“Say, boys, this is going to be another close race,” declared Jack.
“My, see the boats swarming behind the shells!” was Andy’s comment.
“Look at that motor-boat, will you?” came quickly from Spouter. “Gee Christopher! what are they trying to do?”
At once cries arose on all sides when it was seen that one motor-boat was coming dangerously close to the racecourse.
“It’s old Nat Durgin’s boat!” exclaimed Jack, after looking through the fieldglasses. “And what do you know about this? Tommy Flanders is at the wheel!”
A moment later there were exclamations from a dozen or more individuals as Durgin was seen to cast Flanders aside and take command of the craft. Then it was seen to veer away and was lost to sight behind the sails of a small sloop.
“Here they come! And almost bow and bow!”
“Colby is ahead!”
“No! Longley is ahead!”
“It’s a tie!”
The excitement was now tremendous as it was seen that Longley had crept up and was now bow and bow with the other shell.
“Pull, Colby! Pull!” roared the cadets from that institution. “Pull!”
And the cadets from Colby urged by Gif pulled as they had never pulled before, their eyes staring from their sockets and their breath coming laboredly. But Longley was also pulling, although now the terrific pace was beginning to tell upon the oarsmen from the rival academy. They were all but in, and their coxswain urged them to greater efforts in vain. Now the finishing line was in sight, and it was then that Gif broke out in a wild appeal to those he was directing.
“Now then, boys! Every ounce that’s left in you! Go to it! Make her jump out of the water! Make her jump good!” And with every word his body swayed back and forth and the oarsmen responded with every bit of vital force left in their spent bodies. The shell leaped ahead, while at the same moment those in the other shell slowed up, being unable to keep up the terrific pace.
“It’s Colby’s race! It’s Colby’s race!” was the yell, and it was the truth. Colby shot on and on and then crossed the finishing line a length and three feet to the good.
Then it was that the cadets of Colby Hall and their many friends rent the shore of Clearwater Lake with their cries of exaltation—cries that went echoing back and forth through the hills in the distance. Jack and the others went nearly mad with joy, throwing up their caps and hugging each other. Randy began to do a jig while Andy climbed a flagstaff on the dock and went twisting around it at arm’s length. It was a moment never to be forgotten and one that would live long in the annals of the school on the Rick Rack River.
“Three cheers for Gif Garrison!” called the young major of the battalion, and they were given with a will, many of the girls from Clearwater Hall joining in.
Then all the others who had taken part in the various races were cheered. Many ran down to where the eight-oared shell was now coming in, and as soon as the crew had landed Gif was grabbed by his many friends and hoisted up on a pair of sturdy shoulders and marched around the dock.
“Speech! Speech!” cried someone. But at this Gif shook his head.
“Not just now, boys. I’m too nearly in. Some other time. I’m mighty glad we won the race. Thank you.” And that was all he would say.
Coming on top of the winning of the four-oared race, it was certainly a great triumph, and for the time being the loss in the singles was forgotten. The local band was forced to lead a march around the town in which practically every cadet from Colby Hall and many of the girls from Clearwater Hall, as well as some of the town people, participated. Some had flags, while others carried their horns and rattles, and they made the welkin ring with their cheers.
“Bonfires to-night!” chuckled Andy. “Oh, boy! but we’ll have some time, won’t we?”
“Right-o!” responded his twin.
Encouraged by the fact that the boat races would attract a large number of visitors to Haven Point, the owner of an amusement park on the outskirts had made arrangements for a special picnic with a number of attractions. The admission to this park was free, and the cadets from both academies, as well as the girls from Clearwater Hall, were invited to visit the place.
“Let’s go down and see what’s doing,” suggested Spouter, after the excitement attending the races was over. “Mr. Falstein owns the park, you know, and he has always been so nice to us we ought to encourage him.” The man he mentioned was the owner of the moving picture theater in the town and most of the boys knew him well.
“I wouldn’t mind,” answered Randy.
“Don’t you feel tired after the race?” questioned Jack.
“Oh, I’m rested now.”
“We’ve got two hours before we’re due at the Hall,” put in Andy. “Come on.”
The upshot of this was that the boys invited the girls to accompany them, and after receiving permission from one of the teachers to do so the crowd set off for the park, which was located in a large grove of trees less than quarter of a mile away.
They found a happy crowd already collected, indulging in swinging, the use of a merry-go-round, and half a dozen other amusements. A small band was playing, and half a dozen couples were indulging in dancing on a small platform.
“Let’s go on the merry-go-round!” cried Andy. “Come on!” and he caught Alice Strobell by the arm.
“I’ll go if Annie will go,” answered Alice.
“All right, come on, Annie,” said Randy, and the two couples lost no time in getting on the wooden horses, which speedily whirled them around and around.
A number of the others followed, including the Rover girls and Gif and Spouter. Ruth said she did not care for such a ride, and she and Jack wandered off for a walk with May and Fred behind them.
In a short while the amusement park began to fill up and there were shrieks of laughter from the young folks and merry music from the band. Not a few of the visitors were from Longley Academy, bent on having a good time in spite of their defeats on the lake.
“I should think they’d want to go home,” said Dan Soppinger, who was present.
“Oh, well, you can’t blame them for wanting some consolation,” answered Walt Baxter. And then Walt added quickly: “I think we ought to treat ’em as nicely as possible, Dan.”
“Oh, sure! we’ll treat ’em all right enough,” was the ready reply. “I like some of those fellows first rate, even if they do go to Longley. It’s only such cads as Flanders that I can’t bear.”
While Jack and Fred were strolling along with the two girls from Clearwater Hall they were much surprised to see Tommy Flanders, Paul Halliday and Billy Sands coming along a bypath with Codfish Stowell between them. The latter did not for the instant notice our friends, who were screened somewhat by bushes.
“I want that money, Tommy. I’ve got to have it,” they heard Codfish say in a pleading tone. “Can’t you let me have it to-day?”
“I can’t let you have a cent,” grumbled Flanders. “Didn’t I tell you I lost every dollar of my allowance on the races?”
“Yes, but you promised me that five dollars last week,” went on the sneak of Colby Hall. “You said you would be sure to give it to me.”
“Oh, why don’t you shut up whining?” burst out Billy Sands. “You had more fun out of that affair than we did. I don’t believe you ought to make Tommy pay for anything like that.”
“I don’t care! I did it because you wanted me to and because you promised me the five dollars,” went on Codfish stubbornly. “I think it’s awful mean that you don’t give it to me.”
“Oh, give us a rest!” growled Flanders, and then the four cadets passed on.
“Well, what do you think of that?” ejaculated Fred, when the quartet were out of hearing. “I didn’t know Codfish was hobnobbing with Tommy Flanders.”
“Neither did I,” returned Jack. “I suppose he got acquainted through Sands and Halliday. He might rather leave that bunch alone.”
“I saw that Stowell boy with Tommy Flanders in town some weeks ago,” remarked May. “They were in the drug store having some soda. I remember it very well from a remark that Flanders dropped. I thought it was awfully funny.”
“What remark was that, May?” questioned Jack curiously.
“They were talking about something Stowell was going to do, and Flanders said, ‘Use a pillowcase or a flour bag and it will be all right.’ And a minute later I heard him say, ‘They’ll look like Negroes,’ and he laughed.”
“What’s that?” came from Jack and Fred simultaneously, and they exchanged glances.
“Why, what’s the matter?” cried Spouter’s cousin in astonishment.
“Tell us about that again, May,” went on the young major, and the girl repeated her story.
“That solves the whole mystery!” declared Jack.
“It’s as plain as daylight,” responded the young captain.
“Will you kindly tell us what you’re talking about?” remarked Ruth, in wonder.
“I sure will, Ruth. We weren’t going to say anything at first because the joke was on us, but now I think the joke is going to be on somebody else,” replied Jack. And thereupon he gave the particulars of how he and his cousins had been doused with a bag of soot.
“Of all things!” burst out May. “And do you suppose it was that trick Tommy Flanders was talking about to Stowell?”
“Sure as shooting, May,” answered Fred. “Don’t you see how it all fits together? You heard Tommy tell Stowell to use a pillowcase or a flour bag. That was to conceal his face. Then he said it would make us look like Negroes, and it certainly did. Then along comes Codfish pleading to Flanders to pay him the five dollars he had promised him for doing something. And then Sands suggesting that Codfish should call it square because he got more fun out of it than they did!”
“It certainly is a clear case,” broke in Jack. “Flanders and maybe Sands and Halliday got Codfish to play that joke on us, and they promised him five dollars for doing it.”
“Let’s go after Codfish right now!” exclaimed the young captain, his eyes blazing.
“Oh, dear, don’t get into a fight!” burst out May, catching him by the arm.
“No use of starting a row here, Fred,” put in Jack quickly. “We can catch Codfish to-night and Tommy Flanders some other time. We don’t want to disgrace Colby Hall while this celebration is going on. Those Longley fellows would like nothing better than to publish the fact that we had started a rumpus on the day of the races.”
“What an awful boy Tommy Flanders must be,” murmured Ruth, “to hire another to play such a trick as that! And then just think of how he tried to spoil that last race!”
The cadets could not, however, resist the temptation to look around for Flanders, Halliday, Sands and Codfish. They saw the four having some ice cream, but then Flanders, Halliday and Sands went off by themselves and Codfish disappeared.
After that Jack and Fred and the girls continued their walk. Jack learned from Ruth that her father was steadily improving in health, but that he was as much worried as ever over the loss of the book of formulas.
“And old Uncle Barney is worried too over the loss of his money,” went on the girl. “I’m afraid this loss may revive the old hard feeling there was between my father and my uncle.”
“It would certainly be too bad if that happened, Ruth,” answered the young major soberly. He knew that the girl referred to a very bitter quarrel which had existed between old Uncle Barney and Frederic Stevenson, a quarrel the particulars of which have already been narrated in “The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island.”
Presently one of the teachers from Clearwater Hall began to round up the girls from that institution, and then the boys had to bid good-by to their friends.
“I suppose we might as well be getting back to school,” said Jack, as Andy and Randy came up. “What do you say?”
“Suits me,” responded Randy.
“We’ve got something to tell you fellows,” put in Fred eagerly. “Something worth knowing, I’ll tell you!” and thereupon the two young officers gave the particulars of what they had learned concerning the trick played upon them.
“Beeswax and grasshoppers!” ejaculated Andy. “And to think Codfish was guilty and we never suspected him!”
“He certainly had nerve to play a trick like that!” returned Randy. “I didn’t think the little sneak had backbone enough to do it.”
“He was out after the five dollars Flanders promised him,” answered Jack. “You know Codfish was always shy on pocket money. That’s the reason he used to toady to Nappy Martell and those other rascals.”
“We ought to give it to Codfish good and plenty to-night,” said Andy.
“We will!” responded his brother. “Just wait and see!”