LITMIR.BIZ

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avowed Lanky immediately, "if it happens in the night I'll ring you up on the 'phone and jut whisper 'Bill—but Bill who?' Was sure I had it then, but it slipped a cog again on me. I suppose you'll call up the committee after supper, and arrange a meeting to hand over the acceptance to our challenge?"

      "That's the programme. The boys will be pleased too, for they seem to have gotten an idea in their ​heads that we've actually a chance to beat Clifford at their own game," answered his chum.

      "Well, what's the matter, don't you think we can do them up?" demanded Lanky.

      "I hope so. Anyhow, we're just going to give them the best that's in us," was the guarded reply.

      Lanky was the impetuous one, and always filled with a positive belief in his own powers to win out. Frank often had to curb this spirit, which might have led to disastrous results if allowed full rein. In his opinion it was far better to never underrate the foe, while at the same time ready to exert every atom of ability in order to accomplish a victory.

      They separated soon after, each going to his own home. Frank found that his folks were already at the table, and after hurriedly brushing up he took his place.

      His sister Helen seemed to know where he had gone, for one of the first things she did was to ask about the success of his mission.

      "I brought back the acceptance to our challenge. It's all right," said Frank, who wondered why Helen was looking at him so strangely.

      "I saw you go off with Lanky on his new ice-boat; did it work all right?" she inquired.

      "Fine. We had a race going up, and won, hands down," replied her brother.

      ​"Which means that you met Lef Seller with his Flier. And if you beat him I guess he didn't take it in any sportsmanlike way?" she continued, at which Frank laughed.

      "You ought to be a lawyer, Helen; you persist in cornering a witness. Well, then he didn't. In fact he brought about a collision, throwing his boat squarely across our bows, in the hope that Lanky's craft would be smashed," he said.

      Mr. Allen frowned.

      "That boy is the pest of the town. There will never be any peace here until his father sends him away to some military school, where he can be taken in hand by a stern martinet, and made to mind. It's the only hope for him. And did he succeed in his miserable aim, my boy?" he asked, solicitously.

      "There was a wreck, all right, but it happened the shoe was on the other foot, and the poor old Flier is only fit for the woodpile now. It's just as well, for Lef would never use her again, after being overtaken so handsomely by Lanky's new racer. But we hardly had a bit of trouble, and went on our way, leaving Lef and Bill Klemm breathing out all sorts of threats," chuckled Frank.

      "The little scamp," said Mrs. Allen, indignantly. "Either one of you might have been seriously injured. Husband, I insist that you see his father, ​and enter complaint against him. This has gone far enough, and should be stopped!"

      Frank looked quickly toward his father.

      "I hope you won't think it necessary, because among boys, you know, it is considered a point of honor to take care of their own battles. I'm going to settle with Lef soon for all I owe him," he said, gravely.

      "And did you get that hurt on your left hand when the upset occurred?" continued Helen, showing that she had been observing what he had sought to conceal.

      Frank turned a little red, and looked confused.

      "I see that I might as well confess the whole thing, for there'll be no rest from her questions. No, that cut came later, while we were on the way back from Clifford," he said.

      "That sounds as though you had another accident. Was that terrible boy to blame for that, too?" demanded the solicitous sister.

      "No doubt of it. Somebody had been so kind as to stretch a wire cable across the river. They got it in the shed at the quarry. You know the river is narrow there, and the wire came down to about eight feet or more above the ice. It wasn't there when we went up; but we ran slap against it coming down."

      "Oh! how awful! And what happened, Frank?" ​breathed the girl, her eyes fastened on the laughing face of her brother.

      "Oh, we went over, all right. Something had to give, and it was our mast. We happened to be moving rather slowly at the time, and tacking across the river, so it fell to one side, and not on us. Of course we were tumbled off, and I cut the back of my left hand, either on some sharp ice, or a runner of the boat. After a bit we managed to get the mast stepped again in a way, and came home."

      Mr. Allen shook his head seriously.

      "It has got to stop, that's all there is to it. If that vicious boy keeps on he will do something terrible some day with his pranks."

      Nothing more was said, and Frank hoped his father would let the matter drop. He had his own plans as to how he could settle his long overdue account with Lef Seller, and believed that the time was nearly ripe for an accounting.

      Calling up some of the school athletic committee, he announced that he had brought back an acceptance to the challenge. It was quickly arranged that they come to his house and act upon it that very night. Time was valuable, since Christmas was almost upon them, and the match on the ice scheduled to take place on the second day after.

      Presently, fellows began to arrive. Mrs. Allen and Helen, as was customary, prepared some cake ​and lemonade for refreshments after the meeting had been dismissed.

      Of course there was much satisfaction over the prompt and manly acceptance of the challenge on the part of their up-river rivals.

      "A little bombastic, fellows, don't you think?" remarked Jack Comfort, who was one of the Columbia Seven, and had likewise done good work in previous athletic contests that past season.

      "Why not? Clifford has a right to feel stuck-up, hasn't she, over the work of her hockey team?" asked Roderic Seymour. "For five years they have skated circles around everything along the Harrapin. That's enough to make them feel proud and invincible. So much the more glory for us if we succeed in taking them down off their high horse."

      Roderic was no longer a student in Columbia High, having graduated the previous year, and gone to college. He had been made an honorary member of the athletic committee, and being home a little early for the holidays, of course was present to join in the consultation.

      "We're going to do that same thing, all right," declared the confident Lanky, who had also come around to the meeting, though not himself a member of the committee like Ralph West, Bones Shadduck, and Jack Comfort. "That is, unless I get knocked ​out before then, and you find it impossible to fill my place."

      "What do you mean, Lanky?" demanded Jack, with a puzzled look.

      "I'm nearly taking a fit over not being able to place a fellow I met to-day. I only know his name as Bill, and for the life of me I can't make up my mind just where I met him. Say, some of you just rattle off all the Bills you can think of. A word dropped might give me a clue, you know, and save me staying awake to-night."

      "Well, we've got a whole raft of bills over at our house that you're welcome to, if they'd be any use to you," laughed Bones Shadduck.

      The others began to mention a host of names, most of them boys of the town, with an occasional business man thrown in; but Lanky listening, shook his head sadly in the negative, as he remarked:

      "No use, fellows; you can't help me out of the hole. I've just got to crack that old nut myself; and sooner or later I'll do it. Hello! there's a late comer, just in time to partake of the dregs of the lemonade, and eat the last bite of cake."

      Frank went out of the room, and presently came back holding a letter.

      "Here, Mr. Garrison, is a communication addressed to you. It was brought here because they evidently knew our committee was in session. ​Sometimes people listen over the 'phone, and hear a good many things. As the

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