mr. Brown, smilingly. + +"Then the real crowd that you ought to measure are the fellows of +the North Grammar nine. You'd get a fine lot of chest measurements +there, I can promise you." + +"Why?" asked Mr. Brown. "Are the North Grammar boys better developed +physically?" + +"I can't say about that," Reade replied seriously, "but they're +the only Grammar School fellows in Gridley that have baseball +uniforms, and I understand that they're the chestiest lot of young +fellows that any one ever saw." + +"I'll consider the North Grammar boys later, then," nodded Mr. +Brown, smiling. "Now, will each young man oblige me by removing +his coat and vest and stepping forward for the measurements that +I want to take?" + +In a notebook Mr. Brown jotted down the measurements that he made. +There being five substitute players, there were fourteen boys +in all whose measurements he recorded. + +"That is all," nodded Mr. Brown finally, snapping his notebook +and tucking it away in a pocket. "I am deeply indebted to all +of you young men. + +"And now I beg to add," said Old Dut, "that, as all of you youngsters +are in a hurry, there will be no criticism if you see fit to race +through the corridors." + +Out on the field, just before half past four, Captain Dick Prescott +lined up his squad of fourteen, himself included, and quickly +added four more to the number, thus organizing two nines. + +"Now, play ball," he called. + +"Do it in a hurry," supplemented Tom Reade. + +"Speed is all right," Dick retorted. "But we want to play with care, +even more than with speed. The scrub nine will go to bat." + +Dick himself ran quickly out to the pitcher's box, twirling his +ball impatiently. A High School boy had been secured for umpire, +and all was in readiness. + +Of course the school nine won over the scrub. Never mind the +score, which looked badly for the scrub. Dick was satisfied that +his nine was doing the best that was in it. + +Tuesday afternoon there was more practice, though Captain Dick +did not allow it to continue too long. + +"Now, don't take a single chance with yourselves," called Prescott, +in dismissing the squad on the field near the schoolhouse. "Don't +any one of you get a sore toe or strain a 'wing' before to-morrow +afternoon. Fellows, I believe that we are going to be able to +put it all over the North Grammar to-morrow afternoon. But we +can't do it unless we are all in the best of shape. Be careful +at table. Don't any one of you overeat between now and the game. +And all get into bed early to-night and have a long sleep." + +"I put every young man in this room on honor for to-day," stated +Old Dut, facing his class, the next morning. "No matter what +the disorder or breach of discipline, no boy will be kept in after +school this afternoon, for I know that every one of you, whether +player or 'booster,' wants to be at the inter-school ball game +this afternoon. So remember, young men, that you are all on your +honor to-day. Prove yourselves worthy of it." + +Never had discipline been better preserved in the eighth grade +classroom than during that day. + +Soon after four o'clock scores of Gridley schoolboys had found +their way to the big vacant field not far from the Central Grammar, +the owner of which permitted its use freely by schoolboy athletes. + +The principal of the South Grammar, too, was there, flanked by +rough-and-tumble Ted Teall and the South's baseball delegation. +Captain Ted had to play the Centrals on Saturday, and he wanted +to view their style. Though North Grammar was well represented, +the principal of the school did not appear, being "detained by +pressure of important duties." + +"Old Dut will know enough to be here," remarked one of the Central +boys proudly. "Nothing but disaster could keep him from showing +interest in our work." + +Cheering was started by a big group of North Grammar boys. A +stage had just been sighted, and this bore the North Grammar's +diamond champions. A few moments later the stage drew up at the +edge of the field, and Hi Martin and his fellows piled out, each +proudly resplendent in showy uniform of red and white, with red +caps and stockings. The North Grammar boys were dandies, and +they appeared to want, everyone to realize the fact. They formed +at the roadside and marched on to the field in step. + +"Halt!" commanded Captain Hi Martin. Then he looked around curiously. + +"If the Centrals are here yet, why don't they come out of the +crowd and receive us?" inquired Martin rather pompously. His +insinuation that Dick's fellows might be mixed with the crowd was a +slur on the Central boys not possessing uniforms. + +"Our fellows are not here yet, but they will be soon, you bet," +called back a Central boy. "It's only twenty minutes past four." + +"Spread out, men, and practice," directed Hi Martin. + +"Yah! yah!" jeered a Central boy. "Get all the practice you +can---you'll need it." + +"These ragamuffins are pretty full of brag," observed Hi scornfully +to one of his lieutenants. + +"They're just the kind of fellows that always do brag," returned +the player addressed. "Their brag will all be gone within a half +an hour. You'll see." + +"Yes," agreed Hi thoughtfully. "If we can't trim this crowd to-day, +then they're some wonders at ball. They don't have any idea how +long we've been training in order to give them this trimming." + +Some of Hi's players had already spread out over the field, and +were doing some rapid passing. Certainly Hi's fielders promised +well, from the little glimpse of their skill that was now had. + +Then one of their best batsmen took up the willow, driving a few +long, swift fielders. + +"This will get the Centrals nervous before they start, if they +see any of our work," laughed one of Hi's players. + +Truth to tell, the North Grammar boys did show some pretty work. +Ted Teall looked on approvingly. + +"Prescott has met his match to-day," remarked Ted to a friend. + +"These Norths will bother you, too, won't they, Ted?" + +"Us? No; not a bit. We can play all around the Norths. But +Central will have to take third place when the series is done." + +"The Centrals haven't got rattled and skulked, have they?" called +Hi Martin at last. + +A disdainful yell came back from the assembled Central boys. + +"Then some one hurry over and tell 'em that it's time to hustle +on to the field and take their medicine," urged Hi. "We don't +want to have the game called for darkness before we're half through." + +"The Centrals will be here on time," called back one of Old Dut's +boys. "Don't you worry any about them. Dick Prescott is holding +the watch over our crowd." + +"It's four twenty-seven," announced Hi, consulting his gold watch. + +"Four twenty-five and a half," corrected a Central boy. + +"Go get your watch fixed," retorted Hi scornfully. "And some +one else run and see if he can find out where the Centrals are +hiding." + +"Here they come!" yelled one excited Central boy. "Whoopee! +They will answer for themselves!" + +In an instant the Central cheering became tumultuous. Even Ted +Teall rubbed his eyes and gasped. + +For the Central Grammar School squad was marching toward the field, +having just left the schoolhouse. At the head of all, chin well +up, marched Old Dut. Back of him, two and two, marched Dick Prescott +and his players. What marvel had been worked? For the Central +boys wore uniforms that made Hi Martin's fellows look like so +many gaudy figures on a cheap poster! + + + + +Chapter IV + +THE STORY OF THE UNIFORMS + + +"Great Scott!" gasped Hi Martin, in sheer dismay, his gaze fixed +on the approaching Centrals. + +"Where in the mischief did they get those uniforms?" demanded +Tom Percival, of the North Grammars, his mouth agape. + +"Well, they have 'em, anyway," added Bill Rodgers. "And they +certainly look more than fine, don't they?" + +"The uniforms are made of cheap stuff, I'll wager," muttered Hi +hoarsely. There was a choke in his throat over seeing his own +nine so badly eclipsed in appearance by the despised Central Grammars. + +Not less astonished were the Central Grammar boy spectators themselves. +Not one, outside of the baseball squad, had known that any uniforms +were to be worn on the field. + +"Huh!" remarked Ted Teall, captain of the South Grammars, to one +of his lieutenants. "We are the only school nine in town now +without a uniform. When we get on the field to play we'll look +like a lot of rag-pickers, won't we?" + +"I know where they got 'em," choked Hi at last. "Their principal, +Old Dut Jones, wouldn't see his boys look too badly compared with +us, so he bought 'em as good uniforms as he could afford. It's +a shame. That's what it is." + +If Captain Dick and his baseball players walked rather proudly +onto the field, it may have been partly due to the fact that they +now knew that their uniforms were anything but "cheap." In point +of fact, their uniforms had cost more than twice as much as those +worn by Hi Martin's players. + +"How did they get such uniforms?" That was the question that +passed from lip to lip. + +The answer was very simple, though as yet none of the onlookers +knew what it was. + +Not until one minute past four did the Central Grammar players +know anything about the uniforms. Old Dut had dismissed the rest +of the school, detaining Dick's players. + +"Young men, we shall now hasten up to Exhibition Hall," announced +the principal. He marched them up there, where they found the +smiling Mr. Brown, backed by an assistant. Several boxes, opened, +lay upon the floor. + +"Now, young men," called Mr. Brown jovially, "let us see how quickly +you can take your baseball uniforms and get into them." + +"But what-----" began Dick, then paused in absolute bewilderment. + +"It's all right," Mr. Brown cheerily assured the dazed boys. +"The uniforms are all paid for---won't cost you a cent." + +"But you---you told us," protested Captain Dick Prescott, "that +you were collecting measurements of members of schoolboys' baseball +clubs." + +"Well, that's the truth," protested Brown, with a mock air of +injured innocence. "I'm a traveling salesman for the Haynes Sporting +Goods Company, one of the biggest baseball outfitting companies +in this part of the country. It's my business to travel and take +orders." + +"But we didn't give you any orders," gasped Dave. + +"Some one did," laughed Mr. Brown. + +"Who did?" blurted Tom Reade. + +"Did you, Mr. Jones?" cried Dick. + +"Not I," laughed the principal. "But I'll tell you, boys, who +did. Prescott, you remember Mr. Winthrop, who is acting for Colonel +Garwood in trying to find the latter's son? Amos Garwood hasn't +yet been found, but Mr. Winthrop is satisfied that they are close +at his heels, and that they will soon find him. Colonel Garwood +is a very wealthy old man, and very fond of his missing son. +Mr. Winthrop inquired how he could best serve the boys who had +brought him the first word. Some one, I believe it was Len Spencer, +the 'Blade' reporter, told about your not having uniforms. Mr. +Winthrop wired the Haynes Company, placing an order for the best +of uniforms, provided they could be finished to be delivered this +afternoon. And here they are." + +"When do you youngsters play?" called out Brown laughingly. "To-day +or some other day?" + +"I would recommend you to make good time," Old Dut urged. "You +don't want to start the season by being late, do you. Besides +the North Grammar boys might then claim the game by default." + +That was enough to set Dick Prescott and his dazed comrades at +work in earnest. + +The uniforms were of blue, and of fine texture. Even baseball +shoes had been provided. The stockings were blue. Then came +the trousers. The blue jersey shirts bore proudly in front two +golden letters each, "C.G." This inscription stood, of course, +for "Central Grammar." Then there were coats of blue, to slip +on over the jersey shirts; caps of blue and belts of blue, the +latter edged with golden yellow to match the shirt initials. + +Besides there were a catcher's mask, gloves for the different +field players, half a dozen baseballs and an even dozen of bats. + +"Finish dressing as quickly as you can," urged Old Dut. "Your +time is slipping away." + +At last they were ready. Carrying masks, bats, gloves, they fell +in by twos, Principal Jones marching them from the building, along +the street and into the field where their arrival had created +such a furor. + +Yet, excited as he was, Dick had not forgotten to ask both Mr. +Brown and Old Dut not to fail to express their deepest thanks +to Mr. Winthrop and to Colonel Garwood. + +Ben Tozier, of the High School baseball nine, had been accepted +as umpire for the day. He now came forward to meet Captain Dick's +company. + +"My, but you youngsters look about the finest ever," announced +Ben. "I hope you can play as well as you look. Captain Prescott, +do you claim any time for practice?" + +"Not if it's time to begin playing," Dick answered. + +"Yes; it is. I'll call Martin, and you two will attend me for +the pitch of the coin." + +"Wait a moment, please," called Hi, from across the field. + +"What's the matter?" shouted a spectator. + +"The North Grammars want to go home and change their uniforms," +shouted another onlooker. + +There was a great laugh at this, which caused Hi Martin to color +and look belligerent. He came stalking across the field. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," shouted Ted Teall, affecting the manner +of an announcer, "I beg to state that the game about to begin +will be between two famous nines, known as the Gentlemen and the +Chromos." + +At this there was more laughter, while Hi Martin shook with rage. +Looking at the bright red so prominent in the North Grammar uniforms, +there could be no doubt as to which nine had been dubbed the "Chromos." + +"Mr. Umpire," called Hi angrily, "have you power to preserve order +here to-day?" + +"I'll do my best," agreed Tozier. "But this is an open field +that any one may enter, and there are no police here." + +"Play ball, you red-heads!" jeered a boy, referring to the bright +red caps of the North Grammars. "Don't holler for the police +until you find out whether you can stand up to the Centrals." + +"Now, let us stop all guying of the players and all other nonsense," +called Tozier firmly, as he held up his right hand. "Remember +that we are here to see a game and not to listen to cheap wit." + +That held the unruly ones back for a few moments. Tozier drew +a coin from one of his pockets, exhibited it to the captains, +and asked: + +"Who will call the toss?" + +"Martin may," nodded Captain Dick. + +"Ready, then." + +Ben Tozier sent the coin spinning skyward. When it turned to +fall Hi called out: + +"Tails." + +"Heads win," declared Umpire Tozier. + +"Captain Martin, have you any choice?" inquired Prescott politely. + +"I didn't win the toss," Hi returned sulkily. + +"But we'll give you your choice if you have any," Dick insisted. + +"We'd rather go to bat," Hi observed. + +"Then, Mr. Umpire," continued Dick, turning to Tozier, "the Centrals +choose the field." + +"Get to your places," nodded Ben. "Martin at bat; Percival on +deck," called the score-keeper. + +Dick ran down to the pitcher's box, while Greg, slipping on mask +and glove, took up his position behind the plate. + +Tozier carelessly broke the seal on the package enclosing a ball, +inspected it, and dropped it into Dick's hands. Dick threw an +overshoot to Greg, who mitted it neatly. + +But Ted Teall could not let the occasion go by without some nonsense. + +"Whack!" shouted Teall. "Woof! Did you hear it strike? And +it hurt, too. Who has the arnica bottle?" + +There was laughter, but Dick ignored it, sending in a neat drive +over the plate. Greg caught it and sent the ball back. + +As it once more reached Dick's hand Umpire Tozier shouted: + +"Ready! Play ball!" + +Greg Holmes signaled what he wanted. Dick gave the ball a twist, +and the game was on. + + + + +Chapter V + +NORTH GRAMMARS PLAY REAL BALL + + +"Say, dress a kid up swell, and send him on the street---did you +ever know him to be any good?" demanded Ted Teall scornfully of +those who stood near him. "Well, that's what ails the Centrals. +They're wearing a bale of glad dry goods and they can't keep +their eyes off their togs long enough to find the ball." + +Dick and Dave heard this as they went to grass at the end of the +third inning. + +So far, though the Centrals had made some bases, none of their +players had succeeded in scoring at the plate. One of Hi Martin's +players had scored a run in the first inning and another in the +third. + +"Teall is a torment, isn't he?" whispered Dick. + +"He is now," muttered Dave. "He won't be after this game is finished." + +"Why not?" + +"I'm going to trim some of the funny talk out of him after the game." + +"Don't do anything foolish, Dave," urged Dick. + +"That won't be foolish. It's necessary." + +"Don't do it, Dave, or even think of it. You'll give the Centrals +the name of not being able to stand defeat." + +Then Dick ran over to the box to begin pitching for the fourth +inning. His arm had not given out. Prescott had been doing some +pretty good pitching, and Greg had backed him up well. But the +North Grammars had a few batsmen who seemed to guess the ball +in advance. + +"Hey, Mr. Umpire," shouted a boyish onlooker, as Dick faced the +plate, ball in hand, "better call the game and let the Centrals +play some weak primary school team." + +Even at this cheap witticism there was considerable laughter. +It made Dick's face flush. + +"I'll show 'em whether we can play or not," he muttered to himself, +as he caught the signal from Greg. "We've got to start, too, +for we've got to match those two runs and then pick up this game +for our own." + +Hi Martin was again at the plate. He swung his bat idly, grinning +mockingly at Prescott. + +"I'll let you off without trying, if you'll give me second base," +offered Hi tantalizingly. + +"If the batsman talks again he will be ordered off the grounds," +declared Umpire Tozier sternly. + +But Dick felt the sting of his opponent's taunt and longed to +be even. Greg signaled for a drop ball---a difficult one for +a schoolboy to throw. It was the first time in the game that +Greg had asked for this. + +Dick "made up" the ball with extra care, then let it go. It looked +like a chest-high ball as it came, and was so slow that Hi threw +back his bat to slam it. + +"A home run on this!" thought Hi exultantly. + +From the sides of the field came a mocking laugh, for the ball +had dropped, leaving Hi pounding wildly at the air. + +"Strike one!" called Ben Tozier, slipping a pebble to his other +hand. + +Dick smiled quietly as the ball came back to him. Greg signaled +for an outshoot. But Dick "made up" the ball and imitated his +delivery of the throw before. + +"I'll get down and get it, this time!" flashed Martin resentfully. +He did, only to find himself no nearer the ball than before. + +"Strike two!" + +Tittering came from the sides now, also some applause. The spectators +had just begun to understand that Dick Prescott was pitching better +ball. + +"Ball one!" + +Hi felt a bit better for a moment. Then: + +"Strike three! Out!" + +With a muttered growl of disgust, Captain Martin gave up his post +to Percival. + +"What has got into Prescott?" demanded Rodgers, of the Norths, +anxiously. + +"Oh, we'll pound him to pieces soon," muttered Hi. + +"Strike one!" sounded the umpire's steady, low voice. + +In a moment or two more it was: "Strike three. Out!" + +Then a third batsman took post. Dick Prescott, his face now flushed +with pleasure, not humiliation, and his eyes flashing battle, +put the third man out for the Norths. + +Yet, though the Central Grammars put two of their men on bases, +they, too, went back to grass ere a run could be scored. + +The fifth inning was almost a duplicate of the fourth; no ground +gained. In the sixth, after having two men struck out, the Norths +took two base hits away from Prescott, and had men on first and +second. In an unwary moment for the Centrals the man at second +made third just ahead of the ball. + +"We'll have a third run in a moment, if our boys keep their heads," +murmured Hi Martin confidently. "That will keep us at three to +nothing." + +At that instant Dick delivered a ball that the North batsman tapped, +but just hard enough to drive it for a fair catch into Prescott's +hands. + +"You idiot!" glared Martin at the offender, as the Norths took +the field. + +However, all predictions were still in favor of the North Grammars, +who had two runs put away while they had kept Prescott's men from +scoring. + +"Fellows, we've got to do something, and we must make it strong!" +muttered Dick, as his side came in. + +Reade went to bat---was struck out. + +"That wasn't very strong," sighed Tom, as he passed Dick going +to the plate. + +Dick Prescott had his favorite bat in his hand. He gripped it +a little harder for an instant, then relaxed and waited for Hi's +puzzling delivery. + +"Strike one!" + +Dick swung for the next one that came. Almost mechanically Tozier +opened his mouth to call: + +"Stri-----" + +But Dick's willow cut in with a "whack!" + +"Woof! Whoop!" Central boys among the spectators sent up an expectant +yell, then watched breathlessly. Was the luck about to change? + +"Go it! Go it! Go it!" yelled the Central boys in three different +pitches of enthusiasm. + +Dick, as he struck first and turned, took a fleeting look at the +North's right fielder, still in pursuit of the long fly that had +gone by him and was rolling over the field. Then, straining lungs and +nerves, Dick sprinted toward the second bag. + +"Go it! Hustle!" + +Behind him Dick heard the whistle of the coming ball. Just ahead +of him was the plate. He took a long leap, then slid. Second +baseman held up the ball in his right hand. + +"Safe, safe!" yelled the gleeful Central spectators. + +"Out! That was out!" hoarsely declared the boosters for the North +Grammars. + +"Safe at second," called Ben Tozier steadily. + +"Oh, you ape of an umpire!" grunted Hi Martin disgustedly, as +he mitted the ball from second. For an instant he watched Dick, +who was edging away from second. Then he turned to send in a +drive past Greg, who now hovered over the plate. + +Greg Holmes went to two strikes and three balls, Hi all the time +alertly watching Prescott at second. + +Crack! And now Greg was running. Norths' left-fielder muffed +the ball, then recovered and threw like a flash to third. But +Dick was there a shade of a second ahead of the leather. + +"Safe" declared the umpire. + +Hi Martin flashed a warning look at the catcher for his nine, +then sent a sweeping glare around the bases. Greg and Dick smiled +sweetly back. + +"Play ball!" ordered Umpire Tozier. + +Dan Dalzell was now at bat, tingling with anxiety, though his +grin seemed a yard wide. + +"Oh, you Danny Grin! Eat the leather!" appealed a Central rooter +from the side. + +Dan grinned again, his look seeming to say, "Watch me!" + +Two strikes, with no called balls. Dick, dancing away from third, +felt himself on tenterhooks. Not all of his perspiration was +due to the heat of the day. + +Again Dan offered. Crack! A wild, gleeful whoop went up from +some of the Central rooters, while others held their breath. +The ball went high, and right field came running in for it. As +it happened, the fielder underestimated the length of the flight. +It struck the ground to his rear and rolled. Before the outfielder +could pick it up Dan had kicked the first bag. + +"Prescott! Prescott!" + +Dick was in, scoring the first run, while Greg was at second, +and Dan hugging first as though he dared not be found two yards +away from that bag. + +Henderson now went to bat, accompanied by the grave anxiety of +the members of his nine, for Spoff was not one of the star players. +True to expectations Spoff struck out. + +"Do it, Hazelton! You've got to do it!" yelled the Central fans +despairingly. "Don't miss any tricks!" + +Harry, however, could find nothing safe to hit at. He took first +on called balls, advancing Greg to third and Dan to second. + +Wrecker Lane now swung the willow. On his face was a do-or-die, +dogged expression. Wrecker was not a brilliant player, though +he was one to whom defeat came hard. + +"Go after it, Wrecker. Put it over hard! Slam!" + +After two strikes and one ball had been called Wrecker let go +in deadly earnest. Bang! The blow split the leather, which went +in an erratic though by no means short course. Greg dashed in +over the plate amid wild cheers. Dan, hotfooting as he had never +before done in his life, crossed the plate also. Wrecker, panting, +reached first, looked at the fielder almost on the ball, sped +on, then prudently turned and make back for first. + +Toby Ross now went to bat, and struck out in crisp one-two-three +order. + +"Wrecker, that was a bully liner!" glowed Dick, grasping the hand +of the boy who had saved the score in its critical moment. "You +seemed to have Hi Martin's delivery down to a certainty." + +"Yes, and it was a wonder, too," confessed Wrecker, still a bit +dazed. "I couldn't see the ball at all, but I knew that it was +up to me to do something." + +"How do you feel now, Chromos?" bawled Ted Teall at the beginning +of the seventh. + +The score was now three to two in favor of Central Grammar. + +It was still there when the seventh ended, and also at the finish +of the eighth. Then the North Grammars went to bat for the first +half of the ninth. + +"You fellows simply must do something---do a lot," had been Hi's +almost tearful urging as be addressed his fellows at the bench. + +It was Bill Rodgers who stood before him as Dick twirled the ball, +awaiting Greg's signal, which came a second later---a drop ball. + +Bill swung for it, then looked foolish. Two more bad guesses, +and he was out. + +A second man was soon out, and then a third. Not one of the trio +had been able to judge Dick's ball. + +Central Grammar had won the first game by the close score of three +to two. That, however, was as good for all purposes as any other +could possibly be. + +"What ails you Norths?" amiably remarked Ted Teall. "Is it the +gayness of your uniforms? The red gets in your eyes and keeps +you from seeing the ball." + +"You're not funny," glowered Hi Martin. "You're merely a clown." + +"Wait until my nine plays yours," retorted Teall genially. "Then +we'll see who looks more like a clown---you or I." + +But now there was time, and Dick Prescott and his fellows had +to tell scores of eager inquirers how they came by their new uniforms, +when they had not expected to have any. + +"Just what I thought, or as bad, anyway," muttered Martin when +the news was brought to him. "These muckers couldn't buy their +uniforms, as our fellows did. They had to depend upon charity +to make a good appearance on the field." + +"Hold on, there, Martin," angrily objected one of the Central +fans. "I suppose it was charity, too, when you gave our fellows +the game, eh? It was mighty kind of you, too." + +"Huh!" retorted Hi. "This is only one game lost, and by a hair's +breadth. Wait until the end of the season, and see who carries +the laurels." + +"Prescott, what do these letters mean on your jersey?" asked Ted +Teall, halting and squinting at the golden yellow emblems. + +"C.G.?" smiled Dick. "That's for Central Grammar, of course. +But the letters have been put on so that they can be easily changed +around to read G.C." + +"What'll that stand for?" quizzed Teall, winking at some of the +other fellows. + +"Why, we'll change the letters around after we've played this +series, and then the letters will stand for Grammar Champions." + +"Oh, I see," grinned Ted. "My, but that will be kind of you, +to give our fellows the jerseys." + +"You haven't won them yet," retorted Dick. "The Centrals will +keep their own jerseys and wear the G.C. by right of conquest." + +"Perhaps they will, and perhaps they won't," muttered Hi Martin +angrily to himself and Tom Percival. + + + + +Chapter VI + +SETTLING WITH A TEASER + + +Saturday morning, about eight o'clock, the entire team of the +Central Grammar met at Dave Darrin's house. In the front yard +they waited for their captain. + +"Queer Dick should be a bit late," muttered Torn Reade. "He's +our model of punctuality." + +"You'll see him come around the corner 'most any minute," Greg +predicted. + +Nor was Holmes wrong in this. When Prescott arrived he came on +a jog trot. + +"We wondered what kept you, our right-to-the-minute captain," +announced Dave. + +"Well, you see," replied Dick quizzically, "I've been thinking." + +"Thinking?" repeated Tom. "Oh, I understand. You've been thinking +about what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"Well, hardly anything as big as that," teased Dick. "I'm afraid +that you fellows are growing impatient on what is, after all, +not a very important matter." + +"So, then, the speech of the man on the clubhouse steps wasn't +very important?" inquired Tom, seeking to pin their leader down. + +"Why, that would depend on how you happened to regard what the +man on the clubhouse steps said," Dick laughed. + +"Is that what you're going to tell us?" almost bowled Hazelton. + +"I don't know that I am going to tell you much of anything," Prescott +continued. + +"What did the man on the clubhouse steps say?" asked Dan, advancing +with uplifted bat. + +"You'll never drag the secret from me by threats or violence," +retorted Dick, with a stubborn shake of the head. + +"We're getting away from the point," Tom went on. "You said you +had been thinking." + +"Well?" + +"You've made the claim of having been thinking, but you haven't +offered the slightest proof." + +"What I was thinking, fellows, was that we are obliged to meet +the South Grammar nine on the diamond to-day." + +"We're not afraid of them," scoffed Dave. + +"No," Dick went on, "but I've an idea that we're up against an +ordeal, after a fashion. You all know what a guyer Ted Teall +is---how he nearly broke up our match with the Norths last Wednesday +afternoon." + +"Ted can't do any guying this morning," declared Greg readily. +"If he does, the umpire will rule him out of the game, and that +would snap all of Ted's nerve. No; Ted won't guy us to-day." + +"But I'll tell you just what will happen to us," Dick offered. +"The spectators who come from the South Grammar aren't under +the umpire's orders. You may be sure that Ted has posted the +fellows from his school on a lot of things that they can yell +at us. Oh, we'll get guyed from the start to the finish of the +game." + +"If they go too far," hinted Dave, "we can thrash some of the +funny ones afterwards." + +"I shan't feel like thrashing anyone for having a little fun with +us," remarked Reade. + +"Thrashing wouldn't do any good, anyway," Dick continued. "Besides +which, we might just happen, incidentally, to be the fellows that +got the worst thrashing if we started anything like that going. +I don't object to good-natured ridicule. But the South Grammar +fellows may have some things to yell at us that will rattle our +play. That's what I want to stop." + +"How can you stop it?" queried Greg. + +"That's what kept me home a little later than I intended to stay +there," Dick replied. "I have been thinking, since last night, +how I could take some of the starch out of Ted Teall, and have +some way of throwing the horse laugh back on the South Grammar +boys in case they start anything funny enough to rattle us." + +"How did the thinking get on?" Tom wanted to know. + +"I believe I've something here that will do it," Prescott replied, +taking an object from one of his pockets and holding it up. + +"It looks like a home-made ball for babies to play with," remarked +Dan Dalzell, grinning. + +"It's a home-made ball, all right," Dick nodded. "Yet I don't +believe that I'd let a baby have it to play with." + +"What's the matter with it?" Tom asked. "Loaded?" + +"Some one told you," protested Prescott, pretending to look astounded. + +"What are you going to do with that thing?" Dave insisted. + +"If I have a chance I'm going to get Ted Teall up in the air, +and before the crowd, too," Dick asserted. + +"With this ball?" Greg asked, taking it from his friend's hand. + +"Yes." + +"Hm! I don't see anything about it to shatter the nerves of a +hardy youth like Ted Teall," Greg muttered. "This ball is just +wound with string and covered with pieces of old glove. Why, +it's so soft that I don't believe I could throw it straight." + +Greg raised the home-made ball to throw it. + +"Here! Don't toss it, or you may put it out of business," objected +Prescott, taking it away from his friend. + +"If the ball can't be thrown, then what on earth is it good for?" +questioned Darrin. + +"I'll come to that by degrees," Dick promised. "Did you know +that dad has secured a license this year to sell fireworks at +his store?" + +"Yes," nodded several of the boys. + +"Well, yesterday, Dad had a lot of samples come in from the +manufacturers. There were a few of the extra big and noisy +torpedoes," Dick explained. "I got one of them and wrapped this +string and leather around it." + +Then, in low tones, Dick confided to his comrades the use to which +he hoped to put the ball. There were a good many grins as the +plot dawned on the young diamond enthusiasts. + +"That'll be a warm one, if it works," grinned Reade. + +"Say, but I shall be hanging right around to see it happen," declared +Darrin. + +Originally this Saturday game had been scheduled for two in the +afternoon. However, so many of the schoolboys in town wanted +to have Saturday afternoon for other fun that the time had been +changed to nine in the forenoon. + +"Hadn't we better be starting?" asked Dick, looking at his watch. + +"Yes; I want to be in at the death of Teall," agreed Reade. + +All in uniform the Central Grammars started down the street, though +this time they did not march. As they moved along other boys +joined them, some from the Central and others from the North Grammar. +By the time that Dick's nine and substitutes neared the field +more than a hundred fans trailed along with them. + +Nearly three hundred other boys were walking about on the field, +or lying down under the trees. + +Already the South Grammar boys were on the field, practicing by +way of warming up. + +"Hello! Here come the bluebells!" yelled a group of South Grammar +fans and rooters. + +"Blue? You bet they'll be blue when the game is over!" + +"Hey, Prescott! What'll you take for the letters on your shirt?" + +"Gimme that yellow curl over your forehead? I saw it first." + +"Oh, my, don't the Little Boys Blue look sweet?" + +In silence the Central players marched by their tormentors. Dick +gazed across the field to see Ted Teall swinging a bat at the +home plate. + +"Teall!" called Dick, as he and the others dropped their jackets +at the batters' benches. + +"Hello!" returned Ted. "I'm glad to see that you fellows really +had the nerve to come to-day." + +"I saw you doing some pretty wild batting, Teall," laughed Dick +Prescott. "That kind of work won't save you when I get started. +Shall I throw you in a few real ones---hard ones---before we +get at it in earnest?" + +"Go on!" retorted Ted scornfully. + +"Oh, I won't hurt you," Prescott promised. + +"You bet you won't," boasted Teall. + +"He's afraid, even before the game starts," jeered a group of +Central Grammar boys. "That's right, Ted. Guard your life." + +"Don't be afraid, Teall," Dick urged tantalizingly. "Trying to +hit some of my deliveries will be something like an education +for you." + +"Bosh!" sneered Teall. + +"Then why won't you try a few?" + +"I will, if you really think you can throw a ball that will rattle +me any," Teall agreed, grinning broadly. + +"Go at him, Dick!" + +"Whoop! Show him what a cheap batter he is." + +Laughing, balancing a ball in his hands, Dick glided out on to +the diamond. + +"Ready, Ted? Just see what you can do with one like this," Dick +mocked. + +It was a swift ball, but a straight one. To a batsman of Teall's +skill it was not a difficult one to hit. Ted swung his bat and +gave the ball a crack that sent it far out into outfield. + +"Is that the best you can do?" jeered Ted. + +"Oh, I've one or two better than that," replied Dick, pretending +to feel flustered. + +Again Prescott sent in a swift one, and once more Teall sent the +leather spinning over the field. Hoots and cat-calls from the +Souths filled the air. The Central fans began to look a bit uneasy. +What was their champion pitcher doing, to let Teall get away +with his deliveries as easily as this? + +A third ball Dick drove in, with the same result as before. + +"Say, what you fellows need is practice," leered Ted. + +"Look out that I don't catch you yet," mocked Dick Prescott, bending +to scoop up the returning ball from the ground. Then he wheeled +like a flash to confront the batsman. + +This time, by a quick substitution, Dick held the home-made ball. +He twirled it for an instant, then sent it in toward the plate. + +"Just---as---easy!" scoffed Ted, whirling his bat, then reaching +out for the ball. + +Crack! Teall hit it soundly. + +Bang! With such force had the batsman struck that he exploded +the large torpedo inside the home-made ball. There was a rattling +explosion, and Teall, unable to figure, in that first instant, +what had happened, sent the bat flying. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" yelled startled Ted, leaping up into the air. When +he alighted he ran a dozen or more steps as fast as he could go, +then halted and looked around him. For an instant Teall's face +expressed panic. + +Then mocking laughter from hundreds of throats greeted him. + +"I knew any little thing out of the ordinary would rattle you," +smiled Dick. "Don't lose your nerve. It wasn't anything." + +"Just a fresh idiot's attempt to be funny!" growled Teall, his +face now red with mortification. + +"Laugh, Ted, confound you!" urged Tom Reade. "Laugh! Don't be +a grouch." + +"What you need, Teall," teased Dave Darrin, "is some nerve tonic. +You ought not to let yourself get into such bad shape that you +almost faint when you hit the ball." + +For once Ted Teall's ready tongue went back on him. He could +think of nothing to say that would not make him look still more +ridiculous. + +"I guess he'll be good, for one game at least," grimaced Dick +as he turned to his teammates. + + + + +Chapter VII + +TED TEALL FACES THE STORM + + +The game had gone into the third inning, with the Centrals retired +from the bat and the Souths now in from the field. + +In the second inning Greg, backed splendidly by Tom and Dick, +had scored a run for his side---the only run listed as yet. + +In this third inning, with South Grammar now at the bat, two men +were out, and one on second when Ted Teall stepped to the plate. + +"Put a real slam over on 'em, Ted!" shouted a South fan. + +"Drive a ball over into Stayton and then fill up the score card +while the Centrals are looking for it!" advised another Teall +partisan. + +"Centrals?" jeered another boy from the South. Grammar. "Centrals? +Show 'em they're just plain hello-girls!" + +Ted grinned broadly at this "hello-girls" nickname. Just then +another fan from the southern part of Gridley piped up: + +"Ted, eat 'em. They're only nine pieces of blue cheese!" + +That was going too far, and it was time for Central Grammar to +take notice effectively. + +"Bang!" roared one half of the Central fans. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" yelled the other half of the Central boosters, leaping +up into the air. + +Even Ted Teall had to laugh at this mortifying reminder of his +terror when he had struck the torpedo ball. The next instant +his face went deep red, for everyone on the field appeared to +be laughing and jeering at him. + +"Confound Prescott and his tricks!" muttered Teall under his breath. +"It'll take a lot of thinking for me to get even with that trick." + +Whizz-zz! went the ball by Ted's body, just below shoulder-high. + +"Strike one!" called the umpire sharply. + +"Centrals will get me rattled with that bang-ow-ow! of theirs +every time they spring it on me," thought Ted savagely. + +"Strike two!" + +Again Ted had failed to realize that the ball was coming. In +his anger be wondered whether he'd rather throw his bat at the +umpire or at smiling Dick Prescott. + +"Strike three!" called the umpire's steady voice. "Side out." + +Then Ted, in sheer exasperation, did hurl his bat a score of feet +away. + +"Bang!" came in a volley of Central voices. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" wailed the other half of Old Dut's boys while the +North Grammars joined in. + +"Go it, you boobs!" muttered Ted, shaking his fist at the spectators. + +"Hurrah!" cheered Spoff Henderson from the subs' bench. "We know +how to stop Ted Teall's mouth now!" + +Teall happened to hear the remark. + +"Oh, you fellows are a lot of boobies!" sputtered Ted wrathfully. + +"Anyway," Toby Ross leered back at him, "we're not so young that +we yell when we hit a ball by mistake." + +In the fourth and fifth innings the Central Grammars, though they +booked some base hits, did not succeed in getting any runs through. +However, they succeeded in preventing Teall's nine from scoring, +which kept the score still at one to nothing. In the first half +of the sixth Harry Hazelton was brought home from third by a good +one by Dan. Then the side went out. In this inning Teall again +had a chance at bat. Before batting he stalked over to where +a lot of his schoolfellows were grouped and muttered: + +"Don't you fellows shoot any funny remarks in this inning. Keep +quiet." + +"Huh!" shot out one of the boys. "What's the matter with you, Ted?" + +"No matter. But I don't want any funny line of talk steered over +to the Centrals to-day." + +"Seems to me you've changed a lot, Ted," grinned one of his classmates. +"Yesterday afternoon you put us up to a lot of funny things to +holler to-day." + +"Forget 'em," ordered Ted. + +"Dick Prescott certainly stabbed you with that torpedo," grinned +another South. "Ted, your nerve is gone for to-day." + +"Don't get too funny with me, or I'll see you after the game," +threatened Teall, as he stalked away, for he was now on deck, +and due to go next to bat. + +The second man for the Souths struck out. + +"Teall at bat!" called the score-keeper. + +Hi Martin and a lot of the North Grammar boys had come to the +field late. Hi didn't like to see the score two to nothing in +favor of the Centrals. He would have preferred to have the Souths +win. + +"Let's get Prescott rattled?" whispered Martin. + +"I don't believe you can do it," replied Bill Rodgers. "Prescott +is a mighty cool one." + +"Yes, we can," insisted Hi. "I'll tell you what to boiler just +the instant that Teall picks up the stick and Prescott starts +to twist the ball." + +Ted, all unsuspicious, and believing that he had stilled his own +band of teasing torments, picked up his bat and went to the plate. + +"Put it over the robbers, Ted!" came from Hi Martin's crowd. +"Don't be afraid of the Centrals---the fellows who stole their +uniforms from a lunatic in the woods." + +Dick heard the senseless taunt and understood it. But it didn't +anger or confuse him. Instead, the ball left his hand with surer +guidance. + +But a crowd of Central fans also heard, and imagined that the +yell came from one of the groups of Souths. + +"Bang! bang!" yelled a lot of Central Grammar boys with enthusiasm. + +"Ow-ow-ow! Ow-ow-ow!" came the response. + +"Strike one!" called the umpire. Ted, his face crimson and his +eyes flashing fire, threw his bat from him. + +"Teall, pick up your bat," ordered the umpire. "If you do that +again I'll order you from the game." + +"I don't care if you do!" trembled on Ted's lips, but he caught +the words in time. He gulped, swallowed hard, hesitated, then +went tremulously to pick up his stick. However, his grit was +gone for the day. He struck out and retired. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" yelled a few of the Central fans in the eighth, and +Dave Darrin struck a two bagger, bringing Prescott in safe from +second, scoring a third run and landing Darrin on second. Had +not Ross struck out immediately afterward there would have been +other runs scored. The count was now three to nothing in favor +of the Central Grammars. + +"Prescott's fellows are playing some ball," declared Bill Rodgers. + +"Hub! You mean that the Souths don't know how to play," sneered +Hi Martin. + +"Teall's fellows are playing well," argued Rodgers. "If you watch, +you'll see that the luck of the Centrals depends a lot on the +way they run the bases. Whew! They go like greased lightning +when they're sprinting around the diamond." + +"Well, why shouldn't they run?" demanded Hi. "Prescott and his +fellows have been running every day since the snow went away." + +"I wish our Norths had been running all the time, too," sighed +Bill. + +The Souths were playing desperately well in the field. Dick's +side came in for the ninth, but did not succeed in getting another +run. + +"Now, watch 'em closely, fellows," counseled Dick, as, from the +benches, he started his men out to the field. "The Souths are +mad and game, and they may get runs enough in this last half to +beat us. Play, all the time, as if you didn't know what it was +to be tired. Keep after 'em!" + +Dick struck the first South Grammar fellow out. The next man +at bat took first on called balls. The next hit a light fly that +was good for a base. The player who followed sent a bunt that +Dave, as short-stop, fumbled. And now the bases were full. + +"Oh, you Ted!" wailed the South fans hopefully. "Do your duty +now, Teall!" + +Ted gripped the bat, stepping forward. As he reached the plate +he shot at his schoolmates a look of grim resolution. + +"I'll bring those three fellows in, if I have to kill the ball, +or drive it through a fielder!" muttered Ted resolutely. "If +we can tie the score then we can break this fearful hoodoo and +win the game yet." + +"Don't let that pitcher scare you, Ted!" yelled a South encouragingly. +"He hasn't a wing any longer. It's only a fin." + +"Codfish fin, at that," mocked another. + +"Bang!" retorted a dozen Central fans. + +Before the answering chorus could come Dick Prescott held up a +hand, looking sternly at his sympathizers. + +"Strike one!" called the umpire, and once more Teall reddened. + +"I've got to brace, and work myself out of this," groaned red-faced +Teall. "There's too much depending on me." + +"Ball one!" + +"Now, I hope the next one will be good, and that I can hit it +a crack that will drive it into the next county," muttered Ted, +feeling the cold sweat beading his forehead. + +He judged wrongly, on a drop ball. + +"Strike two!" + +"Drive a plum into that pudding in the box, Ted," sang out one +of his classmates. + +"Ow-ow-ow!" shrieked a score of watching Central Grammar boys. +That was the last straw. Ted felt the blood rush to his head +and all looked red before him. + +"Strike three! Side out! Game!" came slowly, steadily from the +umpire. Then the score-keeper rose to his feet. + +"Central Grammar wins by a score of three to nothing." + +This time Ted Teall didn't throw his bat. Gripping it savagely, +he stalked over to a group of his own schoolmates. + +"What fellow was it that started the yelling?" demanded Ted huskily. + +"Why?" challenged three or four of the Souths. + +"I want to know who he is---that's all," muttered Ted. + +In a moment there was a mix-up. But Teall wasn't popular at that +moment. A captain who had led his men into a whitewash was entitled +to no very great consideration. + +"Let go of that bat!" roared Ted, as he felt it seized. "Let +go, or I'll hit some one with it." + +"That's what he wants to do anyway," called out one of the boys. +"Yank it away from him!" + +The bat torn from him, Ted Teall was fighting mad. He was so +ugly, in fact, that he was borne to the ground, three of his own +classmates sitting on him. + +"You're all right, Ted," announced one of his classmates. "All +that ails you is that you've got a touch of heat. Cool off and +we'll let you up." + +"There's one guyer who has lost his hold on his favorite pastime +of annoying other people," remarked Tom Reade grimly. + +"Dick's trick was the slickest that ever I saw done in that line," +chuckled Dave Darrin. "But I wonder how our fellows tumbled to +the idea of calling 'bang' first, and then following it up with +'ow-ow-ow'?" + +"Want to know very badly?" Tom questioned. + +"I surely do," Darry nodded. + +"Well, then," Tom declared, "I put some of the fellows up to that +trick." + + + + +Chapter VIII + +TWO RIVALS PLAN DIRE REVENGE + + +"I wonder what Ted Teall will do after this when he wants to play +rattles on the other side?" inquired Harry. + +Dick & Co. were now making the most of Saturday afternoon. Having +no money to spend, and no boat in which to enjoy themselves on +the river, they had gone out of Gridley some distance to a small, +clear body of water known as Hunt's pond. + +When sufficient time after dinner had passed, they intended to +strip and go in swimming, for this pond, well in the woods, was, +by common understanding, left for boys who wanted to indulge in +that sport. + +"I don't believe Ted will get very funny, in the immediate future," +replied Tom reflectively. "His fellows came to the field, all +primed with a lot of funny remarks they were going to shoot at +us during the game. Yet the only fellows who got hit by any flying +funny talk were the Souths themselves. I have been wondering +if 'Bang---ow-ow' was what cost the Souths the game?" + +"I don't quite believe that," replied Dick. "Yet I am certain +that it took a lot of starch out of Ted himself. Do you remember +that time when he went over and spoke to his fellows?" + +"Yes," nodded Greg. + +"Well," Dick pursued, "I've heard since that that was the time +when Ted went over and begged his fellows to 'can' all funny talk +until the game was over." + +"But they didn't," chuckled Dan. + +"That was why Ted was so angry at the end." + +"Anyway," Tom insisted, "Teall isn't likely to bother us any more." + +"Either he'll quit on the funny talk," agreed Prescott, "or else +he'll go to the other extreme and be more tantalizing than ever." + +It would greatly have interested these Central Grammar boys had +they known that the subject of their conversation was even then +listening to them. Ted Teall, sore and angry, had come away from +town all by himself. He wanted a long swim in the pond, to see +if that would cool off the anger that consumed him. + +Hearing voices as he came through the woods, Ted halted first, +then, crawling along the ground, made his way cautiously forward. +And now the captain of the South Grammar nine lay flat, his head +hidden behind a clump of low bushes. + +"Having fun over me, are they?" growled Ted. + +"It was a rough trick to play, of course," laughed Dick. "But +I felt so wholly certain Ted's fellows would start in to break +us up that I felt I had to spring that torpedo trick in order +to shut the other crowd up in advance." + +"Oh, you did, did you?" thought Teall angrily. + +"But now there's something else to be thought of," Prescott went +on. "Teall is bound to feel sore and ashamed, and he won't rest +until be has done his best to get even with us." + +"Teall had better leave us alone," replied Tom, shaking his head. +"Ted's brain isn't any too heavy, and he'll never be equal to +getting the better of a crowd with a Dick Prescott in it." + +"We won't do any bragging just yet," Prescott proposed. + +"That's right. You'd better not," Ted growled under his breath. + +"Fellows," announced Dan Dalzell, "I've made an important discovery." + +"I wonder if he saw me?" flashed through Teall's mind, as he tried +to lie flatter than before. + +"Name the discovery," begged Hazelton. + +"Look at your watches, fellows," Dan continued, "and I think you'll +find that it's now proper time for us to go in swimming." + +"So it is," Darrin agreed. "Hurrah!" + +Little more was said for a few moments. All the fellows of Dick +& Co. were busy in getting their clothing off. + +"Say, but I hope you fellows get far enough away from your duds!" +breathed Teall vengefully, as he watched through the screen of +leaves. + +"Do you fellows think we had better leave a guard over our clothes?" +queried Dick, as they stood forth, ready for swimming. + +"Not!" returned Dalzell with emphasis. "If I agreed to it, it +would be just my luck to have the lot fall to me. For the next +half hour I don't want to do a thing but feel the water around +me all the way up to my neck." + +"What's the use of a guard over our clothes?" queried Dave. "There +isn't another soul besides ourselves in these woods this afternoon." + +"Go on thinking that!" chuckled Teall. + +Running out on a log and putting his hands together, Dick dived. + +"How's the water?" called Tom. + +"Cold," Prescott answered, blowing out a mouthful as he struck +out for the middle of the pond. "You'd better keep out." + +"He wants the pond all to himself," muttered Tom, and dived at +once. + +In a moment all six boys were in the water, sporting about and +enjoying themselves. + +"I wish they'd get further away from here," thought Ted wistfully. +"They're hanging right around here. If I show myself they'll +all swim in. There wouldn't be time to do anything." + +All too late Ted heard some one coming through the woods behind +him. He crouched, ready to crawl away to privacy, but found himself +too late. Hi Martin parted the bushes as be forced his way through. + +"Hello, Teall," called the North Grammar captain. + +"Hush---sh---sh!" warned Ted, putting a finger to his lips. + +"What's the matter?" + +"Prescott and his crew are out there swimming, and their clothes +are right below." + +"I see," nodded Martin. "You want to get the clothes?" + +"Sit down here, out of sight, and keep quiet, won't you?" urged +Teall. + +Hi sat down quietly. He didn't like Teall especially, but he +disliked Prescott, and perhaps here was a chance to serve Dick's +discomfort. + +"If they'd only swim away for a little stretch!" whispered Ted. + +"I see," nodded Hi Martin rather pompously. "Too bad, isn't it? +Now, Teall, you and Prescott both come from mucker schools, and +I don't know that I ought to butt in any. But I don't mind seeing +you torment Prescott a bit. You wait. I'll go in, and maybe +I can challenge those fellows to swim down the pond that will +take them away from this point." + +Ted's face had flushed sullenly at Hi's remark about "mucker schools." +At another time Teall might have been ready to fight over a +slighting word like that. Just now, however, he craved help against +Prescott more than anything else. + +"All right," urged Ted. "You decoy that crowd away from here +for a few minutes, and maybe I won't do a thing to them!" + +"I'll see what I can do for you," returned Martin, going down +to the edge of the pond. + +"How's the water, fellows?" called Hi. + +"Fine," returned Dick with enthusiasm. + +"Room enough in the pond for another?" Hi asked. + +"Surely. Come on in." + +"I believe I will," Hi answered, seating himself and fumbling +at his shoe-lacings. + +A couple of minutes later Hi dived from the log and swam out to +the other boys. + +"Are you fellows any good on swimming distances?" Martin asked, +as, with lazy stroke, he joined Dick & Co. The North Grammar +boy was an expert swimmer and proud of it. + +"I guess we can swim a little way," Prescott replied. "I don't +remember that we ever swam any measured courses." + +"Can you swim down to that old elm?" asked Hi, indicating a tree +at the further end of the pond. + +"We ought to," smiled Dick. + +"Come along, then," invited Hi, starting with a side stroke. + +Dick & Co. started in irregular fashion, Darrin and Reade soon +spurting on ahead of Martin. + +"How long can you tread water?" inquired Hi, after they had reached +the neighborhood of the elm. + +This sport is always interesting to boys who are good swimmers. +Forthwith some endurance tests at treading were started. Then +Hi showed them all a few "stunts" in the water, some of which +Dick & Co. could duplicate easily, and some which they could not. + +Thus the minutes slipped by. Hi, for once in his life, went out +of his way to be entertaining to Central Grammar boys. But, at +last, he muttered to himself: + +"I guess Teall has had plenty of time for his tricks. If he hasn't, +then all afternoon wouldn't he time enough." + +"Hello, Hi," called Dick. "Where are you going?" + +"Back to dress," Martin replied. "I've been in long enough." + +"I guess we all have," Dick nodded, himself turning back. His +chums followed. + +"I don't know whether I'll dress or not," remarked Tom Reade, +as he shot ahead of the others. "If I find I don't want to dress, +then I'll just sit on the bank and dry my skin before going in +again." + +Continuing his spurt, Tom kept on until be reached the log from +which the first diving had been done. He waded ashore, looked +about in some bewilderment, and then called over the water: + +"Say, fellows, just where was it that we left our clothes?" + +"Why, barely a dozen feet back of the log," Dick called from the +water. + +"Hardly ten feet from where my clothes lie," added Hi Martin, +his face solemn, but with an inward chuckle over the rage of six +boys that he knew was soon to follow. + +"But where are your clothes, Martin?" asked Tom, staring about +him. "Where is anybody's clothes?" + +The look in Hi's face changed rapidly. He took a few swift, strong +strokes that bore him to shore. + +Then, indeed, Martin's wrath and disgust knew no bounds. For +his clothing was as invisible as that of the Central Grammar boys. + + + + +Chapter IX + +HI MARTIN TRIES TO MAKE TERMS + + +"Confound that fellow Teall!" + +This angry expression slipped past Hi's lips unguardedly. + +By this time Dick Prescott was on shore. His quick, keen glances +took in the patent fact that some one had removed all the discarded +clothing from sight. + +"So Ted Teall was around here, and you knew that he was going +to take our clothing?" demanded Dick, flashing a searching look +at Hi Martin. + +When too late, Hi Martin saw how he had put his foot into the +mess by his indignant exclamation. + +"And, knowing that Teall was going to slip away with our clothing," +Dick went on, "you went into the water and lured us away to the +lower end of the pond. That was what you did to us, was it, Martin?" + +Hi shook his head, then opened his mouth to utter an indignant +denial. + +"Don't try to fool us," advised Dick bitterly. "Martin, you may +have thought it funny, but it was a mean trick to serve us, and +I am glad that Teall has shown you how little he likes you." + +Under ordinary circumstances Ted might have left Hi Martin's clothes +behind. It had been Hi's impolitic remark about "mucker schools" that +had decided Ted to take away Hi's belongings as well. + +"That Teall is a dirty sneak," cried Hi. + +"He was simply a comical genius as long as he took only our clothes," +Dick retorted. "But now that your things are gone as well, it's +a mean, low-down bit of business." + +"Martin," observed Tom Reade dramatically, "thine own ox is gored." + +"Talking won't bring back any duds," grunted Harry Hazelton. +"Teall can't have gotten very far with such a load. Let's rush +after him." + +"You lead the way, then, son," suggested Dick, "and instead of +following you, we'll wait here until you bring the things back." + +"I wonder which way he went?" puzzled Hazelton. + +"Probably straight to the road," smiled Dick grimly. "That's +the shortest cut, and the road isn't far from here." + +"But I can't go near the road in this---this---fix," sputtered +Harry, looking down at his wet, glistening skin. + +"Exactly," nodded Prescott. "Nor can any of us go. That's the +joke. Like it? Ha, ha, ha!" + +Dick's laugh had anything but a merry sound. None of the boys +had a truly jovial look, nor was it to be expected of them. Tom +was solemn as an owl, Harry fussy; Dan was grinning in a sickly +sort of way, as was Dave Darrin. Greg Holmes, utterly silent, +stood with his fists clenched, thinking how he would like to be +able at this moment to pounce upon Ted Teall. + +"It's an outrage!" sputtered Hi Martin, white to the roots of +his hair. He was walking about, stamping with his bare feet on +the ground, the fingers of both his hands working nervously. + +"Oh, well, you won't get any sympathy in this crowd," Tom assured +Hi glumly. "You were party to this, and all that disturbs you +is that any one should dare take the same kind of a liberty with +you. We don't care what happens to you, now, Martin." + +"What shall we do with Martin, anyway?" demanded Dan Dalzell. + +"Nothing," returned Dick crisply. "He isn't worthy of having +anything done to him." + +"Let's call 'Ted' with all our might," proposed Harry. + +"You can, if you want to," Dick rejoined. "I doubt if he is now +near enough to hear you. Even if he did hear, he'd only snicker +and run further away." + +After a few moments more Dick and his chums, as though by common +consent, squatted on the sand near the edge of the pond. It was +warmer for them that way. Martin edged over close to them. Not +one member of Dick & Co. did the captain of the North Grammar +nine really like, but in his present woeful plight Hi wanted human +company of some kind, and he could not very well go in search +of people who wore all their clothing. + +While the swimmers had been occupied in the water at the lower +end of the pond, Ted Teall had been wonderfully busy. + +First of all, Ted had loaded himself with about half the clothing +belonging to Dick & Co. The shoes he had carried by tying each +pair by means of the laces and swinging three pair around his +neck. The first load be carried swiftly through the woods until +be came to a thicket where he hoped he would find concealment. + +Then he had gone back for the other half of the clothing. This, +upon arrival at the thicket, Ted dropped in on top of the first +installment. + +"Now, I guess I ought to hide somewhere where there won't be the +least danger of them finding me. Then I can see the fun when +those fellows come ashore," chuckled Teall. "Hold on, though! +There's one more debt to pay. That confounded Hi Martin called +the South Grammar a 'mucker' school. I believe I'll hide his +clothes, too, for his saying what he did. But I'll have to go +carefully, and see whether the fellows are still out of sight." + +Ted returned with a good deal of caution. Then he discovered, +by the sound of voices, that the swimmers were still at the lower +end of the pond. + +"Plenty of time to get Hi's duds, too," chuckled the pleased joker. +He slipped down close to the beach, gathering up all of Martin's +garments and the hat and shoes. + +"Say, it must be fine to have a pretty well fixed father," murmured +Ted wistfully. "All these duds of Hi's are of the best quality. +I wonder if I'll be able to wear clothes like these when I'm +earning my own money?" + +Then he started off, going more slowly than on his two previous +trips, for he felt that he had plenty of time. But at last the +nearing voices of the returning swimmers warned him. + +"They can't see me," chuckled Ted. "If any of 'em chase me, I +can make a quick dash for the road and they won't dare follow +me there. They'd be afraid of running into other people." + +So Ted even dallied for a while. Some of the angry words uttered +reached his ears and delighted him. + +"Hi Martin is hot with wrath, and I'm glad of it," chuckled Ted +to himself. "So he thought I'd spare him, did he! Huh! The +next time he'd better be a little more careful over his remarks +about 'mucker' schools!" + +Then Ted walked on again leisurely. + +"I believe I'll let these fellows stay here until about dark, +hunting for their clothes, and not finding 'em," reflected Teall. +"Then I'll have Ed Payne drop around and tell 'em just where +to look. They can't thump Payne, for he won't be guilty of anything +but helping 'em. Then maybe Dick Prescott will pitch dynamite +again for me to bat at!" + +Teall gained the thicket that concealed the other clothing. Just +as he was about to cast Martin's belongings after the other wardrobes, +he was disturbed by a sound close at hand. + +With a start Ted looked up. Then he felt uneasy; frightened, +in fact. At his side stood a shabbily dressed man of middle age. +The man's cheeks were sunken, though they burned with an unhealthy +glow. There was, in the eyes, also a light that made Ted creepy. + +"S-s-say, wh-what do you want?" stammered Teall. + +"So you are a thief, and at work?" inquired the man, who had +rested a thin but rather strong hand on Ted's shoulder. + +"A thief?" Teall repeated indignantly. "No, sir! And nothing +like it, either." + +"Is all the clothing in there yours?" demanded the stranger sternly. + +"No, sir," Ted answered promptly. + +"Then-----" + +"You see," Ted went on more glibly, and trying to conceal the +fact that he was very uneasy under those burning eyes, "it's just +a joke that I'm playing on some fellows who are swimming." + +"You consider that sort of a joke humorous?" demanded the stranger, +tightening the grip of his hand on Teall's shoulder until the +boy squirmed. + +"It's not a bit worse than what one of them did to me this morning," +Ted asserted, strongly on the defensive now. "And I don't know +what business it is of yours, mister. Who are you, anyway?" + +"My name," replied the other quietly, "is Amos Garwood." + +"Amos Gar---wood?" Ted repeated. At first the name conveyed no +information to him. But suddenly he remembered the name that +had been on everyone's tongue a few days before. + +"The crazy man?" cried Ted, his voice shaking. Then the woods +rang with his startled combination of whoop and prayer. + +"This is no place for me!" gasped Teall huskily, as, frantically, +he tore himself free of that grip on his shoulder. + +Without more ado Ted Teall broke through cover for the road. +Never before had he realized how fast it was possible for him +to sprint. Terror is an unexcelled pacemaker at times. + +That whoop, followed by the yell of fear, traveled until it reached +the boys at the lakeside. The distance and the breeze must have +robbed the voice of some of its terror, for Dick sprang to his +feet like a flash. + +"That was Ted Teall's fine voice!" he cried, running up the slight +slope. "Come on, fellows! We'll travel straight in that +direction---and we'll find our clothing." + +Nor were any of the boys very far behind Dick in the mad race. +Though two or three of them stepped on stones on the way, no +one gave a thought to so slight an accident. + +Nor was it long ere they burst from cover and came upon Amos Garwood, +standing as though lost in thought, for Garwood was trying to comprehend +Teall's words, "the crazy man." + +All in a flash Dick recognized the man. So did his chums. Hi Martin +alone was in the dark. + +"Good afternoon," was Garwood's greeting, as he looked up as +though coming out of a trance. "You are looking for your clothing, +I imagine?" + +"Marvelous what a good guesser you are, sir," gasped Tom. + +"You'll find your clothing in this thicket," announced Garwood, +indicating the spot with a wave of one arm. + +Dick and Tom piled into the thicket, passing out the mixed-up +articles to the other boys. A quick sorting was made and each +item claimed. + +"Say!" cried Hi, greatly disturbed. "There isn't a single thing +of mine here." + +"Serve you right, then," uttered Tom, as he drew an undershirt +over his head. "You don't deserve anything to wear." + +"You fellows didn't hand out my things," uttered Hi, darting into +the thicket. He searched savagely at first, then despairingly. +Not a shred of his wardrobe was to be found. + +"What became of my clothes?" Martin demanded, stepping out into +the open. Tears brimmed his eyes now. + +"Clothes? Your clothing?" asked Amos Garwood, again coming to +a realization of things about him. "Why, I believe the boy who +yelled and ran away from here carried one armful of things with +him." + +"Which way did he run?" throbbed Hi. + +"That way." Garwood pointed to the road. + +"You fellows get a few things on and run after Teall as fast as +you can go," ordered Hi. "Quick! Don't lose a moment. Do you +hear?" + +"Yes," nodded Prescott. + +"Hustle, then!" + +"Forget it," requested Dick, deliberately drawing on a shoe over +a sock, next doing the lacing slowly and with great care. + +"Which one of you will go!" asked Hi, turning appealingly to the +others. + +"Hear the echo?" mocked Dave Darrin. "The echo says, 'which one?'" + +"Say, you fellows are meaner than poison!" Hi exploded tremulously. + +"You have a very short memory, Hi," retorted Greg Holmes. + +"Who was it that put up the job on us? Who helped Teall to do +it?" asked Harry Hazelton. + +"But I'm sorry for that," protested Hi Martin, tears again coming +to his eyes. + +"I believe you," Dick nodded cheerily. "You're indeed sorry---sorry +for the way it turned out for yourself." + +"But aren't you fellows going after Teall and my clothes?" insisted +the naked one. + +"We're not going to chase Teall," Darrin answered, "if that's +what you mean. But, see here, Martin, I'm not going to be downright +mean with you." + +"Thank you," said Martin gratefully. "You always were a good +fellow, Darrin." + +"I'm going to be a good fellow now," Dave pursued. "I'm not going +to chase Teall, for we don't know which way he went, and he'll +be hiding. But I'll go around to your house and tell your folks +where you are, and what a fix you're in." + +I'll go to-night, just as soon as I've eaten my supper." + +"You---you great idiot!" exploded Hi. + +"Now, for that insult, I take back my promise," Dave retorted +solemnly. "You needn't talk any more, Martin. I won't do a blessed +thing for you now." + +"Dave, you're altogether too rough on a fellow that's in hard +luck," remonstrated Greg, then turned to Martin to add: + +"Hi, it's no use to go chasing Ted Teall, but I'll tell you what +I'll do. I'm all dressed now, and I'll go straight to your house +and get some clothes for you, so you can come out of these woods +and walk home. I'll do it for half a dollar." + +"Thank you, Holmesy, I'll do it," Martin eagerly promised. "And +I'll thank you, too, from the bottom of my-----" + +"You can keep the thanks," proposed Greg gravely. "But you can +hand over the half dollar." + +"E-e-eh?" stammered Hi, nonplussed, rubbing one hand, for an instant, +over his naked thigh in the usual neighborhood of the trousers' +pocket. + +"Fork over the half dollar!" Greg insisted. "This is a strictly +cash-in-advance proposition." + +"Why, you---you---you-----" stuttered Hi in his wrath. "How +can I pay in advance when Ted Teall is a mile away from here with +my---my trousers and all?" + +"Cash right in hand, or I don't stir on your job," insisted Greg. + +"I---I'll pay you a whole dollar as soon as I can get home," Hi +offered eagerly. + +"Hi Martin, after what you've done to us to-day," demanded Greg +virtuously, "do you think there's a fellow in this crowd who'd +take your word for anything? If you don't pay right now, then +I won't stir a step for you." + +Again tears of helpless rage formed in Hi's eyes. Amos Garwood +stood looking on, unseeing. But Dick Prescott's thoughts were +flying like lightning. He knew that, somehow, Garwood ought to +be seized and held until the friends searching for him could be +notified. + + + + +Chapter X + +"BABBLING BUTT-IN" + + +"You fellows seem to think that everything is done when you get +your own old duds back," complained Hi Martin angrily. "You don't +seem to think that there's any need of doing anything for me." + +"Why should we?" demanded Dick curtly. "You're the fellow who +helped put up a job to hide our clothes. Now, you yell because +you can't find your own." + +"I'll go and get you some other clothes, whenever I'm paid for +it in advance," Greg smilingly repeated his offer. + +Dick's brain was busy with plans for holding Amos Garwood until +the latter's father and friends could take charge of him. + +"You're all the meanest lot!" protested Martin, tears of anger +standing in his eyes. + +"And you're the funniest fellow," mocked Tom. "To see a lot of +sport in playing a trick on us, but howling like a dog with a +can tied to his tail when you find yourself the only one stung +by the joke." + +"I'm going to leave here," Dick suddenly declared. + +"Oh, I wish you would find my clothes and bring them to me," begged +Hi. + +"Come along, Greg. You, too, Dave. The rest wait here until +we come back." + +Dick shot a significant look at Tom Reade, then glanced covertly +in Amos Garwood's direction. Reade understood and nodded. + +"I don't really need or want you along with me, Dave," Dick murmured +as soon as the three boys were out of sight of the others. "What +I wanted was a chance to talk to you. Amos Garwood must be held, +if necessary, until we can find some men to seize him and turn +him over to the authorities. Be careful and tactful with him, +but don't let him get away from you. The other fellows will help +you, if necessary. I'm taking Greg with me, just so that Greg +may run in one direction and I in another, in case we don't find +help easily. But you get back and help Tom and the others. Of +course you won't lay hands on Amos Garwood unless it becomes necessary, +but in any case don't let him get away from you. Now, hurry back, +for, if Garwood suspects, and shows fight, it will take all four +of you to hold him. But if you all talk naturally and pleasantly, +I don't believe he will be suspicious, or make any effort to get +away." + +Dave nodded, turning back, while Dick and Greg hastened to the +road. Barely had they turned into the highway, when, a short +distance, ahead, they espied a boy standing under a tree. + +"There's Ted, and he has Martin's clothes with him," called Dick +quietly. "Let's hurry up to him and get him to take the clothes +back." + +"A precious lot I care whether Hi Martin ever has any clothes +again," Greg retorted. + +"Oh, well, Greg, there's such a thing as a joke, and there's such +a thing as carrying it too far. Hi Martin has had his dose of +punishment already. We can afford to be decent and let up on him +now. Hi, there, Ted!" + +Teall looked as though uncertain whether to run or to stand. + +"Don't be afraid, Ted," Dick called pleasantly. "A joke is all +right, and we admit that it was on us." + +So Ted, after a first start of suspicion, decided to remain where +he was. + +"Hi Martin sent you after his duds, I reckon?" inquired Ted as +the other two boys ran up to him. All of Hi's apparel lay on +the ground near Teall's feet. + +"He certainly wanted some one to come," laughed Dick. "But, say, +Teall, the thing has been rubbed in too hard. Run back with the +things. You'll find all hands where you hid our things." + +"And I'll find the crazy man there, too, maybe," ventured Teall. +"Also, I'll run right into a gang that is just waiting to trim +me. I thank you kindly, but if any one is to go back into that +crowd with Hi's things, it will be some one else. I won't go---too +much regard for my health, you know." + +"Greg, you carry Hi's clothes back," urged Dick. "I'll take Ted +with me." + +"I will not," flared Greg in open revolt. + +"Be a good fellow," begged Dick. + +"That's all right," grumbled Greg Holmes. "But I'm no valet to +any North Grammar boy. + +"If you fellows won't either of you do it," protested Dick, "I'll +have to do it myself, and---oh, dear! I'm in such a hurry to +get help to take care of Garwood." + +"What about that crazy man, anyway?" demanded Ted, his mouth agape +with curiosity. + +"I don't believe he's crazy at all, though he may perhaps be a +little flighty in his head," Prescott answered. "At any rate, +he isn't violent. There's no danger in him. Ted, won't you take +back these-----" + +Teall shook his head with vigor. + +In the meantime four Grammar School boys had stationed themselves +around Garwood, who stood under a tree chewing a blade of grass. +Hi, either from modesty or humiliation, had retired into a clump +of bushes. + +"They've gone to find that boy who took the clothes, I suppose," +remarked Amos Garwood, looking towards Dave Darrin. "That was +a strange boy, a very nervous boy," continued Garwood aloud. +"Just as soon as I told him my name, he turned and fled like a +streak of lightning. I wonder what ailed him?" + +"I wonder?" repeated Dave solemnly. + +"And that boy said something else that made me very curious," +went on Amos Garwood. "He said something about a crazy man. +I almost thought he referred to me, though the boy himself was +the only one who showed any signs of being crazy. What did he +mean?" + +"He hasn't told us," Dave rejoined. + +But Hi, who felt that he was being shamefully used by the crowd, +suddenly broke in with: + +"If your name is Garwood, then Ted Teall meant that you're the +one that's crazy. And I know where the boys have gone. They're +not looking for my clothes at all. They're looking for constables +to come and seize you!" + +"You shut up, Hi Martin!" raged Tom Reade, making a dash at Hi's +leafy screen. + +But the harm was done. Amos Garwood changed color swiftly. + +"Ha, ha! Ho, ho!" he laughed harshly. "I begin to understand +now. But no one shall seize me. I won't let any one take me." + +He started madly through the bushes, not seeking a path. Dan, +who was nearest him as be passed, leaped and threw both arms around +the man, bringing him to the ground. Dave leaped to aid Dalzell, +nor was Hazelton long in getting to the spot. Tom Reade decided +to defer the punishment of Martin, and went to the aid of his +friends instead. + +Though he had been downed swiftly, Garwood was almost as speedily +on his feet, fighting desperately. Darrin he seized and hurled +several feet into a thicket. Dalzell sought again to wind his +arms around the fellow's legs, but was brushed aside as though +he had been a fly. + +Tom Reade received a blow against his right shoulder that sent +him reeling away, while Hazelton, in trying to get a new hold, +was boxed over his left ear in a way that seemed to make the earth +revolve about him. + +Hardly had the scrimmage started when Garwood was free. + +"No one shall stop me, or hinder me!" cried Amos exultingly, then +wheeled and raced through the forest. + +After him, as soon as they could recover their faculties, dashed +the Grammar School boys. For a minute or two they had him in +sight. Then Garwood, on his long legs, sped ahead and out of +sight. For another half minute they could hear the man's progress +through the brush. After that all was so still that Darrin and +the others halted, gazing perplexedly at each other. + +"Where is he?" gasped Tom. + +"Which way did he go?" breathed Dan. + +Though they listened, neither sight nor sound now aided them. + +"Of all the sneaks and trouble-makers!" cried Dave Darrin indignantly. +"Hi Martin ought to be tied to a tree and switched until he can't +see! He's a regular babbling butt-in." + +"What good did it do him to meddle in that fashion?" burst from +Reade. "The mean, worthless fellow! And we had plenty of reason +to feel grateful to Colonel Garwood, Amos's father, after the +handsome uniforms that were given us." + +"It must have been Hi's reason for spoiling our plan," muttered +Hazelton. "He didn't want us to be able really to earn the uniforms." + +"Come on," urged Dave. "We mustn't lose a bit of time. If we +spread out and keep on we may sight Garwood again." + +"Huh!" muttered Reade. "If Garwood has gone right ahead at the +speed with which be started, then he's in the next county by this +time. We won't see him again to-day." + +After a few minutes of searching the other boys came to the same +conclusion. + +"Out into the road, then," ordered Dave, who naturally took command +when Prescott was absent. "We want to head off any men Dick may +have found and tell 'em what has happened." + +They turned, making rapidly for the road. As it happened, they +came out near where Ted Teall stood guarding Hi's clothing. + +"Have you seen Dick?" was Darrin's hail. "Yes; he and Holmesy +have run down the road to get some men. Here they come now with +the men," Ted answered, pointing. + +Dick had had the good fortune to find help before going far. +With such a reward as had been offered for the capture of Amos +Garwood, it was not difficult to find men who could be interested +in taking part in such a capture. + +"What are you all doing here?" Dick yelled up the road. + +"Garwood got away from us," Dave shouted back. "Hi Martin spoiled +the game for us, and we simply couldn't hold Garwood." + +Then Dick, Greg and the three men hurried up. Dave and Tom told +the story. + +"What a miserable hound Martin is!" burst from indignant Dick. + +"So that boy spoiled us from getting a good slice of a fat reward, +did he?" growled one of the three men. "Where is he?" + +"Up in the woods," muttered Dick, "waiting until some one takes +him his clothes. Ted Teall, you've simply got to return the booby's +outfit to him." + +"Won't do it," retorted Teall. + +"But you took them away from him," Dick insisted. + +"Suppose I did?" + +"It may prove a serious matter, to steal any one's clothing," +Prescott retorted. "And Hi Martin's father is a hot-tempered +man. Ted, if I were in your place I don't believe I'd run the +risk of being arrested. A joke is one thing, but keeping any +one's clothes, after you've taken 'em, is proof of intention to +steal. I don't believe I'd take the risk, if I were you." + +The men were turning back down the road now, having decided to +telephone the Gridley police and then turn out more men and go +into the woods for an all-night search. Dick & Co. turned to +go with the men. + +"Say, you fellows," Ted called after them. "You going to shake +me like that? Who's going back into the woods with me, if I take +these clothes to Hi?" + +"No one," Dick retorted over his shoulder. "You don't have to +take the clothes back, you know, unless you happen to consider +it safer to do it." + +"Hang those fellows," sighed Ted, as be gazed after the retreating +Dick & Co. "Well, I guess they've got me. The wise thing will +be for me to take these duds to Hi before he catches cold." + +So Ted gathered up the articles of apparel and with them started +back into the woods. + +"Hi, Hi!" he called, as be neared the thicket. + +"Here," came an angry voice. + +"Here's your old duds," growled Teall, as he reached the thicket +that concealed young Martin, and threw the things on the ground. + +"It's about time you brought 'em back," snapped Hi, making a dive +for his belongings. + +"I had a good mind not to do it at all," retorted Teall hotly. + +"You'd have found yourself in hot water if you hadn't done it," +Hi declared testily, as, having drawn on his underclothing, he +seated himself to lace up his shoes. Then he rose and reached +for his trousers. + +"See here, Ted Teall," cried Hi suddenly, holding the trousers +forward, "what did you do with my gold watch that was in the pocket +of these trousers." + +"I didn't see your old watch," grumbled Ted. + +"Then you lost it out of the pocket while running through the +woods, did you?" insisted Hi angrily. + +Teall felt cold sweat come out on his neck and forehead. Well +enough did he remember the gold watch, which was the envy of most +of the schoolboys in Gridley. Nor was there any denying the fact +that the watch was absent. + +"Honest, Hi; honest," he faltered. "I didn't see the watch at all." + +"You've got to find it, just the same," retorted Martin stubbornly. +"If you take things away and lose them you've got to find them, +or make good for them. Now, Mr. Smarty, I'm going home, and you're +going to find the watch." + +"Say, you might help a fellow and be decent about it," pleaded +Ted. + +"I didn't lose the watch, and I won't help you look for it," snapped +back Hi Martin, as he strode away. "But if you aren't at my home +with that gold watch before dark to-night, then you may look for +things to happen to you! Find the watch, or wait and see what +the law will do to you, Mr. Ted Smarty!" + +Right on the spot Ted Teall started to look, a feeling of dull +but intense misery gnawing in his breast. + +"Oh, gracious! But now I've gone and done it!" groaned Teall, +beginning to shake in his shoes. "Now, I'm in a whole peck and +half of trouble, for I'll never be lucky enough to find that watch +again!" + + + + +Chapter XI + +TED FEELS THE FLARE-BACK + + +Ted didn't find the watch, nor did the men searchers get anywhere +near a reliable trail of Amos Garwood. + +As for Dick & Co., they aided in the search for a while, then +went home to supper, feeling that they had done their present +duty as well as boys might do it. + +Ted Teall slunk home considerably after dark. Fortunately, as +it happened, his parents didn't force him to tell his reason for +being late, but Ted sat down to a supper that was cold and all +but tasteless. However, Teall could find no fault with his supper. +He was so full of misery that he didn't have the slightest idea +what the meal was like. + +"I wonder if I'd better run away from home before I'm arrested?" +puzzled Ted, as he secured his hat and stole away from the house. +"Br-r-r-r! I don't like the idea of being hauled up in court." + +It finally occurred to him that, if the officers were on his track, +the news would be known up in town. + +"If I nose about Main Street, but keep myself out of sight, and +keep my eyes peeled for trouble," reflected wretched Ted, "I may +find out something that will show me how to act." + +So to Main Street Ted slowly made his way, keeping an alert lookout +all the time for trouble in the form of a policeman. + +At one corner Ted suddenly gasped, feeling his legs give way under +him. By a supreme effort of will he mastered his legs in time +to dart into a dark doorway. + +"Huh! But that was a lucky escape for me," Teall gasped, as he +came out from the doorway, peering down the street after the retreating +form of Hi Martin's father. "I guess he's out looking for me. +He'll want his son's gold watch. Crackey! I wonder if folks +will think I'm low enough down to steal a fellow's watch?" + +If Teall was rough, he was none the less honest, and had all of +an honest boy's sensitive horror of being thought guilty of theft. + +"Yet the matter stands just this way," Ted reflected as he moped +along. "The watch must have been in the trousers when I snatched +'em up, and the watch wasn't there when I returned the trousers. +What will folks naturally think? Oh, I wonder if there ever was as +unlucky a fellow in the world before?" + +A great lump formed in Ted's throat as he puzzled over this problem. + +"Hello, Teall!" called a hearty voice. "Was Hi much obliged when +you gave him back his duds this afternoon?" + +Dick Prescott was the speaker, and with him were his five chums. + +"Nothing like it," muttered Ted, turning as the boys came up. +"Say, something awful happened to-day, and I'm in a peck of trouble!" + +"Tell us about it," urged Tom Reade. + +Ted started to tell them, mournfully. + +"I don't believe a word of that, Ted," Dick broke in energetically. + +"I'm telling you just as it happened," Teall protested. + +"Oh, I guess you are, all right. But I don't believe Hi had his +watch with him. If he had had it, he would have worn a chain +or a fob, and I didn't see any, did you, fellows?" + +"If I thought he had fooled me-----" muttered Ted vengefully. +Then, with a change of feeling, he continued: + +"But I don't believe he was fooling me. Hi was too mad, and he +looked as though he'd like nothing better than to see me get into +big trouble over it." + +"You went all over the ground where you'd been?" Dick asked. + +"Must have gone over it seventeen times," Ted declared positively. +"I didn't quit looking until it was so dark that my eyes ached +with the strain. But not one sight did I catch of the watch." + +"Don't worry any more about it, Teall," urged Dave Darrin. "Like +Dick, I don't believe, for an instant, that Hi had his watch with +him." + +"Here comes Hi now, out of the ice cream place," whispered Greg. + +Young Martin certainly didn't look much worried as he gained the +street. For a few seconds he looked about him. He saw Dick & +Co. and scowled. Then he caught sight of Ted, despite the latter's +trying to shrink behind Reade. + +"See here, Teall, did you find my watch?" demanded Hi, stepping +over to the group. His manner was aggressive, even threatening. + +"N-n-no," stammered Ted. + +"Then I don't believe you looked for it," insisted Hi. + +"Didn't I, though? Until after dark," Ted rejoined. + +"Then why didn't you find it?" + +"Because I didn't happen to see it---that was the only reason," +Teall retorted. + +"There may have been another reason," observed Hi Martin dryly. + +"Do you mean to say that I tried to steal it?" flared Ted, now +ready to fight. + +"How do I know?" Hi asked. + +"If I thought you meant that-----" + +"Well?" asked Hi Martin, gazing coolly into the flashing eyes. + +"You know better!" choked Teall. + +"Of course you know better, Hi Martin," Dick broke in. "Ted Teall +isn't any more of a thief than you are." + +"You fellows have no share in this matter," Hi retorted coldly. +"I'll thank you to keep out, and to mind your own business." + +A little way down the street Hi caught sight of his father approaching. +He turned to Ted to inquire: + +"You say that you looked faithfully for my watch until dark?" + +"Yes; I did," Ted shot back at him. + +"And you didn't find the watch?" + +"No, sirree; I didn't." + +"Oh, well, then," drawled Hi, "I guess---" + +Grinning broadly, he thrust a hand in under his clothing, drawing +out his gold watch. + +"I guess," Hi continued, "that it's time now to quit looking. +It's quarter of nine. Good night!" + +At sight of that watch Ted Teall's eyes bulged. Then the nature +of the outrage dawned on him. In a moment all his pent-up emotions +took the form of intense indignation. + +"You mean fellow!" hissed Ted, his fists clenching. "You-----" + +"Teall, when you play jokes," warned Martin coolly, "you always +want to be sure to look out for the flare-back. Don't forget that. +Good evening, father!" + +Hi slipped off by the side of his parent just in time for Ted +to slow down and realize that he couldn't very well thrash Hi +with the elder Martin looking on. + +Tom and Greg began to laugh. + +"Oh, cheer up, Ted," Dick smiled. "All's well that ends well, +you know." + +"But this matter isn't ended yet," cried Ted Teall excitedly, +shaking his fist at Hi Martin's receding back. "It isn't ended---no, +sir!---not by a long shot!" + + + + +Chapter XII + +THE NORTH GRAMMAR CAPTAIN GRILLED + + +Nor was Teall long in finding his opportunity to be revenged. + +On the following Tuesday, immediately after school, the North +and South Grammar nines met on the field. It was an important +meeting, for, under the rules governing the Gridley Grammar League, +whichever of these two teams lost, having been twice defeated, +was to retire vanquished; the victor in this game was to meet +the Central Grammar to contest for the championship. + +On the toss Captain Ted Teall won, and elected that his side go +to bat forthwith. + +The instant that Ted stepped to the plate a score of North Grammar +fans yelled: + +"Bang!" + +From another group of Norths came: + +"Ow-ow-ow!" This was followed by some fantastic jumping. + +"Huh! Those fellows don't show much brains!" uttered Teall wearily. +"They have to steal a josh from the Centrals." + +It did not annoy Ted to-day. He had expected this greeting, and +had steeled himself against it. + +Dick & Co., with a lot of other fellows from Central Grammar, +looked on in amusement. + +"It's a pity one of Hi's fellows hasn't ingenuity enough to work +up a new 'gag,'" Tom remarked dryly. + +"They'll never rattle Teall again with a 'bang,'" smiled Prescott. + +When the Souths went to grass, however, and the Norths took to +the benches, all was in readiness for Hi, who came forth third +on the batting list. The first two men had been struck out. + +"Come on in!" yelled a dozen tormentors from South Grammar onlookers. +"The water's fine!" + +In spite of himself Hi frowned. He had been expecting something, +but had hoped that the events of the preceding Saturday afternoon +would be left out. + +Hi made a swing for the ball, and missed. + +"Who's seen my duds?" went up a mighty shout. + +"Confound the hoodlums!" hissed Martin between his teeth. + +As mascot, the Souths had brought along a small colored boy, who +attended to a pail of lemonade for the refreshment of Ted's players. +Ere the ball came over the plate a second time this mascot was +seen running close to the foul lines. Over one arm he carried +jacket and trousers; in the other hand he bore a pair of shoes +and of socks. That the clothing was patched and the shoes looked +fit only for a tramp's use did not disguise the meaning of the scene +from any beholder, for the news of that Saturday afternoon had +traveled through the school world of Gridley. + +"Cheer up, suh!" shrieked the colored boy shrilly. "I'se bringing +yo' duds!" + +Then the ball came from the box, but Hi was demoralized by the +roar of laughter that swept over the field. + +A moment later the rather haughty captain of the North Grammar +nine had been struck out and retired. His face was red, his eyes +flashing. + +"Teall, we might expect something rowdyish from your crowd of +muckers," declared Martin scornfully, as the sides changed. + +"If I were you, Martin, I wouldn't do much talking to-day," grinned +Ted. "It's bad for the nerves." + +A half a dozen times thereafter the colored boy was seen scurrying +with "the duds." He took good care, however, to keep away from +the foul lines, and so did not come under the orders of the umpire. + +Whenever the mascot appeared with his burden he raised a laugh. +Hi could not steel himself against a combination of anger and +hurt pride. Some of the North Grammar girls in whose eyes he +was anxious to stand well were among those who could not help +laughing at the ridiculous antics of the colored lad. + +Toward the close of the first half of the third inning Teall again +came to bat. There were no men out in this inning, and two men +were on bases. + +"Now we'll see how you will stand a little jogging," muttered +Hi under his breath as he crossed his hands in signal to some +of the North Grammar fans. + +Just as Ted picked up his bat a dozen boys squeaked: + +"What time is it?" + +This was followed by: + +"Who stole my watch?" + +Another lot of North tormentors---those who had them---displayed +time pieces. + +"That's almost as bad as a stale one," Ted told himself scornfully. + +Just then the ball came just where Teall wanted it. + +Crack! Ted hit it a resounding blow, dropped his bat and started +to run. Amid a din of yells one of the Souths came in, another +reached third and Ted himself rested safely at second base. + +In that inning the Souths piled up five runs. Thereafter the +game went badly for the North Grammars, for most of the players +lost their nerve. Hi, himself, proved unworthy to be captain, +he had so little head left for the game. The contest ended with +a score of nine to two in favor of the South Grammars. + +"That will be about all for the Norths," remarked Ted, with a +cheerful grin, as be met Hi Martin at the close of the game. +"Your nine doesn't play any more, I believe." + +"I'm glad we don't," choked Hi. "There's no satisfaction being +in a league in which the other teams are made up of rowdies." + +"It is tough," mocked Ted. "Especially when the rowdies are the +only fellows who know how to play ball." + +Hi stalked away in moody, but dignified silence. Yet, though +he could ignore the players and sympathizers of other nines, it +was not so easy to get away from the grilling of his own schoolmates. + +"Huh!" remarked one North boy. "You told us, Martin, that you'd +prove to us the benefit of having a real captain for a nine. +Why didn't you?" + +"Martin, you're all wind," growled another keenly disappointed +North. "You talked a lot about what you'd do with the nine---and +what have you done? Left us the boobies of the league. We're +the winners of the leather medal." + +"Why didn't you play yourself, then?" snarled Hi. + +"I wish I had. But we Norths were fooled by the talk you gave +us about how baseball really ought to be played and managed. +You're the school's mascot, you are, Hi Martin. Not!" + +In the meantime Dick Prescott was being surrounded by anxious +Central Grammar boys. + +"Dick," said one of them, while others listened eagerly, "you +beat the Norths. But you didn't give them any such drubbing as +the Souths did to-day. Are they a better nine than ours?" + +"No," Prescott answered promptly. + +"Yet they whipped the Norths worse than we did. Can we down +the Souths?" + +"Yes," nodded Prescott. + +"Why can we?" + +"For the simplest reason in the world, Tolman. We've got to. +Isn't that a fine reason?" + +"It sounds fine," remarked another boy doubtfully. "But can you +whip another crowd just because you want to?" + +"If you want to badly enough," Dick smiled. + +"Hm! I'll be surer about that when I see it done." + +"It'll happen next Friday afternoon, if rain doesn't call the +game," Prescott promised. + +"What do you say to that, Darrin?" demanded another Central boy. + +"Just what Dick said." + +"What's your word, Tom!" + +"You heard what our captain said," Reade laughed. "I always follow +orders. If Dick Prescott tells me to pile up seven runs against +the Souths I'm going to do it." + +"I hope you do," murmured another boy. "Yet it seems against +us---after the way we saw the Souths play to-day." + +"Or rather," added Dick quietly, "the way the North Grammars didn't +play. They'd have put up a lot better game if their captain hadn't +lost his nerve and his head." + +As the Central Grammar boys left, most of them in one crowd, there +was a rather general feeling that Dick was just a bit too confident. +Or, was he simply "putting it on," in order to bolster up the +courage of his players? + +Dick Prescott, at least, was qualified to know what he really +expected. He really was confident of victory in the game that +should decide the league championship. + +"If you feel that you can't be beaten, and won't be beaten, but +that you've got to win and are going to win, then that's more +than half the points of a game won in advance," he told his chums. +"Fellows, in baseball or anything else, we won't say die, either +now or at any later time in life. We'll make it our rule to ride +right over anything that gets in our way. That way we can't know +defeat." + +"Unless, finally, we ride to our deaths," laughed Tom. + +"What of it?" challenged Dick. "That wouldn't be defeat. The +man who rides to death in the search for victory has won. He has +carried the winning spirit with him to the very finish. Or else +the history we've been studying at school is all a mess of lies." + +"There's a lot in that idea," nodded Dave thoughtfully. + +"There's more in it every time that you think of it," Dick contended. + +Thus Dick was starting, in Dick & Co., the never-give-up spirit +which made them almost invincible later as High School boys. + +Wednesday and Thursday were days filled with eagerness for the +Central Grammar boys. The members of the baseball squad were +not by any means the only ones on tenterhooks. Every boy in the +upper grades of the school was waiting impatiently to learn who +would be the winners of the championship. + +Somewhat to the astonishment of the Central Grammar boys Captain +Dick, on Wednesday afternoon, gave his team only a brief half +hour of diamond practice. Thursday afternoon they didn't play +at all. Instead, the nine and its subs. went off on a tramp +through the woods. + +"What we want to-morrow above all," Dick explained, as he marshaled +his forces, "is steady nerves. There's nothing like a good walk +in the cool and shady spots for tuning up a schoolboy's nerves +for an ordeal. A walk is good whether you're facing an exam. +or a championship game." + +"May the rest of us go with you!" called one of the Central boys +outside the squad. + +"We can't stop you," Dick replied, "but we'd rather you let the +ball squad go by itself." + +"All right, then," cried three or four. The fourteen of the squad +marched away, unhampered by any followers. + +Once outside the town and halted under a grove of trees, Dick +turned to his teammates. + +"Fellows," he said quietly, "I believe some of you have been anxious +to know what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"It's coming, at last!" gasped Tom Reade. "Well, let us hear +what the man on the clubhouse steps said. It must be one of the +choice pieces of wisdom of all the ages." + +"It is," Dick replied quietly. + +"Then let us hear shouted Dave. + +"Not now," Prescott answered, shaking his head solemnly. "But, +fellows, you win to-morrow's game and you shall all hear just +what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"Win?" retorted Tom Reade. "Dick Prescott, with a bribe like +that before us, we're bound to win! We couldn't do anything else." + +Then they went further into the woods. Dick had brought his players +here in search of peace, quiet and nerve rest. Had he had even +one prophetic glimpse of what was ahead of some of them that afternoon +it would have been far better to have remained in town. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +"BIG INJUN---HEAP BIG NOISE" + + +"Say, we don't want to just go on walking. There's no fun in +that," objected Spoff Henderson. + +"We're out for rest more than for fun," Dick replied. "The walk +and the rest this afternoon are all by way of preparing for the +big game to-morrow afternoon." + +"But wouldn't there be more rest about it if we had a little fun?" +Spoff insisted. + +"Perhaps," Dick nodded. "What's your idea of fun?" + +"Why not play 'Indians and Whites'?" put in Toby Ross eagerly. + +"That would be just the sort of game for to-day," Dave approved. + +"That's what I say," nodded Tom. + +"Dick, you're used to these woods," Spoff went on. "You be the +big Injun---the big chief. Choose two more of the fellows to +be Injuns with you, and the rest will be whites." + +"All right," nodded Dick. "Dave and Tom can go with me. Who'll +be your captain?" + +"Greg!" cried Spoff. + +"Holmesy," said Ross in the same breath. + +So Greg Holmes was chosen captain, to command the whites. + +"Give us the full six minutes, Greg, won't you?" Dick called, +as he and his two fellow "Injuns" prepared to enter the deep woods. + +"Of course I will," Greg nodded. "You don't think I'd cheat, +do you?" + +Those of the boys who were proud owners of watches hurriedly consulted +their timepieces. Greg retained his in his hand. + +"Now," called Dick, and away he started, followed by Braves Darrin +and Reade. + +As the Gridley boys had their own version of "Indians and Whites," +a description of the game may as well be given here. + +The Indians always chose a chief, the whites a captain. Chief +and braves started away at the call of time. Six minutes later, +to the second, the whites started in pursuit. The whites must +keep in one band, as must also the Indians. Yet, in trailing, +the whites could spread out, while the Indians must keep together. + +Though the Indians were allowed to double on the trail, they were +not permitted to run. Nothing faster than an ordinary walk was +permitted to them, unless they found themselves sighted by the +whites. + +Moreover, owing to the lack of skill on the part of the whites +in following a trail, the Indians were required to walk as usual, +making no special efforts to hide their footprints. + +The whites were permitted to pursue at any gait. If they sighted +the Indians, then they were expected to yell by way of warning. +If more than half the Indians were captured before the expiration +of an hour from the first departure of the Indians, then the whites +won. Otherwise the Indians were victors. + +Dick walked in advance, Dave and Tom side by side just behind him. + +"We must try to think up some way to fool the fellows," muttered +Reade. + +"Halt!" warned Dick, when they were barely two minutes away from +the starting point. + +Darrin and Reade stopped in their tracks. + +"See that low-hanging limb, and the bushes just beyond?" asked +young Prescott. + +"Of course," assented Dave. + +"We'll go on about a minute further," suggested Dick, who had +kept his watch in hand from the outset. "Then we'll walk backward, +stop here, grab that limb and swing ourselves over past the bushes. +That ought to throw the fellows off the track and get 'em all +mixed up." + +"If the whites are spread enough they'll probably be outside those +bushes," remarked Reade. "Then they'll find where the trail changes." + +"That's one of the chances that we have to take," smiled Dick. +"Let's see if we can't make it work." + +Onward again they went, halting when Prescott gave the word. +Walking backward, they were soon at the oak with the low-hanging +limb. + +"I'll try it first," proposed Dick, "and see if it's easy enough. +Don't walk around here and make enough tracks to call the attention +of the whites to the fact that we stopped here." + +Dick made a bound, catching the limb fairly. Three or four times +he swung himself back and forth, until he had gained enough momentum. +Then he let go, on the last swing, landing on his feet well behind +the bushes. Dave came next, Tom following. Now the three Indians +hurried on again, Big Injun Dick in the lead as before. + +"If we do throw them off, Greg's fighting men will have a hard +job hitting the trail again," chuckled Tom. + +"If they don't find our trail, Dick, where are you headed for?" +whispered Dave. + +"For the road and home," laughed Dick. "Then, while they're trying +to figure out where we've gone, we fellows will be washing up +for supper." + +"I'd like to hear Old Greg grumbling if the 'double' does throw +'em off the trail altogether," grinned Darrin. "Dick, I think +we've more than half a chance to get away." + +"We have about four chances out of five of slipping away from +Greg's soldiers," predicted Prescott. + +For ten minutes Dick and his two braves plodded on. There were, +as yet, no audible sounds of pursuit. + +"We caught 'em, surely enough, that time," chuckled Tom. "Going +to hit for the road now, Dick?" + +"We can't reach the road until our hour is up; we're bound to +keep to the woods," Prescott replied. "However, you'll note that +I am taking a course that will gradually lead us to the road." + +"Right-o," nodded Reade, after taking a look at their surroundings. +All the members of Dick & Co. had spent so much of their time +in the woods that they knew every foot of the way. + +"I wonder where that valiant band of whites is, anyway?" muttered +Dave. "I haven't heard a sound of them." + +"You may hear their battle yell any minute," Dick whispered. +"Be careful not to talk loudly enough to give them any clue." + +For two or three minutes more Dick led the way. Of a sudden he +halted---right up against a huge surprise. For the boys had suddenly +broken into a little circular clearing, not much more than thirty +feet in diameter. Near the center of this clearing, under a flimsy +shelter he had made of poles and branches, crouched Amos Garwood. +He was at work over a low bench built of a board across two boxes. +So intent was Garwood on what he was doing that he appeared not +to have heard the approach of the boys. + +Dick Prescott stood looking on, one hand raised as a signal for +the silence of those behind him. But both Dave and Tom had caught +sight of the stranger at about the same instant. + +"If any who know me have hinted that my brain is not strong enough," +muttered Garwood, whose back was turned to the startled Grammar +School boys, "there is bound to be a great awakening when my wonderful +invention is perfected. Then the world will bow down to me, for +I shall be its master." + +"Crazy as a porous plaster!" muttered Tom Reade under his breath. + +"It will be a new, a strange sensation," continued Garwood, speaking +just loud enough to be heard by the onlookers. "A great sensation, +too, to be master of the world when, during these present dark +days, I am compelled to run and hide for fear envious scientists +will succeed in capturing me and locking me up." + +"I wonder what he thinks he's doing there?" pondered Dick curiously. + +"To think that a few grains of this wonderful substance would +pulverize a regiment!" continued Garwood, in an inventor's ecstasy. +"An ounce of this wonderful material enough to blow up an army +corps. A single pound sufficient to bring the nations of the +world to my feet in awed homage. And I can make a hundred pounds +a day of it! Oh, that I could reach other worlds, to make them +feel my mastery!" + +"If his stuff is as good as he thinks it is, I certainly hope +he won't shoot off any of it accidentally," thought Prescott, +with an odd little shiver. + +"Oh, that I dared trust my secret to one or two others!" murmured +Garwood, as he delved with one hand into one of the boxes that +supported his simple bench. "And now for the great finishing +touch!" + +Amos Garwood placed on the board a fairsized wide-mouthed bottle. +From where he stood, Dick could read the label on the bottle--- +"Potassium Chlorate---crystals." + +"Chlorate of potash?" thought Dick. "That's what Dr. Bentley +gave me once for sore throat." + +Dick, however, was soon to get an inkling of a suspicion that +chlorate of potash might be used to serve other purposes. + +As the mentally queer inventor reached into the box for that bottle, +the three silent, observing "Injuns" saw that Garwood had on the +crude table before him a glass mortar and pestle, the former of +about two quarts' capacity. + +In this mortar lay a quantity of powdered stuff, which Garwood +had evidently been grinding before their arrival. Now he poured +out a heaping handful of the chlorate crystals, dropping them +on top of the mixture in the mortar. + +"A few turns---a little more fatigue of the wrist---and I am the +world's master---its owner!" cried Garwood exultantly. + +"Ker-choo!" sneezed Tom Reade at the worst possible moment. + +Amos Garwood turned like a flash, tottering to his feet. + +"Spies! Traitors! Ingrates!" he gasped in hoarse terror. + +"Nothing at all like it," Dick replied, with a pleasant smile. +"Mr. Garwood, we boys are playing in these woods. If we've meddled +with your affairs you'll pardon us, and let us pass on, won't you?" + +"Didn't you try to find me here?" demanded Garwood, suspicious still. + +"I give you my word of honor that we didn't, sir," answered Dick. +"Until a moment ago we hadn't any idea that you were within +fifty miles of this spot. You see, sir, we're playing Indians +and whites. We're the big Injuns, even if we don't look it. +And behind us, somewhere on our trail, is Captain Greg Holmes, +with a company of his brave soldiers, trailing us relentlessly." + +"Soldiers?" quivered Amos Garwood, his face going ashen. Then +his face suddenly took on a look of intense exultation. "Soldiers?" +he repeated. "It couldn't be better. It is on soldiers that +my amazing discovery should be proved. But I waste time---and +loss of time may be fatal to all my plans. A few turns, and my +discovery is ready. I can then defy whole armies, if necessary!" + +Sweeping the mortar around within reach, so that he could work +and watch the Grammar School boys at the same time, Amos Garwood +began to grind his pestle into the mixture with feverish energy. + +Then all of a sudden the very earth shook and rocked. Big Injun +Prescott and his two braves were in the center of the biggest explosion +they had ever heard! + + + + +Chapter XIV + +"CRAZY AS A POROUS PLASTER" + + +It was terrific, and yet the only effect on the bench on which +the mortar lay was to knock the board sideways from the boxes. +The mortar became as powder itself, though not a splinter was +raised from the wood. + +From the lips of Amos Garwood a fearful yell went up. He plunged +headlong a few feet, then lay on the ground, feebly nursing his +right hand with his left. + +As for Dick, Dave and Tom, their ears rang with the noise until +they felt as though surely their ear-drums had been ruptured by +the force of that awesome detonation. + +An instant later all was quiet. Dick and his chums speedily realized +that they had escaped actual injury, yet their legs shook so that +they could hardly stand. + +"Wh---wh---what was it?" asked Reade in accents that quivered +in unison with his trembling legs. + +"See here, fellows, we mustn't be fools," Dick cried chidingly. +"We're not hurt, and Mr. Garwood is. Let's see what we can do +for him." + +"Do for me, will you?" groaned the injured one. "No, you won't. +You boys keep your distance from me, or you're going to be worse +scared than you are already. Don't imagine that I'm helpless, +for I'm not. In me you behold the master of the world!" + +"Confound him, I've a good mind to go away and let him have the +world to himself," muttered Reade. + +But Dick and Dave had already started toward the spot where Amos +lay. The man scrambled to his feet, the old, hunted look coming +into his eyes. + +"You keep away from me!" he screamed. "Get away! Clear out! +I don't want to hurt you. I wouldn't harm a fly. But I'm not +going to allow any one near me!" + +Dick ventured too near. Garwood swung his uninjured arm so +unexpectedly that Prescott had no chance to get out of the way. +He fell flat on the ground. Warned by the light in the eye of the +world's master, Dick believed it prudent to roll several yards before +be tried to get up. + +"Say," blazed Darrin indignantly. "Are you going to stand for +that?" + +"Don't excite him," murmured Prescott in an undertone. "The poor +fellow isn't responsible for what he's doing. And I'd fight, +too, if I thought any one was trying to seize me." + +"I'm sorry if I had to hurt you," said Amos Garwood in a milder tone. +"But I allow no one to come near me. I have too many enemies +---so many who are jealous of me that I can trust no one." + +"He isn't really dangerous, poor fellow," whispered Prescott to +his companions. + +"No, though he has a habit of blowing up suddenly," muttered Reade. +"He did the same thing once before, you'll remember, at the old +water-works cottage." + +"Are we going to try to catch the fellow this time?" Darrin whispered. + +"Yes," nodded Dick. "We ought to, both for his father's sake +and his own." + +"What do you say, then, if we all three rush him?" pressed Darrin. + +"It would be mean," Dick retorted in an undertone. "The poor +fellow might be tempted to use his injured hand. And you can +see how it's burned. I don't wonder. You saw how the flame of +the explosion leaped all over that arm. It's a wonder it didn't +set him afire." + +"Are you boys going to leave me," inquired Garwood, "or are you +going to remain and thus show me that you are truly of my enemies?" + +"You slip back into the woods, Tom," whispered Dick. "See if +you can find Greg and the other fellows. If you can, bring them +up quickly." + +Dave and I'll stay here, unless Garwood moves away. If he does, +Darry and I will follow him. If you hear any war whoops, come +running in that direction, you and the other fellows. You'll +know that the whoop means that we need you." + +"I hate to leave you two with him," muttered Reade reluctantly. +"If this world-boss gets violent you two won't be enough for +him." + +"We can get out of the way, if we have to," Dick rejoined. "But +hurry, Tom. We need a lot of the fellows, for we ought to seize +this poor fellow and get him into town, even if only that be may +have proper attention for his burned hand and arm. Hustle. You'll +help me more in that way than in any other." + +Thus urged, Tom turned and vanished into the forest behind the +others. + +"Why do you stay here?" demanded Amos Garwood fretfully. "I +don't want to injure you, boys; but if you belong to my enemies, +then I shall be forced to hurt you. Run away before I lose my +temper. I am always sorry afterwards when I have lost my temper." + +The flash in the man's eyes made both boys feel "creepy." Thin +as he was, there was about him, none the less, a suggestion of +great strength and force when put in action. + +"We have a right to stay in the woods, Mr. Garwood," Dick answered. +"I don't want to seem impudent, either, but I would suggest that +if you don't like to be with us here, then there are other parts +of the forest that you can find." + +As Dick spoke he swung one arm, pointing artfully to the woods +in the direction that Tom Reade had gone, and where it was believed +that Greg and his followers were searching. + +"If that's the way you want me to go," smiled Amos Garwood darkly, +"then I believe I'll go in the opposite direction. And, young +men, it won't be wise for you to attempt to follow me!" + +With that hint he started. Dick and Dave waited until they could +see only the top of his head. Then they started on his trail. + +For an instant Amos Garwood was out of sight. Then, with a suddenness +that startled both trailers, Garwood stepped out from behind a +tree and right into their path. + +"I cautioned you both," he announced sharply. "I shall not go +to that trouble again. Keep away from me. Never mind where I +am going, or what I am going to do." + +Then a spasm of pain shot across the poor fellow's face. Calm +as he tried to keep himself, it was plain that his burned hand +and arm were causing him great suffering. + +"Won't you come with us," pleaded Dick, "and get that arm of yours +attended to? We'll take you to the right place." + +"To the right place?" mocked Garwood harshly. "Right into the +camp of my enemies, I suppose? Among those who deride my great +invention, and yet who would capture me and steal my wonderful +discovery from me. Boys, I have already told you that if you +follow me, you will follow me to grave harm. Beware in time. +Run! Leave me! Or your fates be on your own heads, for I am +master of the world and can force you to obey me!" + +As Garwood spoke the last words another change crossed his face. +He reached into an inner coat pocket. + +"You will not obey me," he remarked. "Therefore, I must act to +save myself and my great discovery. 'Tis as you would have it!" + +"Duck!" gasped Dave Darrin, seizing Dick by one arm. "He means +big mischief!" + +What it was for which he had reached in his pocket neither Grammar +School boy saw, for both turned at the same instant, beating a +swift retreat. Sixty feet away, however, they halted, wheeling +about. + +Garwood, seeing the boys run, acted as though he would give them +no further thought. He was already walking in the opposite direction, +his back turned to them. + +"Ugh! He gives me cold chills," cried Darrin. + +"He does the same to me," sighed Dick, "but it's a plain case +of duty to follow him until we can turn him over to those who'll +take good care of the poor fellow." + +Just as Amos Garwood was on the point of vanishing from their +view, the two schoolboys started forward, more cautiously than +before. + +Back of them in the woods, far away, sounded a boyish war-whoop. + +"Hi-yi-yi-yi-_yoop_!" answered Dave Darrin. + +Amos Garwood started forward with a bound like that of a deer. +Then his long legs went into rapid operation. Prescott and Darrin +ran onward as fast as they could go. They were trained to running, +too, but this "master of the world" set them a pace that no +fourteen-year-old boys on earth could have followed with any hope +of success. + +"Whoop, but he's an airship for speed!" gasped Dave Darrin. + +"We couldn't catch him with a locomotive," confessed Dick, when, +panting, he was at last obliged to halt. + +"Hear him---going," gasped Darrin. + +"I can't hear him," confessed Dick, after a moment of listening. + +"That's just the point. He has gotten so far away that we can't +hear him crashing through the undergrowth." + +"I'm afraid we won't catch up with him again to-day," sighed Dick. + +"The folks who are trying to catch Amos Garwood are foolish in +sending detectives to look for him," muttered Dave. "They ought +to hire professional sprinters." + +Away at their rear sounded a fainter whoop. + +"Answer the fellows, Dave," urged Prescott. + +"I will---when I get some wind," muttered Darrin. + +Three times more Greg and his fellows whooped before Dick could +get together enough wind to make his voice travel. Greg repeated +the hail, and again Dick answered. After a few minutes the other +Grammar School boys caught up with Dick and his friend, who told +to the new-comers the story of the encounter with Amos Garwood. + +"Get away from you again?" asked Tom blankly. + +"I don't believe we'll ever chase that streak of light again," +growled Dave. "I don't feel as though I'd ever be able to run +again. Amos Garwood can walk faster than any of us can run." + +"The most that we can do at present," Prescott concluded, will +be to notify Lawyer Ripley or Chief Coy that we've seen the Garwood +flyer again." + +"I wish we could catch him," sighed Torn, while Greg nodded. + +"You two can have the next chance," smiled Dick. "As for me, +I am certain that I can never catch Amos Garwood unless he and +I happen to be running toward each other." + +"All in favor of supper," proposed Dan Dalzell, glancing at his +watch, "say 'aye' and turn homeward." + +"But shan't we try, for a while, to trail Garwood?" queried Greg. + +"What's the use?" cross-questioned Dick disconsolately. "We might +sight him, but we'd never catch him. Nor do I believe he has +stopped running yet." + +"If he hasn't," grumbled Dave, "he's twenty miles from here by +this time." + +So Dan's motion prevailed. The baseball squad of the Central +Grammar School turned toward the road that led homeward. + + + + +Chapter XV + +BLUFFING UP TO THE BIG GAME + + +"That explosion was fearful, what there was of it," Dick declared +to Chief Coy. It was evening, and the head of the local police +department had stopped the boys on the street for additional information +on the subject. + +"What did it look like?" asked Chief Coy. + +"There came a big flash and a loud bang in the same instant, and +Mr. Garwood was hurled over on his side. The queer part of it +was that the explosion didn't do any real damage to the bench, +though there wasn't a piece of the glass mortar left that was +big enough to see." + +"The explosion all went upward. It didn't work sideways or downward?" +asked Chief Coy. + +"That's the way we saw it," Dick replied. "And it didn't hurt +either you or Darrin?" + +"Not beyond the big scare, and the shock to our ear-drums." + +"I wonder what the explosive could have been?" mused the chief +aloud. + +"I don't know what was in the mortar in the first place, sir," +Dick Prescott went on. "All Amos Garwood put in the mortar after +we got there was some chlorate of potash. Then he put the pestle +in and began to grind." + +"And then the explosion happened?" followed up Chief Coy. + +"Chlorate of potash, eh?" broke in a local druggist, who had halted +and was listening. "Hm! If Garwood ground that stuff with a +pestle, then it doesn't much matter what else was in the mortar!" + +"Is the chlorate explosive, sir?" questioned Dick. + +"Is it?" mimicked the druggist. "When I first started in to learn +the drug business it was a favorite trick to give an apprentice +one or two small crystals of chlorate to grind in a mortar. After +a lot of accidents, and after a few drug clerks had been send +to jail for playing the trick it became played out in drug stores." + +"But I've seen powdered chlorate of potash," interposed Tom Reade, +who was always in search of information. + +"Yes," admitted the druggist. "I can show you, at my store, about +ten pounds of the powdered chlorate." + +"Then how do they get it into a powder, sir?" pressed Tom. "Do +the manufacturers grind it between big millstones?" + +"If any ever did," laughed the druggist, "they never remained +on earth long enough to tell about it. A few pounds of the chlorate, +crushed between millstones, would blow the roof off of the largest +mill you ever saw!" + +"But what makes the stuff so explosive?" queried Prescott. + +"I don't know whether I can make you understand it," the druggist +replied. "Potassium chlorate is extremely 'rich' in oxygen, and +it is held very loosely in combination. When a piece of the chlorate +is struck a hard blow it sets the oxygen free, and the gas expands +so rapidly that the explosion follows." + +On the outskirts of the little crowd stood a new-comer, Ted Teall, +who was drinking in every word that the druggist uttered. Dick +saw him and felt a sudden start of intuition. + +"See here, Teall," Dick called, "you needn't pick that up as a +pointer for the way to serve me with a home-made ball at our game +to-morrow. The trick I played on you wasn't dangerous, but this +chlorate racket is. Mr. Johnson, what would happen if a fellow +should hit a ball with his bat, and that ball was packed with +chlorate of potash?" + +"I'm not sure that the fellow with the bat would ever know what +happened," answered the druggist. + +"Is it as bad as that?" gasped Teall. + +"Worse," replied the druggist grimly. + +"So, Teall, if you had any thoughts of playing a trick like that," +interposed Chief Coy, "take my word for it that such a trick would +be likely to land you in a reform school until you were at least +twenty-one years old." + +"Oh, if it's as bad as that-----" muttered Ted reluctantly. + +"What did you and Darry say, when the explosion came off?" asked +Dan Dalzell, as Dick & Co. walked on again. + +"I don't remember just what Darry said," Prescott confessed reluctantly. +"As for me, I remember just what I said." + +"What?" + +"I said just what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"And what was that?" pressed Dalzell. + +"That's what you're going to find out if you win the game from +South Grammar to-morrow." + +"Then the game is as good as won already," declared Tom solemnly, +"for we're in that frame of mind where we've got to know what +the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +Through the evening, and the long night that followed, Chief Coy +had two of his policemen out searching the woods where Garwood +had last been seen. Mr. Winthrop added three detectives to the +chase. When morning came the "queer" inventor was still at large. +He had not even been seen since Dick and Dave had lost sight +of him. + +"The last time that I put this class on honor," announced Old +Put, when the morning session began, "we had one of the best records +of good behavior during the day that I can remember. I will, +therefore, announce that this class is on honor again to-day, +and that, no matter what the breaches of discipline, no pupil +will be kept after school to-day. All will be allowed to go and +see the great, the glorious game." + +Then, after a pause, Old Dut added dryly: + +"I haven't the heart to keep any one after school to-day. I am +going to the game myself." + +At this statement a laugh rippled around the room. Then every +boy and girl settled down to the serious business of the day. + +At three o'clock Old Put announced: + +"If Captain Prescott so desires, he may withdraw now with his +team, in order to have time to dress and get oiled up on the diamond." + +"I thank you, sir, for that permission," responded Dick, rising +at once. He was followed by the other players. + +"Go out a little more quietly, if you please---that's all," called +Old Dut. + +On tiptoe the members of the squad stole upstairs to the exhibition +hall. There they quickly got into their uniforms, next stowing +their street clothing in a closet, the key of which the principal +had supplied to Captain Dick Prescott. + +In thoughtful silence Dick led his small host from the schoolhouse +to the diamond. When they had halted by the benches Dick began: + +"Now, fellows, each of you keep steadily in mind what we have +at stake this afternoon." + +"Yes, sirree!" grinned Dan Dalzell. "If we win to-day we're going +to learn what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"To-day's victory gives one school or the other the championship +of the Gridley Grammar School League," Dick declared. + +"Oh, that's a side issue, entirely," retorted Tom gravely. "What +we're really burning about is to know what the man on the clubhouse +steps said." + +"Are we going to pitch in to practice now?" asked Greg. + +"You fellows can, if you want to, but don't go at it too hard," +replied Captain Dick. + +"If you didn't want to practice, what were you in such a hurry +to get out of school for?" demanded Holmes. + +"Because I felt that we had been in school about as long as we +could stand on the day of the championship game," laughed Prescott. + +"Wise captain," approved Darrin. + +They had not been on the field many minutes when a whoop sounded +near at hand that caused the boys to look with surprise. + +"Here come the Souths!" called Dave. "They must have been let +out early, too." + +"Hello!" hailed Captain Teall. "You fellows are here early, but +I don't see your shovels." + +"Shovels?" repeated Dick. + +"Yes; to dig holes to get into after the game is over," Ted retorted. + +"Teall," Prescott responded sternly, "if the South Grammars want +any holes to hide in, they'll have to dig them themselves." + +"Humph! We'll see which side feels most like digging a hole when +the score is read!" retorted Ted. "Come along, Souths!" + +Ted led the way down the field for practice. On the way he turned +to shout something back. At that moment he tripped over a small +wooden box and fell flat. + +"Oh, Ted!" called Dick hurriedly. + +"Well?" growled Teall, rubbing his shins. + +"Did you enjoy your little trip?" + +"My---little---trip?" repeated Ted wonderingly. "Oh---pshaw! +Of course you'd think of something like that to say." + +"If you're lamed any by your little trip," offered Tom, "I'll +leave left field to do your base running for you this afternoon." + +"Yah! I'll bet you would," jeered Teall. "And if I let you, +I'd be down on the score card for three less than no runs at all." + +"You will, anyway," said Reade gravely. + +"Somehow," broke in Dan, "I feel unusually happy this afternoon." + +"That's because you know we're going to win to-day," laughed Dick. + +"Oh, that's a part of it, yes," Dalzell agreed. "But the real +cause of my happy feeling is that I'm going to find out what the +man on the clubhouse steps said. That's what I've been aching +to know ever since some time last winter." + +"The time will pass shortly now, Danny Grin," Prescott remarked +comfortingly. + +By this time a score of spectators had arrived. Then came a few +High School boys, among them Ben Tozier, who was again to umpire. +"Tozier, what's the High School delegation for?" Dan asked. +"To find out who'll be handy for the High School nine next year?" + +"Perhaps," Ben replied gravely. "There's some good, young material +in the two nines, all right. The trouble is that a lot of you +fellows won't go to High School." + +"All of Dick & Co. are going to attend High School," Dave proudly +informed Tozier. + +Two more High School boys now appeared who were not as welcome. +Fred Ripley and Bert Dodge walked on to the field side by side. + +"What are they doing here?" asked Dave. + +"We are in luck," spoke up Tom, "if they haven't come here to +start mischief." + +"If they do, if they even try it," Dick predicted grimly, "they'll +be the ones out of luck. We'll turn the boys of two Grammar Schools +loose on them and run them off the field." + +Down the street sounded a noise that could come from only one +cause. Central Grammar School had "let out." All the boys and +many of the girls were now hurrying toward the ball field. It +was natural to take the biggest sort of interest in this game, +which was to decide which school was the "champion." + +"I'm sorry to see your crowd in such high spirits, Prescott," +said Ted Teall, coming up. "It'll be all the harder for Central +Grammar to bear when the score is announced." + +"You're sure of winning, then, Teall?" Dick inquired. + +"Absolutely certain!" Captain Ted rejoined. + +"We're going to set off a big bonfire this evening, Ted," Captain +Prescott rejoined. "If we win to-day will you agree to be on +hand to light the fire?" + +"Yes; if you win," agreed Ted. "But you can't!" + + + + +Chapter XVI + +"TED'S TERRORS" FULL OF FIGHT + + +The umpire's quiet voice called the captains of the nines apart. + +"Who'll call the toss?" asked Ben. + +"Let Teall do it," Dick answered. + +"You do it, Prescott," urged Captain Ted. + +"Well, which one of you is going to call?" inquired Tozier. + +"Teall," Dick again answered. + +"Oh, all right, then," nodded Ted. "I suppose, Prescott, you +feel that, whichever way I call, I'd wish I'd taken the other +way." + +The coin spun upward in the air, for Ben Tozier was a master of +the art of flipping. + +"Tails," announced Teall. + +"It's heads this time," announced Umpire Tozier. "Captain Prescott?" + +"We'll go to bat, then," decided Prescott. "We might as well +begin to pile up the score that we're going to make." + +"We'll show you how you're not going to make it," Ted grinned. +"Remember, Prescott, that I and Wells are the battery to-day." + +"What you need," laughed Dick, "is a good right fielder and a +star third baseman." + +"Huh!" grunted Teall. + +"Get to your places," ordered Tozier briskly. "We want to end +this game some time to-day." + +The umpire inspected a new ball, then sent it grounding to Teall. +Back and forth between the members of the South Grammar battery +the ball passed three times. + +"Play ball!" called the umpire sharply. + +Tom Reade already stood by the plate. He swung his stick idly, +watching Teall. Along came the ball. Tom judged it and hit at it. + +"Strike one!" called Tozier, shifting a pebble to his left hand. + +Ted grinned derisively as he twisted the leather for the next +throw. + +"Ball one!" and a bean followed the pebble into the umpire's left +hand. + +"Strike two! Ball two! Ball three!" + +Ted Teall began to feel angry over the growing pile of called +balls. He delivered one with great care. + +Whack! Tom never waited to see whether the ball was headed inside +or outside of foul lines. He simply dropped his willow, then +gave his best exhibition of the sprinting that he had learned +in the spring. + +It was a fair ball that struck inside of left field. South's +left fielder had to run in for the leather, which struck the ground, +then rolled to one side. Thump! The ball landed neatly in the +first baseman's hands, but Tom had kicked the bag a second before. + +"Runner safe," drawled Tozier. + +Spoff Henderson came next to bat. Ted, with great care, struck +him out. Toby Ross met with similar disaster, nor did Reade have +any chance to steal up to second. Then Greg advanced to the plate. +He had his own favorite stick, which he swung with great confidence. + +"Now, just see what I'll do to you!" was what Ted Teall's impudent +smile meant. + +Crack! Holmes hit the first ball, reaching first and pushing +Tom to second. + +"Danny Grin, don't fail us," begged Prescott, as Dan started for +the plate. "Two men out, remember!" + +As Dalzell faced the pitcher his grin was broader than Teall's. + +Two strikes and two balls were quickly called. Some of Dalzell's +assurance was gone now, but he steadied himself down. It would +never do to strike out at such a time. + +Then Danny Grin made his third strike, but he drove the ball ahead +of him, forcing the right fielder of the Souths to run backward +for it, but he missed the catch and by the time the ball was in +circulation again the bases were full of Central Grammar runners. + +"I'm glad you're going forward," whispered Dave, just as Dick +started towards the plate, his favorite bat in hand. + +"I'll make a monkey of you," muttered Teall, just loudly enough +for the words to reach Prescott. + +"If you can, you're welcome," grunted Dick under his breath. + +Swat! It was the first ball driven in. Had there been a fence +around the field that fair drive would have gone over it. How +it soared and then flew! The right fielder who followed that +ball was nervous from the start. He panted as he fell upon the +ball. + +"Throw it to third!" yelled Teall. + +"Just at that instant Dan Dalzell was nearing the home plate, +which Tom and Greg had already passed. Prescott's ankle turned +slightly or he would have got in ahead of the ball. + +"Runner out at third," called Tozier in a singsong voice. "Side +out!" + +"Yet who cared?" Dick's wonderful blow on the leather had brought +three men in safe. + +The Souths followed at bat. One, two, three, Prescott struck +them out. Ted Teall's face looked solemn, indeed. + +"Wells, we've simply got to hold these fellows down," grunted +Teall to his catcher in the brief conference for which there was +time. "We don't want to be walloped by a score of ninety-four +to two." + +"I haven't let anything get by me, have I?" grunted the catcher. + +"No; but signal for some of my new ones." + +"I don't want to put a crimp in your wing," muttered Wells. + +"That's all right. It's a tough wing. Don't let the Centrals +score anything on us in this inning." + +"I'll do my best to help you hold 'em down," promised the South +Grammar catcher as he hurried to his place behind the plate. + +Dave Darrin, to his intense disgust, was struck out on three of +the most crafty throws that Teall had on his list. Hazelton followed. +Another player reached first on called balls, but the next Central +boy struck a fair, short fly that landed in Ted's own hands. + +"That was more like," grunted Ted, as he met his catcher at the +bench. "In that first inning these Centrals had me almost scared." + +In the second half of this second inning the Souths scored one +run. They did the same in the third and the fourth innings, meantime +preventing Prescott's fellows from scoring again, though in the +fourth inning Prescott saw the bases full with Centrals just before +the third man was struck out. + +In the fifth and sixth innings neither side scored. At last the +spectators began to realize that they were watching two well-matched +nines. + +"I can't see that the Central Grammars are doing such a lot of +a much," grunted Hi Martin to a High School boy. + +"The Centrals are playing fine ball," retorted the High School +boy. "The only trouble is that the Souths rank pretty close to +them." + +"I'd like to play both teams again," asserted Hi. "All that happened +to us was that we struck a few flukes when we played." + +"Humph!" retorted the High School lad, just before turning away. +"Your North Grammar nine was kicked all over the field by both +of these nines. Both Prescott's and Teall's fellows have improved +a lot since they met you." + +Hi subsided, feeling unhappy. It hurt him to hear any one praise +a fellow like Prescott. + +"I wonder if they could beat us, if we had another try?" pondered +Hi. "But what's the use of talking? Prescott would never think +of giving us another chance. He's too thankful to have lugged +the score away from us before." + +In the eighth inning Teall brought in one more run for the Souths, +who now led. + +"We've got to work mighty hard and carefully," grunted Tom Reade. + +"Yes," assented Dick briefly. + +"We're beaten, anyway, I guess," sighed Hazelton. + +Dick Prescott wheeled upon him almost wrathfully. + +"We're never beaten, Harry---remember that. We don't propose +to be beaten, and we can't be. We're going to bat now to pile +up a few more runs. The championship is ours, fellows---don't +let that fact escape you." + +"I wish I had Dick's confidence," sighed Harry, turning to Reade. + +"It isn't confidence; it's nerve," Tom retorted. "If we all show +nerve like Dick's, then nothing but the hardest sort of luck can +take this game away from us." + +Greg went first to bat, securing the first bag. Dick followed, +with a two-bagger that brought frantic cheers from the on-looking +Central Grammar boys. + +"There are our two runs---the ones we need," cheered Darrin to +himself, as he snatched up his bat. "Now if I'm any good on earth, +I'll bring Greg in and perhaps Dick, too." + +Though Dave was excited, he kept the fact to himself, facing Ted +Teall with steely composure. + +Two strikes and three balls were called. The two base-runners, +full of confidence in Darry, were edging off daringly. + +"If I dared," throbbed Dave inwardly, "I'd refuse and walk to first +on a called ball. But Tozier might call a strike on me---most +likely would. Darry, you idiot, you've got to hit the next delivery, +even if it goes by you ten feet from the line." + +Poising himself on tip-toe, Dave awaited the coming of the ball. +Wells, with a wicked grin, signaled for a ball that he felt sure +would catch Dave napping. Earlier in the game it might have done +so, but Ted's right "wing" was now drooping. Hi did his best, +but Dave reached and clubbed the leather. In raced Greg, while +Dick had a loafing time on his way to third. Dave reached first +in plenty of time. + +Two men went out, leaving the nines tied. Dick fumed now at third. + +"I wish some one else than Henderson were going to bat," groaned +Prescott inwardly. + +However, Spoff had the honor of his school desperately at heart. +He did his best, watching with cool judgment and backed by an +iron determination to make his mark. The third strike he hit. +It was enough to bring Prescott in. Dick seemed to travel with +the speed of a racing car, reaching the home plate just ahead +of the ball. + +The side went out right after that. + +"What did I tell you?" breathed Dick jubilantly. "We now stand +five to four." + +"But Ted's terrors have a chance at bat," returned Hazelton. + +"It won't do them any good," Captain Dick affirmed. "Greg, signal +for all the hard ones. Don't have any mercy on my arm. This +is the last inning and the last game of the series. I can stand +being crippled." + +"The last inning and the last game, unless the Souths score now," +Holmes answered. + +"Don't _let_ 'em score!" Dick insisted. "Remember, kill me with +hard work, but don't let the Souths score!" + +Ted Teall went to bat first for his side. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +DODGE AND RIPLEY HEAR SOMETHING + + +Teall's grin, as he swung his stick and waited, was more impudent +than ever. He meant to show the bumptious Centrals a thing or +two. + +Then in came Dick's wickedest drop ball, and it looked so good +that Captain Ted took a free chance. + +"Strike one!" remarked Umpire Tozier. + +Some of the grin vanished from Ted's face, but his eyes now flashed +the fire of resolve. + +"Strike two!" + +Teall began to feel little tremors running all up and down his +spine. + +"Steady, you idiot!" he warned himself. + +"Ball one!" + +Captain Teall began to feel better. Perhaps Dick's arm was beginning +to grow stale. + +"Strike three. Out!" + +Ted started for the bench, hurling his bat before him. He was +full of self-disgust. + +"A fellow never can guess when he has Dick thrashed," he said +to a South beside him. + +"I didn't expect to see you play out before him in the ninth, +Ted," replied the classmate. + +"Neither did I," muttered Teall gloomily. + +"Strike three! Out!" sounded Umpire Tozier's droning voice. + +Then Ted sat up straight, rubbing his eyes. + +"Two out, and no one on bases!" groaned Ted. "Oh, fellows---those +of you who have a chance---do something. For goodness' sake, +do something to save South Grammar." + +A few agonized moments passed while those at the batting benches +looked on at the fellow now performing by the plate. + +"Strike three! Out!" remarked Ben Tozier decisively. Then the +game was given to the Central Grammar boys by a score of five +to four. The championship of the local Grammar League was also +awarded them. + +Ted gulped down hard. Some of his fellows looked decidedly mad. + +"It's a shame!" choked Wells. + +"No; it isn't, either," Ted disputed. "Dick Prescott and his +fellows beat us fairly. Come on we'll congratulate 'em." + +Good sportsman that he was, Ted almost limped across the field, +followed by some of his players, to where Dick and the other Central +Grammar players were surrounded by their friends. + +"Prescott, you fellows are wonders!" broke forcefully from Captain +Ted. + +"Nothing like it," Captain Dick laughed modestly. "Some one had +to win, you know, and the luck came to us." + +"Luck!" exploded Ted unbelievingly. "Nothing like it, either. +No sheer luck could ever have broken down the cast-iron determination +that our fellows had to win. You Centrals are the real ball players +of the town---that's the only answer." + +Whooping wildly in their glee, scores of Central Grammar boys +rushed at Dick Prescott, trying to get at his hand and wring it. + +"Please don't fellows," begged Dick, going almost white under +the torment, after three or four boys had succeeded in pumping +that arm. "You've no idea how sore my arm is." + +"It must be," shouted Greg. "Dick told me to kill his arm, if +I had to, but to signal for the balls that would strike out three +batsmen in lightning order." + +"The left hand, then!" clamored more of Dick's admirers. Laughingly, +Prescott submitted to having his left hand "shaken" almost out +of joint. + +"Don't make such a fuss about it, fellows," begged Dick at last. +"Remember that we have a permit for a bonfire on this lot to-night, +and that the stuff is piled up in the rear of the next yard. +You fellows who didn't have to go lame bestir yourselves now in +bringing on the old boxes and barrels." + +"Whoops!" yelled a Central Grammar boy, starting off. "Bring +out the stuff and pile it high." + +"Let the Souths help!" bawled Ted Teall at the top of his voice. +"No matter who won, we'll all celebrate." + +"Ted, you won't play any funny tricks on that pile of wood?" questioned +Dick a bit uneasily, as he followed Captain Teall. + +"What do you take me for?" demanded the South Grammar boy. "Do +you think that I'm not on the level?" + +"I'm answered," was Dick Prescott's satisfied answer. + +Ere long the material for a monster bonfire was piled. Word was +given out that it would be set going just a few minutes after +dark. + +"We came up here to see what we could find to do, didn't we?" +whispered Bert Dodge, nudging Fred Ripley. + +"Yes," nodded Fred uneasily; "and, so far, we haven't struck a +thing that would be safe to do." + +"The dickens we haven't," chuckled Dodge. + +"What, then?" Fred inquired. Bert whispered in his ear, adding: +"It won't cost us more than a dollar apiece, Fred." + +"It's great," declared Ripley enthusiastically. "But we've got +to move quickly, and at the right minute, or we'll be caught. +I wouldn't give much for our chances of comfort if we're caught +in this thing." + +"We won't be, or we ought not to be," Dodge retorted. "But we'd +better get home and get our suppers on the jump." + +"We can do better than that; we can get a quick meal at one of +the restaurants and then jump back on the job." + +"Rip, you have a great head sometimes," admitted Bert Dodge. + +At a time when every one else was at supper Fred Ripley and Bert +Dodge stole back to the scene of the bonfire. After glancing +cautiously about, they felt sure that no one was observing them. +Then they stole close to the pile of combustibles. For a few +moments they worked there, removing lids from tin cans and planting +them safely out of sight. + +Human nature---of the American brand, at any rate---dearly loves +a bonfire. By dark that evening some two hundred grown-up and +several hundred Gridley boys had congregated on the late ball +field. + +"Touch it off, some one. There's no use in waiting any longer," +urged some of the bystanders. "It's almost dark." + +"No, no! Wait!" urged Tom Reade. "The blaze will be all the +finer after dark." + +"Where's Dick Prescott?" sounded a voice, this being followed +by a dinning clamor for the captain of the Centrals. + +"Here!" called Dick, when he could make himself heard. + +"Pouch it off, Dick! Let the fun start. You're the right one +to set the bonfire going." + +"Not I," Prescott answered. "There is some one else here who +has been appointed to set the blaze going, and who has accepted +the job." + +"Then trot him out and let him get busy!" came the urgent demand. + +"Wait just a few minutes, fellows. We want it really dark," urged +Captain Prescott. + +At last, when he judged it dark enough, Dick stepped forward, +Captain Ted Teall at his side. + +"Friends," Dick explained, "Teall has been good enough to agree +to start the blaze tonight." + +"South Grammar fellows this way, please!" called Teall. "Now, +friends, please don't any of you make any noise until we Souths +have a chance to say just a few words. All ready, South Grammars? +Then three cheers for the Central Grammar School, winners of +the school baseball league series. Let 'em rip out loudly!" + +The cheers were given, followed by a tiger. + +"Is Hi Martin, captain of the North Grammar nine, here?" called +Ted Teall. + +But Hi wasn't, or else he kept his presence very quiet. + +"Hi wouldn't he here," jeered some one. "He didn't win---couldn't +win---and he's sore." + +Again Ted called for Hi Martin, though still without success. + +"Then I'll have to light the fire alone," Ted declared. "I had +hoped that the captains of both of the walloped teams might share +the honor." + +Tom Reade and Dave Darrin hastily emptied a five-gallon can of +oil on the old boxes and barrels and other pieces of wood. + +"All clear?" called Ted. + +"All clear," nodded Tom Reade. + +"Then I'll light the blaze," shouted Ted. "This is a lot easier +than winning ball games," he added good-naturedly. + +Three or four wind-proof matches Teall struck on a box and tossed +into the oil-soaked pile of combustibles. In a moment the increasing +heat of the blaze drove him back several yards. + +Higher and higher mounted the red and yellow flames. Hundreds +stood about, their faces fully illumined by the big glow. + +"It's going to be a great one," Ted called to Dick, as the latter +came toward him. + +"Finest bonfire I've ever seen," Prescott answered. + +"But---" began Teall, a puzzled look on his face. Then---sniff! +sniff! "Queer stuff, that! What a stuffing smoke it makes. +I wonder what it is that burns with such a sharp smell?" + +"It must be pitch," replied Dick Prescott, also sniffing. "Whew! +How sharp it is!" + +Ted began to sneeze. Dick followed suit. Presently all of the +boys who were standing at all near the blazing pile found themselves +sneezing, coughing or sputtering at a great rate. Some of the +men, further away, caught the acrid fumes. + +"This is a mean trick some one has played on us," cried Dick, +falling back before the stifling odors. + +"I hope you don't think I did a mean thing like that?" demanded +Teall anxiously. + +"I'm sure you didn't," Prescott answered. "You're full of tricks, +Ted Teall, but you're a real sportsman after you've been beaten." + +"Say, can this possibly be any of Hi Martin's work?" demanded +Tom Reade, as the boys fell back steadily from the bonfire. + +"Only one objection to suspecting Hi," retorted Teall. + +"What's that?" asked Greg. "Too proud?" + +"No," snapped Teall. "Hi hasn't brains enough to think up anything." + +"This is just like boys. It's really what one gets for turning +out to a boys' bonfire!" growled one man between fits of coughing, +as he rapidly got away from the fire. It's an abominably mean +trick!" + +"Who did it?" asked another man. + +"Oh, you can't find that out now," replied still another. "You +all know the way that boys hang together in mischief. No one +would tell you, or dare to tell you, if he knew." + +"I'd like to know the boy, for about one minute!" snapped one +stout, red-faced man, down whose cheeks the tears were trickling. +"It's that loutish trick of putting red pepper on a fire. No +one but a feeble-minded boy would think of playing an old, moth-eaten +trick like that!" + +"It would pay us to get out of here quickly, if any one suspected +us," whispered Fred Ripley to his friend. + +"Sh! Shut up!" returned Dodge in a hoarse whisper. "It isn't +best for us to be seen whispering. Look innocent." + +From behind a heavy hand descended abruptly on either coat collar, +taking firm hold. + +"Here are the young apes who played the trick!" roared an angry +voice. "I just heard them whispering about it, and when I was +finishing supper I remember that I looked out of the window and +saw these boys fooling about the pile." + +"What did you put on the fire?" demanded a man, stepping in front +of the now frightened youths, who were hemmed in so that they +could not escape. + +"Red pepper," returned Ripley sullenly. He spoke before he thought, +thus admitting his guilt and Dodge's. + +"You idiot!" hissed Bert. + +"You're both of you idiots," retorted the captor, who had now +released both young men. "Besides being a mean, detestable trick, +it's as old as the world. That red-pepper trick was invented +by some stupid lout who lived thousands of years before the Flood." + +"What shall we do with these imps?" demanded a voice. + +"There must be some High School boys here," said the man who had +first seized the humiliated pair by their collars. "Let the High +School boys decide what is to be done with them." + +"We don't care what's done with a pair of simpletons like them," +spoke up Ben Tozier. "Let the crowd go as far as it likes with +such a pair." + +"Don't you dare do anything to us" screamed Ripley, now beside +himself with rage. "It will go hard with any one who interferes +with us. + +"Ha! ha! Ho! ho!" roared some of the crowd. "Listen to the +half-witted pair!" + +While another man spoke up jovially: + +"I'll tell you what to do with them. They came here to spoil +the fun of the Grammar School boys. Let the Grammar School boys +dispose of these stupid fellows as they choose." + +"I tell you," raged Ripley, "that it will go hard with any one +who interferes with our comfort. There are laws in this land." + +"Look at what doesn't want its comfort interfered with!" jeered +another voice. "This comes from a lout who interfered with our +comfort by putting several cans of red pepper on the bonfire. +Turn 'em over to the Grammar School boys. Boys, what do you +want to do with this pair?" + +"We'll make 'em run the gauntlet," spoke up Spoff Henderson eagerly. + +In a twinkling, so it seemed, a long double row of Grammar School +boys was formed down the street. Some of these boys had light +twigs or sticks; others stood ready to use their hands. + +"Start 'em!" yelled Spoff. Some one did start the pair. Bert +and Fred sullenly refused to run, but quickly changed their minds. +Down the street they raced, Ripley in advance, between two parallel +lines of Grammar School boys. Sticks were laid over them, or +hands reached out and administered cuffings. It was a grotesque +sight. Long before they reached the end of the double line Bert +and Fred yelled for mercy, but got none. With final blows they +were turned loose and vanished into the night. Within a few minutes +the pepper in the bonfire had burned out. Then the revelers drew +nearer, piling on other combustible stuff. + +Thus was fittingly observed the victory of Dick Prescott's nine +in winning the local Grammar School championship. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +HI'S SWIMMING CHALLENGE + + +The reader may be sure that the members of his baseball squad +had reminded him of his promise to tell them what the man on the +clubhouse steps said. + +"I promised I'd tell you, if you won that game," Dick admitted. + +"Yes, yes!" the other boys pressed. + +"But I didn't say _when_ I'd tell you, did I?" + +"You're not going to try to sneak out of it that way, are you, +Dick?" Dave Darrin demanded, as the boys met on Main Street the +following morning, Saturday. + +"I'm not going to sneak out of it at all, as you fellows ought +to know," Dick replied. "I'm going to tell you---when the proper +time comes." + +"When will that be?" asked Greg. "And that's all we'll get out +of him, no matter how how much we talk!" muttered Tom Reade. + +"Here comes Hi Martin," announced Greg. "He has Bill Rodgers +with him." + +"It can't be about baseball, anyway," said Dick. "I think Hi +has his fill of that game." + +"Good morning," was Martin's greeting, as he and Rodgers approached. +"I have a message for you from North Grammar." + +"Deliver it, and we'll sign on the book for it," retorted Reade. + +"We're not satisfied to rest the claims of the North Grammar on +baseball alone," Hi went on. + +"I shouldn't imagine you would be," Dick smiled. + +"Therefore we are going to challenge you to another form of contest." + +"A talking match?" Tom wanted to know. + +"No, sir. I bear from the North Grammar boys a challenge to Central +Grammar to meet us in swimming matches in the river. The contests +must be so arranged as to show which school may hold the championship +in swimming. Are you afraid to meet us in the water?" Hi asked. + +"Afraid? No," Dick retorted. "But why didn't you fellows spring +this on us earlier? Next week Thursday will be graduating day." + +"Well, we can swim the Saturday after," Hi proposed. + +"But we'll be graduated then. We won't be Grammar School boys +any more," protested Dick. + +"Is that the way you're going to get out of the challenge that +we've issued?" Martin demanded scornfully. + +"No; and you certainly know better," Dick retorted. "But how +can we hold a school contest when we're no longer enrolled in +the school that we're supposed to represent?" Dick insisted. + +"You can if you want to," Hi sneered. "But I can see that you +fellows don't care about meeting us in a swimming contest. All +right; then I'll go back and tell the North Grammar fellows that +Central funks. + +"There's a way that we can arrange it, I think," put in Dave Darrin, +who had been listening intently. "Dick, why can't we get Old +Dut to authorize us to represent Central Grammar within a day +or two after graduation? If he says it's all right, then surely, +even though we have just graduated, we'll be able to represent +our old school." + +"We can talk that over with Mr. Jones," Dick nodded. + +"My idea is that you fellows are afraid to say 'yes' to our challenge, +sneered Martin. + +"You may go on thinking that, if it gives you any pleasure," said +Dick coolly. "But if you really want our answer, we'll give it +to you on Monday afternoon." + +"The Monday after Christmas?" jeered Hi. + +"We'll give you our answer next Monday afternoon," Dick rejoined +a bit stiffly. + +"Is the South Grammar to be in this?" asked Dave. + +"No; we don't want that crowd," Hi answered quickly before Rodgers +could speak. + +"Then the contest won't be for the championship of Gridley, will +it?" Dick inquired. + +"Yes, it will," Hi assured him. + +"I don't see how it can be, when it's only between two out of +the three Grammar Schools in the town," Dick argued. + +"The challenge is issued only to Central Grammar," wound up Hi, +turning to leave. "And if you haven't accepted before Monday +evening, we of the North Grammar will hold that you have backed +out and don't dare meet us. Oh, by the way, Prescott, you'd better +look out for Ripley and Dodge. They mean to get square with you +for what happened last night." + +"Get square with me for it?" laughed Prescott, unafraid. "All +right, but that's rather rich! Why, I had nothing to do with it." + +"They blame you a good deal for it," added Hi, "and they declare +that they're going to get even with you." + +"All right; let them try it," Dick nodded. + +"What do you think of this swimming challenge?" asked Dave quickly. + +"Why, I think," Dick replied, "that it will bear looking into +closely. There may be some trick about it, and we must look out +that we are not roped into some funny game. We'll see the fellows +at school on Monday." + +"Hi Martin is probably the best swimmer among the Grammar School +boys of Gridley," Tom suggested. + +"I think that he most likely is," Dick agreed. "If he proposes +to stand for North Grammar, and wants us to put up one candidate +against him, then Hi would probably take the race. If we take +the challenge, either we ought to insist on a team race, or else +on a number of separate events by different fellows, each event +to count for so many points on the score. In any match of singles +Hi Martin might win. If we go into this at all, we must look +out that it isn't fixed so that Hi Martin, alone, can carry off +the championship for his school." + +"The very fact that Hi proposed it makes me suspicious that he +has some trick in reserve," Tom urged. + +"I like the general idea," spoke up Greg. "Any swimming contest +that is a real match between the schools, instead of between +individuals, will be good sport and arouse a lot of school +interest. There are a lot of fairly good swimmers in our school, +too." + +"We'll talk it over with the fellows, and with Old Dut also," +Dick went on. "Of course we have no right to act for the school +unless the other fellows are willing." + +When Dick left his chums at noon it was with an agreement to meet +on Main Street again at half past one. + +At fifteen minutes past one the telephone bell rang in the little +bookstore. + +"Have you a copy of Moore's Ballads?" asked a masculine voice. + +"Yes," replied Mr. Prescott; "in different styles of bindings +and at different prices." + +The bookseller then went on to describe the bindings and named +the prices. The customer at the other end of the wire seemed to +prefer an expensive volume, which came at four dollars. + +"Can you deliver the book immediately, with a bill, to Mrs. Carhart, +at the Gideon Wells place?" continued the voice at the other end. + +"Yes; I think so," replied Mr. Prescott. + +"The book must be delivered within the hour," continued the voice, +"as Mrs. Carhart is going on a journey and wishes the book to +read while on the train." + +"I will deliver the book within fifteen minutes," Mr. Prescott +promised. "At the Gideon Wells place, did you say? I didn't +know that it had a tenant." + +"Mrs. Carhart has taken the place for the summer. I will rely +upon you to deliver the book immediately. Thank you; good-bye." + +"I suppose you have an appointment with the crowd, Dick," smiled +his father, as he hung up the receiver. "I don't like to get +in the way of your fun, but I shall have to ask you to deliver +the book, for the profit on that volume is too large to be overlooked." + +"I don't mind going," Dick answered. "I can get back just a little +late. I'm all ready as soon as you have the book wrapped and +the bill made out." + +Three or four minutes later Dick left the store. At the corner +of Main Street he looked to see whether any of his chums were +visible, but none were. So he turned and started, traveling fast. + +Had young Prescott answered the 'phone call himself he very likely +would have suspected that the voice of the customer was that of +Bert Dodge disguised. However, as it was, the Grammar School +boy had no suspicion whatever. He made part of the distance at +a jog trot. He was soon in the less thickly inhabited part of +the town, down in a section of large estates, many of which were +used only as summer homes. + +"This Mrs. Carhart must be a new-comer in Gridley," reflected +Dick, as he hastened along. "I hope she'll buy a lot of books +of us at as good prices." + +He came now to the corner of the Wells estate, the grounds of +which were some eighty acres in extent. He passed the corner +and ran along toward two great elms that grew just inside the +trim wall. + +Just as he reached these elms two figures started up from behind +the wall beyond. The same two figures leaped over the wall, +confronting the Grammar School boy. + +"Howdy, Prescott," called Bert Dodge, with a mocking grin. + +"We were just saying that we'd rather see you than any one else +on earth," leered Fred Ripley, as he stepped in the Grammar School +boy's path. + +"I haven't any time to waste on you two just now," Prescott answered +coldly, trying to step around the pair. + +"Then you'll take the time," scoffed Bert, reaching out to seize +Dick by the shoulder. + +Fred Ripley aimed an unexpected blow that sent the lad to earth +and the book flying several feet beyond. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +DAVE DARRIN FLASHES FIRE + + +"That was just like you---it was so cowardly and low down!" cried +Dick hotly, as he leaped to his feet. + +He was now near the package containing the book. Doubtless he +could have snatched up the book and sprinted to safety. But that +was not his way of meeting so great an affront. + +"Don't you get saucy!" warned Fred, edging in closer. Bert Dodge +veered around so that be could attack Dick from one side. + +"It would be honoring you too much to talk to you in any vein," +Dick retorted sarcastically. "You're a pair of the most worthless +rowdies in Gridley." + +"Go for him, Bert!" called Ripley. + +"Why don't you?" sneered Dick, making a leap forward, straight +at Ripley. + +Dodge swung in from behind, hitting Dick over the head. But Prescott's +movement, in the same moment, made the blow only a glancing one. + +Bump! Dick landed on Fred Ripley's nose with force and weight +enough to make the lawyer's son stagger. + +"Pound his head off, Bert!" howled Ripley putting a hand to his +injured nose. + +But Dick wheeled just in time to avoid a treacherous blow from +the rear. With all the fury of the oppressed, Prescott leaped +in, planting one foot heavily on some of Bert's toes and striking +a blow that landed over that indignant youth's belt-line. Bert +fell back, panting. + +"If you two have enough now," remarked Dick more coolly, "I'll +pick up my package and go on about my business." + +"You can wager you won't get away until we've settled with you!" +snarled Dodge. "Rip, never mind your nose. Help me close in +on this scamp and show him what we can do to a fellow that we +don't like." + +In another moment Dick was the center of a cyclone, or so it felt +to him. Both boys were larger and stronger, even if not quite +as quick as he. They rained blows upon him. + +"Don't try to holler," jeered Fred Ripley. "That won't do you +any good. We'll tell you when you've had enough. Take it from +us and never mind your own opinions." + +Dick did not answer. Sore and winded, he fought with all the +spirit that was in him. + +So busy were all three of the boys, that none of them noted the +approach of a light express wagon drawn by a single horse. The +driver hauled up, a few yards away, then advanced, driving whip +in hand. + +Slash! + +"O-o-o-h!" yelled Fred Ripley, as he felt the whip land on his +legs. + +Slash! slash! + +"Quit that, you fiend!" begged Bert Dodge, doubling up and screaming +with pain. + +"I'll quit when I think you've had enough!" hissed Dave Darrin, +his face ablaze with anger, his eyes flashing fire. + +Slash! slash! slash! + +Dave plied the whip relentlessly until he had inflicted half a +dozen more blows on the legs of each High School boy. + +"If you try to run away," warned Dave, "either of you, I'll run +after you and lay on ten times as much as I'm giving you." + +"Quit, now, Dave," urged Dick, running to his chum and laying +a hand on Darrin's active right arm. "They've had lots---plenty. +Such things as they, can't stand a man's dose." + +"I'm not a bit tired," retorted Dave ironically. "Besides, I +rather enjoy this exercise." + +"We'll have you arrested, Dave Darrin!" moaned Ripley. + +"You will, eh?" Dave demanded, breaking away from Prescott's +restraining hold and making for Fred. + +"No, no, no!" cried Ripley, cowering. + +"Yes, we will---you can wager we will!" yelled Dodge from a safer +distance. + +"Arrested---for what?" demanded Darrin. + +"For assaulting us," returned Bert Dodge. "Oh, you'll catch it!" + +"Have I been guilty of any more of an assault than I found you +fellows engaged in", Dave asked coolly. "Don't you think you'd +look rather funny in court when it was known why I laid the whip +over you?" + +"We'll get the better of you, just the same," yelled Ripley, who +had now retreated to the side of his friend and felt bolder. +"My father's a lawyer---the smartest in the town." + +"And he's also a gentleman," broke in Dick. "I wish his son took +after him. As for arrest---and trouble in court---bosh! Try +it on!" + +Prescott now walked coolly to where his little package lay, and +found it uninjured. + +"How did you happen to come along on the wagon?" Dick asked, as +Fred and Bert limped away from their Waterloo. + +"One of the express company's drivers was late coming back from +dinner, and there was a package that had to be delivered at once," +Darrin answered. "The manager offered me ten cents to make the +delivery. I am glad that I took the job. Where are you going?" + +"In there," Prescott answered, pointing to the house. "I've got +to deliver this book collect to a Mrs. Carhart." + +"Get up on the seat and I'll drive you in there," proposed Dave. +"Though I don't believe there's any one living in the house. +All the front doors and windows are boarded up." + +After five minutes of doorbell ringing Dick concluded that he +would find no Mrs. Carhart there. + +"I guess I understand," nodded Prescott. "Either Dodge or Ripley +must have sent that 'phone message. That was their way to get +me alone where they could both handle me without much danger of +interference." + +"It turned out finely---for them," chuckled Dave, as both boys +climbed back to the seat of the wagon. "But say, do you think +they could really make any trouble for me for using the whip over +them?" + +"I don't know. I don't believe they'll try, anyway," Dick answered +thoughtfully. "It wouldn't be very nice for Fred to have his +father find out how his son spends his time and pocket money." + +Dave drove back to Main Street, letting Dick off at his corner. +Down the side street a few doors and into the bookshop he hurried. + +"Back again?" was Mr. Prescott's greeting. "What was the matter---the +volume not satisfactory!" + +"No such party at the address," his son answered. "But I think +I can explain why the order was 'phoned in." + +Dick then proceeded to narrate what had happened. His father +listened with growing anger. + +"What a low, worthless trick that was to play," he cried. "Dick, +if you'll stay here and attend the store I'll step around to Mr. +Ripley's office and speak to him about it. Then I'll go over +to the bank and see Bert's father." + +"Don't, dad; please don't," begged the boy. + +"It seems to me that such action is highly necessary," maintained +Mr. Prescott. + +"I hope you won't do it, dad. The best way to treat boys' rows +is to let them settle among themselves. If you interfere in this +matter, dad, I shall get a name among other boys for running to +my father for protection. That will turn the laugh on me all +over town. I'd much rather fight my own battles and take an +occasional pounding." + +"Well, perhaps you're right about it," admitted his father +thoughtfully. "At all events, I'm glad to see that your disposition +is to take care of your own troubles. I won't interfere, though I am +certain that Mr. Ripley would like to know something about this affair." + +"I already do know something about it," gravely announced a voice +behind them. There stood Lawyer Ripley, who had dropped in to +buy a magazine. + +"I shall be glad if you will tell me more about this," the lawyer +went on solemnly. + +Gladly would Dick have gotten out of it. He was inclined to say +very little, though what he did say was added to by his father. + +"Is this the book, in this package?" inquired Mr. Ripley, as be +picked up the parcel. + +"Yes," nodded Mr. Prescott. + +"And the price?" + +"Four dollars." + +"Mr. Prescott, kindly charge this book to my account, unless I +return it by Monday morning," the lawyer went on. "I shall try +to see young Darrin this afternoon. Then I shall question my +son when I return home. I don't consider it fair to condemn him +unheard, but if I find that he had such a part in this afternoon's +affair as has been described, then I shall tell him that he is +bound to take goods that he has any part in ordering. In that +connection, when I hand him his next allowance of pocket money, +I shall keep out four dollars and hand him the book in place thereof. +That ought to make him rather careful about ordering goods in +which he is not really interested." + +"But, as I now recall the voice over the telephone," urged Mr. +Prescott, "I am inclined to think that it was young Dodge's voice, +disguised, that I heard." + +"If my son had any share in the transaction, it will make no +difference," replied Lawyer Ripley very gravely. "This book will +then become a part of his small library, and at his own personal +expense. I thank you both. Good afternoon." + +"Well, of all the queer turn-overs, that's the best!" grinned +Dick appreciatively, after the lawyer had gone. "Wouldn't I like +to see Rip when he gets that book of ballads handed him as the +larger part of his pocket allowance!" + +"It's certainly a clever way for his father to handle the affair," +smiled Mr. Prescott. "However, in making the charge for the book +I shall deduct the profit. Like yourself, son, I don't want to +profit by tale-bearing. And now, why not run out and see if you +can find your young friends? I don't believe I shall need you +further this afternoon." + +Inwardly Dave Darrin was a good bit disturbed when, a few minutes +later, Lawyer Ripley walked into the express office and inquired +for him. Fred's father asked a good many questions, which Dave +answered truthfully though reluctantly. + +"Assuming that the affair was as you describe, Darrin," stated +the legal man at last, "I wish to thank you for teaching the young +man what must have been a needed lesson." + +When Dave learned from Dick, a little later, the story of Fred's +unintentional purchase of a four-dollar book, there was a big laugh. + + + + +Chapter XX + +ARRANGING THE SWIMMING MATCH + + +"See no reason why you can't represent this school in an athletic +meet a day or two after graduation," said Old Dut, when asked +about it. "If the North Grammar boys believe they excel at that +sport, they should be given a chance. Naturally they are disappointed +over finding themselves at the bottom of the list in baseball." + +"Go after 'em to-day, Dick!" yelled the boys. "Perhaps we can +beat them in the water, too." + +"Find Hi Martin this afternoon and settle it," added others. + +"I won't serve alone," Dick retorted, shaking his head. "If you +fellows want me to serve on a committee and will give us full +powers to act, I'm willing." + +"I think that will be the best way to go about it, boys," approved +Old Dut. "There should be a committee, and then you must be prepared +to stand by any arrangements that the committee may make." + +"What's the matter with choosing a committee of ten?" proposed +Toby Ross. + +"Too many," smiled Old Dut wisely. + +"There'd be too much talking then. A committee should have but +a very few members." + +"Are nominations in order?" queried Spoff Henderson. + +"Yes," nodded Old Dut. "Since I've been consulted, I'll preside +at this yard meeting." + +"Then I nominate Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin and Greg Holmes," +Spoff continued. + +"Second the motion," called Ross. + +Old Dut put the motion, which was carried. "As Master Prescott +was first named," announced the principal, "he will naturally +be the chairman of the committee." + +"I move the committee have full powers in arranging for the race," +Spoff added. + +This was also carried. That afternoon, when school was out, the +boys hurried along Main Street, keeping a sharp lookout for Hi. +At last they espied him, with Bill Rodgers. + +"What are you going to do about the swimming race?" called Hi +from across the street. + +"This is our committee, duly appointed by the Central Grammar +boys," Dick called back. "When will your committee be ready?" + +"We're ready now," answered Hi. "Come over here and we'll talk +about it." + +Hi leaned against the fence on his own side of the street, determined +not to concede anything to the Central Grammar boys. + +"Have you two been regularly appointed as a committee?" asked +Prescott. + +"We don't have to be," Hi answered indifferently. "We know what +we're talking about." + +"You'll have to be regularly appointed by your school before we'll +talk with you," Dick retorted. + +"You're afraid to meet us in a swimming match," Hi jeered. + +"So afraid," Prescott answered, "that we've appointed a committee +regularly; but you fellows, who have been doing all the talking, +aren't willing to get together and elect a regular committee to +represent your school." + +"You're afraid, I tell you," sneered Hi, while Bill Rodgers grinned. + +"No; we're ready to arrange the match when your school sends a +regular committee." + +"Come on over here and talk it over, if you're not afraid," urged +Hi Martin. + +"We can't talk it over with you, as you've admitted that you don't +represent your school." + +"Well, then, we do represent it," claimed Hi. + +"That statement comes too late. Hi, we'll meet you at this same +place at half past four to-morrow afternoon. If you fail to show +up it will be all off. And your committee will have to bring +a note, signed by your principal, naming the members of your committee +and stating that it has been regularly appointed. We'll bring +the same from our principal. + +"I guess the swimming match between the two schools is all off, +then," yawned Martin. "You fellows don't want to go into it, +for you know you'd be beaten stiff. That's why you try to hedge +behind a committee." + +"It's all off if you fellows don't go at it in a regular way," +Dick contended firmly. "We're not going to enter a match and +then find that you and Bill Rodgers represent no one but yourselves." + +"What's all the noise about?" good-naturedly asked Reporter Len +Spencer, who, turning the corner, had halted behind Prescott and +his friends. + +Dick explained the situation. + +"Prescott is right," decided Len. "Martin, if the boys at your +school are not enough in earnest to arrange the contest through +an authorized committee, then folks will understand that the North +Grammar didn't really want a swimming contest." + +"But we do want one," blustered Martin. + +"Then go about it in a regular way, after consulting your principal, +as the Central Grammar boys have done," urged Len. "And, instead +of meeting here on a corner, you can meet at my desk at the 'Blade' +office." + +Hi Martin was "stumped" at this point, and he knew it. If he +backed out now he would make himself and his school ridiculous. + +"All right," agreed the North Grammar boy reluctantly. + +"Don't forget to bring a note from your principal to the effect +that the boys named are the regular school committee," Dick called +after him. + +"We'll do the thing in our own way," Hi retorted. "Come along, +Bill." + +"I thought Martin might be up to some tricks," muttered Dick Prescott. + +"If he is, tricks won't help him or his school," laughed Len. +"We'll see this thing put through in regular shape." + +So, on Tuesday afternoon, Dick and his fellow members of the committee +were at the "Blade" office punctually. + +At ten minutes past the time no boy from the North Grammar had +appeared. + +"You won't have to wait much longer," smiled Len. "It looks as +though the North Grammar boys were bluffing." + +At ten minutes of five Dick and his chums rose to leave the "Blade" +office. + +"Wait a minute," urged Len at the door. "I believe I see your +rivals coming now." + +Hi Martin, Bill Rodgers and Courtney Page strolled rather indolently +up to the door and entered. + +"You're late," said Len crisply. "If you boys go into a race, +I believe you'll be just as late at the finish." + +"There wasn't any use in hurrying," grunted Eel. "There's lots +of the day left." + +"Unless you regard an appointment as a gentlemen's agreement, +and to be kept," marked Len Spencer, rather severely. "I have +been giving up my time to this affair of yours, and my time is +worth something. But take seats. Have you boys any paper to +show that you represent your school?" + +"Yes," admitted Hi, producing an envelope. "Our principal gives +us the proper authority." + +Len read the note, nodding. "The Central Grammar boys have also +produced their authority to act, so now we can get down to the +details of the contest. The North Grammar boys are the challengers, +are they not?" + +"Yes," claimed Hi. + +"Then what sort of a swimming contest do you propose?" Len asked. + +"Each school to appoint its best swimmer, and arrange a half-mile +race between the champions of the two schools," Hi answered promptly. +"The school whose champion wins is to be declared the champion +in swimming." + +"We expected that," nodded Dick, "and we won't agree to it. If +this match is to be held for the school championship, then there +should be several boys entered from each school----say five, six +or seven from each school. Then the contest would really represent +the schools." + +"But one boy would win, just the same, in any case," retorted +Martin. "What difference would it make?" + +"The way that I propose," urged Dick, "no single boy could win +for his school. Suppose we enter seven boys from each school. +Then the school whose seven boys are in ahead of the seven boys +on the other side will win the contest. In other words, of the +fourteen swimmers, one is bound to come in last of all. The school +to which this last-in swimmer belongs is the school that loses +the match." + +"Huh! I don't see anything in that idea," retorted Hi. "That, +perhaps, wouldn't mean anything at all for the school that happened +to have the one best swimmer of all." + +"It would make it impossible for either school to enter one real +swimmer and six dummies, and still win the match," Dick argued. +"My plan will stop the contest from being a one-boy race and +will give the contest to the school that has the best average +swimmers." + +"Huh! I don't see it," said Hi doggedly. + +"I think Prescott has the better of the argument," broke in Len +Spencer, who had sat tapping his desk with a pencil. + +"Then I don't care much for your idea, either, Spencer," retorted +Martin. + +"It may be that my idea isn't any good," nodded Len indulgently. +"I won't even claim that I know anything about sports. But you +must surely know who the umpire is in any such dispute. It's +always the editor of the local paper. So, Martin, if you won't +agree with Prescott, and if you won't admit that I know anything +about it either, suppose we lay the question before the editor +of the 'Blade.' I think he's in just now." + +"As for me," spoke up Bill Rodgers, breaking his silence, "it +seems to me that Prescott's idea is good and fair." + +"What do you say to that kind of stuff, Page?" inquired Hi quickly. + +"I---I---er---well, I am agreeable to anything that pleases the +rest of you," stammered Courtney Page, by nature, a sail trimmer. + +"You're a chump, then," Hi retorted elegantly. "The whole reason +why Prescott objects to one boy representing each school is that +he's afraid I can out-swim any boy that Central Grammar can produce." + +"And I take it, Martin," Dick retorted, "that your reason for +insisting on the one-boy race, is due to your belief that you +can win from any one boy. Very likely you are the fastest and +strongest swimmer in any Gridley school. But a race with seven +boys on a side will better represent the average abilities of +the two schools. In baseball we tried to find out which school +had the average best players. We didn't try simply to find out +which school could boast of the one star player." + +"That's right," nodded Len Spencer. + +"Prescott, you're afraid to race with me, you or any other one +fellow in Central Grammar!" exclaimed Hi indignantly. + +"No; I'm not afraid to swim against you," Dick declared quietly. +"I won't have the championship between the two schools rest on +any such race, but I'll enter a separate race against you---any +distance---this in addition to a seven-fellow race between the +schools." + +"Now, I guess you haven't a leg left to stand on, Martin," smiled +Spencer. "Prescott proposes a seven-fellow race between the schools, +the school responsible for the last man who comes in to lose the +contest. That is to be for the school championship. Then, if +you think you can outswim Prescott, he agrees to enter an individual +and personal race with you." + +"If Prescott and I swim against each other, then we won't swim +in the seven-fellow race, anyway." protested Hi. + +"I'll agree to that," Dick nodded. + +After some more talking the details were arranged. Len reduced +them to writing and the committees for both schools signed. + +"I'll publish this in the 'Blade' to-morrow morning," said Spencer. +"Then the whole town will know the terms of the race." + +Friday, if pleasant, was the date chosen, the seven-fellow race +to begin as soon as possible after two P.M., the personal race +between Prescott and Martin to follow. Such details as choosing +the officials of the race were to be left to the principals of +the two schools. + +"It's all settled, then, gentlemen," said Spencer, rising and +holding out his right hand. "If you don't see me before you may +be sure of my being on hand to report the races themselves. I +shall do all I can to encourage schoolboy sports in Gridley. +I've a notion, too, that there will be on hand Friday a goodly +showing of High School athletes. The young men of the High School +will naturally want to look over the contestants and see who is +going to make good material for the High School teams." + +"I'm thankful to say," retorted Hi stiffly, "that I do not expect +to attend Gridley High School. My father is going to send me +to one of the best prep. schools in the country. Page and Rodgers +are going to good schools, too." + +"I hope none of your fathers will be disappointed," remarked Spencer +gravely. "Personally, I consider the Gridley High School one +of the best schools in the United States." + +"It will do, of course, for those who really can't afford to go +to better and more select schools," Hi conceded. "Prescott, look +out that you don't get drowned when you're practicing to beat +me on Friday." + +"I'm not really sure that I shall practice swimming before Friday," +Dick smiled in answer. "I'm going to be pretty busy until after +graduation." + +"Dick," asked Greg seriously, when the three chums were by themselves, +"have you any idea in the world that you can win out against Hi +Martin?" + +"Oh, I may not win," Prescott replied. "Yet, if I don't I'll +promise you to be the hardest pace-maker that Hi Martin ever had +behind him in the water." + + + + +Chapter XXI + +OLD DUT GIVES WISE COUNSEL + + +Boys attired in their best tip-toed about in creaking new shoes, +resplendently polished for the occasion. Every boy had a flower +in his upper button-hole. + +Exhibition Hall, usually so bare and barnlike in appearance, was +now a jungle of potted plants and ferns, with clumps of bright +flowers everywhere. + +Over the broad stage hung a fourteen-foot American flag. Flags +of other nations, in smaller bits of bunting, trailed off on either +side. The piano stood before the center of the stage, down on +the floor. Grouped near were the music stands and chairs for +other members of the orchestra on this festal day of graduation. + +Here and there women teachers still superintended little squads +of girls who were putting on the last bright touches of ornamentation. +One teacher was drilling a dozen much-dressed-up boys of the +seventh grade, who were to act as ushers on this great Thursday +afternoon. It was half an hour before the doors were to be opened. + +Curiously enough, there were no eighth-grade pupils present. +These were assembled in Room 1, on the floor below, seated behind +the desks that had been theirs during the school year. + +"Young ladies and gentlemen," began Old Dut, rapping on his desk +and rising. As he looked about there was a curious expression +on his face, and some water in his twinkling eyes. + +"I am going to take occasion to say the last few words that I +shall have a chance to say to you confidentially and in private," +continued the principal. "I am conscious that I am taking one +of my last looks at you all as my pupils. I might call this the +dying class, if it were not for the fact that, for most of you, +to-day will be the real birth. You will go forth into the world +to-day, the larger portion of you. You will leave school behind +and tackle the world as budding men and women. You will begin +soon to grapple with the work, the problems, the toil---the tears +and the joys that come with the beginnings of grown-up life. +Those of you who are to be favored with a chance to go further +in your education, and who will be schoolboys and schoolgirls +yet a while, I most sincerely congratulate. For those who, on +the other hand, will step straight from Exhibition Hall into the +world of work---aye, and the world of deeds and triumphs, too---I +bid you to be of good cheer and courage! + +"Be bold, true and loyal! If you have any wonder, any misgivings +as to what the world and life may have in store for you, I tell +you that these are questions that you will decide mainly for yourselves. +It's the hardest thing in this universe to down any man or woman +who faces grown-up life with a good and honest claim on the good +things of existence. Yet on this subject one word more. Uprightness +of heart, of word and deed are not alone sufficient. There is +one more great quality that you must link with general honesty +and loyalty. Castle Great cannot be stormed except by those who +move forward with backbone---Courage! Be bold, steadfast, unwavering. +Never lose anything that you justly want through fear that you +can't get it. Go after it! The soldier is the type of courage +and a good one. Yet you don't find more than one of our soldiers +of life in a military uniform. There are soldiers, boys, in every +crowd that you mingle with on the street. Be one of them yourselves! + +"Boys, be brave, but be gentle. Remember that the bravest men +are gentle as any woman. As a soldier proves his courage by his +conquests, so must you prove your courage, if you have any to +show, by your achievements in the life that starts to-morrow for +most of you. Honor and courage! Together they will carry you +to lofty heights. If you fail, then reflect that you don't possess +these two qualities of manhood. Get these qualities---at no matter +what cost---and start out again to victory. + +"Girls, be women. Stop and think what it means to be women. +All the sweetest, truest and gentlest attributes of the human +race. Be women, every minute of your lives, and you will have +reached heights where not even the most soldierly boys may follow +you. Be women, and the men of our race will reverence and honor +you. + +"Young ladies and gentlemen, this day comes to me once in every +year. It is an old practice with me, as I see each class go forth +in our last hour together, to feel that I am watching the departure +of the best and truest class that I have yet taught. But this +year I am moved more than ever to that feeling. There are those +among you who have shown me traits of character that have filled +me with even more much more than my usual amount of faith in the +future of the American nation. Young ladies and gentlemen, my +fellow citizens, permit me to thank you for your loyal work to +make this graduating class what it is, and what it is destined +to become. Go forth to uphold the traditions of Gridley and the +glory of America, and may God bless you, one and all." + +His voice rather husky, and his eyes a little more wet, Old Dut +sank back into the well-worn chair from which he had taught so +many eighth-grade classes. + +"Three cheers for our principal!" proposed Danny Grin. The cheers +were given lustily, with half a dozen tigers. + +"Master Dalzell," replied Old Dut, "coming from the boy who, as +the records show, has been disciplined more frequently in the +last year than any other pupil present, I consider that a tribute +indeed." + +"I meant it," said Dan simply. + +Later the pupils of the five upper grades marched solemnly into +Exhibition Hall, the appearance of the graduating class being +greeted with applause by enthusiastic relatives and friends. +The orchestra played triumphal marches until all had marched in +to their seats. + +Then the orchestra paused, only to begin a moment later with the +first measures of the opening chorus, sung by more than three +hundred youthful voices. It was the usual medley, contributed +by pupils who could really sing and by others who really couldn't. +An undertone of varying discord ran along under the truer melody. + +Then, after his name had been called by the principal, Dick Prescott +rose. Very stiff and starched, and painfully conscious of the +creaking of his shoes as he went forward in that awesome stillness, +Dick ascended the platform, advanced to the front center, made +an elaborate bow, and then, in an almost scared voice he began +to tell the assembled hundreds of grown-ups why they were there +as though they didn't know already. This performance, which admitted +of very few gestures, was stated on the programme to be "The Salutatory." +From his being chosen to render this address, it was easily to +be inferred that Dick was regarded as the brightest boy of the +class. + +Then other exercises followed. Two members of the Board of Education +also had pieces to speak. One told of the educational policy +and methods followed in the Gridley schools, on which subject +he knew vastly less than any of the eight smiling teachers present. +The other member of the Board of Education gave a lot of chilled +advice to the members of the graduating class, he did this at +much greater length and with far less effect than Old Dut had +lately done in his last private talk with his class. + +There were a lot of other pieces to be spoken, most of them by +the youngsters. There were songs, also exercises in vocal gymnastics. +Pupils of the lower classes displayed their expertness at mental +arithmetic. Then, after more singing, the superintendent of schools, +who had just arrived, mounted the platform and presented each +graduating one with a diploma, showing that the recipients had +faithfully and successfully completed their Grammar School course. + +More music, after which Laura Bentley, a pretty little vision +in white cloud effects, with yards of pink ribbon for the sunshine, +stepped to the platform, made her bow and launched into the valedictory. + +"And now," called Old Dut from the audience, "the old eighth grade +is no more. The exercises are over. I thank all who have contributed +to make this occasion so pleasant." + +"Three cheers for Old---Mr. Jones, the principal!" yelled Dan Dalzell, +as the scrambling to get out began. Needless to say, the cheers +were given. Now that the ordeal was over, it was nothing to the +discredit of fine Old Dut that the youngsters would have cheered +a yellow dog had they been so requested. + +Old Dut had slipped down to the egress. There he shook hands +with each graduate, wishing them all possible success in life. + +"And be sure to come back to these exhibitions whenever you can +in after years," the principal called as the last members of the +late class were going down the stairs. + +"Dick," chuckled Harry Hazelton, as they descended, "when Old +Dut was calling on you to go forward and do your little stunt, +did you notice the fly on the left side of his nose that he was +trying to brush off without letting any one see the move? Ha, +ha, ho!" + +"Shut up, Hazy," growled Prescott almost savagely. "Haven't you +any idea of reverence? We're going down these steps for the last +time as Central Grammar boys. I'd rather do it in silence, and +thoughtfully." + +"Isn't Dickins the queer old chap?" demanded Harry Hazelton, falling +back by Reade's side. + +"It's a pity you couldn't be queer, just for once, and hold your +tongue until we are outside the good old schoolyard," grunted Tom. + +"They're a pair of cranks," muttered Harry to Dave Darrin. + +"Imitate 'em for once," Darry advised dryly. "Remember, it's +the cranks who make the world go around." + +For the most part, both boys and girls got their hats very quietly. +Then they passed out into the open, walked across the yard and +gathered in little groups outside, each holding his beribboned +diploma in his right hand. + +"It's all over," sighed Tom Reade outside the gate. "Somehow, +I wish that I had another year to go---or else that I'd been a +little more decent to Old Dut." + +"It was a good old school," sighed Dick, looking back almost +regretfully. "And, by the way-----" + +"Speech, Dick!" cried a dozen of the boys, crowding around him. + +"Get out!" laughed Prescott. "I spoke my piece two hours ago." + +Yet the boys continued to crowd about him. + +"He's going to tell us now what the man on the clubhouse steps +said!" proclaimed Danny Grin hopefully. + + + + +Chapter XXII + +HI HEARS SOMETHING ELEVATING + + +"Do you fellows really want to know what the man on the clubhouse +steps said?" Prescott asked, looking about him with a tantalizing +smile. + +"Do we?" came in a chorus. + +"Hurry up and tell us!" + +"Quit your kidding," begged Tom Reade. "Dick, we've waited for +months to have the mystery solved. Now, surely, we ought to know. +Look at these diplomas; they certify that we know everything +else. So trot on the speech of the man on the clubhouse steps." + +"Or look for trouble!" added Harry Hazelton warningly. + +Dick appeared to hesitate. The boys around him, highly curious, +thought he was debating within himself whether or not to give +the desired information. + +"Come, get swift," desired Spoff Henderson. + +"See here, fellows, I'll tell you what I'll do," proposed Dick +at last. + +"You'll tell us what the man on the clubhouse steps said," broke +in Toby Ross. + +"Yes," Dick agreed; "but you'll have to let me do so on my own +conditions and in my own way. You see this diploma?" holding +it up. "I've been working hard for eight years to win this document. +Now I'm going to hurry home and put this in a place of safety. +After that I'll put on my everyday clothes, and then I'll meet +you at the usual corner on Main Street at five o'clock. If any +of you fellows really want to know, then, what the man on the +clubhouse steps said, I'll tell you." + +"You won't postpone telling us, and you won't try to crawl out +of it?" pressed Dave Darrin. + +"On my honor, I won't," Dick promised. + +"On your honor, you won't tell us what the man on the clubhouse +steps said?" demanded Tom Reade suspiciously. + +"On my honor, I won't try to dodge out of it, or postpone it a +minute beyond five o'clock. On my honor I'll tell you, at five +o'clock, to-day, what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"Good!" cried many voices. + +"Will many of you be there?" Dick inquired. + +"We'll all be there," declared Spoff Henderson. "But, remember, +Dick Prescott, you're in honor bound to tell us at last." + +"You won't find me dodging or up to any tricks," Dick agreed solemnly. +"Until five o'clock, then." + +Dick started along. At first quite a crowd went with him, but +by degrees the number decreased until only his own five immediate +chums were with him. + +"Say," suggested Reade suddenly, "since you're going to make a +public, show of this, Dick, you ought to let our little crowd +in on a private view." + +"What do you mean?" Prescott quizzed. + +"You know well enough what I mean," Tom retorted. "You ought +to tell our own little crowd in advance what the man on the clubhouse +steps said." + +"Do you really think so?" Prescott asked. + +"I do," affirmed Tom. + +"And so do the rest of us," asserted Dave Darrin. + +"Well-----" Dick paused hesitatingly. + +"Come, hurry up!" begged Greg. + +"It's no more than fair to us," insisted Dan. + +"On the whole," Dick continued, "I don't believe it would be fair +to the other fellows." + +"You big tease!" blurted Harry Hazelton indignantly. + +"No; I don't mean to tease you," Dick rejoined, his eyes twinkling. +"But I believe in playing fair in life. Don't you, fellows?" + +"What has this to do with being fair?" demanded Tom. + +"Why, just this: I promised to tell you all at five o'clock. +Now, if I were to tell a special few before that time, it would +be a bit unfair!" + +"Not a bit," retorted Dave. "You've had us dangling from the +string longer than you have the rest of the crowd. Therefore, +we ought to know the answer before the other fellows." + +"It's a question of conscience with me," Dick replied soberly. + +"Humph!" snorted Tom. "Well, I suppose we may as well give it +up, fellows. The only way we could worm it out of Dick would +be to rub his nose in the dirt. And he might fight if we did. +This is where I have to leave you. So long! I'll meet the army +at five o'clock." + +Smiling broadly, Dick went on his way home. He put away his diploma, +next removing his best suit and laying it carefully away. Then +he donned his more accustomed clothes and ran down to the store. + +"It was a very enjoyable exhibition, Dick," said his father. + +"And I suppose our son feels that he's a man now?" smiled Mrs. +Prescott. + +"No; I'm not, mother, and I don't want to be in any hurry, either. +There's too much fun in being a boy. And now I've an appointment +to meet a lot of the fellows." + +"Don't let that appointment make you forget supper time," his +mother called after him. + +Spoff Henderson and Toby Ross were already at the place of appointment. + +"Here comes Dick!" called Spoff. "Now, tell us." + +"Wait until the crowd gets here." returned Prescott. + +"Ain't you the mean one?" growled Toby. "And we ran all the way +home and back." + +"Too much hurry is said to be one of the greatest American sins," +laughed Dick. + +"Well, you're going to tell us, anyway, aren't you?" pressed Spoff. + +"Yes; but give the crowd a chance to get here." + +Dave and Dan came along, then Tom, Harry and Greg. Tolman and +a few other fellows hurried up. + +"You might tell us all about that business, now," suggested Tolman. + +"I see some more fellows coming up the street," Prescott replied. +"I don't have to tell more than once." + +Five minutes later there were more than thirty boys at the corner, +and still others were in sight, coming from both ways. + +"Say, get busy, Prescott!" called some of the newer corners. + +"Let the crowd all get here," Dick insisted. + +Presently the crowd numbered more than fifty a lot of their elders, +seeing such an unusual crowd of youths on one corner, halted curiously +near by. Then Reporter Len Spencer came along. + +"What's all the excitement?" demanded Len, ever keen for local +news. One of the boys exclaimed to him what was in the wind. + +"Then you'd better hurry up with your statement, Dick," Len advised. +"There'll be a riot here soon." + +"Five o'clock was the time named," Prescott rejoined. + +Just then the town clock began to strike. + +"It's five o'clock now, Dick," called Greg. + +"Yes," nodded Dick, "and I'm ready at last to redeem my promise." + +"He's going to tell us!" + +"Hurrah!" + +"Shut up! We want to hear." + +"You are all assembled here," Prescott continued, "to hear just +what it was that the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +"Cut out the end-man explanations. Give us the kernel!" shouted +one boy. + +"What the man on the clubhouse steps said," Dick went ahead, "should +be a model to everyone. It is of especial value to all who are tempted +to talk too fast and then to think an hour later." + +"Yes, but what _did_ he say---the man on the clubhouse steps?" howled +Harry Hazelton. + +"You will know, in a minute," Dick assured his hearers. "Yet, +before telling you, I want to impress upon you that, whenever +you are tempted to be angry, to be harsh in judgments, or when +you can think only ill of your neighbor, then you should always +hark back to just what the man on the clubhouse steps said." + +There was a pause and silence, the latter broken by Danny Grin +demanding impatiently: + +"Well, what did he say?" + +"You see," Dick explained, "the man was all alone on the clubhouse +steps." + +"Yes, yes." + +"And he wasn't exactly sociable by nature." + +"Go on!" + +"As I have explained," smiled Dick Prescott, "the man on the clubhouse +steps was alone, and-----" + +"Get ahead faster!" + +"So, being alone, he just naturally said-----" + +"Well?" breathed the auditors. "Well?" + +"He just naturally said---_nothing_!" + +"What?" + +Dick dodged back, laughing. There were a few indignant vocal +explosions among the assembled youngsters, followed by dangerous +calm and quiet. + +"Whenever you find yourself under trying circumstances, or when +anger is surging within you, fellows, believe me, you'll always +find it wiser to say just what the man on the clubhouse steps +said---which was nothing," Dick urged. + +"And you got us all the way up here, at an appointed time, just +to hear that?" demanded Spoff Henderson. + +"It's worth the time it has cost you," Dick urged. + +"Rush him fellows!" bawled Toby Ross. "Don't let him escape!" + +Indeed, there was no time or chance for getting away. Dick Prescott +was rushed, caught and pinned. + +"What'll we do with him?" rose the chorus. + +"To the fountain! Duck him!" + +With a cheer the boys started, carrying Dick along on the shoulders +of a few tightly-wedged boys. + +Dick's chums made no effort to rescue him. Indeed, perhaps they +felt that he deserved what was right ahead of him. But they ran +along in the press of boisterous lads. + +Len Spencer, grinning hard, rushed along at the head of the juvenile +mob. + +"Boys, you'd better reconsider!" shouted the young reporter. +"Don't write yourselves down as louts. The man on the clubhouse +steps, on account of just what he said, proved himself one of +the sages of the ages. Prescott, in telling you just what he +said, has performed a public service, if only you fellows were +bright enough to comprehend." + +"Get out of our way, Spencer!" ordered Spoff Henderson. "As sure +as guns we're going to duck Dick Prescott in the public fountain." + +"If you won't listen to reason, then," roared Len, using his long +legs to put him well in advance of the juvenile mob, "then I'll +use enchantment to spoil your foolish work. You shall not duck +Prescott! Hi, pi, yi, animus, hocus pocus! That enchantment +will foil you!" + +Having reached the fountain, Len drew aside dramatically. + +"In with him!" shouted the youngsters. + +Then they halted in sheer amazement. For the first time the boys +noted that no water was running in the fountain, and that the +basin underneath was wholly dry. + +"My enchantment has worked," chuckled Len. + +"How did you do it?" demanded one puzzled youngster. + +"Never mind," Len retorted mysteriously. "Now, if you don't instantly +put Dick Prescott on his feet and leave him alone, I'll work an +enchantment that will raise hob with every boy who lays as much +as a finger on Dick." + +So Prescott was allowed to slide down to his feet. He was laughing, +enjoying every moment of the fun. + +"We could have run him down to the next fountain," suggested one +of the schoolboys. + +"It would do you no good, and Prescott no harm," Len retorted +dryly. "At three o'clock this afternoon the fire department turned +off all of the public fountains in order to clean 'em." + +Now Dick's late tormentors began to feel that they had been badly +"sold" all around. After the manner of boys, they grinned sheepishly, +then more broadly and finally ended by laughing heartily. But +the crowd did not break up at once. All waited, with a vague +hope that some kind of mischief would happen. + +A smaller boy went by, calling the evening newspaper. Tom Reade +bought one and stood at the edge of the crowd, reading. + +"Here comes Hi Martin!" called someone. That youth had just turned +a corner, swinging from his left hand a pudgy rubber bag of the +kind that is used for holding a wet bathing suit. + +"Hello, Prescott," was Hi's greeting. "Are you all ready to be +left behind in the spray tomorrow?" + +"If you can leave me there," Dick smiled. "Been out for a practice +swim, have you?" + +"Yes," nodded Hi; "and if you had seen my speed this afternoon +you'd have been scared away from the river for to-morrow." + +"Well, I hope one of us wins," grinned Dick. + +"One of us?" sniffed Hi. "Of course, one of us has to win when +there are only us two in that race. And, after I beat you to-morrow," +Hi added consequentially, "I'll be off and away for a good time. +Saturday father is going to take our family to New York for three +weeks." + +"Going to stop at one of the big hotels there?" Reade inquired, +looking up from his newspaper. + +"Of course we are," Hi rejoined, swelling out his chest. "We +shall stop at one of the biggest and finest hotels in the city." + +"Then don't get a room too high up from the ground," advised Tom. +"I've just been reading in the evening paper that the city authorities +in New York have taken all the elevators out of all the biggest +hotels." + +"Why?" demanded Hi. + +"The paper says it's because the elevators are considered too +dangerous," Tom replied innocently. + +"I don't believe it," scoffed Hi. "Why, how could people get +up to their rooms on the fifteenth or eighteenth floor of one +of the skyscraper hotels?" + +"Oh, well," Tom replied artlessly, "according to the paper the +hotels are all going to be equipped with safety-raisers." + +"Safety-razors?" demanded Hi Martin blankly. "You idiot, what +good would safety-razors be for getting people up twenty floors +in a hotel?" + +There was a moment's pause. Then a few chuckles came, followed +by a few more. + +"Whoop!" yelled Danny Grin. Snatching the bathing suit bag from +Hi's hand, Dalzell got a good hold on the tie strings, then swung +the bag, bringing it down on the top of Hi's head. + +"Run along home, Martin!" jeered Dan. "If don't tumble before +bed time, then ask your father how it is that dangerous elevators +can be replaced with safety-raisers. Here's your bag. Scoot---before +an idea hits you!" + +Red-faced and angry, but still puzzled, Hi snatched at his bathing +suit bag and hastily decamped. + +"Now he'll beat you at swimming or die tomorrow," predicted Dave +grimly. + + + + +Chapter XXIII + +WHO WON THE SWIMMING MATCHES? + + +Thanks to Len Spencer's interest in schoolboy athletics, there +was a goodly crowd gathered at the river bank the next afternoon. +Many people came out in boats. There were at least a dozen launches, +including the one that bore Len Spencer, who had been chosen to +conduct the races. + +The owner of a two room boathouse which adjoined a long wharf +had yielded to Spencer's request for a loan of this property. +In the boathouse the two school teams disrobed and donned their +bathing suits. + +Dave Darrin had been called upon to captain the swimming squad +from the Central Grammar. With him were Tom, Greg, Dan, Harry, +Henderson and Ross. It was as good and representative a team +as Central Grammar could furnish. + +Bill Rodgers captained the squad from North Grammar. Bill had +had his fellows three times in the water, and was proud of them. + +Just ten minutes before the time for calling the contestants Dave +Darrin led his squad from the boathouse. Out along the pier they +ran and dived in. + +"The water's just fine for swimming to-day," ecstatically remarked +Tom Reade, as he came up, blew the water from his mouth and took +a few strokes. "In fact, the water's too fine." + +"Too fine?" queried Dave. "How so?" + +"Why, it makes a fellow feel so fine," retorted Tom, "that I'm +afraid it will make us all winners, and then there won't be any +glory for either school." + +The North Grammar boys now splashed in. Len Spencer, who had +just seen to the placing of the further stake boat, now returned +in the launch. + +Both the squad race and the individual contest were to be for +a quarter of a mile straightaway, with the start from a moored +raft down the river. + +"Every one pile aboard!" called Len, the launch that he was on +gliding in at the pier. Wet swimmers dropped into the launch +until it was filled. Then another small gasoline craft took aboard +the left-overs. The crowd preferred to remain at this end of +the course to see the finish. + +"It won't take North Grammar long to wind your crowd up in the +water," declared Hi Martin, as he and Dick stood at the end of +the pier watching the departure. Both were already in their bathing +costumes. + +"Maybe not," Dick assented. "Yet you mustn't forget one fact, +Hi." + +"What is that?" + +"You mustn't forget that our fellows have already got their winning +gait on this season." + +"Humph! We'll see." + +"It won't take us long, either," Dick continued. "There, the +fellows are piling on the raft." + +From the distance the spectators could see the two swimming teams +lining up on the raft. They could also make out that Len Spencer +was addressing the boys from the raft. + +Bang! It was the warning shot. Spectators along the Gridley +shore crowded close to the bank to get a better view. + +Bang! At the second shot fourteen boys dived into the water almost +in the same second. Fourteen heads came up, one after another, +and the young swimmers settled down to their work. A launch followed +along on each side of the course, to pick up any who needed help. + +"It was thoughtful of some one to provide launches for the Central +swimmers," leered Martin. + +"I hope neither launch will be needed for any of our fellows," +Dick responded. "If either school has to have a fellow picked +up, then of course that's the school which loses the race." + +Hi didn't answer. Despite his confident brag, he was now very +anxious over the outcome. + +Along came the swimmers, all doing well, making a fine showing +for a crowd of fourteen boys whose average age was only fourteen +years. + +From time to time spectators cheered favorite boys in either squad. + +"Central wins!" yelled one enthusiast, as the swimmers neared +the stakeboat off the pier. + +"Don't you believe it," yelled another. "Wait for the finish." + +There wasn't long to wait. As the swimmers came nearer it was +seen that Dave Darrin was ahead of all the swimmers, though Tom +Reade was pressing him hard. Behind Tom came Bill Rodgers, then +Greg Holmes, next two more North Grammar boys. Dan was next, +with Harry following. The three tailenders were North Grammar +boys. + +"Central Grammar wins handily," announced Len Spencer through +a megaphone. + +Hi Martin's face darkened. "Anyway, I'll have the satisfaction +of showing Dick Prescott my heels all the way up the course," +he grunted. + +"Now, you two individual racers tumble aboard, and get ready for +your work," warned Len, as the launch ran in alongside the pier. + +"Wipe him up, Dick!" + +"Don't show him any mercy, Hi!" + +Various other comments wafted to the pair as they sat in the launch +facing each other. + +"Some of those people must think we can both win," laughed Dick +good-humoredly. + +"I'll soon show you that only one of us can win," retorted Hi +almost savagely. + +Arrived at the raft, Len Spencer spoke briefly: + +"At the first shot of the pistol you two youngsters take up your +positions, ready to dive. At the second shot, or as soon after +as you wish, you may dive and begin the race. Either contestant +who dives before the second shot is heard will be disqualified +and then the race will go to the other contestant." + +Dick waited, tingling with the desire to win, though he knew that +Martin was a splendid swimmer for his age. + +"Are you ready?" asked Len in a low voice. Both boys nodded. + +Bang! Len fired a revolver into the air, calling the attention +of all spectators. Dick and Hi stepped nimbly to the edge of +the raft, poising with hands pointed. + +Bang! The splash was simultaneous as the swimmers struck the +water. Each swimmer made a shallow dive and came up. Hi at once +dropped into an overhead stroke, Dick relying upon a side stroke. + +For the first seventy-five yards, as nearly as the onlookers could +judge, the boys swam nose and nose. + +"I'll tire this fellow out with a good pace, and then take a better +one," thought Hi Martin. "I'm going to make a finish that will +stop Dick Prescott from bragging whenever he sees me around hereafter." + +Dick still swam well, but gradually Martin stole ahead of him. + +"Where's Prescott now?" jeered a dozen North Grammar boys. + +"Centrals, send out a launch to tow your champ! Then maybe he'll +make better time." + +Hi swam steadily and rapidly until he had more than half covered +the course. Then he ventured on a look behind him. + +"Prescott won't catch up all day," grinned Hi to himself. "Oh, +I'm glad I insisted on this individual race!" + +Gradually, and, to those on shore it seemed painfully, Dick gained +on the leader. Still, when the race was almost over, Hi was well +in the lead. + +"Hi Martin! Hi Hi Hi!" yelled the North Grammar boys, dancing +and tossing their caps in their glee. "Prescott, where art thou? +Say, what did you try to get into the race for?" + +"Now, I'll show the folks a few things," Hi resolved, putting +on the best spurts of speed that were in him. It was truly a +fine performance for a Grammar School boy. + +Yet, to the amazement of most of the onlookers, Dick also was +doing some very speedy swimming now. A yard he gained on Martin, +then another and another. When they were still fifty yards from +the stakeboat Dick suddenly changed his stroke and surged ahead, +distinctly in the lead. + +"Confound the human steam launch!" gasped Hi, almost choking, +as he saw the powerful strokes of the swimmer ahead. "He'll make +me look like a fool if I don't haul up on him---and the distance +left is so confoundedly short!" + +Now it could be seen that Martin was exerting every ounce of energy +and strength that he possessed. Yet still young Prescott gained. + +Then Martin foolishly lost his head altogether. + +"If I can't win I'll make it look like a fluke!" he gritted. + +Just as Dick was nearing the stakeboat, Hi threw up one hand. + +"I've got a cramp!" he shouted. "Help!" + +To some on shore he appeared about to sink. Dick passed the stakeboat, +then turned like a flash and swam back toward Hi. + +"Prescott wins!" called Len Spencer. + +A few more strokes brought Dick up to where Hi pretended to flounder. + +"Keep quiet, Hi, and let me get a hold on you," Dick offered. +"I'll have you at the pier in a jiffy." + +"You get away from me," snarled Martin. "I don't want any of +your kind of help." + +With that Hi appeared to forget his recent complaint of "cramp," +for he made a lusty plunge toward the pier and pulled himself up. + +Then, an instant later, he must have remembered, for he assumed +an expression of pain and limped. + +"There's that mean cramp again," he muttered. "I'd have won by +a good many yards if it hadn't been for that." + +Some of the Central Grammar boys nearby were impolite enough to +laugh incredulously. + +"Oh, I've dropped my handbag into the river!" exclaimed one woman +to another suddenly, at the end of the pier. + +The other woman turned, giving a quick, startled glance toward +the water. + +"I---I don't know how it happened," gasped the loser. "There +it is, away down the stream, floating toward that boathouse. +Oh, Master Prescott, do you feel able to go and get it for me?" + +"I'll do it with pleasure, madam," Dick nodded. He looked for +a moment. Then, seeing a black floating object, he started after +it, his stroke apparently none the weaker after his swift race. + +It had floated nearly under the boathouse at the water end. The +building in question belonged to the estate next to that from +which the swimming contests had been conducted. This boathouse +was closed, for the owners had not yet come to Gridley for the +summer. The windows of the little green building were shuttered +from the inside. Over the water the walls came down to within +six inches of the present level of water. + +Keeping his eyes turned toward the black, floating object, Dick +swam easily to the spot. The black object floated under the open +sidewall into the boathouse. Just as Dick got there he dived, +duck fashion, head first, and passed to the interior of the boathouse +at the river end. + +As he came up inside Dick's first discovery was that of artificial +light in the boathouse. Then his gaze rested on the platform +end over the land. + +"Amos Garwood here, of all places!" gasped the astonished Grammar +School boy. + + + + +Chapter XXIV + +CONCLUSION + + +The mentally queer inventor had rigged up a bench just under shelves +on which rested tools and boat supplies. + +Just at the moment the inventor had his back turned to the water +as he stood working at his bench. Dick was able to look at him +while not in immediate danger of being seen himself. + +How quietly the Grammar School boy trod water! He hardly dared +breathe, for fear of giving an alarm. + +Yet, even in all his astonishment, Prescott did not forget to +let one hand close over the handle of the black bag whose recovery +had brought him here. + +"I can't do anything with Garwood alone," reflected Dick swiftly. +"I must get out, if I can, without making a noise, and then give +the hurry alarm. That fellow is mixing something, and, if he +isn't stopped soon, he's quite likely to blow up the boathouse, +himself included." + +Fortunately there was sufficient depth of water at this outer +end of the boathouse. Prescott let himself sink so quietly that +there was barely a ripple above his head. Next, with a few cautious +strokes, he carried himself past the hanging side wall and into +the open upstream. + +"Gracious, but no wonder Garwood has been able to keep away from +pursuers," thought the boy excitedly, as he swam steadily up toward +the other pier. "He has a place where not even a Sherlock Holmes +would ever think of looking for him. Why, he could work, sleep +and eat there and never give a sign of his presence!" + +"Did you get it?" called the owner of the handbag eagerly. + +"Yes, ma'am," Dick replied. + +"The bag wasn't open, was it?" + +"No, ma'am." + +"Let me have it quickly, please. Oh, I'm so thankful! Here is +my purse with all the money safe and sound. Wait, Master Prescott, +I must reward you suitably." + +"No; I thank you," Dick replied, his color rising. "Your thanks +are enough. I've been taught that courtesy can't be repaid with +cash. You are very, very welcome to any service that I was able +to do you." + +As Dick hurried into the Central Grammar "dressing room" he found +all five of his chums waiting to rub him down and help him dress. + +"Here, give me that towel, and get out on other business in a +hurry!" begged Dick. "Dave! Tom! Amos Garwood is in the boathouse +below here, working at a bench. Get some of the men and rush +down there to make a capture. Greg, run and see to it that a +launch moves down to the river end of the boathouse in case Garwood +tries to get out that way when he hears the alarm!" + +Prescott's chums darted out in a hurry. Dick half dried himself +in a few frenzied dabs with the towel. Then he pulled on his clothing +faster than ever before. + +He got outside on the pier just in time to see Dave and Tom leading +a dozen men stealthily toward the door of the boathouse. Out +on the water Len Spencer's launch, with half a dozen men in it, +stood as river sentinel. + +While those approaching the boathouse door were still more than +a score of feet away there came a startling interruption. + +Bang! sounded inside. The door of the building strained an instant, +but did not give way. + +"That's our old friend, Amos bang-bang, to a dot," muttered Tom +dryly, as the advancing party of men and boys halted. + +"I don't care about fooling with a dynamite factory," remarked +one of the men. + +Dick, at a dead run, joined the party. + +"Come along!" he cried. "Let's break down the door and find out +whether the poor fellow is hurt." + +"Yes! And have that 'poor fellow' hand you a peck of nitro-glycerine +for a surprise," retorted a man. + +"Come on, fellows! We can get the door down without help," Dick +called, appealing to his chums. + +All five of them rallied to his support. It took but a few sturdy +shoulder blows to complete the work of the explosion and break +the lock of the door. + +Dick took one quick look inside. + +"Tom, run and 'phone for a physician!" Prescott called back. +"Poor Garwood is unconscious, and cut. He's bleeding. Poor chap, +with his lop-sided mind and his 'mastery of the world' imaginings!" + +Reade sped away. As soon as the crowd found there was no danger +there was a rush to the scene. Darrin and three friends managed +to hold the crowd somewhat at bay, while Prescott assisted two +women in trying to bring the injured man to. + +"I hope he doesn't get away this time," thought Dick. "If Garwood +remains at large much longer he'll fix up a bang-bang that will +carry him clean into the next world!" + +While those having the injured man in charge waited they explored +the boathouse. Of the explosive materials not a particle was +found. Evidently it had all gone up in smoke. But, in a far +corner, the searchers discovered a package of gauze, and another +of salve, with which poor Garwood had evidently attended to the +burns resulting from former explosions. Later it was found that +both packages came from a drugstore some twenty miles away, where +the poor fellow had also bought his explosive materials from time +to time. He must have walked the long distance at night when +other people were abed, for the druggist stated that his customer +came in, on each visit, as soon as the store was opened in the +morning. + +Blankets and a few groceries, found in the loft, explained the +demented man's manner of housekeeping during the last few days. + +It was half an hour ere a physician finally arrived in a touring +car. + +"The man doesn't appear to be badly hurt," declared the medical +man. "It won't take us five minutes to get him into town and +in the hospital, so I believe we had better start to revive him +after we get him there." + +Two strong men were found who were willing to sit in the tonneau, +holding Amos Garwood's insensible body between them. + +As the car started away a subdued cheer arose. The mystery and +the vanishing of Amos Garwood were at an end at last. Those who +had feared having a demented man at large in the community breathed +more easily. + +From the day of the race the summer vacation for the late Grammar +School boys began in earnest. A few days later Dick and his swimming +squad met a similar organization from the South Grammar, and a +match was held on the river. As Prescott's squad again won, Central +Grammar was now undisputed Grammar School champion on the water +as well as in baseball. + +Colonel Garwood tried to pay the offered reward to the members +of Dick & Co., but the parents of the boys refused to entertain +the idea. + +Amos Garwood, not seriously injured in body, was soon well enough +to be taken back to the sanitarium. Here his malady was found +not to be severe. A year later he was discharged, fully cured +of his delusions, and able once more to take his place as a useful +member of society. + +There does not remain a great deal more to be told. + +Many of the boys who have appeared in these pages went no further +in school life, but stepped out into the working world, there +to fit themselves for the men's places in life. + +The more fortunate ones, however, went to High School. All the +members of Dick & Co. were thus favored in being able to go forward +into the fields of higher education. We shall speedily meet with +these manly American boys again, for their further doings will +be described in the _High School Boys' Series_. + +In the first volume of this series, "_The High School Freshmen; +Or Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports_," the friends of +these six wide-awake boys will find them in a new field of action, +and follow them through an exciting series of trials and triumphs. +Dick & Co.'s interest in High School athletics, and the way in +which they won a permanent place in the hearts of the older students +is told so realistically in the first volume of this series as +to make all readers long to know more about them. + +All the big and little boys who wish to continue their friendship +with Dick & Co. will find their further adventures related most +entertainingly in the four volumes of the High School Boys' Series +just published. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER +ATHLETICS*** + + +******* This file should be named 12735.txt or 12735.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/7/3/12735 + + + +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. 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