Harry Watson's High School Days Part 23

"That is just why I've come around, ma'am, to try and influence Harry to take a spin with me on my iceboat," Paul continued, eagerly. "You see, we were just going to have a run before, when Pud Snooks interrupted us with that unpleasant bit of news; and Harry backed out. We lost all interest in the sport soon afterward, and I've really had little heart for it since."

"It was good of you to think of your friend in this way, Paul," the widow said, laying a hand on the lad's shoulder, and looking affectionately into his manly face. "And depend on it, Harry is worthy of all your regard. I know something about boys, even though I was never blessed with one myself; and if ever there lived a clean, brave and loyal fellow, Harry is one. And Paul, he must go off with you to get some fresh air. This staying in, and thinking of all his troubles, is not the best thing for even his strong nature."

"Then please back me up," said Paul, "in case he tries to beg off. I'm going to insist; and I think I know how to reach Harry's weak spot. I'll give him to understand that if he refuses, it's going to spoil all my Sat.u.r.day morning sport. Harry will make sacrifices for a chum that he would never think of doing for himself. And now I'll push in on him, if you don't mind."

As he opened the door of Harry's little den, where the boy did his studying, and kept such traps as boys usually acc.u.mulate, he found the object of his solicitude bending over a table, and deep in some book.

"h.e.l.lo! here, old book-worm, this is no morning to bury yourself here indoors like a hermit!" cried Paul, as he burst in on his chum like a breath of the crisp winter air.

Harry looked up, and his face was immediately wreathed in a smile. The very presence of such a fine, healthy fellow like Paul was enough in itself to chase away the blues. He sprang to his feet, and grasped the hand that was thrust out toward him, wringing it with boyish ardor. For deep down in his heart he knew full well that Paul was almost as much concerned over the trouble that had of late befallen him, as he could be himself.

"Glad to see you, Paul!" he exclaimed. "Yes, it does look like a great day for a Sat.u.r.day; and I guess lots of fellows will be glad. The ice must be fine after that little thaw, and hard freeze. I haven't been down to the river you know, of late. I just seem to feel that I ought to keep away from my friends, and save them from embarra.s.sment."

If there was a trace of bitterness in Harry's voice, Paul did not notice it. He did catch the tremor though, that told of a sore heart; and impulsively he again squeezed the hand of his chum.

"That's just what brought me here right now," he observed, seriously.

"You must get out more, Harry. You know yourself that all this brooding over your affairs isn't going to do you a bit of good. Things are going to come out all right yet; but it may take some time. Meanwhile it's foolish of you to shun your best friends, and keep indoors. I've come to carry you off to the river with me, d'ye hear?"

Harry sighed, and cast a look of sincere affection on this staunch friend. They had been utter strangers only a few months back; and yet so strong had the ties become that bound them together, that he fancied he cared as much for Paul as he could have done for a brother.

"Thank you, Paul," he said, slowly. "I'd like to go first-rate; but I've made up my mind to keep clear of all the high school young people until this mystery is solved, and I can look them in the face without a blush.

Understand, I have the utmost faith in my father; and I _know_ he must be innocent of the charge brought against him; but so far old Jed has not sent any cheering word; and I must wait."

"But I say again, that's no reason for you to keep on hurting your health," Paul insisted. "Even your Aunt Mary is getting anxious about you; and Harry, she's been so good to you, don't you think it is a little cruel to add to her burden in any way?"

Harry sighed again, and looked undecided.

"Yes, Aunt Mary is as good as gold," he observed. "And I certainly wouldn't want to cause her any unnecessary pain; but Paul, somehow I haven't the heart to do the things I used to. I feel a terrible weight in here,"-putting his hand on his chest as he spoke-"that hurts. In my present condition I'd only be a drawback to any crowd of merry boys and girls; and so I stay away."

Perhaps Paul could understand more than Harry gave him credit for.

Perhaps he guessed that it was partly the coolness of one particular girl that helped give his chum this heavy feeling in the region of his heart. For he knew how much Harry had come to care for Viola; and it was difficult for him to understand just why she should take up again with Elmer Craven, whom she had once cut dead.

"All right," he said cheerily; "for once, then, you've just got to put that idea out of your head, and come along with me, Harry. Your aunt says you must, and insists that I carry you off to get a few hours of bracing air. And yet, if you'd rather stay here in your den to being in my company, why--"

"Oh! you know better than that, Paul!" cried the other lad eagerly, as he looked into the face of his friend. "I've enjoyed many happy hours in your company; and if it wasn't for this unfortunate business--"

"That's enough, Harry," and Paul in turn broke in on what the forlorn boy was trying to say in a trembling voice; "you've just got to come along now, or else all my plans for the morning will be broken up. I'd arranged for the two of us, no others, mind, to take my new iceboat, _Lightning_, and have a great spin far up the river. The ice couldn't be beat; and I'm determined that it's just got to be _you_ with me, or no one. That's flat. Now, what do you say?"

Harry smiled with pleasure. It was almost worth suffering all that he had endured in these last few unhappy days, just to learn what a true friend meant.

"Well, you put it up to me in a way that knocks out all my argument," he said.

"Then you'll come with me?" demanded Paul, eagerly.

"Sure I will, and mighty glad of the chance," Harry replied, as he started to look for his cap, and his warm sweater to go under his coat; for he knew that a long ride on an iceboat, going a mile a minute more than likely, meant chilled bodies, unless care was taken to supply warm clothing.

Once he had decided on his course, Harry seemed somewhat like his old self. Mrs. Watson, as they pa.s.sed through the outer room, smiled, and nodded to Paul.

"I'm glad to see you managed to coax him to go, Paul," she remarked; and both lads waved her good-bye as they left the door, walking briskly down the street of Rivertown.

Paul's father had a boat-house on the bank of the river just outside the town limits, where in Summer the boys often gathered in order to enjoy the sports of the season. There was a new shed attached to this, in which Paul kept the iceboat he had had built recently, but which had as yet hardly been tried out.

In a short time the two lads were busily engaged getting the frail craft out of its quarters, and down on the ice. The mast had to be stepped every time Paul wished to make use of the flier; since the shed was too low to admit of its being stored as it stood. But this proved a job of small moment.

"I guess you know a heap about these kind of boats, Harry?" remarked the owner of the _Lightning_, as he watched the deft manner in which his new chum handled the various ropes connected with the up-to-date craft built for ice use.

At that Harry laughed, the first little burst of merriment that had escaped his lips for days; and which made his friend feel that he had done well to coax the grieving lad outdoors, where he could get the invigorating influence of the ozone to be found in the crisp wintry air.

"Oh! yes, I suppose I might say I have, without seeming to boast," he answered, as he bent down to make sure that everything was adjusted, and the wire stay that held the mast in place as taut as the turnbuckle could make it. "We used to have a boat down at Lawrenceburgh, and somehow they got to making me the skipper; last winter we won every race we entered for. But Paul, that boat wasn't in the same cla.s.s as this new one you've got, I tell you that."

"Then you think the _Lightning_ is apt to go some?" inquired the owner, eagerly.

"Do I?" echoed Harry, quickly. "Unless I'm away off in my judgment, she's bound to beat everything along the river. I never saw such fine lines; and best of all, I don't think the builder has sacrificed anything in the way of staunchness to speed. Mark my word, Paul, she's going to turn out a crackerjack!"

"I'm mighty glad to hear that, Harry!" declared Paul, "for a good many reasons. A fellow likes to have a clipper boat, you know, one that isn't going to take dust from any other chap's racer. And then, it would just give me heaps of fun if I could leave the old _Glider_ far back in the lurch."

"That's Elmer's iceboat, isn't it?" asked Harry.

"Sure. He hasn't had it out this winter, I understand, because for two years now it's just run away from everything there was; and Elmer said he was tired of making circles around the rest of us. But three times now he's asked me when I expected to get my new boat running; and as much as told me he was waiting to add it to the has-beens he's beaten."

"Well, don't you believe he's going to have an easy job walking away from this dandy thing on runners," Harry observed. "I'm ready to say that you've got the very last word in iceboats here in the _Lightning_.

And before another hour has pa.s.sed you'll feel that you made no mistake when you gave her that name. Now, if you're ready, let's make a start."

Harry was anxious to be off. He had noticed that several boys and girls were heading toward them, having skated up from below. And in his present state of mind he would rather avoid meeting any of his school companions if it could be arranged.

"How about the wind?" asked Paul, as they started to take their places on the thin but strong planks of the iceboat, which had been padded with folded blankets, so as to make it more comfortable for those who had to stretch out at full length while managing the running craft.

"It seems to be everything we could want this morning," Harry replied.

"In fact, I don't think there ever was a day here on the Conoque River better fitted for a try-out of a new iceboat than this same Sat.u.r.day morning. And I'm glad now that I came with you, Paul."

"Bully for you, Harry! That's all I wanted to hear. And now, let's cut loose before all those fellows get in our way."

Longback, Socker Gales, and Misery Jones were among those coming full tilt for the spot where they had discovered the new boat on the river's edge.

They gave vent to various whoops and cries when they saw that Paul and Harry were starting off without waiting for their arrival.

"Hi! aint you goin' to let us have a look-in at the new boat, before you smash her with that Jonah aboard?"

"Listen, Paul! Just you keep right on up the river, and my word for it you'll get yours before you come back!"

"Wow! look at her go, would you? Say, fellers, she's all to the mustard, you c'n tell me what you please about the _Glider_. Paul knew what he was doing when he gave the order for that dandy contraption. Gee! don't I wish I was on her right now!"

These last words just barely reached the ears of the two who lay flattened out on the delicate flooring of the ice yacht. Harry heard his chum chuckling, as if somehow the last remark had given him a good feeling.

The skaters started after them, but were speedily left far behind, and presently gave the chase up as useless. And now the whole river lay before the two iceboat chums, with not a single person to interfere with their sport; since it was as a rule farming country above Rivertown, on both sides of the watercourse.

Few rivers offered better fields for this sport than the Conoque. While not of any great depth, it was as a rule quite wide; and in places presented a magnificent spread of smooth, clear ice, over which the sharp runners glided like magic, as the favoring breeze filled their sail, and urged them on at tremendous speed.