“Oh, say, Halliday! what’s the use of acting that way?” put in Bob Mason. “They aren’t doing any harm. The lake is free to anybody.”
“You can’t tell me anything about that crowd, Mason. I know them better than you do,” answered Paul Halliday sullenly. “I didn’t leave Colby Hall for nothing.”
“We left it as much as anything to get rid of that bunch,” put in Billy Sands.
“They always want to pick on a fellow,” came from Codfish. “They’re as mean as dirt. I think all of the fellows here ought to make them keep away.”
“We won’t come near your camp if you don’t want us to,” answered Jack. “You can keep to your side of the lake and we’ll keep to ours.”
By this time several other of the Longley boys had appeared, including Ted Maxwell. Most of the crowd were of the Flanders stripe and apt to take sides against the Rover boys and their chums. But Maxwell and Mason, on the other hand, wanted to be friendly.
“No use of getting hot about it, Tommy,” said Maxwell to Flanders. “Why not have some good-natured rivalry? We might have some rowing races, some swimming races, and we might even get up a baseball game, six on a side—that is, if they would care to play with six men.”
“You’ve got the right spirit, Maxwell,” answered Jack promptly. “We’ll go into any contest against you that you suggest. We’ll row you or swim you or play baseball against you. Or we’ll even shoot against you if you say so,” he added, with a smile.
“That’s the talk!” cried Mason. “Let’s get up a few contests. This outing is getting awfully stale, anyhow.”
“We don’t want any contests with them,” grumbled Flanders.