THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE ICE
OR
Out for the Hockey Championship
BY GRAHAM B. FORBES
AUTHOR OF "THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH," "THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH
ON THE DIAMOND," ETC.
_ILLUSTRATED_
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
The Boys of Columbia High Series
BY GRAHAM B. FORBES
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price, per volume,
50 cents, postpaid._
THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH
Or The All Around Rivals of the School
THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE DIAMOND
Or Winning Out by Pluck
THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE RIVER
Or The Boat Race Plot That Failed
THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE GRIDIRON
Or The Struggle for the Silver Cup
THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE ICE
Or Out for the Hockey Championship
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY
GROSSET & DUNLAP
_The Boys of Columbia High on the Ice_
CONTENTS
I. RULE OR RUIN
II. THE CLIFFORD SEVEN GET A CHALLENGE
III. BILL
IV. WHEN THE ATHLETIC COMMITTEE MET
V. LANKY'S HARD LUCK
VI. WHEN BRUTUS CHANGED HIS MIND
VII. FORCED TO PLAY
VIII. UP AGAINST THE OUTCAST SEVEN
IX. THE THREE CHUMS
X. LANKY BRINGS NEWS
XI. STILL A MYSTERY
XII. THE HEADWATERS OF THE HARRAPIN
XIII. WHAT THE SMOKE MEANT
XIV. THE VOLUNTEER FIRE LADDIES
XV. THE OLD FARMER'S SECRET
XVI. DOWN THE RIVER
XVII. LANKY'S LUCKY DAY
XVIII. THE PUZZLE SOLVED
XIX. FOUND AT LAST
XX. SUCH A GLORIOUS DAY
XXI. THE CAMPFIRE ON RATTAIL ISLAND
XXII. SURPRISING CLIFFORD
XXIII. THE GREAT VICTORY--CONCLUSION
THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE ICE
CHAPTER I
RULE OR RUIN
"Hi! there, Frank! Don't you want to take a little spin with me aboard
my new ice-boat?"
"Why, hello Lanky, is that the _Humming Bird_ you've been building
on the sly?" and Frank Allen as he spoke, looked up from his task of
locking a glittering skate to his shoe.
"Ain't she a corker, though?" demanded the proud owner and builder,
Lanky Wallace, as he sprawled upon the framework of his strange craft,
with its sails flapping in the breeze.
"Well, honest Injun, Lanky," observed Frank, with a smile, "I can't say
that she's a beauty so far as looks go; but I like her lines, and it
strikes me that she ought to be a hustler to get along."
"That's just what she is, a regular screamer. I'm sorry I called her by
such a modest little name, for she deserves a better. Drop aboard, and
see if she doesn't outshine the boat I made last winter," continued the
ice sailor, eagerly.
"Sorry, but another time will have to do," replied Frank, seeming to
hesitate as though deciding between pleasure and duty.
"Why not now?" tempted the other, artfully; "the sun is good for nearly
an hour, and there's more'n half a moon up yonder. Say yes, Frank. It's
seldom we have the ice like this; and there's some breeze, though not
all I'd like. Come right along!"
"The trouble is," explained Frank, with a sigh, "I've just got to skate
up to Clifford before dark. The athletic committee of Columbia High had
a meeting this afternoon, and commissioned me to carry a challenge up
to the boys of Clifford High. So you see I must be off."
"What's that? A challenge for what? Don't tell me we're going to rub up
against those nifty hockey boys, who have cleaned out everything on the
Harrapin these last four years, until they crow like the cock of the
walk?" and Lanky threw up both hands to indicate intense excitement.
"That's just what it means; and now you understand what all that
practice with our team has been standing for," returned the boy who sat
on the bank, as he again bent over his skates.
"But hold on," cried Lanky, "what's to hinder our whirling up the river
to Clifford on this same contraption? Why, we can beat your best time
on runners to flinders. No more arguing now, but hop aboard, and we're
off!"
Frank looked up, gauged the breeze, glanced along the smooth stretch of
ice on which some dozens of Columbia boys and girls were gliding hither
and thither; and immediately unfastened the one skate he had clamped
tight.
"I'll go you, old fellow! It's too good a chance to be lost; and I'm
anxious to find out whether this new boat is better than the old
_Hurricane_ you had last winter. Make room there!" with which remark he
cleared the distance separating the shore line from the ice-boat, and
threw himself down beside the skipper.
As they began to move off under the influence of the dying breeze a
number of the skaters gave utterance to loud cries, and made out as if
about to give them a race. The fleetest of them quickly fell astern,
however, and presently a bend in the river shut them completely out of
sight.
While Frank and his chum are thus whirling up the Harrapin River toward
the town of Clifford, some miles above, it may pay us to cast just a
fleeting glance backward, and see who these lads were, and what aims
and ambitions influenced their actions.
The Harrapin boasted of three progressive towns along its banks,
each ranging from seven to twenty thousand inhabitants. Columbia was
the largest, though Bellport some eight miles further down the river
possessed numerous factories, and was a business community.
Each town had its own high school, that of Columbia being especially
famous on account of its almost perfect equipment. Between the scholars
of the three seats of learning there naturally arose a most persistent
rivalry, and from year to year this was carried on in all the sports
which up-to-date American boys enjoy.
In the first volume of this series, "Boys of Columbia High; or, The All
Around Rivals of the School" will be found many interesting, as well
as thrilling, encounters, in which victory was only won after a bitter
struggle.
With the coming of balmy Spring the sports of course took on an outdoor
flavor, and consequently the second story had to deal with that truly
American National sport, baseball, under the title of "The Boys of
Columbia High On the Diamond; or Winning Out By Pluck."
The arrival of a new eight-oared shell for the boat club of the school
brought both delight and alarm in its train. If you want to experience
all the sensation of being present on the beautiful Harrapin on that
Glorious Fourth when the wonderful water carnival was celebrated, and
read of the astonishing things that happened to the rival students,
then read the third volume of the series, which is called "The Boys of
Columbia High On the River; or, The Boat Race Plot That Failed."
Vacation over, and with the coming of the two hundred and fifty
scholars back to the charge of Professor Tyson Parke and his able
assistants, of course the tang of the sharp, early Fall air brought one
subject forward. What this was you can readily guess by the title of
the fourth book in the series, preceding the present volume: "The Boys
of Columbia High On the Gridiron; or The Struggle for the Silver Cup."
Frank Allen was the son of the proprietor of Columbia's great
department store. He had one sister, Helen, just a couple of years
younger than himself. Lanky Wallace, who had played a prominent part in
all the sports through which the school had this year won imperishable
renown, was the son of a banker, who was also a lawyer, and meant to
follow in his father's footsteps later on.
When the bend above Columbia had been turned, there lay a pretty
straight course up to Rattail Island, which was situated about half way
between Frank's home town and Clifford. There was not a single skater
in sight, as the afternoon had waned, and the lapse of time had caused
a gradual retreat to a point nearer home.
"Hurrah!" shouted Lanky, as he guided the spinning craft along over the
even surface of the famous little stream; "isn't this the limit? We own
the whole river! How does she compare with the clumsy old _Hurricane_,
Frank?"
"Not at all," came the quick reply.
"Why, whatever do you mean?" gasped the disappointed builder,
reproachfully.
"There isn't any comparison," laughed Frank, "she's in a class by
herself, Lanky! Given some breeze, and I reckon she'd just hit the high
places of the ice. She's like a thistledown floating along. You've sure
gone and done it with this dandy craft."
"Bully for you, old fellow! You make me feel good all over. Say, what's
that?" and Lanky stretched his neck in the effort to see ahead.
"Looks like a sail behind that point. As sure as you live it's moving!
There's another ice-boat coming out at a whooping pace!" exclaimed
Frank, his voice filled with both satisfaction and wonder.
"Wow! now, what do you think of that for luck? Why, of course it's Lef
Seller and his blessed tub the _Harrapin Flier_! He beat me every time
last year, and he's just been laying for me in that cove, meaning to
show me a clean pair of heels to-day. It's going to be a race, Frank!
There he comes out, and he's got Bill Klemm along with him, as usual!"
"He's heading up the river, Lanky. That's a challenge for you. Are you
going to stand for it?" demanded Frank, who, like the vast majority of
boys, never liked to let a plain dare pass by without accepting it.
"Watch me haul up on him hand over fist! Before we're past Rattail
Island this little darling is going to make the _Harrapin Flier_ look
like thirty cents. She's a has-been, and belongs to a slow age!" said
the skipper, jauntily.
He shifted his weight and asked Frank to do the same. In so doing the
result was immediately shown in an accelerated pace on the part of the
ice-boat; either that, or else a slant of fresh wind caught her sail,
coming from out behind that same cove where the rival craft had been
hidden.
Up the river they flew like a pair of frightened gulls; only such salt
water birds were never seen around the neighborhood of Columbia.
Both skippers seemed to be jockeying for all the advantage there was to
be had in position. The river was well known to Lanky, and he had been
over this course so many times in every kind of water craft that he was
familiar with each little turn; and not only the sweep of the current
in summer, but the passages in the wooded shores through which squalls
of wind might be expected to swoop down.
"We're gaining!" declared Frank, almost immediately, when both
ice-boats had taken a straight-away course, so that comparisons could
be made.
[Illustration: "WE'RE GAINING!" DECLARED FRANK.]
"Are we? I should say yes, and just creeping up on the duffer so fast
that he'll soon look like he's standing still! Why, I could cut circles
around that ancient tub. To the woodpile with her, Lef; that's all
she's good for!" and he raised his voice in a taunting shout that must
have stung the ears of the chagrined owner of the rival boat.
"They're trying to move around some, I notice; shifting their ballast
to coax a little more speed out of the thing," announced Frank, quickly.
"No good trying. I've got the Injun sign on that boat, as sure as
you're born. This pays up for all his joshing last year. _Now_ will you
be good, Lef? You had an idea you would show me up, hey? Well, you've
got another think coming, that's all."
They were now so close to the leading ice-boat that even an ordinary
call could have been heard. Lef, who was quite a stalwart lad, did not
dare look back, for fear lest he lost control of his craft, which was
flying along at quite some speed, considering the light breeze. But
his companion kept tab on all the movements of the pursuer, and posted
him constantly.
"There's the island ahead, Lanky. Which channel are you going to take?"
asked the passenger of the _Humming Bird_.
"The one to the left of course," came the ready reply. "Think me so
green as that, with the breeze coming from the west? A fellow would get
blanketed by the trees on the island if he chose the other side. And
ten to one Lef knows that too. See, I told you so; he's already heading
that way."
"But that channel is only half as wide as the other, and unless you are
mighty careful you'll come to a bad end in there. I hope we don't try
to pass Lef before we get up above the island," added Frank, with a
suspicion of impending trouble making itself felt in his voice, though
as a rule he seldom winced when difficulties arose.
"We're climbing up on him fast," declared Lanky, grinning, "but I don't
think we'll pass him while in the narrow part of the river; so there
ain't going to be any mix-up, unless----"
"Unless what?" asked his chum, instantly.
"He might be mad enough to want to upset us in a heap, hoping to smash
my jolly little new boat. It would be just like Lef Seller, and his
rule or ruin policy of running things. All the same I don't take that
other passage, and let him crow over me; nixy not. Now for it, my
hearty!"
The island was at hand, looming up gloomy and forbidding on the right.
At that moment the pursuing boat did not seem to be more than a dozen
feet behind the one in the lead, and with every second even this
distance was being wiped out.
"Watch him!" exclaimed Frank, as he felt sure he saw a furtive movement
on the part of the tricky skipper of the _Harrapin Flier_ that told of
desperation.
Hardly had the words left his lips than Lanky gave a shout. There was
reason for excitement, yes, and even consternation; for Lef Sellers,
knowing that his ice-boat could no longer be looked upon as the queen
of the river, had deliberately thrown his tiller in such fashion that
the craft just ahead swerved from her course and was thrown directly
across the bows of the oncoming _Humming Bird_.
A crash was inevitable, despite the frantic efforts of Lanky Wallace
to avoid a collision that might mean the wrecking of his jaunty little
craft even in the moment of her triumph!