Page:Fairview Boys and their Rivals.djvu/56

52 "That's why he knows it so well," chuckled Dick Hazelton.

"All right," bowed Clarence, putting one hand behind him, as he had seen his father do on the lecture platform. The boy

"Hold on!" cried Bob. "You've got to have a 'deck' to stand on."

"Here," said Sammy, "this is just the thing for it."

An anchor log floated right near to the beach. It was pretty steady, and after some wobbling Clarence got a foothold on it.

The boy stood on the burning deck he began.

Flop!

Splash!

Mischief lovers hiding behind a near rock had given a rope tied to the log a sudden jerk. Clarence took a dive.

His mouth was so full of water and sand, as they fished him out, that he could not say much. He acted pretty grumpy, until the next thing on the programme made him laugh with the others, and forget his own troubles.

"A song!" shouted Bob.

Everybody looked at Dudley Norton. He always sang at the school exhibitions.

"Come on, Dud," called out Dave. "There's no piano here, but 'What Are the Wild Waves Saying' will sound real cute."

Dudley had a fairly good voice. He got the first line out all right. Then

Ba-a!

Me-aiow!

Honk-honk-honk!

To-whit! to-whoo!

Catcalls, hootings, imitations of all kinds of animals rang