E-text prepared by Jim Ludwig
The High School Boys' Canoe Club
or
Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake Pleasant
By H. Irving Hancock
CHAPTERS
I. The "Splendid" War Canoe
II. "RIP" Tries Out His Bargain
III. Buying Fuel for a Bonfire?
IV. Hiram Pries a Secret Loose
V. Birch Bark Merchants
VI. Meeting the Fate of Greenhorns
VII. "Danny Grin" is Silent
VIII. What an Expert Can Do
IX. Dick Trembles at His Nerve
X. Putting Up a Big Scheme
XI. All Ready to Race, But——-
XII. Susie Discomfits a Boor
XIII. The Ripley Heir Tries Coaxing
XIV. The Liar has a Lie Ready
XV. At the Greatest of Feasts
XVI. A Scalp-Hunting Disappointment
XVII. The Good Word by Wire
XVIII. "Won't Win Against a Mudscow"
XIX. What Ailed Gridley?
XX. "Dinky-Rat Hot Sail!"
XXI. Nature Has a Dismal Streak
XXII. Fred is Grateful—-One Second!
XXIII. Trentville, The Awesome
XIV. Conclusion
"It's the wreck of one of the grandest enterprises ever conceivedby the human mind!" complained Colonel W.P. Grundy, in a voicebroken with emotion.
A group of small boys grinned, though they offered no audiblecomment.
"Such defeats often—-usually, in fact—-come to those who tryto educate the masses and bring popular intelligence to a higherlevel," was the colonel's declaration, as he wiped away a realor imaginary tear.
On a nearby lot stood a large show tent, so grayed and frayed,so altogether dingy as to suggest that it had seen some summersof service ere it became briefly the property of Colonel Grundy.
Near the entrance to the tent a temporary platform had been builtof the board seats taken from the interior of the tent.
Near the platform stood a grim-visaged deputy sheriff, conversingwith an auctioneer on whose face the grin had become chronic.
Some distance from the tent stood a group of perhaps forty menof the town of Gridley.
"The whole outfit of junk won't bring five hundred dollars," predictedone of these men. "How much did you say the judgments total?"
"Seventeen thousand four hundred dollars," replied another. "Butthe man who attached the show has a claim for only six hundredand forty dollars, so he may get most of his money."
Here the auctioneer stopped talking with the deputy sheriff longenough to go over to the platform, pick up a bell and ring itvigorously. A few more stragglers came up, most of them boyswithout any money in their pockets.
Off at one side of the lot six boys stood by themselves, talkingin low tones, casting frequent, earnest glances toward the platform.
These youngsters were Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, Greg Holmes,Tom Reade, Dan Dalzell and Harry Hazelton. Collectively theywere known in the boydom of Gridley as Dick & Co.
Our readers are already familiar with every one of these lads,having first been introduced to them in the "Grammar School BoysSeries," with its four volumes, "The Grammar School Boys ofGridley," "The Grammar School Boys Snowbound," "The GrammarSchool Boys in the Woods" and "The Grammar School Boys in SummerAthletics." The varied and stirring exploits of Dick & Co.,as told in these books, stamped the six chums as