"There's an automobile full of Gridley folks coming up to the lake
to-day!" cried Susie Sharp excitedly as she ran to meet her girl
friends at the landing stage.

"How do you know?" asked Laura eagerly.

"Mr. Wright has just received a telephone message, asking that
arrangements be made to give them supper here. They're going
back in the evening."

"Dick will be so pleased!" cried Laura. "All of our boys will
be delighted, I imagine," replied Susie dryly.

"Of course; that is what I meant," explained Laura, flushing slightly.

"I know. You think that Dick Prescott is the only boy at Lake
Pleasant," teased Miss Sharp.

"Stop that!" begged Clara Marshall. "Don't talk nonsense."

At one end of the float lay the "Pathfinder." At the other end
lay the "Scalp-hunter," as shining as a thorough overhauling and
a coating of oil could make her.

Over the latter canoe the Gridley High School girls had posted
themselves as a sort of guard of honor.

Not that there was any suspicion that either of the canoes would
be tampered with. High school and college sports are "clean."
No underhanded tricks are resorted to by competitors for the sake