The High School Pitcher | Page 2

various recitation rooms.
To readers of the preceding volume in this series, Dick & Co. will need
no introduction. All six of the youngsters were very well introduced in
"The High School Freshmen."
Such readers will remember their first view of Dick & Co. With
brown-haired Dick Prescott as leader, the other members of this unique
firm of High School youngsters, were Tom Reade, Dan Dalzell, Harry
Hazelton, Gregory Holmes and Dave Darrin.
The six had been chums at the Central Grammar School, and had stuck
together like burrs through the freshman year at the Gridley High
School. In fact, even in their freshmen period, when new students are
not expected to have much to say, and are given no chance at the school
athletics, Dick & Co. had made themselves abundantly felt.
Our readers will recall how the Board of Education had some notion of
prohibiting High School football, despite the fact that the Gridley H.S.
eleven was one of the best in the United States. Readers will also recall
the prank hatched by Dick & Co., by means of which the Board was
quickly shown how unpopular such a move would be in the city.
Our readers will also recollect that, though freshmen were barred from
active part in sports, yet Dick & Co. found the effective way of raising
plentiful funds for the Athletics Committee. In the annual paper chase
the freshmen hounds, under Dick Prescott's captaincy, beat the
sophomore hares---for the first time in many years. In the skating
events, later on, Dick and his chums captured, for the freshman class,
three of the eight events. From the start, Dick & Co. had shown great
ingenuity in "boosting" football, in return for which, many of the usual
restrictions on freshmen were waived where Dick & Co. were
concerned.
In the nearly three months, now, that the new school year had gone

along, Dick & Co. had proved that, as sophs, they were youngsters of
great importance in the student body. They were highly popular with
most of their fellow-students; but of course that very popularity made
them some enemies among those who envied or disliked them.
For one thing, neither Dick nor any of his partners came of families of
any wealth. Yet it was inevitable that some of the boys and girls of
Gridley H.S. should come from families of more or less wealth.
It is but fair to say that most of these scions of the wealthier families
were agreeable, affable and democratic---in a word, Americans without
any regard to the size of the family purse.
A few of the wealthier young people, however, made no secret of their
dislike for smiling, happy, capable Dick & Co. One of the leaders in
this feeling was Fred Ripley, son of a wealthy, retired lawyer.
During the skating events of the preceding winter, Dick Prescott, aided
by his chums, had saved the life of Ripley, who had gone through thin
ice. However, so haughty a young man as Fred Ripley, though he had
been slightly affected by the brave generosity, could not quite bring
himself to regard Dick as other than an interloper in High School life.
Ripley had even gone so far as to bribe Tip Scammon, worthless,
profligate son of the honest old janitor of the High School, to commit a
series of robberies from the locker rooms in the school basement while
Dick carried the key as monitor there. The "plunder" had been found in
Dick's own room at home, and the young man had been suspended
from the High School for a while. Thanks, however, to Laura Bentley
and Belle Meade, two girls then freshmen and now sophs, Tip had been
run down. Then the police made Tip confess, and he was sent away to
the penitentiary for a short term. Tip, however, refused to the last to
name his accomplice. Dick knew that Ripley was the accomplice, but
kept his silence, preferring to fight all his own battles by himself.
So Fred Ripley was now a junior, in good standing as far as scholarship
and school record went.

So far, during this new year, Ripley had managed to smother his hatred
for Dick & Co., especially for Dick himself.
Lessons and recitations on this early December morning went off as
usual. In time the hands of the clock moved around to one o'clock in
the afternoon, at which time the High School closed for the day.
The partners of Dick & Co. went down the steps of the building and all
soon found their way through the surging crowds of escaped students.
This sextette turned down one of the streets and trudged along together.
At first several of the other High School boys walked along near them.
Finally, however, the crowd thinned away