The Eight-Oared Victors: A Story of College Water Sports

by Lester Chadwick

  CHAPTER XXVI

  "ROW HARD!"

  The four chums watched Boswell go down the steps and get into a waitingauto, the maid, meanwhile, regarding them half curiously, for she knewthem well, from frequent visits.

  "Some class to him," remarked Sid.

  "Yes, he's finding his way here all right," added Tom.

  "Well, it's a free country," added Phil. "He came to see Ruth, if I'many judge."

  "And got turned down," added Frank.

  "I wonder if the girls are really out?" ventured Tom.

  "I'll see if the young ladies are in," remarked the maid. She did nothave to ask which young ladies were meant.

  She returned shortly to say that, while it was almost too late forvisitors, Miss Philock had consented that the four chums could see theirfriends for ten minutes.

  "Say, what's gotten into the old Ogress--she's so pleasant to us?" Sidwanted to know.

  "Probably this is the calm before the storm," suggested Phil. "We may beturned down after this, the same as Boswell was."

  "I wonder what he wanted?" mused Tom.

  "Oh, probably to ask the best way to darn socks without tying a stringaround the hole," suggested Frank, with delicate sarcasm.

  "Here come the girls!" exclaimed Tom, and the murmur of voices bore outhis remark.

  While the conversation that followed was probably of intense andabsorbing personal interest to those who took part in it, there wasnot enough of general interest to warrant me setting it down here.Sufficient to say that all sorts of matters, from the coming regatta tothe opening of the football season, were discussed, and commented upon.Needless to say the Fairview girls, with commendable loyalty, declaredthat their college was going to be the champions of the gridiron andriver.

  Tom found chance for a quiet word with Ruth just before the ringingof a warning bell announced that visiting hours were nearly over. Sheexplained that it was a surprise to her when Boswell called, and she andher chums decided not to meet him.

  "I haven't found out anything more about your pin," Tom said. "That is,I haven't located it," for he did not want to go into details about themissing pawnbroker and Mendez. Nothing more had been heard of either.

  "Too bad," Ruth declared. "I suppose, though, I might as well keep quietabout the loss of it until some one of my folks notice that it's gone,"she said. "It will be time enough then to confess, though I suppose I'llbe in for a wigging from grandmother for keeping still about it so long."

  "Yes, it can't do any harm to keep quiet now," decided Tom, "andsomething may turn up at any minute."

  "Then you really have some hope, Tom?"

  "Yes--a little," he admitted. "But I can't talk about it, Ruth. Itinvolves others."

  "Oh, tell me Tom! I'll keep it a secret!" she pleaded.

  "No, really I can't," he said, and though she made it rather hard forhim, he kept to his resolve.

  "It is time your friends left, young ladies!" announced the ratherrasping voice of Miss Philock, a little later. "I have been lenient withyou to the extent of ten minutes, but now I must insist."

  "Thank you for your kindness," exclaimed Phil, with a low bow. "Wegreatly appreciate it."

  "I am glad that you do," declared the preceptress, not allowing a smileto change the hard contour of her face. Poor Miss Philock! Doubtlessshe did not have a happy time of it, and her responsibilities must haveweighed on her. It is not an easy task to be the dragon, guarding anumber of pretty girls, when two colleges for young men are not far off.And Miss Philock did her duty, however unpleasant it was.

  Tom was awakened that night, shortly after one o'clock. At least hejudged it to be about that hour, for he dimly recalled hearing a distantclock booming out twelve; then he had fallen into a doze, and it couldnot have been over an hour later when a noise and movement in the mainapartment, out of which all their rooms opened, roused him.

  "Wonder who that is?" he thought, sleepily. "Maybe we did a little toomuch to-day, and some of the boys can't rest. I'll take a look."

  He raised himself upon his elbow, but, though he had a partial view ofthe sitting room from that position, he could see no one. The scufflingof feet on the carpet, however, and the faint rattle of paper, told thatsomeone was up and about.

  Softly Tom put his legs over the edge of the bed, so that it would notcreak, for, somehow, he had a faint suspicion that perhaps the personin the other room might not be one of his chums, and, in that case, hewanted to be prepared.

  Gently he stepped out until he stood in the door of his own room, andhad a view of the main apartment. Then he saw a white-robed figurestanding looking out of the window that gave a view of the campus, overwhich a faint moon was then shining.

  "That looks like Sid," thought Tom. "I wonder if he's getting spoony--orloony or moony? Maybe he couldn't sleep and got up to change the currentof his thoughts. Well, shall I go out and keep him company, or----"

  Tom reconsidered the matter a moment.

  "No," he thought, "if I go out there, and we get to chinning, even inwhispers, it will rouse Frank and Phil, and then we'll all be wideawake. And the land knows we need all the sleep we can get. I can findmy way to dreamland without being sung to, anyhow."

  For a moment he watched the figure by the window. It was Sid, Tom feltsure of that, though night-garments, be they pajamas or the more prosaicshirts, do not make for identifying individuals. There is little ofcharacter to them.

  Then the figure by the window turned partly toward Tom, but, as the facewas in the shadow, the watching lad could not see it plainly. The figureapproached the table, on which was a litter of paper, where the lads hadbeen doing some studying earlier in the evening.

  "By Jove!" thought Tom. "Old Sid is writing poetry--or he has beencourting the muse! This is rich! He can't sleep and he gets up in thenight to jot down a verse or two. That's it! And about a girl, too, I'llwager! Oh, Sid!" and he chuckled silently. "I'll rig you for this in themorning! Loony, spoony, moony Sid! This is rich!" and Tom doubled upwith silent mirth.

  The figure continued to approach the table, and from the other rooms thedeep, regular breathing told of sound sleepers. Then the figure beganfumbling with papers and Tom saw a pencil taken up.

  "How the mischief can he see to write in the dark?" the watcher wondered.

  But that was evidently not the intention. For, after hesitating a fewseconds over the table, the white-clad figure turned and went out of thedoor into the hall.

  "Well, what do you make of that?" Tom asked himself. "He has got 'embad! Sneaking out to some other room to write his slushy poetry. He'sthe limit! Wait until we get at him in the daylight--there won't be anyloony-moon then. But I should think he'd want to put on a bath robe. Itisn't the warmest night of Summer," added Tom to himself, being aware ofa distinctly chilly feeling about his legs.

  "Wait!" he counseled with himself. "I'll find out about this. I'll justfollow him and give him a scare. I'll catch him with the goods."

  Pausing to make sure that none of the others were awake, and waiting togive Sid a chance to get a little way down the corridor, Tom slippedout of the door, his feet encased in a pair of bath slippers, thatlent themselves better to soft movement than not, for they avoided thescuffling that always goes with bare soles.

  Tom reached the corridor, and, looking down it, saw at the farther endthe white-robed figure.

  "He made good time all right," Tom mused. "Where can he be going tothough, in that rig? Oh, probably to the reading room," and Tom recalledthe large room at the end of the hall, a sort of library fitted up forthe use of the dwellers of the dormitory--a room seldom used by the way,for the lads preferred the seclusion of their own apartments.

  "Maybe he's looking for a rhyming dictionary," thought Tom. "That's it.I'm on to his game now."

  Tom thought he understood it all. Sid, who used to care nothing for thegirls--indeed having a veritable aversion for them--had, of late, beenquite different, as Tom and all the others saw and knew. There was onein particular--and i
t would not be fair for me to mention her name--onein particular about whom Sid, if he did not talk, thought much.

  "And he's going to finish out some poem he began, and got stuck with,"decided Tom. "Probably he knows we'd rig him if we saw him writing thatValentine stuff.

  "A rhyming dictionary though. I don't see what he needs of that.Love, dove, above--you true--eyes of blue. Heart--part--die,sigh--moon--soon--spoon--no, not that. But hair--fair--everthere--thine--mine--valentine. There you are, done without the aid ofa net, and with nothing concealed up my sleeve," mused Tom, shiveringslightly as a chilling breeze from the corridor not only crept up hisarm, but over other parts of his anatomy.

  The figure ahead of him glided on, and Tom followed. Then, instead ofturning into the library, it mounted a flight of stairs that led to therooms above, where other students slept.

  "For cats' sake!" thought Tom. "What is Sid up to anyhow? Is he goingto snare someone else in on this game? Or is he playing some trick? Thebell in the tower! Jove, if he dares to ring that at this hour!"

  For, when the new dormitory had been built, a bell had been hung in anornate corner tower, though it pealed forth but seldom, being more of anornament. Still it could be rung if desired.

  "That's what old Sid is up to!" decided Tom. "He must be going daffy.He's sure to be caught, for Simond has a room up there, and he's a lightsleeper." Simond being one of the new teachers, who had been assignedto this dormitory as a sort of moral-policeman. He was, however, awell-liked instructor.

  "I wonder how it would be for me to tip Sid off not to do it?" thoughtTom. "If he does jingle the chimes they'll say we all had a hand in it,and it will be bad for the bunch. I guess I'll call him off. No usegoing too far for a joke."

  Tom was about to sprint forward, when, to his surprise, the figureturned and entered one of the student's rooms, the door openingnoiselessly and closing again as silently.

  "Well, what do you know about that?" asked Tom of himself. "Who roomsthere, I wonder? And what is Sid going in there for? Can it be thathe isn't up to dashing off a fervid love poem himself, and has to getsomeone else, under the cover of night, to do it for him?"

  Tom came to a halt, some distance from the door that had opened andclosed, and remained gazing down the corridor. He seldom came up here,and did not know which students occupied the different rooms. And, asthe corridor was long, and as Tom was looking down it on an angle, hecould not be exactly sure which door had opened, they being all alike,and many without numbers.

  "I'll just stay here and wait," he decided. "He can't stay in there verylong," and then Tom began to wish he had slipped on his bath robe, forhe was getting more and more chilly each minute.

  "Hang it all! Why doesn't he come out?" he asked himself half a dozentimes. "I'm not going to stay here all night."

  But even at that, while calling himself all sorts of a foolish person,Tom remained.

  "It's too good a joke to pass up!" he decided. "I'll surprise Sid whenhe comes out. Poetry! Bah! We'll write a love verse for him!"

  Several minutes passed. Tom moved about, and began to do some exerciseswith his arms, to bring up his circulation. He was striking outvigorously, feeling in quite a glow, when his elbow, as he drew back hisarm, came in sharp contact with the door behind him. Unaware of it, hehad been standing in front of some portal while he waited.

  "Oh, for cats' sake!" thought Tom, in grim despair as the sound boomedout with startling distinctness in that dim and silent corridor. "NowI have gone and done it. I guess I'd better pass up Sid and his poem,and get back to my little bed. I wonder if I can make it before someonesticks out his noddle, and wants to know what I'm doing here?"

  With this thought in mind he started to glide away, but he was too late.The door he had banged with his elbow suddenly opened, and a voicedemanded in peremptory tones:

  "Well, what is it?"

  "Great Scott!" gasped Tom. "It's Simond!" for the countenance of theinstructor was thrust from the half-opened portal.

  "Well?" went on the rather grim voice, as Tom hesitated. "You knocked."

  "It--it was an accident," stammered Tom.

  "Oh. Then you don't want me?"

  "No, sir."

  "Is anything the matter?"

  "No, Mr. Simond."

  "Then what are you doing up on this floor? You're Parsons, aren't you?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "And you room on the floor below?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Then what are you doing up here at this hour of the night; knocking atmy door?"

  "I--er--it was an accident, you see. I was--I was exercising."

  "Exercising?" There was a note of incredulity in the voice.

  "Yes, exercising."

  "What for?" Cold sarcasm now took the place of surprise.

  "To keep warm."

  "Look here, Parsons!" exclaimed the instructor. "You may think this is ajoke, but----"

  "No, sir; it's no joke. I was exercising to keep warm. Arm exercisingyou know, and my elbow banged your door--I didn't know I was so close."

  "I see. Well, are you warm now?"

  "Oh, yes, sir." Indeed Tom was in a veritable rosy glow.

  "But what was the necessity of getting cold?" went on Mr. Simond, andTom became aware that others were listening to the talk, for he couldhear doors down the hall cautiously opened, and faint snickers oflaughter here and there.

  Tom was in a quandary. He did not want to tell the real object of comingupstairs as he had, for it would only make trouble for Sid.

  And yet if he kept silent he would be put down for having tried to playsome prank on his own account. Still if Sid had "gotten away" withwhatever he had attempted, and it seemed so, for no sound came from theneighborhood of the room he had entered--in that case Tom could notbring him into the game.

  "I guess I've got to take my medicine," thought Tom.

  "Well?" demanded Mr. Simond in a cold voice.

  "I--I just came up here for a--for a walk," explained Tom. "I--er--Icouldn't sleep, and----"

  "I see. You thought if you came and waked me up that you _could_ sleep;is that it?"

  "Oh, not at all, Mr. Simond." He could be funny when he wanted to,thought shivering Tom. "I--er--I was just going back to bed," heexplained lamely, for that was true enough.

  "Very well, then you'd better go _now_," concluded Mr. Simond. "Anddon't knock on any more doors, or I shall have to look further into thematter. Good-night!"

  "Good-night!" gasped Tom, surprised to be let off thus easily. "It wasall a mistake, I assure you," he added, as he glided away.

  "Well, don't _repeat_ the mistake," was the grim injunction of theinstructor, as he closed his door, and Tom vowed that he would not--atleast that night.

  "I'm a chump!" he told himself as he hurried back to his room. "I mightbetter have let Sid grind out his mushy poetry in peace, and gotten mysleep. Now I may be in for a lecture to-morrow."

  As he entered the room he saw, grouped in the middle of the apartment,his three chums. The sight of Sid, with Phil and Frank, caused Tom tohalt.

  "Where in thunder have you been?" demanded Phil. "We were just going toget up a searching party for you."

  "That's right," came from Sid. "What do you mean by chasing out at thishour?"

  "What do _you_ mean, I guess it is!" exclaimed Tom. "I've been chasingyou, Sid."

  "Chasing me? What rot is that?"

  "It's all right. I woke up when I heard you moving about in here,followed you out to the corridor. You were going to write a poem, youknow."

  "Say, am I crazy or is he?" demanded Sid, appealing to the others."Writing poetry?"

  "Yes; weren't you?" asked Tom, beginning to think he had more of amystery on his hands than he had at first suspected.

  "Worse and more of it," murmured Frank.

  "Do you mean to tell me?" demanded Tom, "that you didn't sneak out ofhere a while ago, and go to one of the rooms on the next floor?" and helooked defiantly at Sid.

  "I certainly won't te
ll, or admit, anything of the kind, because itisn't so," replied Sid. "Admitting that I had, will you kindly explainhow _I_ could be here when _you_ came in; in that case?"

  "That's so," admitted Tom, scratching his head in perplexity. "Unless,"he added as an afterthought, "unless you came down the back stairs, whenI was chinning with Simond."

  "Chinning with Simond?" demanded Phil. "Do you mean to say you werecaught by him?"

  "Yes. I banged on his door."

  "Banged on his door?"

  "Yes, by accident. You see I was exercising to keep warm."

  The three paused and looked at each other. Clearly they did notunderstand.

  "Look here, Tom," began Frank in a gentle, soothing voice. "How longhave you been this way? Did it come on suddenly, or are you subject tothese fits? Have you seen a doctor? Don't you think we'd better wireyour folks? Maybe if you lie down it will wear off. Isn't it sad, andhim so young, too!" and he sighed in mock distress.

  "Look here, you chump!" cried Tom indignantly. "You think I'm stalling;don't you? But I'm not. Here's how it happened," and he told of thecircumstances, and of his suspicions against Sid.

  "And while I was waiting for him--as I thought--to come out of that roomupstairs," he went on, "I got chilly. So I exercised. My elbow banged onSimond's door, and he opened the oak. Then I had to explain."

  "That's a rich one!" declared Phil.

  "He must have thought you were crazy!" said Frank.

  "Exercising at that hour of the night!" exclaimed Sid. "This is too goodto keep!" and he laughed outright.

  "Not so loud," cautioned Phil, "or we'll rouse the place. Anything else,Tom?"

  "Isn't that enough? But say, Sid, are you sure you weren't out?"

  "Of course I am. Ask Phil and Frank. They woke me up in bed."

  "That's right!" chorused the two.

  "I heard a noise," explained Phil, "and woke up. I was just in time tosee you going out of the room, Tom, and----"

  "That was when I was after Sid," Tom explained.

  "You mean you thought it was me," put in Sid.

  "Well, have it that way if you like. But if it wasn't you I chased, whowas it?" demanded Tom, after the manner of one propounding a difficultriddle.

  "That's up to you to find out," spoke the Big Californian. "Are you sureyou _did_ see and follow someone, Tom?"

  "Of course I am. Do you think I'm crazy?"

  "I don't know," was Frank's simple remark.

  "There's something wrong," went on Sid, "but we can't get to the bottomof it now. If there was someone in our room we want to know it."

  "Well, there was," declared Tom, positively. "_I_ know it!"

  "Anyhow, I saw you going out," resumed Phil. "I wondered what was up,but I thought maybe you felt sick, and was going to the medicinecabinet at the end of the corridor. So I went back to bed, and when youdidn't return in ten minutes I roused Sid and Frank."

  "And you found Sid in bed?" demanded Tom.

  "Sleeping like a babe--the result of an innocent conscience. Was itnot?" asked Sid, with an air of virtue.

  "Yes, little one," came from Phil, with a bow.

  "Then we all speculated on what could be the matter with you," addedFrank.

  "And we were about to organize a relief expedition, with six months'supply of rations, and start out," was Sid's contribution.

  "When in you came prancing as though you had been out for aconstitutional," concluded Phil.

  "Telling us that you had been _exercising_," commented Sid,sarcastically. "Talk about following _me_ in a suspicious manner, Irather think the dancing slipper is on the other foot, my friend."

  "Well, this gets me!" confessed Tom, blankly.

  "Then it's the second time you've been gotten at this night," declaredFrank. "For Simond had you first."

  "Oh, he was decent about it," Tom said. "I don't believe anything willcome of it. I'm going to get to bed. It's as cold as Greenland here,"and he made a dive for his room.

  "What time is it, anyhow?" asked Sid with a yawn. "Did we take thetoothpick out of the alarm clock, I wonder?"

  The three of them glanced toward the table where the timepiece was wontto tick. It was the custom to wind and set it before going to bed,the last one to retire being charged with the duty of removing thetoothpick, which was used to silence the ticking that annoyed the chumswhen they were studying.

  "Why--why--it's gone--gone!" gasped Tom, halting on his way to his room.

  "That's right!" chorused the others.

  "Tom Parsons, is this your joke?" demanded Sid, sternly.

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean did you take that clock away for a joke, and then, when you gotcaught, made up that fake story about chasing me?"

  "I--did--not!" exclaimed Tom in such a manner that they could not helpbelieving him.

  "Then where is it?" demanded Frank.

  There was silence for several seconds, while the white-clad figuresregarded one another. Then Tom burst out with:

  "I have it!"

  "I thought you did," said Sid significantly.

  "No, you gump! I mean I have the solution. It was that chap who was inhere, and whom I took for you, Sid. He has our clock. I'll get it back!"

  Tom was about to rush out into the corridor, when Frank laid arestraining hand on his shoulder.

  "Hold on, son," he began mildly. "There's been enough running around forone night. It won't be healthy, for one thing, to do any more, for itis beastly cold. And, for another, there is no use in running our headsinto a noose. Simond was decent, you say, Tom, and there's no sense inputting it on him--rubbing it in, so to speak. We'll just lay low untilmorning and then we'll get our clock. You say you know where it is?"

  "Well, I saw the fellow that was in here enter some room on the floorabove. I couldn't pick it out exactly, but I can come pretty near it."

  "That'll be all right. Who do you think it was?"

  "Dutch Housenlager!" declared Tom.

  "He doesn't room up there," retorted Phil.

  "Well, he may have slipped in some room up there to throw me off," saidTom.

  "More likely it was Jerry Jackson," was Frank's opinion. "He was pokingfun at the clock yesterday."

  "As long as he doesn't poke anything more than fun at it, all right,"said Phil. "We're the only ones licensed to use toothpicks andbattle-axes on it."

  "Poor old clock," sighed Sid. "It does get abused, but still it is afaithful friend. Remember the time that duffer--what was his name--tookout some of the wheels to make some machine he was crazy over? Rememberthat?"

  "I should say so!" exclaimed Tom. "But this chap wasn't satisfied with asingle wheel--he wanted the whole works. I wonder who it could be?"

  "I shouldn't wonder but what the Snail had a hand in this," opined Phil."He's so fond of roaming about nights."

  "He stays over in the North dormitory now," declared Frank. "Besides, hewouldn't get in here at this hour of the morning--at least I think itmust be near morning. The doors are locked after hours, you know. No, itwas someone from here all right, who took that clock."

  "And the nerve of 'em!" exclaimed Phil.

  "And to think Tom took that lad--whoever he was--for me," put in Sid."Did he really look like me?"

  "He sure did."

  "Maybe it was Bean Perkins," suggested Frank.

  "No, Bean wouldn't do a trick like that. He couldn't keep quiet enough,"declared Tom. "He'd want to give a class yell or sing a song in themiddle of it, and that would give it away. Say, but I have a schemethough."

  "Out with it, and then let's get to bed," yawned Frank.

  "We won't say anything about this," spoke Tom, "and----"

  "Not say anything about it!" cried Sid. "Well, I guess we will! Thinkwe're going to let our clock disappear, and keep mum over it? I guessnot!"

  "I didn't mean that," explained Tom. "I meant that we'd not come outboldly, and admit that we didn't know enough to keep our clock frombeing taken. But to-morrow--at chapel--or whenever we can,
we'll justsneak up back of Dutch, the Jersey twins, or whoever else we suspect,and say 'clock' to them. That will make the guilty one start, and we'llhave our man."

  "I see--a sort of detective stunt," remarked Frank.

  "Sort of," admitted Tom.

  "How would it do to make a noise like a tick," suggested Phil.

  "Say, I'm not joking," exclaimed Tom.

  "Neither am I," asserted Phil. "But let's be real mysterious about it,and we'll get the guilty one so much more easily."

  "Oh, don't be silly!" snapped Tom, who, truth to tell, was getting a bitshort-tempered.

  "I'm not!"

  "Yes, you are!"

  "Say, let's all get back to bed, and fight this out in the morning,"suggested Frank, and they took his advice, though it was but a troubledsleep that any of the four got the rest of that night.

  Talking it over by daylight they decided that Tom's plan might not be sobad. Accordingly, they put it into practice.

  "Clock!" suddenly exclaimed Sid, as he slid up behind Dutch Housenlagerafter chapel. "Tick-tock!"

  "Tag. You're it!" quickly responded Dutch. "What's the signal?"

  "You're not guilty, I see," spoke Sid, with a sigh.

  "Of course not. What's the answer?"

  "Someone took our clock last night."

  "Oh, that battered chronometer? Say, do you know what I thought?"

  "Couldn't guess it."

  "That you were trying to initiate me into a new secret society, and thatyou were practicing the password--tick-tock!"

  "Nothing doing. Say, Dutch, if you hear of anyone who has it, tip meoff, will you?"

  "I sure will," and then, to show how much in earnest he was, Dutchtripped Sid up and deposited him on the grass of the campus.

  Nor was Tom, or his other two chums any more successful. Each time theytried the surprise plan on any suspect they received an answer that toldthey were on the wrong track.

  And then, most unexpectedly, the clock came back, as it had done oncebefore. Wallops, the messenger, brought it.

  "I found it down in the furnace room," he explained. "It was on top ofone of the boilers."

  "Well, for the love of tripe!" cried Tom. "How in the world did it getthere?"

  "Our unknown visitor put it there," declared Frank. "Maybe he thoughtwe were on his track, and he took this method of getting rid of thedamaging evidence."

  And they had to let it go at that--at least for the time being, for alltheir inquiries came to naught.

  "Everyone who wants to try for the varsity eight come down to the riverthis afternoon," was the notice Captain Simpson posted on the bulletinboard the next day. He and the coach had had a conference, and it wasdecided to try and definitely settle on the crew for the first boat.Then the second choice could be made, and some practice races arranged.

  In order to be absolutely fair, Mr. Lighton and Mr. Pierson shiftedabout those who had been rowing together. I mean Tom and the seven ladswith whom he was more closely associated than with any others--Sid,Phil, Bricktop Molloy, Frank, Holly Cross, Dutch, and Kindlings. Jerrywas kept as coxswain in the new boat, but Tom, Phil, Holly and Dutchwere sent out in the old one, with Bean Perkins for steersman, whilefour lads who had not been given much practice were imported into thenew shell with Frank, Sid, Kindlings and Bricktop Molloy.

  "Now, boys, see what you can do!" urged the coach.

  It was the first time the new shell had been tried, and it was foundfully up to expectations. But it was a little differently made from theold one, and this made the lads a bit awkward in it. However, they rowedfairly well, though in a short trial race the old shell came out ahead.

  "We'll do some more shifting," decided Mr. Lighton, and he and Mr.Pierson tried different combinations, but still separating the eightlads who had rowed together from the start.

  This was kept up for some days, the lads all, meanwhile, being ontraining. But when a week had passed, and the old and new boats hadsee-sawed back and forth, first one winning and then the other, Mr.Lighton shook his head in doubt.

  "Something is wrong," he said. "We'll never be able to pick a varsitycrew of either of them. We need a consistent winner."

  "That is right," agreed Mr. Pierson. "Why not try the same eight youhad at first--the four lads whom I coached this Summer, and their fourintimate friends? I fancy they would do better together in the new boat."

  "We'll try it," assented the coach.

  The result was an improvement at once. Even with the awkwardness of thenew shell as a handicap, Tom and his seven friends at once opened waterbetween their craft and the other one. And it was not surprising whenyou consider that they had had considerable practice together, and hadplayed baseball and football through several college seasons.

  "I think that's the varsity crew all right," declared Mr. Pierson, afterwatching the test.

  "I agree with you--unless something unforeseen occurs," said Mr.Lighton. "Now we must give some attention to the others in the fours,singles and doubles."

  Practice in these craft had been going steadily on, and in time thecrews that were to try to make Randall the champion were picked,subject, of course, to change, a number of substitutes being arrangedfor.

  Word came that the Boxer Hall and Fairview varsity crews in thedifferent shells were doing hard work. They had the advantage of nothaving to pick new and somewhat green crews. But the spirit of Randallwas not affected by this.

  "Now, boys!" exclaimed Mr. Lighton one afternoon, when the two eightshad gone out for a practice race. "I want you to do your best. Rowhard! Try to imagine you're in a race. Row hard, everybody!"

  "There may be a race if those fellows will consent to a brush with us,"said Bricktop to Frank, as he looked down the river and saw the BoxerHall eight approaching. "I wonder if we can chance it--to see which ofour boats would win."

  "I guess so," assented Frank.

  "Silence in the boat!" cried Coxswain Jackson. "Save your breath to rowwith!"

  "Sure he's getting to be a regular fussing martinet!" declared Bricktop,with a smile.

  "Silence in the boat!" commanded Jerry again, and he meant it. Meanwhilethe Boxer Hall eight came sweeping on. Would she give Randall animpromptu race?