THE WORK OF THE TRAINER
"Is that what they call burlap?" asked Frank, as he took hold of the
coarse stuff, and examined it.
"Yes, for we have some of it at home, on the wall of a den," replied
Minnie.
"Isn't there some sort of printing on it, Frank?" inquired Helen,
eagerly.
"I was just looking at it. As sure as you live I can make out most of
the word Canton. And that's where our new racing boat was coming from!"
exclaimed the boy, a light beginning to show upon his face as he stared
at the two pleased girls.
"Oh! how nice, and to think that I found it! Goody! I just wish we
could be so lucky as to discover the boat next!" laughed Minnie, fairly
dancing in her excitement.
Frank was looking about him. When his eyes lighted on the unfinished
building he nodded his head and grinned.
"I've got an idea it isn't far away, girls. And if it proves to be
so, all the credit for finding the boat belongs to Minnie," he said,
cheerfully.
"Well, I'm sure I'm glad to hear you speak so confidently. Why are
you looking at that building so hard, Frank; do you really believe
they could have put your new shell in there. Would it go through that
doorway? demanded the one who had found the bit of green burlap.
"I don't just know; perhaps so. Anyhow it's up to me to see!" cried
Frank.
"Then we're going in with you," declared Helen, firmly.
"All right; come along, girls," and Frank led the way, quivering with
eagerness; for something told him that he must be near a discovery that
would bring to naught this miserable scheme of the unknown enemy to
upset Columbia's calculations.
But when they passed in through the doorway to find some of the masons
and carpenters gathering to go to work at the union hour, Frank looked
in vain for any sign of the coveted shell.
"Perhaps they've hidden it somewhere in here?" suggested Minnie,
while Helen looked around blankly at the bare space; she had seen the
tremendous length of the crated shell, and realized that it could not
well be concealed in any small cavity.
A man was descending a series of ladders that led upward. He eyed the
young people with more or less curiosity.
"Lookin' for anything?" he asked, as he came up; and Frank noticed that
there was a sort of grin on his good-natured Irish face.
"Yes, we are," returned Frank, quickly, "a boat!"
"It's up on the roof!" came the staggering answer that caused the three
young people to look at one another in dismay; and then Minnie broke
out into a merry rippling laugh as the comical aspect of the thing
struck her.
"On the roof?" echoed Frank, unable to say anything else, he felt so
wholly stunned at the startling information the foreman gave him.
"Sure, asettin' there as nate as you plase, all nicely crated. I
rubbed me eyes, and thought I was seein' things as had oughtn't to
come to me, I was that surprised. It's there, all right, sor, as ye'll
find," continued the other, now smiling all over his face at Frank's
expression of dismay.
"But--how could it ever get up there on the roof?" asked the boy,
though already beginning to feel delighted because his hunt promised to
find its reward so soon, thanks to the brightness of Minnie.
"Some lark of the lads. You see, sor, there do be two big derricks
hanging out from the front of the building. They must have hitched the
boat to the ropes, and hauled it up that way, pulling it in like we do
the steel girders."
"Girls, wait outside for me, will you. I must go up and see for myself.
Tell any of the fellows you see, and spread the news that the boat has
been found," and Frank made a bolt for the ladder, followed by the
foreman, and some of the men, who may have heard enough to have their
curiosity excited.
"Oh! I do hope it hasn't been injured in any way," said Minnie, as she
and her chum passed hastily out to look for messengers to send off with
the glorious news that meant so much to Columbia High fellows.
"So do I, because Frank has set his heart on winning that race
to-morrow, and I want to see him do it. I know he will, unless
something happens to break up their plans. Did you ever hear of
such a mean thing! The idea of that beautiful boat being pulled up
like a nasty old girder, and left lying on the roof of a six-story
sky-scraper! No wonder we couldn't find it," laughed Minnie.
Meanwhile Frank had managed to climb the last ladder. As he came out
upon the top of the new building, from whence such an elegant view
could be obtained of all the surrounding country, the only thing he had
eyes for was the long object that rested about the center of the flat
roof.
Sure enough it was the missing boat!
Frank rushed over alongside, his heart, figuratively speaking, in his
mouth. Had those vandals injured the precious cedar craft, a fine
example of the up-to-date boat-builder's art.
He went from one end to the other, and when he failed to discover
anything that looked like damage, he sighed with satisfaction. If this
were all, he might even find it in his heart to forgive the prank,
though it had cost him nearly an hour of agonizing anxiety.
In a few words, he explained to the foreman how much depended on that
boat being lowered safely to the ground.
"Can you get your men to do it for us? I will promise five dollars
from the boat club, to be divided among them, if they lower it without
banging the sides. It's almost like paper, you see, and one hard knock
would punch a hole in it, which we'd have no time to fix up before
the race. Please do all you can. We need this boat on the river this
morning the worst way," Frank said; and his plea met with a hearty and
instantaneous response at the hands of the obliging Irishman.
"Sure, we kin do it, and, depind on it, we wull. Wait till I get some
more of me min up to handle the derricks, and thin it's over in a
jiffy," he replied, turning to beckon to others, who were climbing the
ladders.
"Be very careful, please, boys; don't let it touch anywhere," Frank
said, as the men began to carry the crated boat over to the front of
the building.
When he saw it swinging free, and ready to be lowered, Frank made to
descend the ladders himself.
"It'll be down on the strate as soon as yersilf, sor," said the foreman.
"Glad to hear it, and I won't forget what I promised, either," returned
the boy.
"Sure that wasn't naded to make us turn in to hilp. We expect to say
that race pulled, ivery man of us, and we wish ye the best luck ever,"
was what he heard the obliging foreman say, as he vanished.
And, sure enough, when Frank issued from the building, there lay the
boat, with several excited and cheering boys grouped around it, waving
their caps like mad; while Helen and Minnie stood by, laughing and
clapping their hands.
There was no trouble about finding recruits to carry the crated shell
down to the river. All the way along the streets, shouts attested to
the interest the citizens of Columbia felt in the recovery of the
missing boat. Men stopped to look and ask questions, and on hearing the
story, laughed, as memory, perhaps, carried them back to some similar
college prank; for the boys of to-day are built on the same model of
those who went to school many years ago.
And by the time the boathouse was reached, quite a mob surrounded the
bearers of the wonderful eight-oared shell that had been found reposing
on the roof of the sky-scraper, "looking over the course of the race,
so as to get posted," as Lanky declared, when he came running up and
heard the wonderful news.
Eager hands removed the crate piecemeal. Then the burlap was taken
away, while a score of watchful eyes scrutinized every part of the
beautifully polished surface, fearing to find that some damage had been
done in all this handling. But as the last piece was cast aside a shout
went up that told of relief.
"Not even a scratch!" announced Frank, hugging Buster in his gratitude,
an operation which the fat student evidently hardly enjoyed, judging
from the strenuous manner in which he struggled to release himself from
the encircling arms.
"What d'ye take me for?" he shouted; "go and find the right one,
and don't practice on me;" but in another second Buster was helping
to raise a clamor such as had not been heard around the town since
Columbia took that last hotly-contested game from Bellport in the
three-school baseball league.
"Let's launch her, fellows," advocated one eager member of the crew.
And so the boat was slid into the water, under the direction of Coach
Willoughby, who had arrived on the ground and heard the whole strange
story, which revived recollections in the mind of the old Princeton
graduate that brought many a smile to his face.
Coach Willoughby the boys called him. He was a visitor at Columbia
and deeply interested in everything that pertained to sports. He had
only too gladly taken the baseball team in hand, drilling them in such
manner that they improved vastly over their former playing; and it was
partly due to his work that Columbia High had won the pennant from
their dangerous rival, Bellport.
Then the boat races and water carnival coming off so soon afterward the
gentleman was easily persuaded to remain over the Fourth, and assist
the oarsmen in getting into a winning stride, a task that appealed to
his heart, filled again with memories of former lusty days.
The boathouse was the busiest place in all Columbia that morning.
Dozens of muscular lads were stripped and rigged out for business, for
everyone had to take advantage of the opportunity to get in some last
good work before the final day.
Coach Willoughby had his hands full. He seemed to be in a dozen places
at the same time, calling through his megaphone to a crew that was
dashing up the river with measured stroke, talking to a single sculler
whose method of rowing did not appeal to the practiced eye of the old
athlete; or perhaps getting into one of the smaller craft himself to
illustrate a point.
Frank had his crew out for an hour, and they showed such a marked
improvement in the new boat that his heart beat high with anticipation
of the morrow.
"This afternoon at four all be on hand. We're going to take our last
spin then over the whole course, and the coach means to time us. Then
we'll get a tip as to what chance we have," said Frank, as they came
ashore, and lifting the precious shell carried it to its berth inside
the big boathouse.
"I know one thing," said Lanky, aside, as he and Frank came out again,
after resuming their street clothes.
"What might that be?" asked Frank, smiling, for he could guess fairly
well.
"I'm going to stay down here at the boathouse to-night, that's the
truth. Any miserable cub who would try to upset a couple of fellows in
the water and then go off laughing; and later on steal their new boat
and hoist it to the top of that sky-scraper, isn't to be trusted. I
believe something would happen to our boat if we left it unprotected."
"Well, perhaps you're right, old chap;" smiled Frank, "but I object to
you staying here."
"Why?" demanded Lanky, in an aggrieved tone.
"Because every member of my crew has got to sleep at home to-night, and
get as good a rest as he can. What would you be fit for if you prowled
around all night. You'd be like a dishrag in the morning, and give out
before we turned the end of old Rattail Island. If anybody has to watch
let it be Buster, or some fellow who is not going to row in the races,"
declared Frank.
"I guess you're correct, Frank, as usual. I'll interest Buster in my
idea then," and Lanky hurried away to overtake the fat student, who
had started for home after floundering around in a tub for an hour, he
being entered as a contestant in one of those humorous races.
Frank was about to follow suit, as it was nearing noon, when he
discovered someone beckoning to him.
"Why, it's Ralph West," he said to himself as he headed toward the
lad who seemed to desire his company; "and he looks troubled. I
wonder if he has had bad news from across the water. He's been up to
the post-office for that half-past eleven mail; and I shouldn't be
surprised if he had taken a letter out. Poor fellow! I wish his affairs
were straightened out. Hello! Ralph, what's in the wind now?" he asked
aloud, as he drew near the younger lad standing there.