The Putnam Hall Rivals

“Crabtree must have made a mess of it,” growled Dan Baxter.

“That’s it,” answered Reff Ritter. “Well, we’ll have to try something else.”

“Right you are,” answered the bully. “And next time we’ll make a sure thing of it.”

Several weeks passed along rather quietly. During that time the weather changed rapidly. The rain had washed away the snow and most of the ice, and now the grass began to grow green and the trees pushed forth their leaves and the bushes their buds.

“I am glad spring and summer are coming,” cried Andy. “I’ve had enough of winter.”

“Right you are,” said Pepper. “Hurrah for baseball!”

“And rowing,” put in Dale.

Nearly all of the boys loved to row, and at the earliest opportunity the boats at the new boathouse were repaired and gotten out. At first the lads were a bit stiff at the oars, but soon limbered up.

“This is something like,” said Andy, while he and some of the others were out in two of the boats.

“Let us have a little race,” suggested Jack, and off the two boats started, up the lake a distance of half a mile. They kept side by side, and presently the race was declared a tie, and then the rowers stopped to rest.

“I’ve got news,” said Dale. “Some of the students from Pornell Academy want to row us a race.”

“Didn’t they get enough last summer?” asked Andy.

“This is something of a new crowd,” went on Dale. “Do you remember Roy Bock, and Grimes, and Gussie?”

“Do we?” cried Pepper. “The chaps who stopped us in the woods one night and wanted us to promise that we would not visit the Fords again. I rather guess we do!”

“What a bully that Roy Bock was!” put in Jack. “Almost as bad as Baxter.”

“That’s so,” said Stuffer. “And that chap Grimes is about his equal. The Pornell students must be sick of that crowd.”

“Some of the Pornell students are nice enough,” was Dale’s comment.

“So they are!” said Emerald. “So they are! But not Bock – no, not Bock!”

“Well, what about this race, Dale?” questioned Jack.

“Roy Bock, Grimes, Gussie, and four others of their crowd want to race a crew of seven, composed of you, Pepper, Andy, Emerald, Stuffer, Henry Lee, and myself, and they want to race us for two miles.”

“When do they want to race?” asked Pepper, with interest.

“Next Saturday afternoon.”

“Humph; that’s rather short notice,” was Andy’s comment. “For all we know they may have been practicing on the rowing-machine in their gym.”

“Better put it off until the following Saturday,” said Jack.

“No, Bock says he can’t put it off, because they have got to row elsewhere.”

“Do they want to put up any prize?”

“Yes, a silver cup worth fourteen dollars, each fellow to chip in a dollar for the trophy.”

“Well, that is fair enough,” said Hogan. “But if they have been after practicin’ on their rowin’ machine – ”

“Never mind, let us row them anyway!” cried Pepper. “If we refuse they’ll think we are afraid.”

“I don’t think we’ll lose,” said Jack. “That is, not if we practice hard between now and racing time.”

“We can do that,” said Stuffer, with determination.

“We’ll put you on a diet, Stuffer,” said Pepper, with a wink at the others.

“All right – anything to win,” said the boy who loved good eating. “I am glad it is only four days off instead of three weeks!”

That night a letter was sent accepting the challenge from the Pornell Academy students, and on the following day the Putnam Hall cadets started to practice in earnest. Dale was made the coxswain, and he coached those under him to the best of his ability.

It soon became noised about that our friends were going to row a race against Roy Bock and his crowd, and at once nearly all of the cadets of the Hall became interested. As a consequence some other races were arranged, one between Baxter, Ritter, Coulter, and Paxton on one side and four boys from the rival school. The bully and his friends went around everywhere declaring that they would surely win.

“But Dale Blackmore and his crowd will lose, mark my words,” said Dan Baxter.

“I don’t think so,” answered Henry Lee, who chanced to hear the remark.

“Well, you will, I’ll bet on it.”

“Thank you, but I don’t bet,” said Henry, quietly.

“That’s because you are afraid,” sneered the bully, and walked off.

CHAPTER XIV

THE BOAT RACES

The day for the boat races dawned clear and bright. There was no breeze and the surface of Cayuga Lake was almost as smooth as a mill pond.

“What an ideal day for the contests!” cried Jack, as he and Andy walked down to the boathouse. “It couldn’t possibly be better.”

“If it doesn’t blow up a storm by afternoon,” answered the acrobatic cadet.

The boys went rowing for an hour in the morning, and Dale coached them as before. George Strong came down to watch them and gave them a few “points,” for he had rowed in the crew of his college years before.

“You have not had quite enough practice,” said the teacher. “But you do fairly well.”

When the time came for the races quite a crowd assembled along the lake shore, and many were out in rowboats and sailboats and also in gasoline launches.

“I wonder if Mr. Ford is out?” said Jack. He referred to a wealthy gentleman of that district who owned a beautiful yacht. The season before Jack, Pepper, and Andy had saved Mr. Ford’s two daughters, Laura and Flossie, from being drowned, and the gentleman had been their warm friend ever since.

“I think not,” said Stuffer. “Their mansion at the Point has been closed up for the winter, and they are not yet back.”