Conclusion

"I hope I am not too late to congratulate you on your victory," said a pleasant voice, and the boys looked up to see a young gentleman standing¹ in the doorway² of the room, where, having finished the repast the colonel had provided, they were sitting around talking over the details of the race.

"I have been looking for you for a couple of weeks," he went on, coming into the room and offering his hand to Rand. "It was a splendid race and pluckily³ rowed, and you deserved to win."

"Thank you," replied Rand. "Did you say you were looking for me?"

"For all of you," replied the gentleman. "I see you don't remember me. I am Frank Whilden, whose sister you saved from drowning the other day. Come in, Nellie," he called to a young girl who was standing outside. "These are the young men who came to our rescue."

"I just want to thank you all--" began Nellie.

"Oh, it was no anything," returned Donald.

"It was very much to me," began Nellie.

"I mean," explained Donald confusedly "it's no great thing to make a claver about."

"But it was a great thing to have saved you," interposed Rand, with an emphasis on the you.

"That's very nice," replied Nellie. "Won't you shake hands with me, all around?"

"Faith, you won't be asking me twice to do myself the favor," replied Gerald. "Sure I wasn't there to have the pleasure of saving you, but I would have been there if you had sent me word."

"Don't forget the most important part, Nellie," her brother reminded her when she had finished shaking hands.

"Mother sends her regards to you all," went on Nellie, "and hopes you will accept the little present she has sent you."

"But we don't want any reward for what we did," protested Rand. "It was reward enough to have helped you."

"This isn't a reward," continued Nellie; "just a little token of her esteem⁴. We had it sent down to-day. Frank and I thought if you didn't win the race it might console you a little. We do hope you will like it."

Frank had gone from the room, but returned now with a handsome Dart⁵ motorcycle.

"Crickets!" cried Pepper. "I-i-it's a beauty, ain't it?" while the boys gathered around it to examine it. "S-s-say----"

"Whistle it, Pepper," said Jack⁶. "I don't know what it is you want to say, but I guess we all agree with you."

"We can take turns using it."

"We can draw lots for the first ride on it."

"Or toss up for it," proposed Donald.

"I am glad you like it," began Nellie.

"We most certainly do," chorused the boys; "and we are ever so much obliged. We couldn't have had anything that would have suited us nearly so well."

"There are five more just like it outside," went on Nellie; "one for each of you, and we hope you will get a lot of pleasure from them."

"But we can't accept all these," protested Rand, while the others stood silent in stupefied amazement⁷.

"Crickets!" exclaimed Pepper. "I will be awful sorry to-morrow."

The End

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

3 pluckily   

adv.有勇气地，大胆地

参考例句：

• He was Brentford's defensive star in pluckily holding out the determined Reading raids for long periods. 他是布伦特福德队的防守明星，长期坚持抗击雷丁队的猛攻。 来自互联网
• A crushing setback, pluckily overcome, is a good plot motif to carry the yarn forward. 如果你的公司曾遭受过一次毁灭性的打击，但你的勇气让公司度过了难关，那么这个情节也很不错，能推动故事的发展。 来自互联网

4 esteem   

n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• The veteran worker ranks high in public love and esteem.那位老工人深受大伙的爱戴。

5 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。