H. Irving Hancock

“ It is a delight to be a High School student. There are no really dark sides to the life."
"But some sides are much brighter than others," Dick insisted. "I like study, and am glad I have a chance to go further in it than most young people get. Yet these class dances give us something that algebra, or chemistry, or geometry can't supply us."
"This is the brightest spot of the year," put in Tom Reade, in a low voice. "It must be the brightness of the girls' eyes that fill this part of the room with so much radiance."
"Bravo!" laughed Laura and Belle together. ”

“ But this avalanche of torsos, arms and legs was more than the fellow had bargained for.
If it be true that a community can't be indicted, then it is still truer that a community can't be murdered. The armed rascal gasped at the magnitude of his task of defense.
In another second he had been bowled clean over off his feet, and a half a dozen seniors were reaching for his weapon.
As Dick Prescott and his chums got out of the wedge they made a dash for the automobile.
At that same instant the air bore to them the battle-yell of juniors and sophs at the front of the bank. ”

“ After Dick Prescott had ceased reading it took nearly a full minute for the cleverness of this direct appeal to local pride to strike home in the minds of the football squad. Then loud applause broke loose.
"Freshie!" roared Sam Edgeworth, over the din, "that's genius, compressed into a hundred words!"
"It's O.K.!" declared Thompson, with heavy emphasis.
"Bully!" roared Ben Badger.
Then one pessimist was heard from:
"It's good, but it takes something mighty good to force people to part with their own cash." ”

“ But, as to the kind of fellow you've sometimes shown yourself to be, Fred, I've been really glad that I wasn't your sort and didn't appeal to you."
At this style of talk the sophomore seemed all but crushed with mortification.
"Come, Fred," pursued Dick, not waiting for the other to answer, "be a different sort of chap. Make up your mind to go through the High School, and through life afterwards, dealing with everybody on the square. Be pleasant and honest—-be a high-class fellow—-and everyone will like you and seek your friendship. ”

“ While the cheering was going on out in the yard, and while Dick was being carried in triumph into the building, Fred Ripley and Clara Deane had just turned in out of a side street and come within view of the demonstration.
"They're shouting out something about Prescott," murmured Clara.
"Oh, I suppose the mucker has been allowed to sneak back into school," returned Ripley, in disgust.
"It's a shame to allow that class of young fellows in a high school," declared Miss Deane. "If a higher education is necessary for such people, they ought to be sent to a special school of their own." ”

“ It was barely a quarter of three when Dick & Co. walking two-and-two, came in sight of the otherwise unoccupied store that formed the football headquarters.
"We're too early," muttered Prescott, consulting his watch. "We'll have to take a walk around a few blocks yet, fellows."
"Why?" Dan Dalzell wanted to know. "What difference does a matter of a few minutes make?"
"Haven't you had it rubbed into you enough that you're only a measly freshman?" laughed Dick. "And don't you know a freshman is called a freshman only because he can't dare to do anything that looks the least little bit fresh? ”

“ As to position, Prescott's father isn't a rich man, nor a very successful one, but I wish I could look forward, some day, to being half as well educated as Dick's father is."
"A dreamer, a fool, a man who couldn't and didn't succeed," sneered Fred. "And his son will be a bigger mistake in life. I don't have anything to do with that kind of people and their friends."
"I'll wish you good-day, then," broke in Badger, crisply, and moved away. "I want to be reckoned as one of Dick Prescott's friends. He's one of the most promising young fellows in Gridley H.S."
Ripley let loose an astounded gasp. ”

“ Dick laughingly held back from the packing case until Badger and
Thomp lifted him bodily and stood him on top of the box.
"And cut it short, and make it practical," admonished Ted Butler, "or take the dire consequences!"
"Why, I don't know, gentlemen of the football team, that it's much of an idea," Dick began, "but my chums and I have been thinking over the complaint of the Athletics Committee that you haven't as much money, this season, as you'd like."
"Money?" echoed one. "Now, you're whispering. Whoop!"
"Money—-the root of all evil!" shouted another. ”

“ Thornton let fall this morning," guessed Dave Darrin.
"And Mr. Morton knows it's a straight tip," added Harry Hazelton, sagely.
"It'll be a confounded shame, if the Board does anything like that," glowed Dick Prescott, indignantly.
"They'll be so many dead ones, if they do," flared Tom Reade, hotly.
"Yes," agreed Dave Darrin. "But the worst about that Board of Education is that, though they are dead ones, they're so very dead that they'll never find it out."
"Won't they, thought" whispered Dan Dalzell, hotly. "Say, I'm inclined to think they will! ”

“ As they ascended, Fred Ripley stepped aside to let the other two go first. He was afraid to have Dick Prescott behind him just then.
No sooner had the trio entered the general assembly room than it quickly dawned on all the students of both sexes that something was unusually wrong.
Dick's face was red as fire. Had he been guilty of the thefts, he might have been cooler about it all. Conscious innocence often puts on the appearance of guilt. ”

“ Both principal and student searched thoroughly in the locker.
Dick, as in duty bound, was still there, on guard at the door.
"Mr. Prescott," asked puzzled Dr. Thornton, did any student have admittance to the locker after recess today?"
"None, sir," answered Dick promptly.
"Hm! And you're absolutely sure, Mr. Edwards, that you left the little package in your overcoat pocket?"
"Positive of it, Dr. Thornton."
"It's so strange that it startles me," admitted the good principal.
"It startles me a good deal," confessed Edwards, grimly, "to think what explanation I am to offer my mother." ”

“ With a sudden rush of recollection of other pranks in which she had known her son to be engaged in the grammar school days, Mrs. Prescott shot a sudden, wondering glance at him. But Dick, looking utterly innocent, was chewing his food.
Frank Thompson, Ben Badger and Ted Butler, all seniors, and stars on the H.S. football team, had risen early that morning, every one of them feeling glum over the dread that the great sport might be "killed" for them. They were the only members of the eleven who happened to see "The Blade" early. ”

“ As he was on staunch ice, now, three or four men ran toward him. One, with a sharp knife, waved the others away and quickly slashed the noose away from Fred's shoulders.
"Go on, you pup!" grumbled the man with the knife. "Now, we'll try to get help to the man!"
Fred was not too far spent to flash angrily at that taunt.
"You'd better be careful whom you speak to like that!" snarled
Ripley. "You're a low-bred fellow, anyway!"
But the man who had slashed the rope free didn't even hear. He had turned toward Darrin, to make sure that Dave could draw the rope toward him fast enough. ”

“ Why don't you interview a lot of the prominent business men on the absolute necessity of football for keeping up the H.S. spirit and traditions?"
"Good idea as far as it goes," assented Len, dubiously. "But a lot of the business men might prove to be fossilized, and be against the grand old game."
"Leave that sort out," hinted Dick, sagely, "and go after the right kind."
"How'll I know the right kind?" asked reporter Spencer, thoughtfully.
"Why, use your head a bit. There's Beck. He's a millionaire, and one of the big men of the town, isn't he?"
"Yes; but he may not believe in football." ”

“ Even had he wanted to get away from this, Ripley couldn't have done it. For a sophomore to find any excuse for getting out of a fight with a freshman would bring down upon the soph all the wrath and disgust of the disgraced third class.
"Come on, mucker! Take off your sweater and get ready to take your real medicine!" snarled Fred, harshly.
But Dick Prescott, young as he was, was much too wise to allow himself to be betrayed into anger. ”

“ When school let out, Dick & Co., each partner escorting one of the freshman girls, strolled down the street. A good many more of the students chose to drop in behind them. Dick could say nothing, but his heart swelled with pride.
"The way to get famous and respected, nowadays, is to steal something, and to get found out," sneered Fred Ripley, bitterly, to Clara Deane.
Straight to his own door did some two score in all of the Gridley
H.S. students escort Dick Prescott. ”

“ Dick remarked.
"I'm in as bad a plight," admitted Harry.
"And I," nodded Dave.
It wasn't many moments ere the other three partners happened along, all disengaged.
"We don't want to be wall-flowers," muttered Dick. "It's going to be more than half an hour from now before any of us are due to dance again. See here, fellows, what do you say to our getting our hats and coats and getting out into the air for a while? A ballroom, isn't the worst place in the world, but I'm so much a fresh air fellow, that I'm half stifling here."
"Good! Come along to the coatroom, then," nodded Greg Holmes. ”

“ If you hold him off, hinder him and delay him, before long he'll lose some of his nerve. A fellow like Ripley will begin to go all to pieces, once he gets it into his head that he has a long and hard job before him."
"I'll do my best," Dick promised. "Hang it, if he hadn't knocked me down so treacherously, I wouldn't care about fighting. I don't care so much what he says. Fred Ripley's mouth is the weakest part of him."
The sophomore was waiting, a sulky frown on his face. A few feet away Ben Badger, a grim look on his usually good-humored face, leaned against a tree, his arms folded. ”

“ At the next down a man had to be sent from the field, and a substitute sent out. But the casualty went to Cobber, not to the High School team. That fact gave the major part of the audience grim satisfaction.
"There they go, now!" muttered Dave Darrin, in disgust. "Nothing is going to stop the big fellows!"
"They're getting nearer our goal line," Dick admitted. "But a game is never won until it's finished. Cobber, as yet, hasn't even gotten the touchdown!"
A minute later Cobber had. To the Gridley onlookers it sent a shock of dismay. The college men certainly had scored. ”

“ CHAPTER V THE "MUCKER" AND THE "GENTLEMAN" Ben Badger gave Captain Dick a shove. "Go on, Prescott! Go on, hounds!" roared Badger. "You've only one more capture to make. Run along, Dick! I'll take care of Ripley. He'll stay right here until you come back, or else he'll never have the nerve to show his face at Gridley H.S. again! Run, you hounds!" ”

“ By one o'clock Saturday afternoon Gaylor's Cove was a scene of great activity. Two thirds of the High School students were there, most of them on skates. There were three or four hundred other youngsters, and more than a hundred grown-ups.
"All we need is the band," laughed Dick Prescott, as he skated slowly along with Laura Bentley. ”

“ But to the young gentlemen I will say that, when the football season opens, we usually notice a great falling off in the recitation marks. This year I hope will be an exception. It has always been part of my policy to encourage school athletics, but I do not mind telling you that some members of the Board of Education notice that school percentages fall off in October and November. This, I trust, will not be the case this year. If it is I fear that the Board of Education may take some steps that will result in making athletics less of a feature among our young men. ”

“ Artful Dodger Winters still had the ball. Thompson, Edgeworth, Badger and Beck butted in solidly behind the lithe quarter-back. The rest of Gridley followed.
Cheek of cheek! The out-weighed High School boys were giving Cobber a dose of Cobber medicine. It was a mass-play—-a battering-ram assault.
And Gridley got it over! An inch past the line Winters tripped and went down, covering the ball.
Touchdown!
Five to five a tie score!
"Kick the goal!" came the hoarse appeal from the east side seats.
"Kick as you never kicked before!"
Gridley fans could fairly hear themselves shake now. ”

“ May I tell him what the reward is to be?"
"Go ahead, Thomp!" came an answering roar.
"Then, listen, Prescott. For the great deed you have done for Gridley H.S. football every member of Dick & Co. deserves undying fame. As I can't be sure of our ability to confer that, we'll do the next best thing. In years and class you're all six of you freshmen. Now, what is expected of a freshman?"
"Why," laughed Dick, "as I understand it, a freshman is a fellow who doesn't dare to be fresh." ”

“ In the last eighth of the distance Stearns made good. Summoning all his football wind and speed the little right end closed and shot ahead. Not once in the remainder of the course did Ben Badger quite catch up with his smaller opponent. Stearns won by some fifteen yards.
The racers came slowly back, breathing harder than usual. As soon as jovial Ben felt equal to the task of further announcing, he picked up the megaphone, shouting:
"As I didn't win, all the further events are postponed!"
There was stupefied silence for a few moments. Grown people and the students looked from one to another. ”