Allen Chapman

“ The line came up with a suddenness that surprised him, as Fenn let go, and an old rubber boot, that Stumpy had attached, flew over and struck the lazy lad in the face.
“It’s a whopper!” he cried until he saw what it was. Then, with a disgusted look at the plotters he turned over and went to sleep again.
“What can you do with a fellow like that?” asked Ned appealing to his chums.
“Death will never overtake him,” replied Frank. “It will pass him on the road, thinking Jim has already passed in. He certainly is the last word in laziness.” ”

“ Woodport was a small place and they soon passed it, coming to a long stretch of water that flowed between densely wooded banks on either side.
“Good place to camp,” spoke Ned. “No one to bother us. There’s no fun camping close to a town.”
“Not unless you run out of salt or something like that,” replied Bart.
“Oh, well, one should get accustomed to doing without salt, or other things he can’t have,” Ned rejoined. “I believe I could get used to anything.”
“Good way to feel,” spoke Fenn. “I wish I could.”
“It takes strength of character,” Ned added.
“Don’t get preachy,” put in Frank. ”

“ The boys took their positions one on each side of the big basket and began staring aloft, through the mist, for a sight of the cords. There was such [169] a maze of ropes and netting that it was hard to distinguish anything. The mist too, bothered them.
There came a little puff of wind which made the big balloon sway so that the boys clutched the sides of the willow car. There was a peculiar sensation as though the bottom of their stomachs had dropped out.
“We’re going down!” cried Bart.
The mist seemed to break away. The bag could be plainly seen. ”

“ It was as near a tragedy as had ever happened in the town, and the next day’s paper devoted the whole front page to it, including a vivid description of what Ned had done.
“I’m going to leave town,” declared Ned the next afternoon, as he met his chums.
“What’s the matter?” asked Frank.
“Why everyone I meet on the street stops me and asks me all about it. I’m tired of telling of it and hearing about it.”
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“You’re not used to being a hero,” said Bart. “Wait until some society sends you a medal and you’ll be so proud you won’t speak to any of us.” ”

“ There was a wild burst of cheering from the high school girls and boys.
“Only takes one run to beat ’em!” exclaimed Bart as his team went to the bat for the last time. “Somebody get it!”
Somebody did. It was Ned, who came first to the plate. He lined a beauty just over the center fielder’s head, and got two bases on it. Joe Wright brought him in, and such a yell as went up from the high school crowd was seldom heard on that diamond.
“That does it!” yelled Bart, capering about. “Stumpy! you’re all to the good!”
“But Ned won the game,” objected Fenn. ”

“ I could see clear to Woodport.”
“Now who’s going to be the next?” asked the manager in his professional voice. “Try a trip in the airship! View the earth spread out like a map beneath you, the fields mere patches of green, the river a silver ribbon and the forest a mere bit of fuzz like the wool on Mary’s little lamb. Who’s next?”
“We are!” cried Bart, and he and his chums paid their money and took their places in the basket. ”

“ As the boat was urged up stream under the impulse of the oars in the hands of Bart and Fenn, Ned, who was resting in the bow, called out:
“Steer her out a bit, Frank. There’s a man fishing just ahead of us and we don’t want to disturb him.” ”

“ A number of the pupils turned in their seats to gaze at Stumpy, who looked painfully self-conscious.
“There’s something in the wind,” whispered Ned to Bart.
“I’m not going to take all the blame,” persisted John, ignoring the principal’s command to remain silent. “Fenn Mast—”
“I said that would do,” and Mr. McCloud spoke so decisively that John remained silent. “I know what you would say,” the professor went on. “I have looked into that matter thoroughly. No one is to blame but yourself, and your effort to shift the punishment to some other boy does not do you any good. ”

“ They went through the woods so as to skirt the edge of the clearing but not near enough to it to be seen by Sandy, as they did not wish to get into a quarrel with the youth.
“Let’s make some inquiries when we get back [106] to town,” suggested Bart, “and see if anyone has heard of a trolley line being extended, or of any surveyors at work.”
“Whom can we ask?” inquired Ned.
“You ask Judge Benton, Frank,” said Bart. “You know him, don’t you?”
“Yes,” was the answer, and Frank looked at Bart sharply, as if to see whether the suggestion was made with any particular motive. ”

“ CHAPTER VII ALICE HAS A CHANCE
The four chums were certainly regarded as the heroes of the school that day, for they had been instrumental in winning a victory that went down in the history of the institution as a most brilliant one.
“I didn’t know you had it in you, Stumpy,” said Ned, as the nine reached the high school grounds on the return trip.
“Me either,” replied Fenn. “It sort of ‘growed,’ like Topsy in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
“To think of beating the Preps,” murmured Bart. “It’s the finest thing that ever happened.”
“How’s your wrist, Lem?” asked Frank.
“Hurts like the mischief. ”

“ BALLOON.
“That’s so, there’s going to be a balloon ascension every day,” said Ned. “We’ll have to take this in to-morrow.”
“That’s what we will,” replied Bart. “I’ve never seen a balloon go up.”
“You’ll have a chance to go up in one if you want to,” put in Fenn.
“How?”
“Why this is a captive balloon. It’s fast to the ground by a rope. They let persons go up in it for a half dollar apiece.”
“Then we’ll go up,” decided Frank. “I’ve always wanted a ride in one.” ”

“ As the boys watched they saw the man get into the canoe with Fenn, who then paddled over.
“Looks as though he wouldn’t trust Stumpy to bring the salt over,” commented Bart. “Wonder what the man wants?”
In a short time the canoe containing Fenn and the stranger grounded on the little beach near where the boys were camped.
“Did you get the salt?” asked Ned.
“Yes, we have the salt,” replied the man, and then the three boys noticed with surprise he was the same tramp they had met the day they went swimming, and who had inquired about the man the boys knew as the King of Paprica. ”

“ He seems to be a great favorite.”
“It’s a cow,” Mr. Long said, beginning to laugh as he appreciated the joke. But Mr. Kenton had passed on unheeding and was right in front of the animal. He imagined the exercises had been interrupted by the entrance of some instructor from a neighboring institution, as they frequently attended on the closing day of the high school. Then Mr. Kenton, peering through his glasses saw what the intruder was.
“Why, it’s a cow!” he exclaimed in such an accent of strange surprise that the boys, girls and teachers burst into a roar of laughter. ”

“ Don’t know how to behave in company!”
“It takes Fenn to please the girls,” retorted Ned, and he dodged to escape a blow Stumpy aimed at him. Then the gong rang for the afternoon session and the pupils went back to their classrooms.
While the boys are at their lessons, which is about the only time, save when they are asleep, that they are not talking or doing something, there will be opportunity of telling who they are.
Ned Wilding’s mother had been dead some years. His father was cashier in the only bank in Darewell, a thriving manufacturing town not far from Lake Erie. ”

“ Quite a crowd of boys went to the river after school. Some took their swimming suits, while others went to fish or row, as a number of them had boats. The four chums soon got their craft out from the house, at a public dock, where it was kept.
“Who’ll row?” asked Frank.
“Draw lots,” suggested Bart, and the choice fell to Ned and Fenn.
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“Up or down?” asked Fenn.
“Row up and float down,” said Ned. “We don’t want to be working all the while.”
They went up the stream for two or three miles, and Frank, who had borrowed Ned’s fishing tackle, cast in. But the fish did not seem to be biting. ”

“ The gas can’t stay in the bag forever. Some is bound to leak out and we’ll descend. Besides, as it gets colder we’ll drop some.”
“How?” asked Frank.
“Why the man told me the cold sort of condenses the gas. Makes it so there isn’t so much of it, and it hasn’t the same lifting power. But there’s one disadvantage to that.”
“How?” inquired Fenn.
“Why as soon as it gets warm again, when the sun comes out, it expands the gas and we’ll rise.”
“Keep on going back and forth, eh?” asked Ned.
“That’s about it,” said Bart.
“I’ve got a plan,” suggested Fenn.
“What, Stumpy?” inquired his chums eagerly. ”

“ Then the balloon begins to fill. We hook on the sand bags, all round the edge of the netting, so’s to keep her steady as she fills. When the gas begins to lift the bags a bit we hook ’em on lower down in the netting, and so on, until the balloon is full. Then we hitch on the basket, put in the proper amount of ballast, and it’s all ready to go up.”
“You let it go up a thousand feet and then pull it down by the wire cable?” asked Bart.
“That’s it. It can make a lot of trips during a day with one filling of gas. When it begins to collapse we put in more.” ”

“ The half-cured grass made a warm nest for the thinly clad boys, and they huddled down together in a big mound of the fragrant hay, pulling it over themselves until they were hidden from sight, leaving only a little hole to breathe through. ”

“ It was decided this was as wise a thing as could be done and after replenishing the fire, so it would burn until morning, the campers crawled back into the tent and slept until sunrise, no further alarms disturbing them.
“Well, fellows,” called Frank when the things had been put away. “What’s the program for to-day?”
“We’ll row up stream until noon,” said Bart, “camp and have dinner, and, if we like the place, stay all night. If we don’t we’ll move on to a better one.”
The boat was soon loaded and, with the canoe towing along behind, the trip was resumed. ”

“ As he was handing around the sandwiches there was a noise in the bushes behind where the lads were seated. They started, thinking it might be the strange man again, but they were relieved when they saw it was Jim Nelson, who had the reputation of being the laziest boy in town.
“Hello, Jim,” called Ned.
“Um,” grunted Jim. It seemed too much of an effort to speak. “Bait?” he asked, with a motion toward his own fishing tackle which he carried over his shoulder.
“Well, if you aren’t the limit!” exclaimed Ned. “You started off fishing and depended on finding some one to lend you the bait. ”

“ As the seniors, bearing their precious diplomas, filed out, which was a signal for the rest of the pupils to follow, the four chums, led by Ned, went down a rear stairway. Ned took them into the now deserted lunch room and produced several comical false faces, some paper hats of odd design and a number of tin fifes.
“Get some of the other fellows,” Ned said to Stumpy. “We must have enough for a band.” ”

“ Captain Needham said, as he looked in on them a little later, when they were in the midst of it. “Best we could do in a hurry. We don’t often have people drop in on us out of a balloon for supper,” and he laughed.
“Say, captain,” began Ned. “Is that boy—”
“I’ll be back in a little while,” called the captain, as he closed the door, leaving the chums alone.
“I was going to ask him about Sandy,” added Ned.
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“It’ll keep,” remarked Bart.
The boys finished their meal and felt better.
“I’d like to get into my clothes,” remarked Fenn. “I want to see about sending a message home. ”

“ Monday morning when the chums reached school there was a buzz of excitement among those gathered on the campus waiting for the nine o’clock gong to ring.
“Here they come now,” called some one. “We’ll see what they say.”
“What’s up?” asked Bart, as he saw the crowd of boys hurrying toward him and his chums.
“We’ve got a challenge!” exclaimed Lem Gordon, pitcher of the school nine, of which Bart was catcher.
“Who from?” asked Bart.
“The Lakeville Prep. school. It’s for Thursday. Dare we take ’em on?”
“We dare do all that may become our school,” paraphrased Frank. “Why not?” ”