Thompson argued, but it was no use.

“Why, every one of your partners is going,” said Frank.  “Here comes Dave Darrin now.  He’ll tell you so.”

“Nope,” said Dave, with all the energy at his command.  “We understand we’re to be invited, and we’d give almost anything to go, but Dick & Co. don’t go unless the Dick part of the firm is with us.”

The junior dance came off, and was a good deal of a success in many ways.  Only one of the ten boys of the freshman class who were invited attended.  Eight girls of the same class were invited, but only two of them accepted.  Laura Bentley decided, at the last moment, against attending.

Within ten days two important games came off between the Gridley H.S. and other crack high school teams.  Gridley won both.

“It would be cheeky in me to go to the game, when I’m suspended—–­hardly a H.S. boy, in fact,” Dick explained to his partners.  “But you go.

“No, sir!” muttered Greg Holmes.

“Not if you feel that you can’t go,” protested Harry Hazelton.  “Dick & Co. go together, or not at all.”

Gridley H.S. won both games by the skin of their teeth.

“We can’t succeed much longer without our mascots,” Thompson declared impressively before all the members of Dick & Co.  The six freshmen, walking along the street together had been rounded up and haled into the store where the football squad held its “club” meetings.

“Humph!  I’d be a poor mascot for any body,” muttered Dick.  “I haven’t been able to bring even myself good luck.”

“You just come to a game once, all six of you,” begged Ben Badger.  “Then you’ll see how we can pile up the score over the enemy!  Don’t let it get out of your heads that you’re our real, sure-thing mascots.  Why, if it hadn’t been for you six youngsters we probably wouldn’t be playing football any more this season.”

Other members of the squad tried to ply their persuasive powers, but all in vain.  Dick Prescott, though not breaking down or wilting under the suspicion that lay against him, felt convinced that it would be out of place for him to attend High School affairs while on the suspended list.

“Humph!” grunted Thomp.  “The only thing I can see for us to do is to spend a lot of the Athletic Association’s money in hiring a swell detective to come to town and find out who really did take the things at the old H.S.  Then we’d have you with us again, Dick Prescott.”

Though under such long suspension Dick was not going backward much in his studies.  He had his books at home, and every forenoon he put in the time faithfully over them.

One of these November evenings Dick had the good fortune to have Dave Darrin and Greg Holmes up in his room with him.  The other partners were at home studying.