The Rover Boys at Colby Hall Part 29

"He crows best who crows last," cried Ruth.

"Right you are!" came pantingly from Jack; and then, as he saw the look of encouragement in Ruth's face, he redoubled his efforts. Fred did the same, and when they came into plain view of the tiny dock at the end of Foxtail Island their boat was two full lengths ahead of the other.

"Hi you! What kind of a race is this, anyhow?" shouted out Andy, gaily.

"Why don't you keep side by side and be sociable?"

"Sour grapes!" roared Fred. "Here is where we win!" and in a moment more he and Jack sent their boat up to the side of the little dock.

Almost immediately the second craft followed.

"I think all of you did very well," remarked Ruth, consolingly.

"Anyway, we came in a close second," remarked Randy.

"We would have won if it hadn't been for one thing--just one thing,"

remarked Andy, solemnly.

"Why, what was that?" questioned several of the others quickly.

"That was the fact that the other boat"--Andy drew a deep breath--"came in first." At this the girls shrieked with laughter and the other boys set up a howl.

"Pitch him into the lake!"

"That's right! Give him a bath!"

"A ducking will do him good--he needs to be cooled off!"

"Not much! No bath for me!" cried Andy, quickly, and lost no time in leaping to the dock, where, in the exuberance of his spirits, he turned several handsprings, much to the amus.e.m.e.nt of the girls.

"Is there anything worth seeing on this island?" questioned Jack, when the excitement of the race was over.

"There isn't anything here that I know of," answered Ruth. "In the summer time people come here to picnic. There is a nice spring of water in the center of the island."

"Let's go and get a drink," said Fred. "That race made me thirsty;" and off the whole party trooped to the spring.

The young folks had a good time at the spring and in exploring the little island, which had a hill at one end covered with trees. They found some chestnuts and also a few hickory nuts, and these the boys opened for the girls' benefit.

"I suppose we had better go on and finish the row," remarked Jack to Ruth, presently. "That is, unless you girls would rather wander through the woods."

"Oh, it's nice enough here on the island," she answered. "Remember, you'll have quite a row back to the school and then to Colby Hall."

"Oh, let's stay here for a while," put in Alice. "Maybe we'll be able to find more nuts."

They hunted around, and presently discovered another large chestnut tree which was fairly loaded. The boys threw up sticks and stones, and brought down a big shower.

"If I had known this, we might have brought along a pillowcase for the nuts," said Fred.

"We can come back some day if we want to," returned Randy.

Before leaving the island the young folks decided to go back to where the spring was located, so as to get another drink and also to wash their hands. On this trip, in speaking about the excitement at the moving picture theater, Randy chanced to mention Jennie Mason's name.

"Jennie is a nice girl," answered Annie Larkins, to whom he was speaking, "but she does some things that I do not approve of. Do you know a cadet at your Hall named Napoleon Martell--I think they call him Nappy for short?"

"Do we know him!" exclaimed Randy. "I should say we did!"

"Oh! is that so?" Annie looked at him searchingly. "Is he a friend of yours?"

"No; I can't say that he is. To tell you the truth, he doesn't like us at all."

"If that's the case, I don't mind speaking to you about Jennie," went on the girl. "You know, Jennie comes from New York City. And down there she met Nappy Martell quite a few times, and they became well acquainted. But Jennie's folks don't approve of him at all; and they don't want her to go with him." And here Annie paused.

"And do you mean to say she does go with him, anyhow?" queried the Rover boy.

"Yes. She goes out to meet him whenever she can get the chance," was the reply. "You are sure you don't approve of him?"

"Not in the least. In fact, to tell the truth, we have no use for him or the bunch he trains with."

"I see. Well, all of us think it is perfectly dreadful the way Jennie accepts Martell's invitations. Of course, we don't want to tell on her, either in school or to her folks, and yet none of us think it is right."

"Does he take her out much?"

"Oh, as much as they dare to go. He takes her out sailing on the lake and to the moving picture shows, and once they went off together on a picnic to the Clearwater Country Club. The places were all right in themselves, but I know Jennie's folks don't want her to be seen in the company of Nappy Martell. He is so loud and forward."

"You can't tell us anything about Martell being loud and forward,"

answered Randy, readily. "We all know him to be a regular bully.

Besides that, when he isn't in uniform, he wears the loudest kind of clothes--just as if he wanted to make an exhibition of himself."

"Jennie went out with him this afternoon," continued Annie. "Where they went to, I do not know. But I think they hired a motor boat and went across the lake."

"Does Martell know how to run a motor boat?"

"Oh, yes. He told Jennie that he owned a motor boat on the Hudson River--a boat his father gave him for a birthday present."

Randy and the girl had dropped a little behind the others, who now waited for them to come up.

"I think we had better be getting back," said Jack. "It isn't as clear as it was before, and it is beginning to blow."

"Yes, we'll get back," returned Randy, with a look at the sky. He knew that a blow on the lake might be no trifling matter.

On the way over to the island the sun had been clear and warm. Now, however, it was hidden under a dark bank of clouds, which were coming up quickly from the west. The wind was already blowing freely, and out on the bosom of the lake the water was roughing up in tiny ripples.

"All aboard, everybody!" sang out Jack. And then turning to his cousins he added in a low voice: "We mustn't lose a minute of time in getting back. This blow is going to be a heavy one."

The girls were soon seated in the rowboats, and then the four Rovers lost no time in casting off from the little dock and in starting to row towards Clearwater Hall. As they proceeded, the sky kept growing darker and darker while the wind grew stronger and stronger.

"We're in for a squall all right enough," murmured Randy, as he and Andy bent to their oars with vigor.

"Gee! I only hope we can reach the sh.o.r.e before it strikes us," was the response.

"Row for all you're worth, boys!" sang out Jack from the other boat.