CHAPTER XIII
A SNUB AND THE QUICK RETORT
At half-past five o'clock the next day, Dick & Co. strolled upto the porch of the Ashbury Terraces Hotel.
From one of the parlors a cry of recognition in a girlish voicefloated out. Then appeared the Gridley High School girls, withSusie Sharp in the lead.
"I thought you told us you didn't have any other than your hikeclothing with you!" Susie cried accusingly to Tom Reade.
"We didn't. We told you the truth," Reade rejoined.
"Then these-----"
"These new clothes were bought with money from the treasury,"Reade informed her.
"Does our appearance suit you, ladies?" Greg asked smiling.
"You look like so many tailor's models," replied Belle Meade,adding, sweetly: "If that is any praise."
Certainly Dick & Co., clad in well-fitting white duck suits, presenteda creditable appearance.
"We've been preparing our friends at the Terraces for a differentlooking lot of young men," laughed Susie. "We have told themthat a number of high school boy friends of ours were comingover to dinner and the hop attired in the same clothes they havebeen wearing in camp and on the road. Now we must apologize tothem for presenting fashion plates."
The explanation, as Dick presently furnished it to Laura Bentley,was a simple one. Dick had been handling the funds of the sixboys on this expedition, which had held out much longer than anyof his chums had known. At the time of accepting the invitationyoung Prescott had felt sure that an Ashbury clothier would beable to furnish proper clothes for his party, and his guess hadproved a correct one. Moreover, the treasury of Dick & Co. hadbeen easily able to endure the drain, for these white clotheshad not been costly.
Mrs. Bentley presently joined the little Gridley group of youngpeople on the veranda. That good lady noted, with secret pleasure,the well-groomed appearance of her young guests.
"Rah, rah, rah!" came boisterously up the veranda, as the campvisitors of the evening before suddenly appeared. "Rah, rah,rah!"
Then, halting in a compact group midway on the veranda, they shoutedin chorus:
"S-A-U-N-D-E-R-S! Saunders! Saunders! Siss-boom-a-a-ah! Rah,rah, rah!"
"College boys!" exclaimed Susie Sharp in an impatient undertone."College boys, and the worst of their kind. They're noisy nuisances!"
"So far as any other guest has been able to discover they haven'tany manners," Belle added.
Then, espying the girls and their guests the rah-rah-rah boyscame briskly up the veranda.
"Good evening, Miss Meade!" called one of them, lifting his hat."Glorious evening, isn't it? How many dances may I have thehonor of claiming at the hop to-night?"
Belle Meade blushed slightly and drew back a step, resenting theyoung man's familiarity.
In front of the presumptuous youth stepped Dave Darrin, with eyesflashing.
"Kindly keep your distance, young man!" Dave advised, in a toneof dangerous quiet.
"Who asked you to speak?" inquired the rah-rah youth mockingly.
"I am a friend of the young lady, and she finds your presencean intrusion," replied Darry, controlling himself by a mightyeffort.
"All guests of the hotel are supposed to be acquainted," urgedthe rah-rah youth, reddening a trifle.
"These young ladies do not wish to recognize you and your friendsas acquaintances," replied Dave. "Kindly efface yourselves!"
"Don't make your lack of breeding too conspicuous," Dick advised,in a quiet undertone, to another of the intruders who had pushedforward to join in the conversation.
A sudden sense of discomfort seemed to sweep over the eight presumingyoung men. They turned and moved away, though muttering amongthemselves.
"That is the kind of young men I thought they were," Laura observed."I am glad that you boys sent them off about their own affairs."
Dr. Bentley joined the young people last of all.
"I have just returned from a long walk," he explained. "I haveto make the most of these brief summer vacations of mine."
When dinner was announced, Dr. and Mrs. Bentley and the youngpeople took seats at a long table reserved for their party.
It was a pleasant meal in the midst of an animated scene.
Over at another table the rah-rah boys made a good deal of noiseuntil the head waiter went to them, uttering a few words in lowtones. After that the rah-rah youngsters quieted down considerably.
A delightful half-hour stroll on the verandas followed the dinner.Then, like most of the guests, the Gridley young people driftedinto the hotel ballroom where the musicians were playing a march.
Dick secured Mrs. Bentley for the first dance, as the doctor preferredto remain on the veranda. Then, after the first dance, a generalchange of partners was made.
But the Gridley boys were too well bred to claim all the danceswith their girl friends. Laura and her friends had other acquaintancesat the hotel. Dick & Co. stood back to give these other youngmen a fair opportunity of securing some dances with the girls.
It was eleven o'clock when the hop had finished. For a few momentsDick & Co. chatted with the Gridley High School girls on the porch.Then they prepared to take their leave.
"We've had a splendid time, for which we must thank you all,"Dick declared. "We did not look for any such pleasant eveningas this has been when we left home on our hike."
"We are indebted to you all for the most delightful time of ourlives," Tom stated formally with a very low bow.
"We couldn't have had a nicer time under any circumstances. Thankyou all," Dave Darrin said, on taking leave.
The other boys found words in which to fitly express their pleasureand gratitude.
Then, as Mrs. Bentley and the girls went in side the hotel, theGridley High School boys wheeled to march back to camp.
"I wonder what the head waiter said to the rah-rah boys?" askedReade curiously.
"I don't know, but I can guess the meaning of what he said," laughedDarry. "Did you ever see such an ill-bred lot of fellows before!"
"They're not college boys," Dick declared quietly. "I don't knowwhere they came from, but certainly none of them have ever beenthrough as much as a year in any real college."
"They're about as frisky as some college boys," retorted DannyGrin.
"College boys may be full of mischief, at times," Dick returned,"but at least they know how to behave well when they should doso. College men never think it funny to be rude with women, forinstance. College men are usually the sons of well-bred parents,and they also acquire additional finish at college. Moreover,the English language is one of the subjects taught in colleges.These cheeky rah-rah boys were very slip-shod in their speech.I don't know who these fellows are, but they're not real collegemen."
"Say, it must be nice," remarked Hazelton, "to be able to travelabout the country, stopping at such nice hotels. Laura and herfriends manage to have pretty good times."
"Their families are all better off than ours, in a worldly sense,"Dick replied. "When you stop to think of it, there are far moregirls than boys in our good old high school who come from comfortablehomes. Perhaps two dozen of our high school fellows come fromhomes of considerable wealth. The rest of us don't. More thanhalf of the Gridley High School girls come from families whereservants are kept. I wonder if it is that way, generally, inthe United States?"
Prescott had unwittingly stumbled upon a fact often noted. Thehomes of plain American wage earners send more boys than girlsto high school. The well-to-do families send more of their boysto private schools, while their girls are more likely to attendhigh school.
However, as the boys neared their camp, all other thoughts weredriven from their minds.
Tom Reade, who was leading, stopped abruptly, holding up one hand.
"Now, what do you think of anyone who would do a trick like that?"he demanded with a sharp in-drawing of his breath.
"The sneaks!" breathed Darry fiercely.
"Who could have do
ne it?" gasped Greg.
For the tent was down---flat. The wagon lay on its side, norwas the horse anywhere in sight.
"Did those rascally tramps follow us and watch their chance?"demanded Dave Darrin hotly.
"I don't believe the tramps did it," spoke Prescott, in a veryquiet voice, though an angry flush rose to his face. "I believethat we must look in a different direction for the offenders."
"The rah-rah hoodlums?" gasped Greg Holmes.
"Yes," Dick nodded.
The High School Boys' Training Hike Page 13
