The six had been chums at the Central Grammar School, and had
stuck together like burrs through the freshman year at the Gridley
High School. In fact, even in their freshmen period, when new
students are not expected to have much to say, and are given no
chance at the school athletics, Dick & Co. had made themselves
abundantly felt.

Our readers will recall how the Board of Education had some notion
of prohibiting High School football, despite the fact that the
Gridley H.S. eleven was one of the best in the United States.
Readers will also recall the prank hatched by Dick & Co., by
means of which the Board was quickly shown how unpopular such
a move would be in the city.

Our readers will also recollect that, though freshmen were barred
from active part in sports, yet Dick & Co. found the effective
way of raising plentiful funds for the Athletics Committee. In
the annual paper chase the freshmen hounds, under Dick Prescott's
captaincy, beat the sophomore hares---for the first time in many
years. In the skating events, later on, Dick and his chums captured,
for the freshman class, three of the eight events. From the start,
Dick & Co. had shown great ingenuity in "boosting" football, in
return for which, many of the usual restrictions on freshmen were
waived where Dick & Co. were concerned.

In the nearly three months, now, that the new school year had
gone along, Dick & Co. had proved that, as sophs, they were youngsters
of great importance in the student body. They were highly popular
with most of their fellow-students; but of course that very popularity
made them some enemies among those who envied or disliked them.