WHEN THE ATHLETIC COMMITTEE MET
"Wrecked in sight of port! Was there ever such luck?" groaned Lanky
Wallace, as he picked himself up, having rolled off the tilting
ice-boat upon the smooth surface of the frozen Harrapin.
Frank was already scrambling to his feet.
"Well, I declare, that's mighty funny!" he was muttering; as he looked
at the wreck of the once proud and towering mast, now dragging over the
side of the sadly demoralized craft.
"What hit us? You see we're away off from the shore, and for the life
of me I can't see any rock or other obstruction on the ice. It's as
smooth as velvet back where we tumbled. And that mast was strong enough
to hold a big blow. Can you get on to the secret, Frank?" begged Lanky,
rubbing his elbow ruefully.
"The thing upset, all right, but didn't you notice that she seemed to
rear up like a horse on its hind legs. Say, come back here a little
to where it happened. We've been carried past, on account of our
momentum. Now, this was about the very spot where the cyclone struck
us," and Frank drew his chum along until they had retreated a dozen or
more yards.
"Well, show me! I must be blind, for outside of that rug which we
dumped, bless my eyes if I can see anything here that would kick us
that way," and rubbing his knuckles into his eyes Lanky stared around.
"That's so, as far as the ice is concerned; but I think I've caught on
to the answer to the puzzle," remarked Frank, with a touch of sudden
anger in his voice.
"Then tell me about it. I'm just dying for information. It's bad enough
to be worrying about that Bill mystery without having another shoved
on me. What turned us turtle, and snapped off my beautiful mast like a
pipe stem, eh?"
"Look up and see!" remarked Frank, grimly.
No sooner had the startled Lanky done so than he gave utterance to a
cry of astonishment and chagrin.
"Why, what's that? As sure as I live it looks like a cable stretched
across the river in this narrow place. How did we ever come to miss it
before when we came up?" he ejaculated.
"We didn't have to. You know as well as I do that if that cable had
been there we'd have seen it; and neither of us did," replied Frank,
gravely.
"Do you mean--ginger! somebody must have put it there since we went up!
Is that what you mean, Frank?" cried Lanky.
"Doesn't it stand to reason? Perhaps you might even guess who'd be most
likely to play such a nasty trick as this?" went on the other.
"Lef Seller and Bill Klemm! Of course it was them! They knew we'd be
coming back this way, and meant to upset us, perhaps smash my boat.
Where'd they ever get the cable, do you suppose?" Lanky asked, perhaps
a trifle stunned by the enormity of the prank indulged in by those
under discussion.
"Wake up, Lanky, and think," said Frank, energetically. "Don't you see,
we're directly opposite the quarries where the brown stone is taken out
in summer? The place is shut up now, but under a shed a lot of material
is lying. I can remember seeing a strong wire cable there that was used
for something. Lef knew about it too, and I suppose the idea flashed
into his scheming brain to use it in upsetting your boat."
"He did it, all right; broke my mast off, seems like, or wrecked it
anyway. I'd just like to hammer him for this. Why, what if the thing
had smashed down on our heads, it might have cracked our cocos!"
exclaimed the other, in indignation.
"Lef seldom considers what a serious result may follow, when he sets
about carrying out a joke. Remember the time he cut the electric light
wires when we were having that entertainment in the big school hall,
leaving the audience in the dark? Came near having a panic then that
might have been terrible. Well, what are we going to do about it,
Lanky?"
"Let's take a look at the mast. If it can be put up temporarily perhaps
we can wiggle home yet with decency. Otherwise I guess it's a case of
push with us," and the angry skipper of the wrecked craft hurried back
to take a reckoning.
"Give us a hand here, Frank; I'm going to try to see if it can be stuck
in once more, strong enough to hold out. There she goes up! Now, a
little this way, and hold steady while I chuck in a few wedges to grip
her."
"She seems to stand pretty good," remarked Frank, presently.
"Sure as you're born; and we're going to get home under our own steam,
as we'd say if we had a boat that ran that way. Well, we're some lucky,
after all. The fellow who never has an accident deserves little credit;
but those who meet with all sorts of trouble, and conquer, ought to get
special mention. And we belong to that class to-night, with our two
collisions," and Lanky patted himself on the chest in appreciation.
"Hear! hear! Never were truer words spoken in jest. And if this sort
of luck only follows us all through our career when we get out in the
big world, there's nothing on earth going to keep us from bringing the
bacon home," Frank observed.
"All aboard again then, passengers for Columbia! I'm getting ravenously
hungry, and my folks will be sending to the police to look for me under
the ice if I don't show up soon. Ready, Frank? Then off we go!"
"Better luck this time. Be ready for anything unexpected; for when that
Lef Seller starts in to doing stunts he never knows when to stop. I'm
going to watch overhead, and you keep close tabs on the ice, Lanky."
But they met with no new adventure, and after a little the ice-boat was
brought safely into the cove where Lanky had a house in which he could
place his novel craft, after unstepping the mast.
"I'll get at it in the morning, and repair damages," he remarked, as he
locked the door after stowing things away.
"It's been a pretty lively afternoon, all told," remarked Frank.
"I should say so, what with that race, the deliberate attempt to bust
my boat into flinders, the acceptance of the challenge, and our meeting
with that upset on the way home. Then there's that plagued mystery
hanging over Bill. Wish I could only say it right out, Bill, who? I
guess I'm a punk hand to solve riddles, when I can't even remember a
name."
"Perhaps you'll have it revealed to you in a dream to-night," suggested
Frank, humorously, and digging his companion in the ribs.
"Well, stranger things have happened. I'll be thinking of it when I
drop on my downy couch, all right," grumbled the other, who took the
matter seriously.
"Why, a fellow would think the fate of nations depended on your
remembering just where you happened to meet that tramp before. It's
funny how you carry on, Lanky, old boy. Tell me when you suddenly see a
great light, won't you?"
"Sure," avowed Lanky immediately, "if it happens in the night I'll ring
you up on the 'phone and just whisper 'Bill--but Bill who?' Was sure I
had it then, but it slipped a cog again on me. I suppose you'll call
up the committee after supper, and arrange a meeting to hand over the
acceptance to our challenge?"
"That's the programme. The boys will be pleased too, for they seem to
have gotten an idea in their heads that we've actually a chance to
beat Clifford at their own game," answered his chum.
"Well, what's the matter, don't you think we can do them up?" demanded
Lanky.
"I hope so. Anyhow, we're just going to give them the best that's in
us," was the guarded reply.
Lanky was the impetuous one, and always filled with a positive belief
in his own powers to win out. Frank often had to curb this spirit,
which might have led to disastrous results if allowed full rein. In
his opinion it was far better to never underrate the foe, while at the
same time ready to exert every atom of ability in order to accomplish a
victory.
They separated soon after, each going to his own home. Frank found that
his folks were already at the table, and after hurriedly brushing up he
took his place.
His sister Helen seemed to know where he had gone, for one of the first
things she did was to ask about the success of his mission.
"I brought back the acceptance to our challenge. It's all right," said
Frank, who wondered why Helen was looking at him so strangely.
"I saw you go off with Lanky on his new ice-boat; did it work all
right?" she inquired.
"Fine. We had a race going up, and won, hands down," replied her
brother.
"Which means that you met Lef Seller with his _Flier_. And if you beat
him I guess he didn't take it in any sportsmanlike way?" she continued,
at which Frank laughed.
"You ought to be a lawyer, Helen; you persist in cornering a witness.
Well, then he didn't. In fact he brought about a collision, throwing
his boat squarely across our bows, in the hope that Lanky's craft would
be smashed," he said.
Mr. Allen frowned.
"That boy is the pest of the town. There will never be any peace here
until his father sends him away to some military school, where he can
be taken in hand by a stern martinet, and made to mind. It's the only
hope for him. And did he succeed in his miserable aim, my boy?" he
asked, solicitously.
"There was a wreck, all right, but it happened the shoe was on the
other foot, and the poor old _Flier_ is only fit for the woodpile now.
It's just as well, for Lef would never use her again, after being
overtaken so handsomely by Lanky's new racer. But we hardly had a bit
of trouble, and went on our way, leaving Lef and Bill Klemm breathing
out all sorts of threats," chuckled Frank.
"The little scamp," said Mrs. Allen, indignantly. "Either one of you
might have been seriously injured. Husband, I insist that you see his
father, and enter complaint against him. This has gone far enough, and
should be stopped!"
Frank looked quickly toward his father.
"I hope you won't think it necessary, because among boys, you know, it
is considered a point of honor to take care of their own battles. I'm
going to settle with Lef soon for all I owe him," he said, gravely.
"And did you get that hurt on your left hand when the upset occurred?"
continued Helen, showing that she had been observing what he had sought
to conceal.
Frank turned a little red, and looked confused.
"I see that I might as well confess the whole thing, for there'll be no
rest from her questions. No, that cut came later, while we were on the
way back from Clifford," he said.
"That sounds as though you had another accident. Was that terrible boy
to blame for that, too?" demanded the solicitous sister.
"No doubt of it. Somebody had been so kind as to stretch a wire cable
across the river. They got it in the shed at the quarry. You know the
river is narrow there, and the wire came down to about eight feet or
more above the ice. It wasn't there when we went up; but we ran slap
against it coming down."
"Oh! how awful! And what happened, Frank?" breathed the girl, her eyes
fastened on the laughing face of her brother.
"Oh, we went over, all right. Something had to give, and it was our
mast. We happened to be moving rather slowly at the time, and tacking
across the river, so it fell to one side, and not on us. Of course we
were tumbled off, and I cut the back of my left hand, either on some
sharp ice, or a runner of the boat. After a bit we managed to get the
mast stepped again in a way, and came home."
Mr. Allen shook his head seriously.
"It has got to stop, that's all there is to it. If that vicious boy
keeps on he will do something terrible some day with his pranks."
Nothing more was said, and Frank hoped his father would let the matter
drop. He had his own plans as to how he could settle his long overdue
account with Lef Seller, and believed that the time was nearly ripe for
an accounting.
Calling up some of the school athletic committee, he announced that
he had brought back an acceptance to the challenge. It was quickly
arranged that they come to his house and act upon it that very night.
Time was valuable, since Christmas was almost upon them, and the match
on the ice scheduled to take place on the second day after.
Presently, fellows began to arrive. Mrs. Allen and Helen, as was
customary, prepared some cake and lemonade for refreshments after the
meeting had been dismissed.
Of course there was much satisfaction over the prompt and manly
acceptance of the challenge on the part of their up-river rivals.
"A little bombastic, fellows, don't you think?" remarked Jack Comfort,
who was one of the Columbia Seven, and had likewise done good work in
previous athletic contests that past season.
"Why not? Clifford has a right to feel stuck-up, hasn't she, over the
work of her hockey team?" asked Roderic Seymour. "For five years they
have skated circles around everything along the Harrapin. That's enough
to make them feel proud and invincible. So much the more glory for us
if we succeed in taking them down off their high horse."
Roderic was no longer a student in Columbia High, having graduated
the previous year, and gone to college. He had been made an honorary
member of the athletic committee, and being home a little early for the
holidays, of course was present to join in the consultation.
"We're going to do that same thing, all right," declared the confident
Lanky, who had also come around to the meeting, though not himself
a member of the committee like Ralph West, Bones Shadduck, and Jack
Comfort. "That is, unless I get knocked out before then, and you find
it impossible to fill my place."
"What do you mean, Lanky?" demanded Jack, with a puzzled look.
"I'm nearly taking a fit over not being able to place a fellow I met
to-day. I only know his name as Bill, and for the life of me I can't
make up my mind just where I met him. Say, some of you just rattle off
all the Bills you can think of. A word dropped might give me a clue,
you know, and save me staying awake to-night."
"Well, we've got a whole raft of bills over at our house that you're
welcome to, if they'd be any use to you," laughed Bones Shadduck.
The others began to mention a host of names, most of them boys of the
town, with an occasional business man thrown in; but Lanky listening,
shook his head sadly in the negative, as he remarked:
"No use, fellows; you can't help me out of the hole. I've just got
to crack that old nut myself; and sooner or later I'll do it. Hello!
there's a late comer, just in time to partake of the dregs of the
lemonade, and eat the last bite of cake."
Frank went out of the room, and presently came back holding a letter.
"Here, Mr. Garrison, is a communication addressed to you. It was
brought here because they evidently knew our committee was in session.
Sometimes people listen over the 'phone, and hear a good many things.
As the president of the committee it is up to you to read it first, and
then let us hear."
The old graduate, who still loved Columbia, and served in many
capacities, glanced over the communication, and then laughed out loud.
"Why," he said, "what do you think, boys? It's a challenge to our
hockey team to play a game to-morrow morning!"