Dick explained.
"If we had found a fellow on the street looking as though he
had just come out of the river, we'd have known our man, wouldn't
we? Poor Tom! I don't blame him for letting out that yell when
that drenching splash hit him."

"I hope he didn't get caught by the men who started after him,"
sighed Mrs. Prescott.

"Don't worry about Tom, mother," urged Dick. "No one about here
could catch him, unless he happened to be a member of the Gridley
High School Eleven!"

But was it true that Tom Reade had escaped without disaster?
That remained to be seen.

CHAPTER II

DODGE AND BAYLISS HEAR SOMETHING

"If we start to-morrow we must hustle all day long to-day," declared
Dave Darrin.

"That's true," agreed Greg Holmes, as the two boys stood on a
side street not far from Main Street in Gridley.

"I wish the rest of the fellows would hurry along," Dave went
on impatiently.

"At all events, I wish Dick would hurry up, as he has charge of
the arrangements," Greg made answer. "Oh, my! But I'm getting
anxious to see the fish nibble."

"I thought you didn't care especially about fishing," Dave murmured,
regarding his friend.

"Probably, as far as mere fishing goes, I don't care so very much,"
young Holmes assented. "But when fishing means weeks of outdoor
life, free from the noise and dust of the town---then I'm simply
wild about fishing as an excuse for getting away. Probably at
the end of our fun we'll all be so sick of fish, from having had
to eat so much of it, that any one of us will run away and hide
when we suspect that the home folks are planning to send us on
errands to a fish store. It would be all the same to me if we
were going clamming, or hunting, or on any other kind of expedition,
as long as it brought us to life under canvas and sleeping in
the very place where pure, fresh air is made. Here comes Dick
now!"

Young Prescott came swiftly up to his friends.

"Well, I think I've gotten about everything fixed," Dick announced.

"Tell us all the plans," urged Greg eagerly.

"What's the matter with waiting until all the other fellows show
up?" Prescott inquired. "That will save me from having to go
twice over the same ground. While we're waiting I'll tell you
Tom Reade's latest one."

"A funny trick?" queried Greg.

"Needless question!" rebuked Dave Darrin. "Tell us about the
latest one, Dick."

Thereupon the leader of Dick & Co. told of Tom's scheme for making
people