CHAPTER II.
"RIP" TRIES OUT HIS BARGAIN Had a meaner trick ever been played on boys with whom it was so hard to raise money?
"Ha, ha, ha!" chuckled Fred Ripley, so loudly that the dismayed, angry boys could not fail to hear him.
"You sneak! You knew it all the time!" flared Dave Darrin, gazing down in disgust at the lawyer's son.
"Maybe I did know," Fred admitted, yet speaking to Mr.Dodge.
"You see, one of my father's clerks served the papers which attached the show." There was no help for Dick & Co.

They had parted with their money and their "property" had been turned over to them.
It is an ancient principle of law that the buyer must beware.
The auctioneer had been most careful not to represent the canoe as being fit for service.

He had offered it as an historical curiosity! Dick & Co.

looked at the canoe anxiously.
"What shall we do with it ?" asked Dave Darrin moodily.
"Make a bonfire of it ?" asked Danny Grin.
"Might as well," Greg nodded.
"No, sir!" Dick interrupted.

"Tom, what do you say?
You're one of the really handy boys.