"No, it"s a free-for-all race, but those who have been in previous contests will have to start off first."
"Last, you mean, I guess," said Lem. "That"s the proper way to handicap."
"Not for this race," Ned replied.
"Why not?"
"Because this is going to be a lazy race."
"A lazy race!" cried half a score of voices.
"Yes, a lazy race. The person or animal who comes in last, after making five circuits, wins."
"Are there going to be animals in this?" demanded Lem.
"Of course there are. This is free-for-all. Here is my entry," and Ned, turning over the box he had been standing on, disclosed a big mud turtle, that started to crawl away as soon as it got into the light.
"A mud turtle race!" cried Lem.
"Certainly! Why not?" demanded Ned, "This turtle has been trained against Jim Morton, champion lazy racer of the Darewell High School!" he went on in a loud voice, to make himself heard above the shouts of laughter. "Now, all ready. Come on, Jim, I believe you can beat the turtle if you half try!"
Such a yell as there was at this! The boys and girls realized the joke that had been played, and even Jim did not hesitate to join in the merriment, for he appreciated the trick which had been worked on him.
"One! Two! Three! Go!" cried Ned. "There goes the turtle!" and he pointed to where the animal was crawling along at a rapid rate. "Hurry up, Jim, or he"ll beat you!"
"I guess not," Jim replied. "I"m going to take a rest. This training has tired me out," and he sat down on the gra.s.s.
"Any one want to compete against the turtle?" asked Ned. "Come on now.
Remember, it"s free-for-all."
But no one seemed to care to contest, and, amid yells and laughter at the manner in which they had been fooled, the boys began arranging impromptu races among themselves.
"You worked that pretty slick," Jim said, as the chums approached him.
"You jollied me along in great shape. But I"ll have to take lots of rest now, to make up for it."
CHAPTER XIII
VACATION AT HAND
"Well, you found out you could run if you tried," Frank remarked, as he looked at where Jim was sprawled on the gra.s.s.
"Oh, I knew it all along," Jim replied, "only I didn"t want it to get out, for fear I"d have to enter all the contests. Maybe I"ll go in the next real race," he added. "I"ve trained enough for three or four seasons I guess."
"I"m afraid you"re not cured yet," commented Ned with a laugh. "It was all for your good, Jim."
"That"s all right. I appreciate that, and I"m much obliged to you. Can I have that turtle?"
"What for?"
"Why, I thought maybe I could educate it," and Jim smiled.
"Go ahead; take it if you want to," Ned replied. "I had trouble enough catching it in the river."
Jim carried off the turtle, and the crowd of boys and girls, laughing and joking about the lazy race, gradually dispersed.
"Wonder what Jim wanted of the turtle?" asked Fenn, as the four chums walked along.
"Give it up," said Ned. "Going to train it to waltz maybe."
"More like he"s going to play some joke on you for what you did,"
suggested Frank, who was in better spirits than his friends had observed him to be for some time.
And that was exactly what happened. When the chums got to school the next Monday morning, they were met with queer glances on every side. At last Ned demanded:
"What are you fellows grinning at? What"s the joke? Tell us and we"ll laugh too."
"Better go downtown and look in the drug store window," advised Lem Gordon.
The chums took the advice that afternoon. They found quite a crowd in front of the "Emporium," as the drug store was called. Working their way up to the window the four boys saw a queer sight.
A big box had been arranged to represent a pond, with rushes and gra.s.s growing around the edges. In the center was a little mound of stones, that were raised above the surface of the water with which the box was filled.
But what attracted more attention, than the accurate representation of a pond, was a big mud turtle resting on the stones lazily blinking at the crowds that stared at it, as though pleased with the homage paid. And, on a card hanging over the turtle, was this inscription:
"Winner of the Darewell High School annual lazy-race. Trained for the event by Ned Wilding, Fenn Masterson, Bart Keene and Frank Roscoe."
"I guess that"s one on you," remarked Lem Gordon, as he joined the chums while they were looking in the window. "Jim got back at you all right."
"Yes, I guess he did," admitted Ned.
Nearly everyone in the crowd knew the four chums, and the boys were subjected to considerable chaffing over the notice about training the turtle. They took it good-naturedly, and when Jim Morton came strolling along, a little doubtful as to how the four lads would treat him, because of the joke he had played, Ned called out:
"That"s a good one, Jim."
"Much obliged for that turtle," Jim responded. Then, as he walked a little way down the street with the chums he told them he had sold the animal to the drug store proprietor for a dollar and had suggested putting it in the window, to attract attention, and serve as an advertis.e.m.e.nt.
It now lacked but a few weeks to vacation time, and every boy in the school, including the four chums, was counting the hours until the cla.s.ses would close for the summer.
"We haven"t made our vacation plans yet," said Fenn one afternoon, when the boys were out on the river in their boat. "What are we going to do?"
"Let"s take another boating trip, away up the river," suggested Ned.
"I was going to propose a walking trip, taking in the whole county and lasting three weeks," Bart put in.