The High School Boys' Canoe Club or Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake Pleasant By H. Irving Hancock CONTENTS 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 CHAPTER I THE "SPLENDID" WAR CANOE "It's the wreck of one of the grandest enterprises ever conceived by the human mind!" complained Colonel W.P. Grundy, in a voice broken with emotion. A group of small boys grinned, though they offered no audible comment. "Such defeats often---usually, in fact---come to those who try to educate the masses and bring popular intelligence to a higher level," was the colonel's declaration, as he wiped away a real or 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 summers of service ere it became briefly the property of Colonel Grundy. Near the entrance to the tent a temporary platform had been built of the board seats taken from the interior of the tent. Near the platform stood a grim-visaged deputy sheriff, conversing with an auctioneer on whose face the grin had become chronic. Some distance from the tent stood a group of perhaps forty men of the town of Gridley. "The whole outfit of junk won't bring five hundred dollars," predicted one of these men. "How much did you say the judgments total?" "Seventeen thousand four hundred dollars," replied another. "But the man who attached the show has a claim for only six hundred and forty dollars, so he may get most of his money." Here the auctioneer stopped talking with the deputy sheriff long enough to go over to the platform, pick up a bell and ring it vigorously. A few more stragglers came up, most of them boys without any money in their pockets. Off at one side of the lot six boys stood by themselves, talking in 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 they were known in the boydom of Gridley as Dick & Co.