y carried on; and that had
all those interested in the club been allowed to vote, and not just
those who expected to take part in the actual rowing, he would have
carried the day.

Buck himself was crimson with rage. He never could take defeat in a
manly way, but burst into a passion. Jumping up, he rallied his five
cronies around him. There was mutiny in the air, Fred saw, nor was he
in his heart at all sorry, for Buck had promised to be the disturbing
element in the association from the start.

"Cheat me out of the position, will you?" he shouted, shaking his fist
at the others, after the shouting had stopped, and everybody was
staring at him; "make Brad Morton coxswain when I know more about the
duties of the job in a minute than he can in a year! All right, I'm
going to wash my hands of the whole bunch; and here's five husky
fellers that'll go along with me. Keep your old boat, if you want to. I
expected somethin' like this'd happen; and let me tell you, fellers,
we've been up to Grafton to see an eight-oar shell that once won a
college race. We've got an option on her, too, and just understand
we'll buy her in, challenge your crowd to a race, and beat you to
flinders! Come along, fellers, we don't train with this crowd any
more," and the six stalked out of the building with sneers on their
faces, amid a dead silence.

CHAPTER IV

IN CAMP ON THE MOHUNK

On the day following the exciting meeting in the schoolhouse, the
members of the boat club connected with Riverport school were in camp
some miles up the Mohunk river, wishing to practice in their new shell,
where curious eyes might not watch them.

It was expected that they would stay several days in camp; so tents had
been taken along, as well as all sorts of supplies calculated to help
the cooks in their work.

The rebellion of Buck Lemington had not bothered Brad and his friends
very much. True, several of their best scullers had been lost by the
mutiny; but some of the more promising substitutes were moved up into
regular positions, and others taken on to fill the places thus vacated;
for there was no lack of candidates among the boys of Riverport school.

Ever since Buck had let out his secret the talk had been about the
possibility of the rival crew sending them a challenge, and an actual
race taking place somewhere near Riverport, with hundreds of cheering
people to watch the contest.

It thrilled the boys just to talk about such a happeni