peed.
Then the cheers of one faction drowned the groans of the other.

Gridley High School had shot across the finish line by a length
and a half lead over Preston High School.

Just as the "Pathfinder" left the line astern there came from
the Preston craft a sound like the report of a pistol.

One of the Preston braves had snapped his paddle off just above
the blade.

As the "Scalp-hunter" swung about, Dick saw that broken-off blade
floating on the water.

"I'm glad that paddle didn't snap until you had crossed the line,"
Dick panted. "If it had, the real result would have been in doubt."

"Your crew won, Prescott!" called Bob Hart well in a husky voice.
"Congratulations!"

"Thank you," returned Dick. "You're surely a generous enemy."

"Rivals, this afternoon, but enemies never!" protested young Hartwell.

Now a blast from the whistle of the launch recalled the two canoes.
Standing in the bow of the launch, Referee Tyndall announced
so that those on shore might hear plainly:

"Gridley wins by a length and a half!" From the shore came a
wild cheer. There was also a frenzied waving of handkerchiefs
and of parasols. Though the Gridley boosters might be few in
number, they were great in enthusiasm.

As the "Pathfinder" started in for the landing float a crowd made
a rush to meet the canoes. It was not, however, the Preston craft,
that the crowd wanted, for this was a Gridley crowd.

Noting the fact with his keen eyes, Dick gave the word for easy
paddling. Then he swung the war canoe about, heading toward camp.

That proved not at all to the crowd's liking.

"Come back, Prescott! This way, Gridley! We want you!"

"Why don't you land, Dick?" queried Tom Reade.

"What! Land at the mercy of that crowd!" exclaimed Prescott.
"That is a Gridley crowd. They're so pleased over our winning
that what they'd do to us might be worse than what they'd have
done if we had lost."

"Where are you going?" asked Dave, somewhat disappointed.

"Camp is good enough for us, I guess. It's a safe place, anyway,"
Prescott replied.

A few minutes later the "Scalp-hunter" touched lightly on the
beach in front of camp.

Towser greeted them with a joyous bark.

"So you've been watching the race instead of the camp, have you?"
demanded Tom, eyeing the dog in mock reproach.

"Oh, but I'm tired!" muttered Darrin, after they had beached the
canoe. "This green grass looks inviting."

He threw himself down at full l