mad run through the fields.

As the summer advanced, and base-ball and running-matches proved to be
too warm work for the season, the young folk naturally took to the
water. Swimming and boating became the order of the day, and the night
too; for, indeed, boats shot hither and thither through many a boy's
sleep, confounding him with startling surprises and dreamland defeats
and victories. But the lake sports of their waking hours were more under
control. Donald and Ed Tyler, as usual, were among the most active in
various contests with the oars; and as Donald believed that no event was
absolutely complete if Dorry were not among either the actors or the
spectators, boat-racing soon grew to be as interesting to the girls as
to the boys.

The races usually were mild affairs--often impromptu, or sometimes
planned in the morning and carried into effect the same afternoon. Now
and then, something more ambitious was attempted: boys in rowing suits
practised intently for days beforehand, while girls, looking on, formed
their own not very secret opinions as to which rowers were most worthy
of their support. Some went so far as to wear a tiny bit of ribbon by
way of asserting allegiance to this or that crew, which sported the same
color in cap, uniform, or flag. This, strange to say, did not act in the
least as "a damper" on the pastime; even the fact that girls became
popular as coxswains did not take the life out of it; all of which, as
Dorry said, served to show the great hardihood and endurance of the
boy-character.

After a while, Barry Outcalt, Benjamin Buster, and three others
concocted a plot. The five held meetings in secret to complete their
arrangements, and these meetings were enlivened with much smothered
laughter. It was to be a "glorious joke." A boat-race, of course; and
there must be a great show of previous practice, tremendous rivalry, and
pressing competition, so that a strong feeling of partisanship would be
aroused; while in truth, the race itself was to be a sham. The boats
were to reach the goal at the same moment, nobody was to win, yet every
one was to claim the victory; the air was to be rent with cries of
"foul!" and spurious shouts of triumph, accompanied by vehement demands
for a "fresh try." Then a second start was to be made--One, two, three,
and off! All was to go well at first, and when the interest of the
spectators was at its height, every eye strained and every heart almost
at a standstil