Page:Boys of Columbia High on the River.djvu/196

 CHAPTER XX

THE SUNKEN ROWBOAT

" o'clock, and twenty minutes after!"

Frank found it difficult to believe his eyes. Only an hour and twenty minutes had passed since he started away from home on his wheel to deliver that urgent message for his father; and all these exciting events had happened.

"Better go and see where Helen is," his father had suggested, when they found that Mrs. Allen was lying down with a headache, and the gentleman decided it would be unwise to excite her with the story just then.

That caused Frank to remember that his sister had stated her intention of going for a row upon the river about the time he started off, and that her particular chum, whom Frank himself thought the sweetest girl in all Columbia, was expected to accompany her.

It was only with the desire to be with the girls, and not that he feared any peril could have overtaken them, that Frank immediately started out. Rh