The High School Boys' Training Hike Part 24

"So far as any other guest has been able to discover they haven't any manners," Belle added.

Then, espying the girls and their guests the rah-rah-rah boys came briskly up the veranda.

"Good evening, Miss Meade!" called one of them, lifting his hat.

"Glorious evening, isn't it? How many dances may I have the honor of claiming at the hop to-night?"

Belle Meade blushed slightly and drew back a step, resenting the young man's familiarity.

In front of the presumptuous youth stepped Dave Darrin, with eyes flashing.

"Kindly keep your distance, young man!" Dave advised, in a tone of dangerous quiet.

"Who asked you to speak?" inquired the rah-rah youth mockingly.

"I am a friend of the young lady, and she finds your presence an intrusion," replied Darry, controlling himself by a mighty effort.

"All guests of the hotel are supposed to be acquainted," urged the rah-rah youth, reddening a trifle.

"These young ladies do not wish to recognize you and your friends as acquaintances," replied Dave. "Kindly efface yourselves!"

"Don't make your lack of breeding too conspicuous," d.i.c.k advised, in a quiet undertone, to another of the intruders who had pushed forward to join in the conversation.

A sudden sense of discomfort seemed to sweep over the eight presuming young men. They turned and moved away, though muttering among themselves.

"That is the kind of young men I thought they were," Laura observed.

"I am glad that you boys sent them off about their own affairs."

Dr. Bentley joined the young people last of all.

"I have just returned from a long walk," he explained. "I have to make the most of these brief summer vacations of mine."

When dinner was announced, Dr. and Mrs. Bentley and the young people took seats at a long table reserved for their party.

It was a pleasant meal in the midst of an animated scene.

Over at another table the rah-rah boys made a good deal of noise until the head waiter went to them, uttering a few words in low tones. After that the rah-rah youngsters quieted down considerably.

A delightful half-hour stroll on the verandas followed the dinner.

Then, like most of the guests, the Gridley young people drifted into the hotel ballroom where the musicians were playing a march.

d.i.c.k secured Mrs. Bentley for the first dance, as the doctor preferred to remain on the veranda. Then, after the first dance, a general change of partners was made.

But the Gridley boys were too well bred to claim all the dances with their girl friends. Laura and her friends had other acquaintances at the hotel. d.i.c.k & Co. stood back to give these other young men a fair opportunity of securing some dances with the girls.

It was eleven o'clock when the hop had finished. For a few moments d.i.c.k & Co. chatted with the Gridley High School girls on the porch.

Then they prepared to take their leave.

"We've had a splendid time, for which we must thank you all,"

d.i.c.k declared. "We did not look for any such pleasant evening as this has been when we left home on our hike."

"We are indebted to you all for the most delightful time of our lives," Tom stated formally with a very low bow.

"We couldn't have had a nicer time under any circ.u.mstances. Thank you all," Dave Darrin said, on taking leave.

The other boys found words in which to fitly express their pleasure and grat.i.tude.

Then, as Mrs. Bentley and the girls went in side the hotel, the Gridley High School boys wheeled to march back to camp.

"I wonder what the head waiter said to the rah-rah boys?" asked Reade curiously.

"I don't know, but I can guess the meaning of what he said," laughed Darry. "Did you ever see such an ill-bred lot of fellows before!"

"They're not college boys," d.i.c.k declared quietly. "I don't know where they came from, but certainly none of them have ever been through as much as a year in any real college."

"They're about as frisky as some college boys," retorted Danny Grin.

"College boys may be full of mischief, at times," d.i.c.k returned, "but at least they know how to behave well when they should do so. College men never think it funny to be rude with women, for instance. College men are usually the sons of well-bred parents, and they also acquire additional finish at college. Moreover, the English language is one of the subjects taught in colleges.

These cheeky rah-rah boys were very slip-shod in their speech.

I don't know who these fellows are, but they're not real college men."

"Say, it must be nice," remarked Hazelton, "to be able to travel about the country, stopping at such nice hotels. Laura and her friends manage to have pretty good times."

"Their families are all better off than ours, in a worldly sense,"

d.i.c.k replied. "When you stop to think of it, there are far more girls than boys in our good old high school who come from comfortable homes. Perhaps two dozen of our high school fellows come from homes of considerable wealth. The rest of us don't. More than half of the Gridley High School girls come from families where servants are kept. I wonder if it is that way, generally, in the United States?"

Prescott had unwittingly stumbled upon a fact often noted. The homes of plain American wage earners send more boys than girls to high school. The well-to-do families send more of their boys to private schools, while their girls are more likely to attend high school.

However, as the boys neared their camp, all other thoughts were driven from their minds.

Tom Reade, who was leading, stopped abruptly, holding up one hand.

"Now, what do you think of anyone who would do a trick like that?"

he demanded with a sharp in-drawing of his breath.

"The sneaks!" breathed Darry fiercely.

"Who could have done it?" gasped Greg.

For the tent was down---flat. The wagon lay on its side, nor was the horse anywhere in sight.

"Did those rascally tramps follow us and watch their chance?"

demanded Dave Darrin hotly.

"I don't believe the tramps did it," spoke Prescott, in a very quiet voice, though an angry flush rose to his face. "I believe that we must look in a different direction for the offenders."

"The rah-rah hoodlums?" gasped Greg Holmes.

"Yes," d.i.c.k nodded.