"_The High School Freshmen_." Young Prescott and his chums were
bound to be "different," even as freshmen; so, without being in
the least "fresh," they managed to make their influence felt in
Gridley High School during their first year there. Though, as
freshmen, they were not allowed to take part in athletics, they
contrived to "boost up" Gridley High School athletics several
notches, and aided in putting the Athletic Association on a firmer
basis than it had ever known before. They did several other noteworthy
things in their freshman year, all of which are now wholly familiar
to our readers. Their doings in the second high school year are
fully chronicled in "_The High School Pitcher_." In this second
volume the formal and exciting entry of Dick & Co. into high school
athletics is splendidly described, with a wealth of rousing adventure
and humorous situations.

This present series, which is intended to describe the vacations
of our Gridley High School boys in between their regular school
years, opened with the preceding volume, "_The High School Boys
Canoe Club_." Within the pages of that volume are set forth the
manner in which Dick & Co. secured, at an auction sale of a Wild
West show, a six-paddle Indian war canoe. All their problems
in getting this canoe into serviceable condition made highly interesting
reading. The host of adventures that surrounded their vacation
at Lake Pleasant proved thrilling indeed to our readers. How
they met and contested with the canoe clubs from other high schools
was delightfully set forth. The efforts of Fred Ripley to spoil
the fun of Dick & Co. during that vacation, formed another strong
feature of the tale.

We now find our young high school friends, just after the Fourth