Tom, Dick, and Harriet
[Illustration: At the finish]
Tom, Dick, and Harriet
By
Ralph Henry Barbour
Author of “The Crimson Sweater,” “The Half-Back,”
“For the Honor of the School,” etc.
With Illustrations
By C. M. Relyea
[Illustration]
New York
The Century Co.
1907
Copyright, 1907, by
THE CENTURY CO.
THE DE VINNE PRESS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I A MEETING ON THE ICE 3
II DICK SOMES IS PERSONALLY CONDUCTED 18
III THE BRAND FROM THE BURNING 32
IV THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT SCHEME 52
V THE F. H. S. I. S. HOLDS A MEETING 75
VI ON THE ICE AND THROUGH 94
VII HARRY EVENS OLD SCORES 107
VIII THE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY HAS A SETBACK 130
IX ON THE TRAIL 147
X FOILED! 160
XI THE ADVENTURES OF ESTRELLA 177
XII THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED 200
XIII THE _BOREAS_ TAKES THE ICE 223
XIV THE DOCTOR INTERVENES 242
XV THE RACE OF THE ICE-BOATS 259
XVI FORMING THE TRACK TEAM 275
XVII THE TREASURY IS LOOTED 289
XVIII THE SOCIETY AWAITS RESULTS 308
XIX METHUSELAH SUBSCRIBES TO THE FUND 319
XX GOSSIP AND A MEETING 331
XXI MR. KEARNEY MAKES AN OFFER 342
XXII FERRY HILL VS. HAMMOND 358
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
At the finish _Frontispiece_
PAGE
“‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Break your strap?’” 7
“‘Where do I live, do you suppose?’ he asked” 41
The imaginary letter 47
A meeting of the Ferry Hill School Improvement Society 71
“‘Mama, you mustn’t see!’ she cried. ‘It’s a secret!’” 77
“Harry caught her sweater by the end of one sleeve and tossed
it toward him” 111
“There was a full attendance of the Improvement Society” 123
“‘I’m Sherlock Holmes’” 149
“They scuttled hurriedly to the side of the road and subsided
in the bushes” 167
“‘That’s the Insane Asylum’” 193
“‘Ah, there!’” 209
The launching 231
“A half-mile away was the finish line” 271
Work out of doors 291
“‘It’s gone,’ wailed Harry” 305
“‘And something else, too!’” 381
TOM, DICK, AND HARRIET
CHAPTER I
A MEETING ON THE ICE
There had been almost a week of zero weather and the Hudson River in
the neighborhood of Coleville and Ferry Hill was frozen hard and fast
from shore to shore. They were cutting ice below Coleville, and Dick
Somes had watched them for some time before crossing the river in the
teeth of a bitter east wind and reaching the shelter of the opposite
shore. There, with the trees protecting him from the icy blast, he
turned up-stream once more and skated more leisurely along the margin.
It was the middle of an afternoon in early January, to be exact, the
third day of the new year; and overhead sunlight and clouds held
alternate sway. But the sun, already nearing the summit of the distant
hills, held little warmth even when it managed to escape for a moment
from the flying banks of cloud, and Dick, accustomed though he was to
the intense cold of the western mountains and prairies, was glad to
escape for a while from that biting wind which apparently entertained
not the slightest respect for his clothing and which numbed him through
and through.
The river was nearly deserted. Directly across from him, nearly a
half-mile away, a few skaters were to be seen keeping to the smooth ice
near shore. A mile below black specks moved about in front of the big
ice-houses. But for the rest, Dick had the river to himself. Or, at
least, so he thought until, rounding a slight curve, he caught sight
of a figure seated on the edge of the bank. Perhaps the wind whipping
the tops of the trees drowned the ring of Dick’s skates, or perhaps
the girl with the brown sweater, gray skirt and white tam-o’-shanter
was too much absorbed with the broken skate strap in her hand to heed
anything else. At least, she was unaware of Dick’s approach, and so
that youth had ample opportunity to observe his discovery as he skated
slowly along.
Under the white tam-o’-shanter was a good deal of very red hair,
and under the red hair was a pretty, healthy face with rosy cheeks,
an impertinent little up-tilted nose, a pair of clear blue eyes and
a small mouth which, just at this moment, was pursed in a pout of
annoyance to match the frown on her forehead. The hanging skate and the
broken strap told their tale and Dick, on his way past, wheeled and
slid up to the distressed maiden.
“Hello,” he said. “Break your strap?”
The girl looked up with a start and studied him a moment in silence.
Then she tossed the longer piece of the offending leather to him and
he caught it deftly.
“Yes,” she said, “just look at the old thing! And I haven’t another and
I’m half a mile from home. Roy told me I ought to have the other kind
of skates and you can just wager I’m going to after this!”
“Well, you could have one of my straps,” answered Dick, “only I don’t
wear them.”
“Yes, and I could pick one off the trees only they don’t grow there,”
she answered sharply. Dick laughed and in a moment the girl joined him.
“I dare say it’s a joke,” she said, “but when you come out to skate you
don’t just like to have to sit on a rock and hold your foot in your
hand.”
“Oh, I can fix you up,” said Dick carelessly. “Here, wait a minute.” He
drew off his gloves, tossed them with the broken strap on to the bank
and drew the neck of his sweater down. “Out our way we generally mend
things with barbed wire, but there doesn’t seem to be any handy, so I
guess this’ll do until you get home.” With a final tug he brought forth
a blue four-in-hand necktie and held it forth.
[Illustration: “‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Break your strap?’”]
“But--but that’s your tie!” protested the girl.
“Yes, but I don’t need it. Besides, it’s old.”
“It looks brand-new,” answered the girl.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Put your foot out, please.”
“But it’ll spoil it, won’t it?” she asked.
“Don’t care if it does. I’ve got lots more, and I never liked this one
anyhow.”
“Well--” She put out the foot with the disabled skate and Dick
substituted the blue necktie for the broken strap. When the skate was
once more firmly in place and a nice blue bow-knot adorned the instep
of her shoe the girl broke into laughter.
“Isn’t it lovely?” she cried, wriggling her foot around and viewing it
at all angles. “Think of wearing neckties on your feet! I do wish I had
one for the other foot too!”
“Sorry I haven’t any more,” laughed Dick. “How would a handkerchief do?”
She shook her head.
“No, I tried using my handkerchief, but it wasn’t big enough. Cold,
isn’t it?”
“Awfully.” She got to her feet and tried the skate. It held well and
she turned a grateful countenance to Dick. “I’m very much obliged,”
she said sweetly; “and I’ll send the tie to you--or another one like
it--when I get home. Do you live around here? I’ve never seen you
before, I guess.”
“Oh, never mind,” he answered. “I don’t want it. You’ll have to go kind
of easy with it, though, I guess, or it’ll get loose.” He rescued his
gloves and drew them on his chilled fingers. “I’ll go along with you,
if you like, in case it comes undone.”
“I asked you a question,” she replied imperiously. He looked at her
amusedly.
“Oh, so you did,” he said. “You asked if I lived around here, didn’t
you?” The girl’s head went into the air and the corners of her mouth
came down.
“If you don’t care to answer, I’m sure you needn’t,” she said
haughtily. Dick laughed.
“Oh, I don’t mind. I live over there.” He nodded across the river. “I’m
at Hammond Academy.”
“Oh,” said the girl. “You talk as though you weren’t ashamed of it!”
“Ashamed of it?” he repeated in a puzzled way. “Why should I be? Isn’t
Hammond all right?”
“For those who like it,” she replied.
“Then you don’t like it,” he laughed. “Why not?”
“Because--because--” She stopped and drew the collar of her brown
sweater higher about her neck. “I’m going now,” she announced. “I don’t
think you need come. I’m very much obliged. And I’ll send the necktie
to you at Hammond.”
“Who are you going to send it to?” he asked.
“Oh! That’s so, who is it? I don’t want to know your name, but if you
like to tell me--”
He shook his head.
“I saw you first,” he said. “You tell me your name and then I’ll tell
you mine.”
The girl in the brown sweater had started off and Dick had taken his
place beside her. For a moment they skated in silence. Then:
“I’m Harry Emery,” she announced.
“Oh,” he answered indifferently. “And do you live around here?” She
turned upon him in surprise.
“You’re just pretending!” she said after a moment’s examination of his
countenance.
“Pretending what?”
“That you don’t know who I am. Why, every Hammond boy knows the girl
that beat their best skater last winter!”
“Did you do that?” he asked in admiration. “I’ll bet you couldn’t do it
this winter.”
“Why not?” she demanded.
“Because I don’t believe you could beat me.”
“Want to try it?” she challenged. He shook his head.
“Not while you’ve got one skate strapped on with a necktie,” he
answered. “But if you think you’d like a race some time you let me
know.”
She looked him over speculatively and what she saw must have impressed
her a little, for there was a note of uncertainty in her voice when she
said:
“I guess I could beat you, Mr. Conceit. I beat Schonberg last winter.
Can you skate faster than he can?”
“I don’t know. I never saw him.”
“Never saw him!” she cried. “How long have you been at Hammond?”
“Since about this time yesterday,” he replied smilingly.
“Oh!” she said. “You’ve just come? You weren’t there in the fall?”
He shook his head.
“Just got here yesterday afternoon and wish I was back where I came
from,” he answered cheerfully. “There’s only about a dozen fellows over
there and they’re the no-accountest lot I ever did see. I didn’t know
when the new term began and so I just moseyed up here to find out. It
doesn’t start until the day after to-morrow. Maybe by that time I’ll
get sick of it and pull my freight for home.”
“Run away, do you mean?” asked Harry Emery breathlessly.
“Oh, no, just change my mind. I haven’t paid my tuition yet, and I
guess I could light out if I wanted to, any time before school begins.
And I’ve got a good mind to do it.”
“Serves you right for not going to a--well, another school!” said the
girl.
“I suppose so. But I didn’t know. Dad’s lawyer in New York knew about
Hammond and said it was all right. So I came up. Maybe I’ll like it
better when the rest of the fellows get back.”
“No, you won’t,” answered Harry decidedly. “Why didn’t you come to our
school?”
Dick looked amused.
“Is it a girl’s school?” he asked.
“Of course not, silly! It’s Ferry Hill, and everybody who knows
anything says it’s the best school around here; the best school
anywhere!”
“Oh, boys and girls both, eh? I don’t think I’d like that.”
“But it isn’t!”
“Isn’t it? But if you go there--?”
“I don’t go to school there; I just live there. My father is the
Principal.”
“Oh, now I savvy,” said Dick. “Where is it? Is it nice? I’d like to
take a look at it.”
“It’s just up here a bit further,” answered Harry. “You can see it from
Hammond. Haven’t you noticed?” Dick shook his head.
“It’s on a hill,” continued Harry, “and you would have seen it if you
weren’t blind. It’s the nicest school there is, and the boys are dandy.
And we can beat Hammond at anything--foot-ball, base-ball, tennis,
hock--well, not hockey, maybe, but we’ve only played one year; but
we’ll beat them this year, at that, too!”
“Sounds like the real thing,” laughed Dick. “How big is it!”
“Well, it’s smaller than Hammond,” Harry acknowledged grudgingly, “but
it--it’s more select! There are forty-two boys this year; there were
forty-three last season when Otto Ferris was here.”
“What happened to him?” asked Dick.
“He got sick and went home. I’m glad of it; I hate him.”
“I tell you what you do,” said Dick after a moment. “You show me what
your school is like. Maybe if I get any more soured on Hammond I’ll
skate over with my trunk and try Ferry Hill.”
“Do you mean it?” cried Harry.
“Why not?”
“But--but you couldn’t!”
“Oh, yes I could. I can do as I like, I guess.”
“But they wouldn’t let you!”
“Who wouldn’t let me?”
“They--them--over at Hammond!”
“I’d like to see them try and stop me,” answered Dick with a laugh.
“I haven’t entered their school yet, you know, and I don’t owe them
anything but a day’s board and lodging. You produce your school, Miss
Emery, and I’ll look it over.”
“And if you like it you’ll come?” cried Harry, her blue eyes dancing.
Dick hesitated, then:
“Yes, I’ll come if I like it!” he answered.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Come on, then!” cried Harry. “I’ll race you to the boat-house!”