s. It was he who always took her to singing school in
winter, and to the school dances, sometimes given in country barns,
where a long sleigh ride was necessary to reach the scene.

Once Buck Lemlngton had aspired to keep company, girl and boy fashion,
with Flo. She and Buck used to squabble frequently, and then come
together again for a short time. But with the arrival of Fred Fenton in
town all this had been changed. Which was another reason for the enmity
of Buck toward Fred.

Like some of the other girls Flo waved a little flag which was made of
purple and gold silk, the adopted school colors for Riverport. This she
used to considerable advantage; and Fred thought that when it came up
against her face the contrast with her rosy cheeks and sparkling hazel
eyes made her look prettier than ever.

"I suppose you will be getting away soon now, Fred?" she asked as he
joined her.

"In five minutes we will launch the boat, and be off," he replied; "you
see, all the subs are on hand, and ready to jump in if any one of the
regulars fails to show up, or is taken sick. They'll wait around an
hour or two while we're down-river. When we get back Brad's promised to
take them off for a spin, and some exercise."

"Yes," she remarked, with a merry laugh, "I've been listening to some
of them talking here. They do hope so much, poor fellows, that a chance
will come along to put them on the regular crew. Why, I fairly believe
they'd be happy if some of the rest of you had to leave town on
vacations. But Fred, take care!"

She raised her forefinger as if in warning, and looked about her in
quite a mysterious way when saying these last words in a low tone.

"What about, Flo?" he asked, not at all worried.

"I understand that the other crew went down the river an hour or two
ago," she continued; and he could guess who was meant without asking.

"Well," he answered, "there's plenty of room for half a dozen crews to
practice without interfering with each other. You remember the river
gets very wide between here and Paulding. In fact lots of people always
refer to it as 'the lake.'"

"But it would have to be an ocean that would be wide enough to keep
Buck Lemington from carrying out any of his pet schemes, Fred. And
somehow he seems to have picked on you as his especial enemy. It seems
so strange, when I know you've never gone out of your way to do him the
least harm."

The demure lassie looked at Fred out of the corners of her m