ls went in side the hotel, the
Gridley High School boys wheeled to march back to camp.
"I wonder what the head waiter said to the rah-rah boys?" asked
Reade curiously.
"I don't know, but I can guess the meaning of what he said," laughed
Darry. "Did you ever see such an ill-bred lot of fellows before!"
"They're not college boys," Dick declared quietly. "I don't know
where they came from, but certainly none of them have ever been
through as much as a year in any real college."
"They're about as frisky as some college boys," retorted Danny
Grin.
"College boys may be full of mischief, at times," Dick returned,
"but at least they know how to behave well when they should do
so. College men never think it funny to be rude with women, for
instance. College men are usually the sons of well-bred parents,
and they also acquire additional finish at college. Moreover,
the English language is one of the subjects taught in colleges.
These cheeky rah-rah boys were very slip-shod in their speech.
I don't know who these fellows are, but they're not real college
men."
"Say, it must be nice," remarked Hazelton, "to be able to travel
about the country, stopping at such nice hotels. Laura and her
friends manage to have pretty good times."
"Their families are all better off than ours, in a worldly sense,"
Dick replied. "When you stop to think of it, there are far more
girls than boys in our good old high school who come from comfortable
homes. Perhaps two dozen of our high school fellows come from
homes of considerable wealth. The rest of us don't. More than
half of the Gridley High School girls come from families where
servants are kept. I wonder if it is that way, generally, in
the United States?"
Prescott had unwittingly stumbled upon a fact often noted. The
homes of plain American wage earners send more boys than girls
to high school. The well-to-do families send more of their boys
to private schools, while their girls are more likely to attend
high school.
However, as the boys neared their camp, all other thoughts were
driven from their minds.
Tom Reade, who was leading, stopped abruptly, holding up one hand.
"Now, what do you think of anyone who would do a trick like that?"
he demanded with a sharp in-drawing of his breath.
"The sneaks!" breathed Darry fiercely.
"Who could have done it?" gasped Greg.
For the tent was down---flat. The wagon lay on its side, nor
was the horse anywhere in
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