Page:Boys of Columbia High on the River.djvu/69

Rh, turning to beckon to others, who were climbing the ladders.

"Be very careful, please, boys; don't let it touch anywhere," Frank said, as the men began to carry the crated boat over to the front of the building.

When he saw it swinging free, and ready to be lowered, Frank made to descend the ladders himself.

"It'll be down on the strate as soon as yersilf, sor," said the foreman.

"Glad to hear it, and I won't forget what I promised, either," returned the boy.

"Sure that wasn't naded to make us turn in to hilp. We expect to say that race pulled, ivery man of us, and we wish ye the best luck ever," was what he heard the obliging foreman say, as he vanished.

And, sure enough, when Frank issued from the building, there lay the boat, with several excited and cheering boys grouped around it, waving their caps like mad; while Helen and Minnie stood by, laughing and clapping their hands.

There was no trouble about finding recruits to carry the crated shell down to the river. All the way along the streets, shouts attested to the interest the citizens of Columbia felt in the recovery of the missing boat. Men stopped to look and ask questions, and on hearing the story, laughed, as memory, perhaps, carried them back to some similar college