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At a rather slow, easy dip, the "Scalp-hunter" ranged up near the "Pathfinder." "All ready there, Gridley?" called Hartwell rather impatiently. "As ready as we're going to be," said Dick. "Flying start, or from a stop?" "Either," Dick nodded. "Then," proposed Hartwell, "move along until your prow is flush with ours. When I give the word both crews paddle for all they're worth.
By some miracle the Gridley boys found strength enough left in their arms and backs to accomplish this feat. Then the "Scalp-hunter" dropped behind again, an inch at a time. "We caught 'em once!" called Dick in an even voice. "We must do it again. One, two, three, four! Hump! hump! Put in the power!" By inches the "Scalp-hunter" crawled up, but Dick & Co. felt completely exhausted.
It's a safe place, anyway," Prescott replied. A few minutes later the "Scalp-hunter" touched lightly on the beach in front of camp. Towser greeted them with a joyous bark. "So you've been watching the race instead of the camp, have you?" demanded Tom, eyeing the dog in mock reproach. "Oh, but I'm tired!" muttered Darrin, after they had beached the canoe. "This green grass looks inviting."
As the "Scalp-hunter" started for the middle of the lake a wild Gridley yell broke loose. But none of the boys paid heed. Each had his ears alert only for the orders of the captain. Somehow, as the canoe moved out, each one had the same feeling. The "Scalp-hunter" was not moving quite as it should do.
I asked, "this man about whom there seems to be so much that is mysterious?" "Ah! if you knew. I will tell you some queer passages by and by, but not to-night. You have no need of excitement. That is the famous Seguin the Scalp-hunter." "The Scalp-hunter!" "Ay! you have heard of him, no doubt; at least you would, had you been much among the mountains." "I have.
Presently there were footsteps in the hall. A boot, with its jingling rowels, struck upon the tiled floor. The footsteps entered the room, and approached the bed. I started, as I looked up. The Scalp-hunter was before me! "You are better; you will soon be well again. I am glad to see that you recover." He said this without offering his hand. "I am indebted to you for my life. Is it not so?"
The curtain should rise upon new scenes, and I would not abandon the stage until I had accomplished a more joyous finale; or, failing this, had reached the denouement of death or vengeance. Poor Seguin! No wonder he had been a scalp-hunter. I could now understand how holy was his hate for the ruthless red man. I, too, had imbibed the passion.
The Gridley High School girls on shore became so anxious that they forgot to wave their handkerchiefs and cheer. "More push! Power, as well as speed," Dick panted, for now the grueling speed was beginning to tell on even the leader of Dick & Co. The prow of the "Slip-over" now passed the stern of the "Scalp-hunter." Reade saw this, too, and uttered a groan.
She would make his breakfast beamingly, at all untimely hours, and otherwise pet and caress him, so that he might have been a knight returning wounded from some Holy War, instead of a discomfited scalp-hunter, bearing still evident traces of the "war-paint." A stern old lady told her once that such condonation of offenses was unprincipled and immoral.
But Hartwell's crew was also showing the stuff of which it was made. "Stop paddling -back water!" shouted Hartwell finally. The "Pathfinder" lay on the water, motionless, only two yards from the shore on which stood the blasted pines. At that same instant the Gridley High School "Scalp-hunter" was a trifle more than seven lengths astern.
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