CHAPTER XXXIX.

VICTORY OF THE STROKE.

The race was on! Down the lake they came, the freshmen and sophomores neck and neck. The great crowd shouted and cheered. Colors waved everywhere.

It was a beautiful sight to see those rival crews, their broad backs bending in perfect unison, their strong arms extended and drawn back with the muscular heave that was regular as clockwork. The dripping oar-blades flashed in the sunshine.

Who is the coxswain in the freshman boat? Everybody is anxious to know. It’s not a little fellow. Why, it’s a man as large as Knight! Look closer!

“Great mavericks!” muttered Berlin Carson. “Am I dreaming? Why, that is——”

“I thought you said Knight had disappeared!” rumbled Browning. “Who gave you that fairy-story?”

“That is Knight in the stern of the freshman boat, sah,” put in Hock Mason.

Of course it was Knight! There could be no mistaking that terrible scar down his left cheek, which was plainly visible through their glasses.

“Well, it’s hard work to get ahead of Frank Merriwell!” chuckled Berlin Carson. “He must have found a way to trace Knight and rescue him. The freshmen will win!”

“It looks that way,” admitted Carker; “but in times of greatest prosperity have come upon us our greatest calamities.”

They felt like punching him, but of a sudden their attention was wholly given to the race. Surely something was wrong! See! the freshman stroke reels in his seat! It is Starbright! Something has fallen to the bottom of the shell—something that sounds suspiciously like a stone.

Then the sophomores begin to forge ahead.

The consternation in the freshman boat has spread to the shore. The race is ruined. Something had knocked the stroke-oar out, and that settles it.

But look again! A strange thing is happening. The coxswain, with amazing skill, grasps the senseless stroke and swings him aft, taking his place and his oar.

As he seized the oar the new stroke cries:

“Pull!”

Never before on Lake Whitney had such a remarkable thing happened. The freshmen quickly recover, and their oars rise and fall. With tremendous energy they almost fling the boat out of the water.

The race is near the end. There can be no hope for the unfortunate freshmen, who now have no coxswain, save a senseless man.

The great crowd of spectators thrill with wildest excitement. The new stroke has given that crew such life as they had not exhibited before at any stage of the race. They forge ahead, recovering the lost distance with remarkable speed.

In a moment they will be neck and neck again. Is it possible that the race will be a draw?

Now they are together, and the spectators are cheering wildly, while hats, handkerchiefs, and flags wave everywhere.

And then, despite everything the sophomores can do, the boat of the freshmen forges slowly into the lead.

Over the line they go, with the nose of the freshman boat one foot in advance, and the race is won—the most remarkable race ever witnessed on Lake Whitney.

There were ugly rumors about that stone. Of course, somebody threw it, and, of course, the object had been to knock out Starbright and give the race to the sophomores. But for the remarkable work of the coxswain, this dastardly trick would have resulted in the defeat of the freshmen.

The name of the coxswain was on every lip. Earl Knight had become famous for his wonderful action. He had saved the race—a fact which no man disputed.

Of course, Merriwell’s friends were well satisfied with the termination of this exciting contest, while his enemies were equally depressed.

But his friends were vowing they would find out who had thrown that stone.

“It was a dastardly piece of business!” declared Bart Hodge hotly. “The fellow ought to be hanged!”

“I think it would be a very good thing to give him a coat of tar and feathers,” grunted Browning, who was not a little aroused himself.

“Some one must have seen him do it,” said Mason. “It’s our duty to find out who it was.”

So they set out to investigate, but everybody seemed too excited to really know anything about it. Some declared no stone had been thrown, but that Starbright had fainted in the boat. Starbright’s friends, however, knew better than that.

The Chickering set was disgusted. The result had added another laurel to the cap of Frank Merriwell, they thought, and they felt very bad about it. They were among those who declared no stone had been thrown.

Perhaps the most disgusted man was Ben Snodgrass, who had found a spot on a high piece of land, not far from the finishing-point. When the race was over he vanished from that spot, and he hoped that no one had seen him there.

He encountered Arnold, who was looking miserable enough. Snodgrass was furious.

“Oh, you’re a dandy!” he grated. “You did a nice piece of business, didn’t you? I thought Earl Knight was ten miles away when the race began, safely held under lock and key!”

“So did I,” muttered Orson huskily.

“To-morrow you pay those notes, or they go to your grandmother for collection!” snarled Snodgrass, as he shook them at Arnold, having taken them from his pockets.

Arnold was white as a sheet. With his teeth clenched, he leaped on Snodgrass, struck him down, snatched the notes from his hand, and tore them up. Then he took to his heels, while the baffled plotter arose, shaking with the rage of defeat and shame.

But at the boat-house a strange thing was happening. The coxswain who had steered and rowed the freshman boat to victory was bending over Dick Starbright, whom he was seeking to restore to consciousness. His face was beaded with perspiration, and down his left cheek from that remarkable scar ran streaks of blue.

Starbright opened his eyes and saw the other bending over him.

“How are you, Dick?” asked the coxswain.

“You, Frank?” gasped the big stroke, in amazement. “Why, what—what does it mean?”

Then there was great excitement in the boat-house, for the coxswain, whom no man observed closely in the rush at getting started, was none other than Frank Merriwell, who had made a grease-paint scar down his left cheek and taken the place of Knight.

But the race was won, and Merriwell remained invincible.

THE END.

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Transcriber’s Note

On p. 311, a paragraph which appears to be dialogue is lacking an opening quotation mark. However, it is equally probable that it is intended to be in the voice of the narrator. The unmatched closing quotation mark has been removed.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. The following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions.

33.6 to make the necess[s]ary progress Removed. 40.25 Practice it all the time.[”] Added. 50.4 “What has hap[p]ened?” Inserted. 68.17 an ink-well and writing-materials[.] Added. 78.11 Defarge remained motion[e]less Removed. 78.13 [“]You will do so!” Removed. 92.14 [“]No one could mistake Removed. 94.14 “Yes[,/.”] Replaced. 161.12 [“]Three cheers for Frank Merriwell Added. 182.20 It will cheer you up[.] Added. 208.30 to make it anything but a snake[.]” Added. 228.12 the style of wrestling[./,] Replaced. 254.16 gave the four crews the op[p]ortunity Inserted. 277.4 Are you [y/g]oing Replaced. 311.12 Look closer![”] Removed.

End of Project Gutenberg's Frank Merriwell's False Friend, by Burt L. Standish