CONCLUSION
Then the end came.
Pascal sank back on his seat with a groan when he had put in the
last dip of his paddle that could do any good.
Frantic indeed was the cheering, and now once more came the deafening
screech of whistles.
From the judges' launch, as soon as the din had died down a bit,
came the announcement through a megaphone:
"Gridley High School wins by three quarters of a length."
Dick heard the news, then ordered quietly:
"Paddle---easily."
A turn of his own blade swung the prow around so that the "Scalp-hunter"
glided in toward the hotel landing float.
To-day he had no jubilant mob of Gridleyites to fear in the excess
of their joy. Only some very gentle friends of their own town
came hurrying forward to congratulate them.
But Dr. Bentley gripped Dick's arm as soon as that young man stepped
from the canoe.
"Bring your crew along and follow me, Prescott," whispered the
physician. "You are a limp-looking lot. That was a wild, splendid
finish, but I fear you may have put it too hard to your crew.
I want to examine you all, to make sure that not too much harm
has been done by your desperate 'kill yourself' order."
Dr. Bentley led the way to the boathouse, while a hotel employ
took charge of the "Scalp-hunter."
He listened briefly at each boy's heart, then made them all sit
still for ten minutes. At the end of that time he examined them
again as to heart beat. Half an hour later he made a third examination.
"I don't believe anyone of you has sustained any lasting injury,"
said Dr. Bentley at last. "But, Prescott, don't you ever dare
give a 'kill yourself' order again. That is my order, and an
emphatic one. You may recall that I happen to be medical director
of the Gridley High School Athletic Association. If you youngsters
ever try a pace like that again, then undoubtedly you will all
be disqualified from future athletic events. Don't forget."
After that lecture Dick & Co. were allowed to sponge with hot
water, rub down and put on ordinary clothing. Then they went
forth to meet their friends.
Ted Pascal, however, was the first to rush forward. He had been
waiting for their appearance.
"Prescott, you're a great fellow as a crew captain!" the big
chief of the Trentvilles declared. "I was sure we had you beaten,
and even now I can't imagine how you left us to the rear. But
it was a great race, and I congratulate you!"
"And we all thank you for your good will," Dick answered promptly.
"Truth to tell, Pascal, I thought, too, that you almost had us
beaten."
"Almost?" echoed Ted. "Why not wholly?"
"Because Gridley is never quite beaten. It's our way, you know---one
that was adopted by a past generation of Gridley boys and has
been lived up to ever since."
"I've heard a lot about that 'Gridley way,'" laughed Ted Pascal,
"but to-day was the first time that I've ever had it played on me."
"Do you play football?" asked Dick.
"No."
"Baseball?"
"I tried, but couldn't make the nine," Pascal confessed.
"Then I don't know that you're likely to have the 'Gridley' way
played upon you again not unless you meet some of our girls in
a tennis game."
The two crews mingled, passing some ten minutes in talk and in
good-humored chaff. But at last Dick broke away and drew out
from the canoe talk as he saw Laura, Belle, Susie and the other
girls awaiting them at a point farther up in the hotel grounds.
"I know the girls have been waiting to speak to us," Dick told
his chums, "and they've been mighty kind to us. Come along."
"We thought you would never get around to talking with poor mortals
like us," Laura admitted, as the boys joined the high school
girls.
"It was mainly your father's fault," Dick laughingly, protested.
"How was that?"
"You'll have to ask him. Perhaps we're not at liberty to reveal
what the Athletic Association's medical director had to say to us."
"Especially when it's in the nature of a 'roast,'" added Danny
Grin.
"If my father was severe with any of you I am certain that he
had good reason," replied Laura gravely, though her eyes twinkled.
"But what a splendid race you made against Trentville and at
one time we felt sure that you were beaten."
"We all felt the same way at one time," Tom Reade interjected.
"All except Dick," added Darry. "Why, if anyone were to kill
Dick Prescott, Dick would insist on the fellow coming around the
next day and proving his death."
"It was a splendid race, anyway," Belle glowed. "Do you notice
anything, boys?"
"Where?" asked Tom, looking blankly around.
"Anything about us?" Susie put in.
"Nothing," drawled Tom, "except that you're the finest, daintiest
and sweetest-looking lot of girls we know. But that's true every
other day in the week."
"We didn't ask you anything like that," Susie pouted, "though
doubtless it's all true enough. But don't you notice what we're
all wearing?"
"I think I see what you mean," Greg suggested hopefully. "Each
one of you is wearing the Gridley High School pin."
"Correct!" assented Susie warmly. "But can't you guess why we're
wearing the pins? It's because when Gridley boys can win such
a race as you won to-day it's a real honor to wear the pin."
"And a bigger honor to have it worn on our account," Dick laughed.
"I was waiting to see who would be the first boy to say something
really nice!" cried Clara Marshall.
"Have you heard of any more canoe clubs coming this way---high
school clubs with which you could arrange races?" asked Laura.
"No," said Dick, with a shake of his head. "Even if there were
a dozen coming here I'm afraid we'd have to lose the chance."
"Why?" asked Belle quickly.
"Because we can remain here only two or three days longer."
"Oh, that's a shame," broke in Susie. "Do you really have to
go back to Gridley?"
"Yes," said Dick solemnly.
"Is the reason one that you may properly tell us?" Laura inquired.
"It's one that we're not ashamed of, because we can't help it,"
Prescott rejoined. "Our vacation up here is nearly at an end
just because our funds are in the same plight---nearly at an end,
you see."
"Oh, what a shame!" cried Clara sympathetically.
"To be short of money is more than a shame," blurted Tom Reade.
"It is a crime, or ought to be. No one has any right to be
poor---but what can we do?"
"Oh, well, there are plenty of pleasant times to be had in good
old Gridley in the summer time," Dick declared stoutly. "And
we shall have our canoe there."
While chatting the young people had been walking up through the
hotel grounds until now they stood just behind the stone wall
that separated the ground from the road.
"Why---look what's coming!" urged Dave Darrin, in a voice expressive
of mock interest.
All looked, of course.
Fred Ripley, his hat drawn down over his eyes, came trudging along.
In one hand he carried a dress suit case, and from the way his
shoulder sagged on that side, the ease appeared to be heavy.
On young Ripley's face was a deep scowl.
"Judging from his appearance," suggested Tom Reade, "Rip is walking
all the way to the Land of Sweet Tempers. Probably he's doing
it on a wager, and is just beginning to realize what a long road
lies ahead of him. I wonder if he'll, arrive at his destination
during his lifetime?"
Fred's shoes, usually so highly polished, were already thick with
dust. His collar, ordinarily stiff and immaculate, was sadly
wilted and wrinkled. His whole air was one of mingled dejection
and rage.
"I wonder what can have happened to him?" asked Susie curiously.
"I think his conscience may be chasing him," smiled Dick.
What really had happened was that Squire Ripley had been present
when his son had made a very disrespectful answer to a white-haired
man, one of the guests at the Lakeview House where the Ripleys
were stopping.
In a great rage the lawyer had decided to send his son home for
that act of gross disrespect to the aged.
To make the punishment more complete, Mr. Ripley had ordered his
son to make the long journey on foot over the hills to the railway
station. Only enough money had been handed the young man to buy
his railway ticket home. The dress suit case had been added
in order to make his progress more difficult.
"A young man who cannot treat the aged with proper respect must
be dealt with severely," said Lawyer Ripley to his son. "You
will reach home fagged out from your long tramp. For your fare,
until your mother and I return, you will have to depend on such
food as the servants at home can spare you from their larder.
Don't you dare order anything from the stores to be charged against
me. Now, go home, drowse out your summer in the hot town and
reflect on what a mean cad you have shown yourself to be to-day."
While Fred was thinking this all over he glanced up suddenly,
to see fourteen pairs of Gridley eyes fixed upon him. The young
people, as soon as they found themselves observed, immediately
turned their glances away from the sullen looking young pedestrian
from their school.
"I wonder what has happened to Fred Ripley?" Susie repeated, when
the object of their remark was some distance away. "Something
has gone very wrong with him. A blind man could see that much."
During this time Fred was thinking to himself:
"If the guv'nor subjects me to this degradation just for one sharp
answer to an old man, what would that same guv'nor do to me if
he knew all the things that I've been engaged in up here at the
lake? What if he knew that I hired that farmer's son to swim
under the float and attach that drag to the canoe? What would
the guv'nor do if he knew that I tried to wreck Prescott's outfit?"
Fred shivered at the mental prospect of his father's stern, grim
wrath.
But young Ripley, as sometimes happens, wasn't caught just then.
He would go on for the present planning mean tricks against those
whom he had no just reason to dislike. Yet his time was sure
to come.
Soon after Dick & Co. were compelled to bid adieu to Lake Pleasant.
They had had a splendid time, and had acquitted themselves with
great credit in this entry into high school athletics. They had
had pleasure enough to last them all the rest of the summer in
memory.
The cost of transporting their canoe, on the homeward trip, was
borne out of the funds of the Gridley High School Athletic Council.
Dick & Co. entered three more canoe races against high school
teams that summer. All these were run off on the home river,
and Dick & Co. had the great glory of winning them all "the Gridley
way."
After the summer, came the opening of the school year again.
Our readers may learn what happened to Dick & Co. in their sophomore
year in the second volume of the "_High School Boys Series_,"
which is published under the title, "_The High School Pitcher;
Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond_."
As to what befell our young friends in the summer vacation which
followed their sophomore year, all that is told in the second
volume of the "_High School Boys Vacation Series_." That
interesting volume is published under the title, "_The High
School Boys' Summer Camp; Or, The Dick Prescott Six Training for
the Gridley Eleven_." It will be found to be a splendid story
of real American boys who know how to get the most out of both
work and play, and to make each year of life a preparation for
a better year to come. In this volume the friends of Dick & Co.
will find these six sturdy boys leading a life full of healthy
excitement and adventure in the woods.