The Boys of Columbia High on the River/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI
THE WORK OF THE TRAINER
"Is that what they call burlap?" asked Frank, as he took hold of the coarse stuff, and examined it.
"Yes, for we have some of it at home, on the wall of a den," replied Minnie.
"Isn't there some sort of printing on it, Frank?" inquired Helen, eagerly.
"I was just looking at it. As sure as you live I can make out most of the word Canton. And that's where our new racing boat was coming from!" exclaimed the boy, a light beginning to show upon his face as he stared at the two pleased girls.
"Oh! how nice, and to think that I found it! Goody! I just wish we could be so lucky as to discover the boat next!" laughed Minnie, fairly dancing in her excitement.
Frank was looking about him. When his eyes lighted on the unfinished building he nodded his head and grinned.
"I've got an idea it isn't far away, girls. And if it proves to be so, all the credit for finding the boat belongs to Minnie," he said, cheerfully.
"Well, I'm sure I'm glad to hear you speak so confidently. Why are you looking at that building so hard, Frank; do you really believe they could have put your new shell in there. Would it go through that doorway? demanded the one who had found the bit of green burlap.
"I don't just know; perhaps so. Anyhow it's up to me to see!" cried Frank.
"Then we're going in with you," declared Helen, firmly.
"All right; come along, girls," and Frank led the way, quivering with eagerness; for something told him that he must be near a discovery that would bring to naught this miserable scheme of the unknown enemy to upset Columbia's calculations.
But when they pased in through the doorway to find some of the masons and carpenters gathering to go to work at the union hour, Frank looked in vain for any sign of the coveted shell.
"Perhaps they've hidden it somewhere in here?" suggested Minnie, while Helen looked around blankly at the bare space; she had seen the tremendous length of the crated shell, and realized that it could not well be concealed in any small cavity.
A man was descending a series of ladders that led upward. He eyed the young people with more or less curiosity.
"Lookin' for anything?" he asked, as he came up; and Frank noticed that there was a sort of grin on his good-natured Irish face.
"Yes, we are," returned Frank, quickly, "a boat!"
"It's up on the roof!" came the staggering answer that caused the three young people to look at one another in dismay; and then Minnie broke out into a merry rippling laugh as the comical aspect of the thing struck her.
"On the roof?" echoed Frank, unable to say anything else, he felt so wholly stunned at the startling information the foreman gave him.
"Sure, asettin' there as nate as you plase, all nicely crated. I rubbed me eyes, and thought I was seein' things as had oughtn't to come to me, I was that surprised. It's there, all right, sor, as ye'll find," continued the other, now smiling all over his face at Frank's expression of dismay.
"But—how could it ever get up there on the roof?" asked the boy, though already beginning to feel delighted because his hunt promised to find its reward so soon, thanks to the brightness of Minnie.
"Some lark of the lads. You see, sor, there do be two big derricks hanging out from the front of the building. They must have hitched the boat to the ropes, and hauled it up that way, pulling it in like we do the steel girders."
"Girls, wait outside for me, will you. I must go up and see for myself. Tell any of the fellows you see, and spread the news that the boat has been found," and Frank made a bolt for the ladder, followed by the foreman, and some of the men, who may have heard enough to have their curiosity excited.
"Oh! I do hope it hasn't been injured in any way," said Minnie, as she and her chum passed hastily out to look for messengers to send off with the glorious news that meant so much to Columbia High fellows.
"So do I, because Frank has set his heart on winning that race to-morrow, and I want to see him do it. I know he will, unless something happens to break up their plans. Did you ever hear of such a mean thing! The idea of that beautiful boat being pulled up like a nasty old girder, and left lying on the roof of a six-story sky-scraper! No wonder we couldn't find it," laughed Minnie.
Meanwhile Frank had managed to climb the last ladder. As he came out upon the top of the new building, from whence such an elegant view could be obtained of all the surrounding country, the only thing he had eyes for was the long object that rested about the center of the flat roof.
Sure enough it was the missing boat!
Frank rushed over alongside, his heart, figuratively speaking, in his mouth. Had those vandals injured the precious cedar craft, a fine example of the up-to-date boat-builder's art.
He went from one end to the other, and when he failed to discover anything that looked like damage, he sighed with satisfaction. If this were all, he might even find it in his heart to forgive the prank, though it had cost him nearly an hour of agonizing anxiety.
In a few words, he explained to the foreman how much depended on that boat being lowered safely to the ground.
"Can you get your men to do it for us? I will promise five dollars from the boat club, to be divided among them, if they lower it without banging the sides. It's almost like paper, you see, and one hard knock would punch a hole in it, which we'd have no time to fix up before the race. Please do all you can. We need this boat on the river this morning the worst way," Frank said; and his plea met with a hearty and instantaneous response at the hands of the obliging Irishman.
"Sure, we kin do it, and, depind on it, we wull. Wait till I get some more of me min up to handle the derricks, and thin it's over in a jiffy," he replied, turning to beckon to others, who were climbing the ladders.
"Be very careful, please, boys; don't let it touch anywhere," Frank said, as the men began to carry the crated boat over to the front of the building.
When he saw it swinging free, and ready to be lowered, Frank made to descend the ladders himself.
"It'll be down on the strate as soon as yersilf, sor," said the foreman.
"Glad to hear it, and I won't forget what I promised, either," returned the boy.
"Sure that wasn't naded to make us turn in to hilp. We expect to say that race pulled, ivery man of us, and we wish ye the best luck ever," was what he heard the obliging foreman say, as he vanished.
And, sure enough, when Frank issued from the building, there lay the boat, with several excited and cheering boys grouped around it, waving their caps like mad; while Helen and Minnie stood by, laughing and clapping their hands.
There was no trouble about finding recruits to carry the crated shell down to the river. All the way along the streets, shouts attested to the interest the citizens of Columbia felt in the recovery of the missing boat. Men stopped to look and ask questions, and on hearing the story, laughed, as memory, perhaps, carried them back to some similar college prank; for the boys of to-day are built on the same model of those who went to school many years ago.
And by the time the boathouse was reached, quite a mob surrounded the bearers of the wonderful eight-oared shell that had been found reposing on the roof of the sky-scraper, "looking over the course of the race, so as to get posted," as Lanky declared, when he came running up and heard the wonderful news.
Eager hands removed the crate piecemeal. Then the burlap was taken away while a score of watchful eyes scrutinized every part of the beautifully polished surface, fearing to find that some damage had been done in all this handling. But as the last piece was cast aside a shout went up that told of relief.
"Not even a scratch!" announced Frank, hugging Buster in his gratitude, an operation which the fat student evidently hardly enjoyed, judging from the strenuous manner in which he struggled to release himself from the encircling arms.
"What d'ye take me for?" he shouted; "go and find the right one, and don't practice on me;" but in another second Buster was helping to raise a clamor such as had not been heard around the town since Columbia took that last hotly-contested game from Bellport in the three-school baseball league.
"Let's launch her, fellows," advocated one eager member of the crew.
And so the boat was slid into the water, under the direction of Coach Willoughby, who had arrived on the ground and heard the whole strange story, which revived recollections in the mind of the old Princeton graduate that brought many a smile to his face.
Coach Willoughby the boys called him. He was a visitor at Columbia and deeply interested in everything that pertained to sports. He had only too gladly taken the baseball team in hand, drilling them in such manner that they improved vastly over their former playing; and it was partly due to his work that Columbia High had won the pennant from their dangerous rival, Bellport.
Then the boat races and water carnival coming off so soon afterward the gentleman was easily persuaded to remain over the Fourth, and assist the oarsmen in getting into a winning stride, a task that appealed to his heart, filled again with memories of former lusty days.
The boathouse was the busiest place in all Columbia that morning. Dozens of muscular lads were stripped and rigged out for business, for everyone had to take advantage of the opportunity to get in some last good work before the final day.
Coach Willoughby had his hands full. He seemed to be in a dozen places at the same time, calling through his megaphone to a crew that was dashing up the river with measured stroke, talking to a single sculler whose method of rowing did not appeal to the practiced eye of the old athlete; or perhaps getting into one of the smaller craft himself to illustrate a point.
Frank had his crew out for an hour, and they showed such a marked improvement in the new boat that his heart beat high with anticipation of the morrow.
"This afternoon at four all be on hand. We're going to take our last spin then over the whole course, and the coach means to time us. Then we'll get a tip as to what chance we have," said Frank, as they came ashore, and lifting the precious shell carried it to its berth inside the big boathouse.
"I know one thing," said Lanky, aside, as he and Frank came out again, after resuming their street clothes.
"What might that be?" asked Frank, smiling, for he could guess fairly well.
"I'm going to stay down here at the boathouse to-night, that's the truth. Any miserable cub who would try to upset a couple of fellows in the water and then go off laughing; and later on steal their new boat and hoist it to the top of that sky-scraper, isn't to be trusted. I believe something would happen to our boat if we left it unprotected."
"Well, perhaps you're right, old chap;" smiled Frank, "but I object to you staying here."
"Why?" demanded Lanky, in an aggrieved tone.
"Because every member of my crew has got to sleep at home to-night, and get as good a rest as he can. What would you be fit for if you prowled around all night. You'd be like a dishrag in the morning, and give out before we turned the end of old Rattail Island. If anybody has to watch let it be Buster, or some fellow who is not going to row in the races," declared Frank.
"I guess you're correct, Frank, as usual. I'll interest Buster in my idea then," and Lanky hurried away to overtake the fat student, who had started for home after floundering around in a tub for an hour, he being entered as a contestant in one of those humorous races.
Frank was about to follow suit, as it was nearing noon, when he discovered someone beckoning to him.
"Why, it's Ralph West," he said to himself as he headed toward the lad who seemed to desire his company; "and he looks troubled. I wonder if he has had bad news from across the water. He's been up to the post-office for that half-past eleven mail; and I shouldn't be surprised if he had taken a letter out. Poor fellow! I wish his affairs were straightened out. Hello! Ralph, what's in the wind now?" he asked aloud, as he drew near the younger lad standing there.