attention than riding a bicycle."

"Or a motorcycle. Those things are just awful," cried Mina Everett.

"Shucks!" exclaimed the lively Frankie. "A motorcycle is only an
ordinary bicycle driven crazy by over-indulgence in gasoline."

"How smart!" cried Bessie. "But you'd better save your breath to cool
your porridge----"

"Or, better still, to work your paddle," commented Grace, with a swift
glance behind. "Those Busters are coming up the river, hand over fist."

"With poor Tubby in the rear, of course," said Frank, glancing back.
"The tide is certainly against _him_."

"Oh, dear me!" giggled Percy, "poor Tubby was more than 'tide' last week
when he took Annabel Craven out on the river. Did you hear about it? You
know--the night before graduation."

"I believe that fat youth is sweet on Annabel," announced Bessie,
shaking her head seriously.

"What do you suppose Ann thinks of Tubby?" cried Grace.

"You know how it is," chuckled Frank. "Nobody loves a fat boy. Go on,
Percy. What happened to poor old Tubby?"

"Why, he inveigled Annabel down to the river and got her into a boat and
was going to row her around in the moonlight. You know it was just a
scrumptious night."

"M-m-m! wasn't it?" agreed Frank.

"Well," said Percy, "Tubby got in without overturning the boat and
settled to work. The current was pretty swift and he struck right out
into it and headed up stream.

"And there he tugged, and tugged, and tugged, giving all his attention
to the oars and having none to spare for Annabel. By and by, after Tubby
had tugged, and grunted, and perspired for half an hour, he said:

"'Say, I never saw anything like this current to-night--not in all my
born days! I've been pulling like a horse for half an hour and I don't
see that we've made as much as a dozen feet!'

"And then Annabel spoke up real pretty, and says she:

"'Oh, Mr. Blaisdell! I've just thought of something. The anchor fell
overboard some time ago and I forgot to tell you. Do you suppose it
could have caught on something?'"

The other girls were intensely amused at this, for they all appreciated
Annabel Craven's character as well as poor Tubby's good-natured
blundering. But while they laughed and chattered in this way the Busters
crept steadily up on them.

"I told you how it would be," said Bess, tartly, "if we didn't hurry
up."

"What's the matter with you girls?" demanded Dave Shepard. "One would
think you were sent for and couldn't come