THE CANOE RACE
Dave Shepard, at the wheel of the _Happy Day_, ran directly behind
the judges' boat and stopped.
"Who won?" cried the boys, in chorus. "Where does Number Sixteen stand?"
"How can we tell you until all the boats are in?" returned one of the
gentlemen, smiling.
"Of course we know," declared Dr. Shelton. "And you are quite right to
cheer them, boys. The _Coquette_ is 'way ahead of everything
else--those two girls are corkers!"
Instantly the Busters and the Go-Aheads began to cheer anew. The older
members of their party aboard the _Sissy Radcliffe_ took up the
chorus. Wyn Mallory and Polly Jarley had beaten out the other catboats
in the dingy old craft, and had won the twenty-five-dollar prize.
"It's all for you, dear," cried Wyn, when Polly kissed and thanked her.
"Of course I don't need the money, while you and your father do. You'll
take it from me--for friendship's sake, dear?"
"Yes, Wyn. From _you_," returned the boatman's daughter, with
trembling lips.
"And now you are coming to try for the canoe prize, too? That will be a
five-dollar gold piece. But you will have to fight all us Go-Ahead girls
for it. I shall beat you myself, if I can," laughed Wynifred.
Dave had rushed the motor boat over to the landing and he got Wyn's and
Polly's canoes into the water. The whistle had blown for the girls'
canoe race the minute before, and the other girls were out on the lake.
Altogether there were forty-three canoes. Some were birchbarks like
Polly's; but the large majority were cedar boats.
"Birchbarks line up at Dr. Shelton's landing!" bellowed the starter's
voice through his megaphone. "Get me? Shelton's landing!"
Polly and the few other girls who had the Indian canoes waved their
hands and got into position. They kept a pretty straight line.
"Now at the starting line here for you cedars!" cried the man, and Wyn,
with her five mates, and the rest of the girl canoeists from all about
the lake, tried to obey the command.
But there were so many of them that it was not altogether easy to get
into line. Nearly forty canoes were "some bunch," to quote the slangy
Frank, who was, by the way, just as eager as any of the other
contestants.
Although Frank believed that Wyn, and perhaps Bess, as well as Polly and
Grace, had a better chance than _she_ of winning the race; there
was, of course, a chance of the very best canoeist getting a spill and
so being put out of the race.
It is not always the best paddler who wins; there is too much
uncertainty in handling the "tippy" craft--especially in moments of
excitement, and among many other similar craft.
So there was hope for any and all. The eager faces of the girls in the
canoes showed it. They scuffled somewhat to get place on the line; but
the entries had all been numbered, so it was merely a case of getting in
right and leaving enough space on either side of one's bobbing canoe.
One of the starters was pulled up and down the line in a skiff to
criticise. Not every girl was as fair-minded to her opponents as the
girls from Green Knoll Camp, and there was some little bickering before
the starter shouted for the whole crowd--both cedars and birches--to get
ready.
"At the shot, remember," he cried through the megaphone. "Once around
the stake-boat, to the right, and return. The birchbarks finish at this
line, like the cedars. Now!"
A moment later the pistol shot rang out. There was a splash of
paddles--even a clash of them, for some of the girls were too near each
other and too eager.
The spectators cheered--the boys from Gannet Island doing especially
well in that line. They were determined to root indiscriminately for the
girls of Green Knoll Camp.
But within a very few minutes Dave Shepard shouted to his friends:
"Look what's coming up, fellows! See Polly!"
"Polly Jolly!" yelled the excitable Ferd. "Is that her in the first
birchbark?"
"Of course it is," responded Tubby Blaisdell. "Well! did you ever see a
girl like that before? Look at those arms. She's got better biceps than
_you_ have, Dave, m' boy!"
For the girls were in their bathing dresses and Polly's bare arms were
displayed to the best advantage as she flashed past the motor boat. Her
face was set--her eyes bright. And she weaved back and forth as she
drove the paddle with the steadiness of a machine.
"Hooray for Polly Jolly!" yelled Ferd Roberts, again.
The Busters took up the chorus. They could not restrain their
enthusiasm, for the pace at which Polly was overhauling the cedar boats
was really marvelous.
Of course, it was a foregone conclusion that some of the contestants
would drop out. These canoes Polly passed as though they were standing
still.
In the lead were Wyn, Bess, Grace, Frank, and half a dozen other girls
from about the lake. There were already two spills, and several slight
collisions followed. The handicap on the birch canoes was really greater
than was expected, for being in the rear, they had to dodge all the
overset boats and the other paddlers who did not know enough to keep out
of the course.
But Polly Jarley had taken the outside and she shot by all the trouble
easily. She was soon clinging to the skirts of the head canoes and it
looked, before the turn, as though she would soon be in the lead
herself.
Up ahead Wyn and Bess and Grace were struggling almost neck and neck
with two strange girls. The captain of the Go-Aheads wanted to win--she
wanted to do so very much. She was a good sport, and therefore a good
loser; but that does not necessarily mean that one _likes_ to lose.
Bessie Lavine was paddling splendidly for her--it was evidently one of
her good days. Frank Cameron had fallen behind--indeed, she had clashed
with another girl and both were out of the race.
Grace Hedges was almost as big and strong as Polly Jarley; but she
lacked the training of the boatman's daughter. Polly was used to hard
work every day of her life. That is different from gymwork and a little
paddling, or swimming, or other athletic fun a few times a week.
But Grace was doing finely and she even might have won had she not tried
unwisely to pass one of her rivals. Her paddle clashed with that of the
other girl. Both canoeists were straining hard--and their tempers were a
bit strained, too.
"I wish you'd look where you're going, Miss!" snapped the other girl,
and before Grace could return the compliment--had she so wished--the two
canoes crashed together and both girls were spilled into the lake.
There was no danger in these spills. Two motor boats followed behind and
picked up the swamped contestants.
But before Grace was picked up she saw Polly Jarley flash by in the
birchbark. There were but three cedar boats ahead of the boatman's
daughter, and all were coming down the return course, the paddlers
straining to do their very best.
Wyn had a splendid, even stroke; Bess was getting heated, and bit her
lip as she paddled. It always hurt Bess when she lost. Up from the rear
Polly urged her birchbark with long, steady heaves that seemed to prove
her magnificent muscles tireless.
The spectators began to shout for the boatman's daughter. They saw that
she was making a magnificent attempt to win the race.
But when Wyn heard them shouting for another number rather than her
own--she did not notice which!--she put forth every ounce of spare
strength she possessed.
Bess was left behind by the captain of the Go-Ahead Club. Her canoe
quivering, her paddle actually bending under her work, Wyn dashed on.
Bess and the other girl were out of the race--hopelessly. It lay between
Wyn and the birchbark canoe.
Polly did not withhold her paddle when she saw her friend dart ahead; it
was a perfectly fair race. But the boatman's girl had done so well at
first, considering her handicap and all, that there was little wonder if
she could not keep up the gruelling work. She had no reserve force, as
Wyn had.
The latter dashed over the mark with undiminished speed. Polly only
halted long enough to congratulate her.
"It's dear of you to be glad, Polly, when I know you wanted the prize,"
cried Wyn. "But we couldn't both have it."
"You have helped me enough to-day, Wynifred," replied Polly, softly.
"Now father and I will go home. He told me how it would be, if he came
down here; but at least we won the big prize, thanks to you, and money
means so much to us now!"
The day was not over yet for the Go-Aheads and the Busters, although the
races were finished. Somehow the news was spread among the campers on
Gannet Island and Green Knoll that there was to be a "grand treat" at
the ice-cream tables, and they gathered "like eagles to the kill,"
Frankie poetically declared.
The waiter brought heaping dishes of cream, there were nice cakes, and
Tubby's unctuous smile at one end of the table radiated cheer. They were
all very jolly and nobody asked who was to pay the piper until the
waiter gravely brought Dave Shepard the check and a slip of paper.
"Hi! did _I_ order this feed?" demanded Dave, startled by the size
of the check.
"I was ordered to give the check to you--and the paper," quoth the
waiter, calmly.
"Gee, Dave! somebody's stung you!" croaked Tubby, with his mouth still
full.
Dave unfolded the paper slowly, and read in his own handwriting: "I bet
an ice-cream treat all around to the Go-Ahead girls that your curiosity
would not permit you to leave this alone."
"You don't deny your own handwriting; do you, sir?" queried the waiter,
with a perfectly grave face. "I served the company on that order, Mr.
Shepard."
"That Wyn Mallory! She got me!" groaned Dave, and paid up like a man.
"But what's the use of trying to put a joke over on those girls?" he
said to Tubby afterward. "They're always turning the tables on a
fellow."
"Very good table, too--very good table," agreed Tubby, smacking his
lips. "But you're so reckless with your promises, Dave."
Mr. Lavine's man took the _Happy Day_ and the canoes back to camp,
while the whole party of young folk piled aboard the larger
_Sissy_. They had a fine time sailing down the lake and reached the
Cave-in-the-Wood Camp at late supper time.
There was still light enough on the water for the voyagers to see a boat
rocking on the waves in the little cove where Polly Jarley had first
been introduced to the two canoe clubs.
"And that's Polly and her father there now," said Dave, quickly.
"Yes. It's the _Coquette_," agreed Wyn.
"What are they doing in there?" asked Frankie. "See! he is standing up
and gesticulating--not to us. He's talking to Polly."
"That is the place where he had the misfortune to lose Dr. Shelton's
motor boat last winter," said Wyn. "Don't you remember?"
"You see," Dave cried, "he is showing her the place where the limb fell
again--and the direction the boat must have taken in the fog."
"A lot _he_ knows where it went," said Tubby, scornfully. "He was
swept overboard, and as far as he knows the _Bright Eyes_ might
have gone right up into the air!"
"But it didn't explode, you see, nor did it have wings," laughed
Wynifred. "So it took no aerial voyage--we may be sure of that. I'd give
anything to find where it sank."
"So would I, Wyn," cried Dave. "If we could locate the sunken boat, Mr.
Jarley could easily prove he had neither stolen it nor the silver
images."
"I'd give something handsome to have the mystery explained, myself,"
said Mr. Lavine, suddenly.
"What would you give, Father?" asked his daughter.
"I'll tell you," he replied, smiling. "I understand both of your
clubs--the Go-Aheads and the Busters--are anxious to really _own_ a
motor boat. Frank Dumont, here, tells me he has got to go home with the
_Happy Day_ to-morrow, as his vacation is ended.
"Now, I'll make you boys and girls an offer," pursued Mr. Lavine, more
earnestly. "You'll hunt in packs, anyway--the boys together and the
girls together. If the girls find the sunken boat I'll present them with
a motor boat as good as the _Happy Day_; and if the boys have the
luck, then the boat shall belong to the Busters. What say?"
"We say 'Thanks!'" cried Dave, instantly.
"_We_ think it is very handsome of you, sir," declared Wyn, coming
over to the gentleman and taking his hand. "And I know why you do it,
sir--so I thank you twice. If poor Mr. Jarley could be absolved of Dr.
Shelton's accusation, it would help a whole lot."
"Humph!" muttered Mr. Lavine, "I heard Shelton going on about Jarley
myself to-day, and it made me ashamed--I'm free to own it. I never
_did_ think John as bad as all that!"
"It sounds different when you hear somebody else say it," whispered Dave
in Wynifred's ear.
Mr. Lavine's proposal, however, met with enthusiastic favor on the part
of both clubs. A motor boat would be just the finest thing to own! Both
boys and girls determined to find the lost _Bright Eyes_ before the
season was out.