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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of At Start and Finish, by William Lindsey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: At Start and Finish
+
+Author: William Lindsey
+
+Release Date: May 11, 2012 [EBook #39668]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT START AND FINISH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Annie McGuire. This book was produced from
+scanned images of public domain material from the Google
+Print archive.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AT START AND FINISH
+
+
+
+
+BY THE SAME AUTHOR
+
+APPLES OF ISTAKHAR
+
+
+
+
+AT
+START AND FINISH
+
+
+William Lindsey
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Boston
+Small, Maynard & Company
+1899
+
+
+
+
+_Copyright, 1896,_ by
+COPELAND AND DAY
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Copyright, 1899,_ by
+SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+TO THE
+ATHLETIC TEAMS OF OLD ENGLAND
+AND NEW ENGLAND, OXFORD, CAMBRIDGE,
+HARVARD, AND YALE, WHO
+MET IN LONDON JULY 22, 1899, GOOD
+WINNERS AND PLUCKY LOSERS,
+I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+
+In the present volume I have drawn freely on my previous collection (now
+out of print), "Cinder-path Tales," omitting some material, but adding
+much more that is new.
+
+I have also added headpieces, in which my suggestions have been very
+cleverly carried out by the artist, W. B. Gilbert.
+
+  W. L.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+  OLD ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND                                          1
+  MY FIRST, FOR MONEY                                                 36
+  THE HOLLOW HAMMER                                                   62
+  HIS NAME IS MUD                                                     91
+  HOW KITTY QUEERED THE "MILE"                                       107
+  ATHERTON'S LAST "HALF"                                             131
+  THE CHARGE OF THE HEAVY BRIGADE                                    153
+  A VIRGINIA JUMPER                                                  176
+  AND EVERY ONE A WINNER                                             213
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Old England and New England]
+
+
+It is something of an experience for an Englishman, after thirty years'
+absence, to stand on the steps of "Morley's" and face the sunlight of
+Trafalgar Square. He may not own a foot of English soil, he may have no
+friend left to meet him, he may even have become a citizen of the Great
+Republic, but he cannot look at the tall shaft on which the "little
+sailor" stands without a breath of pride, a mist in his eye, and a lump
+in his throat.
+
+It was early afternoon of a warm July day. There was barely enough wind
+to blow the spray of the fountains, and the water itself rose straight
+in the soft air. I stood contentedly watching the endless procession of
+busses, hansoms, and four-wheelers, with the occasional coster's cart,
+and asked for nothing more. Long-eared "Neddy" dragging "Arry,"
+"Arriet," and a load of gooseberries was a combination on which my eye
+rested with peculiar fascination. No amateur "whip" in a red coat on a
+bottle-green coach could handle the "ribbons" over four "choice uns"
+with a finer air than "Arry" as he swung through the line and came
+clicking up the street. I would rather see him pass than the Lord Mayor
+in his chariot. I must have stood on the top step of "Morley's" for a
+good half-hour, not caring even to smoke, so sweet was the smell of a
+London street to me.
+
+I was thinking, as a man must at such a time, of old days and old
+friends,--not dismally, but with a certain sense of loss,--when a tall
+gentleman came slowly up the steps and stopped immediately in front of
+me. I moved aside, although there was plenty of room for him to pass;
+but still he looked at me gravely, and at last held out a big brown hand
+and said, as if we had parted only yesterday, "Well, Walter, old man,
+how are you?" I was a bit in doubt at first. He was so tall that his
+eyes were nearly on a level with my own, his figure erect and soldierly,
+his face bronzed as if from long exposure to a tropic sun. Only when he
+smiled did I know him, and then we gripped hands hard, our fingers
+clinging until we saw we were attracting the notice of those around us.
+Then our hands unclasped, and feeling a bit foolish over our emotion, we
+sat down together.
+
+At first we talked of commonplaces, though all the time I was thinking
+of an evening more than thirty years ago when we stood together on the
+river path, under the shadows of old Oxford towers, and said,
+"Good-bye." He then offered to stand by me when the friendship would
+have cost him something, and I declined the sacrifice. Would it have
+been better? Who can tell?
+
+Our first thoughts were a bit serious, perhaps, but our second became
+decidedly cheerful at meeting again after so long a time. I learned that
+he was "Colonel" Patterson, having gained his regiment a good ten years
+ago; that he had spent nearly all his time in India; that he had been
+invalided home; that he was, like myself, unmarried, and that he found
+himself rather "out of it" after all these years away from the "old
+country."
+
+I told how I had gone to America, where, finding all other talents
+unmarketable, I had become first a professional runner, and later a
+college trainer. To this occupation, in which I had been something of a
+success, I had given many years until a small invention had made me
+independent, and a man of leisure in a modest way. I saw he was a bit
+disappointed when I told him I had been forced to "turn pro." in order
+to obtain my bread and butter. I knew exactly how he felt, and well did
+I remember my sorrow when I dropped the "Mr." from my name. It is not a
+particularly high-sounding title, but to appreciate it at its true value
+a man need only to lose it and become plain "Smith," "Jones," or
+"Robinson." That nothing could raise the "pale spectre of the salt"
+between Frank Patterson and myself, not even going outside the pale of
+the "gentleman amateur," I was very certain.
+
+But when I told him a little later that I had become a full-fledged
+citizen of the United States, he could not conceal his surprise,
+although he said but little at first.
+
+We talked of other things for a while, and then my friend came back to
+what I knew he had been thinking about all the time, and he asked me
+bluntly how it was I had come to give up the nation of my birth.
+
+"It seemed only fair," I answered, "that I should become a citizen of
+the country in which I obtained my living, whose laws protected me, in
+which most of my friends were resident, and where I expected sometime to
+be buried."
+
+At this the Colonel was silent for a little while, and then he remarked
+rather doubtfully: "I cannot make up my mind just what the Americans are
+like. Are they what Kipling declared them in the 'Pioneer Mail' some
+ten years ago, when he cursed them root and branch, or what the same man
+said of them a few years later, when he affirmed just as strongly, 'I
+love them' and 'They'll be the biggest, finest, and best people on the
+surface of the globe'? Such contradictory statements are confusing to a
+plain soldier with nothing more than the average amount of intelligence.
+What is the use, too, of calling them Anglo-Saxon? They are, in fact, a
+mixture of Celt, Teuton, Gaul, Slav, with a modicum of Saxon blood, and
+I know not what else."
+
+I could not help smiling a little at the Colonel's earnestness. I tried
+to tell him that the American was essentially Anglo-Saxon in spite of
+all the mixture; that his traditions, aims, and sentiments were very
+much like his own; that he had the same language, law, and literature;
+that the boys read "Tom Brown at Rugby," and the old men Shakespeare,
+Browning, and Kipling. I told him that the boys played English games
+with but slight changes, and that they boxed like English boys, and
+their fathers fought like English men.
+
+"Yes," said the Colonel, at last interrupting my flow of eloquence, "I
+heard the statement made at the Army and Navy Club only last night, that
+the American soldier was close to our 'Tommy,' and that the Yankee
+sailor was second to none. Yet all the time I cannot adjust myself to
+the fact that he is 'one of us.' Perhaps if I saw some typical Americans
+I should be a little less at sea."
+
+"Well," I answered, "if that is what you want, I can give you plenty of
+opportunity. This afternoon occur the athletic games between Oxford and
+Cambridge on the one hand, and Harvard and Yale on the other. I am going
+with a party of Americans; we have seats in the American section, and I
+have a spare ticket which you can use as well as not. You can study the
+'genus Americana' at your leisure, and see some mighty good sport
+meanwhile."
+
+"That would suit my book exactly," declared the Colonel; and he had
+scarcely spoken before I saw Tom Furness standing in the entrance of the
+hotel evidently looking for me. He was clad, despite the heat, in a long
+Prince Albert coat which fitted him like a glove, and wore a tall silk
+hat as well. He saw me almost immediately, and a moment later was
+shaking hands with the Colonel. The latter was dressed in a
+loose-fitting suit of gray flannel and sported a very American-looking
+straw hat, so that Tom really appeared the more English of the two.
+Which was the finer specimen of a man it would be hard to say, and one
+might not match them in a day's journey. They were almost exactly of a
+height, the Colonel not more erect than Tom, and not quite as broad of
+chest. The latter certainly had not the Colonel's clean-cut face, but
+there was something about his rather irregular features that would
+attract attention anywhere. I was pleased to see, too, that he gave to
+the Colonel a touch of the deference due his age and rank, which I admit
+some of Tom's countrymen might have forgotten.
+
+Furness was very cordial, too. "We are in great luck," he declared, "to
+have the Colonel with us, for a little later we should have been gone.
+It is about time to start now, after, of course, a little something to
+fortify us against the drive." So he took us into the smoking-room,
+where he introduced the Colonel to Harry Gardiner and Jim Harding. He
+also made him acquainted with a Manhattan cocktail, which the Colonel
+imbibed with some hesitation, but found very decidedly to his liking.
+Tom explained that he had taught them how to make it himself that very
+morning, and that it could not be bettered in all London.
+
+Furness always constitutes himself host if he has the least excuse for
+so doing. It is a way he has. Nothing but a man's own hearthstone in
+his own particular castle stops him. He takes possession of all neutral
+ground like that of a hotel, and considers it his duty to make matters
+pleasant for all around him.
+
+Harding and Gardiner were a half-dozen years younger than Furness, and
+it was not many years since I had trained them for very much the same
+kind of games as those of the afternoon. Harding was a big fellow, with
+broad shoulders, and a mop of yellow hair. He had been a mighty good man
+in his day with both "shot" and "hammer." Harry Gardiner had been a
+sprinter,--one of the best starters I ever knew,--and a finisher, too,
+which does not always follow. The Colonel got along very well with them
+all,--a little reserved at first, and studying all three of them in a
+very quiet way. He could sometimes not quite make out what Harding, who
+had a very choice vocabulary of Americanisms, was driving at, and one or
+two of Tom's jokes he failed utterly to comprehend; but he seemed to
+understand the men themselves fairly well, nevertheless. We chatted
+together a few minutes, and then Furness declared it was time to start,
+producing cigars which would have tempted a modern Adam more than any
+apple in the Garden of Eden. So the Colonel and myself left the others,
+and were soon comfortably ensconced in a clean hansom, behind a good
+piece of horseflesh, and bowling along toward the Queen's Club Grounds
+at a very respectable rate of speed.
+
+We enjoyed our ride very thoroughly, and arrived at the Comeragh Road
+entrance almost too soon, for the crowd was only beginning to gather. We
+obtained programmes, and entering the gateway found ourselves in full
+view of the grounds at once.
+
+A mighty fine sight they were, too, the stretch of level greensward,
+hard and velvety, with the dark brown cinder-path encircling it. The
+seats rose on all sides but one, and there, outside the fence, was the
+fringe of waving trees, and the red brick houses, trim and neat. Over
+all was the soft blue sky, with here and there a drifting cloud. I could
+see the Colonel's eyes glisten. He had spent the best part of his life
+in a country which alternated between the baked brown clay of the dry
+season and the wild luxuriance that followed the rains. He went to the
+very outside edge of the track, and took a careful step or two on it,
+examining it with the eye of a connoisseur, for he knew something of a
+track, although he had not seen one for many years. "'Tis fast," said
+he, knowingly. "With the heat and calm the conditions are right enough,
+and the men will have nobody to blame but themselves if they do not come
+close to the records."
+
+We walked slowly by the telegraph office, and back of the tennis courts.
+As we passed the Tea-room we could see a few people at the tables, and
+quite a little group was gathered around the Members' Pavilion. We went
+by the Royal Box, with its crimson draperies, and found our seats close
+to the finish of the hundred-yard, half, mile, and three-mile runs. The
+Colonel gave himself at once to the careful examination of the
+programme, as did I myself. The "Oxford and Cambridge" was printed in
+dark blue ink, and "Harvard and Yale" in crimson. For stewards there
+were C. N. Jackson and Lees Knowles, the former once the finest hurdler
+in England. For the Americans, E. J. Wendell and C. H. Sherrill
+officiated; many a bit of red worsted had I seen the latter break across
+the sea. Judges, referee, and timekeeper were alike well known on both
+continents, and had all heard the crunch of a running shoe as it bit
+into the cinders. Wilkinson of Sheffield was to act as "starter."
+
+"He has the reputation of never having allowed a fraction to be stolen
+on his pistol," remarked the Colonel.
+
+"Let him watch Blount to-day then," I said.
+
+The Colonel ran his finger down the list. "Nine contests in all. One of
+strength, three of endurance, two of speed, two of activity, and the
+'quarter' only is left where speed and bottom are both needed. How will
+they come out?" he asked.
+
+"About five to four," I answered, "but I cannot name the winner. On form
+Old England should pull off the 'broad jump,' the 'mile' and 'three
+miles,' and New England is quite sure of the 'hammer' and 'high jump.'
+This leaves the 'hundred' and 'hurdles,' the 'quarter' and 'half' to be
+fought out, although of course nothing is sure but death and taxes."
+
+"I suppose it will be easy to distinguish the men by their style and
+manner," said the Colonel.
+
+"You will not see much difference," I replied. "The Americans wear the
+colors more conspicuously, Harvard showing crimson, and Yale dark blue.
+'Tis the same shade as Oxford's. The Americans have also the letters 'H'
+and 'Y' marked plainly on the breasts of their jerseys. There are some
+of the contestants arriving now," I remarked, pointing across the track;
+"would you like to see them before they strip?"
+
+"I certainly would," he answered; and we slipped out of our seats and
+around the track to the Members' Pavilion, in front of which they stood.
+Just before we reached them, however, we met Furness, Harding, and
+Gardiner, the former holding a little chap about ten years old by the
+hand, who was evidently his "sire's son," for his eyes were big with
+excitement and pleasure.
+
+"Which are they?" inquired the Colonel, a little doubtfully. "That chap
+in front is an English lad or I miss my guess," looking admiringly at a
+young giant apparently not more than twenty years old, and perhaps the
+finest-looking one of the lot. His hat was in his hand, his eyes were
+bright, and skin clear, with a color that only perfect condition brings.
+
+"No," I answered, rather pleased at his mistake; "that is a Harvard
+Freshman, though he bears a good old English name. Since Tom of Rugby,
+the Browns have had a name or two in about every good sporting event on
+earth. Would you like to know him?" I asked, for just then the young
+fellow spied me out and came forward to meet me with a smile of
+recognition. I was quite willing to introduce H. J. Brown to the
+Colonel, although it was hardly fair to present him as a sample of an
+American boy. As Tom would have said, it was showing the top of a
+"deaconed" barrel of apples.
+
+The young fellow shook the Colonel's hand with an easy self-possession,
+coloring a little under his brown skin at the older man's close
+scrutiny, who said a quiet word concerning the games, and asked him if
+he felt "fit."
+
+"I'm as fit as they can make a duffer," he answered. "Boal, over there,"
+pointing to an older man with a strong face full of color and who was a
+bit shorter and even more strongly built,--"Boal is the man who throws
+the hammer. He's better than I by a dozen feet."
+
+"Yes," remarked Tom, coming forward and shaking Brown's hand with a
+hearty grip, "this young man is not an athlete at all; he worked so hard
+at his studies that they sent him over here to recruit his health,
+impaired by too close application. He is strong only in his knowledge of
+Greek verbs and logarithms."
+
+At this there was quite a laugh, in which Brown joined heartily and the
+Colonel came in with a quiet chuckle, for he had come to quite enjoy
+Tom's "little jokes;" and under cover of our amusement the young fellow
+left us and disappeared in the dressing-room.
+
+The Colonel watched the little string of well-groomed fellows file
+along, taking particular notice of the smallest chap of all, who came
+laughing by, swinging his dress-suit case as if it weighed a scant
+pound. "What does he do?" the Colonel asked.
+
+"That's Rice, the high jumper," spoke up Tom. "He is good for six feet
+before or after breakfast. Indeed I think he could do the distance
+between every course of a long dinner, with perhaps an extra inch or two
+before the roast."
+
+"He has the best style of any man we have," volunteered Gardiner, "and
+goes over the bar as if he had wings."
+
+I tried to get the Colonel to look over the English lads. "Oh, they 're
+all right, I know. I want to see how near the American boys can come to
+them," said he, for the Colonel was loyal to his own, and after his long
+absence thought all the more of everything the Old Country produced. We
+did get a look at one or two, among them Vassall, an Oriel man, whom Tom
+pointed out, although how he knew him I could not guess. He was a
+grand-looking fellow, very strongly put together, and he walked as if on
+eggs.
+
+"He looks like a winner, sure enough," said I.
+
+"Yes," continued the Colonel, "old Oriel always has a good thing or two
+on field and river both."
+
+By this time the seats were filling rapidly, the stands were becoming
+crowded, and around the track were rows of people seated on the grass.
+We elbowed our way to our own places, and were settled at last, the
+Colonel on my left, little Billy Furness next, and Tom last of the row.
+In front of us were Gardiner and Harding, and behind, four or five
+American girls, two of them pretty, and all of them well dressed, with
+plenty of crimson and blue in their costumes.
+
+We had scarcely taken our seats when one of the girls discovered the
+royal carriage, jumping to her feet so hurriedly that she rather
+disturbed the Colonel's hat, for which she apologized so prettily that
+he must have felt indebted to her, despite the trouble. We all rose as
+the royal party alighted from their carriage, and the London Victoria
+Military Band played as only they can on such an occasion.
+
+We could see the Prince plainly, and with his light clothes and hat he
+set a good example of comfort to others. He looked to me much as he did
+when I saw him last on a Derby day many years ago. A good patron of
+sport has he always been, and his presence now gave color and zest to
+the whole affair. When he appeared in the box, he stood for a few
+moments, his eyes wandering over the grounds, and a smile of pleasure on
+his face. A royal sight it was, too, for the sun was shining brightly on
+the many-colored bank of spectators that circled the track. The hurdles
+stood in straight rows on the farther side, and right in front were the
+twin flag-staffs, at the feet of which hung the Union Jack and Stars and
+Stripes ready to hoist as one or the other country won. In the middle of
+the field were the blackboard and a megaphone, suspended from a tripod
+for indicating to eye and ear the results of the contest and records
+made.
+
+The first contestants to show were the "hammer throwers," and the big
+fellows were greeted with a rattling round of applause as they crossed
+the track, Greenshields of Oxford, Baines of Cambridge, Boal and Brown
+of Harvard, chatting cordially together as they walked over the field to
+their places in the farther corner.
+
+The little girl behind us offered the Colonel her field-glasses, which
+he was glad to get, and for which he thanked her heartily.
+
+"Take them whenever you want," she said with a smile; "you'll find them
+right here in my lap."
+
+Now this certainly was a freedom to which the Colonel was not
+accustomed, but I noticed that he seemed to adjust himself to it very
+easily. It was not, perhaps, the manner of the "Vere de Veres," but was
+very cordial, which was something better still.
+
+"Who is expected to win?" inquired the Colonel, as Greenshields began to
+swing the hammer around his head.
+
+"This is supposed to be a sure thing for Boal of Harvard," I answered.
+
+"Yes," spoke up little Billy, "and I know him too. Case Boal is a
+daisy."
+
+"A daisy is he?" asked the Colonel, looking down at the little fellow's
+flushed face. "He looks to me more like a big red rose. Do you throw the
+hammer too?"
+
+"No," answered Billy, gravely, "though I've got a cousin, most fifteen,
+who throws the twelve-pound hammer, and is a 'cracker jack.'"
+
+"A cracker jack, is he?" inquired the Colonel; "and are you a cracker
+jack too?"
+
+"Oh no," answered Billy, "I'm not much. I sprint a little, and won
+second place in the 'hundred' at my school games this spring. I want to
+run the 'quarter,' but dad won't let me till I'm older. That was his
+distance, and when I go to college I shall try for the quarter too."
+
+"Bless his heart," said the Colonel to me. "Are there many American boys
+like him?"
+
+"The woods are full of them," I answered. "There goes Brown; I want you
+to see him throw. He will not do Boal's distance, but is improving every
+day, and has a very pretty style. He is probably a few yards better than
+Greenshields, and Baines can hardly get the hammer away at all. The
+Englishmen have really no show in this event, for it is not cultivated
+as it should be in the Universities."
+
+"Why, then," asked the Colonel, "did our men include it with no hope of
+winning?"
+
+"It was a very sportsmanlike thing to do," declared Furness, "and
+arranged in much the same spirit as the three-mile run, which is a
+distance unknown in America, and in which we have not the least chance."
+
+"Yes," said I, "I cannot remember a contest in which there was so little
+jockeying in the preliminaries. They were conducted in the most liberal
+manner on both sides, and many concessions were made. One of the best
+illustrations is the 'hurdle race,' which will be run over turf, as is
+the custom here, while the hurdles will be movable, as is usual in
+America."
+
+"That is the true spirit of amateur sport," said the Colonel, "and is a
+mighty fine thing, whichever wins."
+
+Now I must confess that at this moment I found myself in a very peculiar
+state of mind. I was not sure which team I preferred to carry off the
+odd event. This was very unusual for me, as I am always something of a
+partisan, and cannot see two little chaps running a barefooted race
+along the street without picking a favorite, being a bit pleased if he
+wins and disappointed if he loses. But to-day there was on one side the
+country of my birth and on the other that of my adoption, and between
+them I was utterly unable to choose. So evenly did they draw upon my
+sentiment that I made up my mind I should be satisfied either way, and
+meanwhile I could enjoy myself without prejudice.
+
+"There's the jumpers," suddenly cried out little Billy, whose quick eye
+had first discovered them emerging from the crowd that fringed the track
+in front of the dressing-rooms. Sure enough, there were Daly and Roche
+in their crimson sweaters looking over the ground. The former carefully
+paced off his distance from the joist and marked his start, and as he
+did so, Vassall and Beven appeared, sporting respectively the dark and
+light blue, and shook hands with their opponents.
+
+"Who is the favorite here?" inquired the Colonel.
+
+"Oh, Vassall will win in a walk," answered Tom.
+
+At this the Colonel was entirely at sea.
+
+"But," said he, "I did not think there was to be a walk at all,"
+examining his programme carefully. Then catching Tom's meaning, he
+continued, "You mean he wins easily? Well, I'm glad of that. I should
+like to see one first at least pulled off by the old college."
+
+"Nothing will stop him but an attack of apoplexy before his first jump,"
+declared Tom, positively. "He will not need to take another. I saw him
+in the spring games, and a more natural jumper I never saw. He is at
+least a foot better than Daly, who I believe never made a broad jump in
+public until it was known he might be needed by his college."
+
+"You ought to see him play football," said Billy here, looking up at the
+Colonel with admiring eyes. "He's a 'dandy,' and just as cool as that
+'measurer' over there," pointing to a gentleman who had bent over the
+many throws of the hammer until he was in a most profuse perspiration.
+At this there was a laugh from all round, which was followed by another
+as Billy's example of coolness wiped his beaded brow.
+
+The "hammer" and "long jump" are not very rapid events at best, but
+they answered very well while the late-comers were finding their seats.
+I was particularly pleased to note that Tom had eyes only for Vassall,
+whose easy style took his fancy amazingly, while the Colonel saw nothing
+to admire but the Americans' exhibition with the weight.
+
+He borrowed the glasses from the little girl behind him, with whom he
+had become very friendly for so reserved a man, and watched Brown
+carefully as he planted his feet firmly in the seven-feet circle, swung
+the heavy hammer around his head again and again without moving from his
+ground, until with a last fierce effort he sent the missile whirling
+through the air in a long arc to strike with a dull thud.
+
+Just as the Colonel started to comment on it admiringly, however, he was
+interrupted by a cheer as on one of the flag-poles that rose side by
+side in front of the royal box the Union Jack was hoisted to indicate
+that England had won the first event. A little later on the other pole
+the Stars and Stripes were run up, and we knew that the "hammer throw"
+had gone to the Americans, and honors were easy.
+
+The blackboard showed that Vassall had jumped his twenty-three feet, and
+Boal had thrown one hundred and thirty-six feet eight and one-half
+inches, both very excellent performances.
+
+The Colonel was enjoying himself immensely, and I was gratified to see
+how much at home he had made himself. He found in Furness a very
+congenial spirit, Billy was a boy after his own heart, and the young
+ladies behind him were interesting enough to take quite a little of his
+attention. He was telling them something about a polo match in India
+when I interrupted him to point out the men going to their marks for the
+"hundred-yard dash."
+
+We could look along the splendid track with the narrow laneways made by
+the white cords. Hind of Oxford inside, then Quinlan with an "H" on his
+crimson jersey, then Thomas with the narrow stripes of dark blue, and
+outside Blount with a jersey of the same color and the "Y" on his
+breast.
+
+"Who wins here?" asked the Colonel.
+
+"I give it up," answered Tom; "this is a race."
+
+We could hear the starter's "Marks," "Set;" the wreath of smoke rose
+from his pistol, and before the sound reached us, they were off, Blount
+a bit the first, Hind and Quinlan close together, and Thomas a shade
+behind. Did Blount beat the pistol? I am not sure. He was certainly in
+the lead; then Quinlan came up, to be in turn collared by Thomas, who
+had a shade the best of it until the last few strides, when the big
+fellow in the crimson jersey made a supreme effort and shot by us, a
+winner by a foot.
+
+"Close work that," remarked Harding.
+
+"Yes," said Tom, "it was a close fit, and not much cloth left."
+
+When the American flag went up again, and the blackboard showed the ten
+seconds with no fraction to mar its symmetry, there was very hearty
+applause from the whole field. Even time in the "hundred"! Only the
+aristocracy belong here. This is where fractions tell, this race "that
+is run in a breath." There are thousands good for ten-two, tens are
+equal to the ten-one, but the men who can do the straight ten can be
+counted on the fingers of the hand, and even then the conditions must
+suit them.
+
+"Do you know," remarked the Colonel, with a far-away look in his eyes,
+"I can remember the day when I would have given a year of my life to
+have seen those figures after my name? I had a friend once who held the
+watch over me on a still June afternoon who showed the figure, but I
+never saw it again, and I fear that friendship made the watch stop a bit
+too soon."
+
+The "mile" was not a race at all. When Hunter of Cambridge romped in a
+winner by a good twenty yards, with Dawson of Oxford beating out Spitzer
+of Yale by a very determined finish, Tom declared that it was "a very
+pretty procession, with a big gap after the band wagon." Freemantle gave
+a beautiful example of pacemaking, and what Hunter might have done had
+he been forced is only guesswork.
+
+It now stood even again with a two to two, to which Oxford and Cambridge
+had each contributed a win, and Harvard two. Yale had not distinguished
+herself as yet; 1899 is certainly not Yale's year.
+
+As the men went to their marks for the hurdles, starting in the farther
+corner of the field and finishing far to our right, they were watched
+with particular interest, for this was considered by many to be the
+pivotal race. Paget-Tomlinson was known to be good for his sixteen
+seconds, and might knock a fraction off this. Just what Fox could do was
+more of a question, although the story of a very pretty trial had leaked
+out in some way.
+
+Tom told the Colonel it was a case of "horse and horse," which
+expression he was forced to explain, as it was a shade too doubtful.
+
+A hurdle-race is a pretty sight over cinders, but on turf as green and
+level as a billiard-table it was doubly beautiful.
+
+We could see Fox and Hallowell crouch for the start, and Tomlinson and
+Parkes bend forward. I did not hear the pistol, so fascinated was I, as
+the men came away, skimming over the ground like four swallows, and
+rising over the first row of hurdles as if they had wings.
+
+It is easy to judge a hurdle-race from any angle. All that is necessary
+is to watch the men rise, for the one that lifts first is certainly
+ahead. Sometimes a race is won in the "run in," but not often. At the
+first hurdle the men rose almost together, at the second Parks and
+Hallowell were a bit late, at the third they were plainly behind, and
+Paget-Tomlinson was also a bit tardy. From this out, Fox drew ahead all
+the time, finishing with a burst of speed that put the result entirely
+out of doubt.
+
+I had just remarked, after the applause had somewhat subsided, that
+Tomlinson must have been "off form" when the board showed a fifteen and
+three-fifths, and I revised my conclusion. The "Cantab" had done better
+time than ever, but Fox had demolished the record.
+
+It was right here that the Colonel received something of a shock, for a
+little behind us and on our right a young fellow suddenly sprang to his
+feet, and called out at the top of his voice: "All together now. Three
+long Harvards, and three times three for Harvard." And then from a
+hundred throats came "Harvard, Harvard, Harvard, rah rah rah rah rah rah
+rah rah rah, Harvard."
+
+The Colonel confessed to me afterward that his first thought was that
+some one had gone crazy. "By Jove," said he, "I have heard 'Fuzzy Wuzzy'
+make some queer noises in my time, but that beats them all."
+
+I explained to him that it was a custom among the American colleges to
+have a particular cheer to encourage or applaud, but I saw that it took
+all the Colonel's accumulated enthusiasm to carry him through. It did
+sound a bit queer on the Queen's Grounds, however it might go on the
+Soldiers' Field in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
+
+The events now stood three to two in favor of New England, and their
+chances did look very good to me. They needed but two more wins out of
+the four remaining, and one of these was the "high jump," which on form
+was a certainty for them. To be sure, it was whispered that Burke had
+"gone stale," but I had seen him win so many times when he was plainly
+not in condition, that I did not count him out. Then, again, there was
+Boardman in the "quarter," and Yale was "about due," according to Tom.
+
+At the very start of the "half" Struben started out to make pace in a
+very business-like manner, which the Americans might have copied to
+advantage. Indeed from first to last they showed little knowledge of
+this useful accomplishment. That Burke tailed on was a surprise to no
+one who had seen him run, for with his turn of speed his game is to keep
+close up and run his man down in the last fifty yards. Yet I did not
+like the way he took his first step. He seemed dead and in difficulties
+after the first lap. I heard the little girl behind us declare
+confidently, "Just wait till Tom Burke reaches the straight."
+
+We did wait, sure enough, but he never came. Graham passed Struben, and
+finished comfortably in one fifty-seven and one-fifth, with Adams a poor
+third. The score was now even again, with three to three, and, as
+Furness declared, he was "beginning to have a touch of 'heart disease.'"
+
+"It is certainly 'up to Boardman' now," said Tom, as the men went to
+their marks for the "quarter." "Unless he can pull this off we are
+counted out, and no mistake."
+
+The young Yale Freshman had before this run half round the track, to
+limber up a bit, and appeared right on edge.
+
+There was hardly a sound as the men waited for the signal. Nobody cared
+to talk as they took their places for that most punishing of all
+distances, the "quarter mile," and every one watched the little bunch of
+men in the far corner of the field.
+
+Hollins, the stocky little Oxford man, was away first, as if for one
+hundred yards. He drew Boardman and Fisher after him at a killing pace,
+Davison running easily behind. Round the first turn they came, Boardman
+inside and on practically even terms with Hollins, the tall Yale man
+looking a bit anxious even then. Down the stretch they sprinted, still
+at top speed. At the last turn Boardman shot ahead, and for a brief
+second looked all over a winner. It was only for a second, however, for
+Hollins swung wide, and Davison came through like a locomotive, as
+strong and speedy. Boardman made a plucky effort, but the big "Cantab"
+would not be denied; he came to the front thirty yards from the finish,
+and the best the Yale man could do was to stagger over, five yards to
+the bad, and dead run out. Whether or no he would have done any better
+if he had stayed back instead of following Hollins I cannot tell.
+
+"Poor old Yale," said Furness, contemplatively, when the applause had
+died out, the Americans joining gamely, although they knew their last
+hope went with this event. "Poor old Yale, it was not always thus. I can
+remember a time when Yale men had a very pretty knack of breaking the
+worsted and letting the other fellows run between the posts, but this is
+not Yale's day nor year."
+
+We now had time to watch the "high jumping," which was going on in front
+of us and a little to the right. The bar had reached five feet ten
+inches, and Paget-Tomlinson had gone out at five-five. Rotch comes first
+and is over, although he touches the bar, and it trembles a moment
+uncertain. Adair is over too. The English lad takes his run a bit across
+and goes over with a grand lift from his long legs. Here comes Rice, who
+has not yet pulled off his sweater, although the bar is already several
+inches over his head. The little chap bends forward, gets on his toes,
+gives a short run straight at it, lifts in the air like a bird, shoots
+over, turning in the air meanwhile, lands lightly with his face to the
+bar he has just cleared, and runs back under it to his place. It is the
+prettiest performance for a high jump that the Colonel has ever seen,
+and he applauds vigorously, as do many others. At the next lift of the
+bar Rotch goes out, for he has not been himself quite, and is not equal
+to the six feet which he has so often negotiated. We expected also to
+see Adair drop out here, for five eight and one-fourth had been his best
+record; but he showed daylight between himself and the bar, and for the
+first time I began to be anxious. I truly did not care which team won,
+but I did not want to see anything worse than a five-four, and it looked
+now as if it might be a six-three.
+
+Up goes the bar to five-eleven, and again both Adair and Rice are equal
+to the task before them. With Adair it is the performance of a grand
+natural jumper, but with Rice it is all this, and a style that must be
+worth inches to him.
+
+At six feet the Oxford man did not go at the bar with quite the
+determination he had previously shown, and down it came. Rice now pulls
+off his sweater for the first time, showing how well put together he is
+from head to foot. Straight for the bar he goes, just the same as when
+it was at five-six, and he clears it with apparently the same ease as at
+the lower distance. Adair struggles gamely, but his last try is
+unsuccessful, and the score stands four to four, with only the
+"three-mile" left.
+
+I could see very plainly now that the Colonel was getting a bit nervous.
+"Do you consider this a certain thing for Workman?" he asked me, after
+Tom had declared that the Americans had no chance at all, and that the
+contest was all over "but the shouting."
+
+"Yes," I answered. "None of the Americans have ever done the distance,
+and this is where condition tells. I doubt if they could pull it off on
+neutral ground; after a sea voyage and a few days in a different climate
+they are simply out of it."
+
+"Well," said the Colonel, "I shall feel better when it is over. I have
+seen enough of the Yankee boys to have considerable respect for them,
+even in a race they have no right to win."
+
+The six contestants took their places in that leisurely manner which is
+always shown in a distance run. This race is not won at the start,--not
+much. All the same the Britishers were quite willing to make pace, for
+they swung ahead at the beginning, and for several laps Workman of
+Cambridge, Smith and Wilberforce of Oxford, showed the way around at a
+fair pace. Tom had his watch out and caught four fifty-eight for the
+first mile. At the end of the fifth lap Smith retired, after having made
+pace for a considerable part of the journey, leaving his man, Workman,
+in the lead and running strongly. Only a little later Clarke, who had
+given no clue to his difficulties and had been running well, suddenly
+collapsed, dropping on the track without a word, almost without a
+stagger, and was carried to the grass completely "run out." It was a
+"run out" too, and not one of the grand-stand performances which we
+sometimes see.
+
+At the close of the two miles Wilberforce suddenly retired, having
+suffered badly with a stitch in his side which he could not overcome,
+and Workman, Palmer, and Foote only were left, the last dropping a bit
+behind all the time, but sticking doggedly to it nevertheless.
+
+"By Jove!" exclaimed the Colonel, in the middle of the seventh lap,
+"that man Palmer looks dangerous; he is clinging to Workman's heels and
+is running fully as easily."
+
+"He is doing well," I answered, "but I do not like his color. Look at
+Workman's face and you will see the difference."
+
+"Difference or not," spoke up the Colonel, excitedly, "there he goes;"
+and true enough, Palmer suddenly quickened his stride and took the lead.
+
+"He'll do it," cried the Colonel; but the "Cantab" immediately regained
+his premier place again, while a great cheer went up from the crowd.
+Twice after in the eighth lap did Palmer repeat the performance, but
+each time Workman came up again. Every one was now on his feet, as the
+bell rang for the last lap. There was a hoarse murmur of excitement;
+the Colonel muttered something under his breath. Tom was pressing his
+leg against mine as if he thought he could push his man along. Billy was
+jumping up and down, and the little girl behind us was laughing rather
+hysterically. Which would win, Old England or New England?
+
+It was settled in a most conclusive way by Workman himself, for the bell
+seemed to act like an elixir of life to him. Suddenly he began to
+lengthen and quicken his stride, and he left Palmer as if he were
+anchored. Round the track he swung as if it was the first lap of the
+"half," and when he broke the worsted he was raised by willing hands to
+the shoulder and carried to the dressing-room in triumph. The crowd
+surged onto the track, as they ought not, and interfered with Palmer's
+finish; but it did not harm him, for he was really "run out," and Foote
+was yards behind, though running pluckily.
+
+We were all mixed up together for a few minutes, shaking hands all
+round, all of us with flushed faces. Billy had a suspiciously red nose,
+and the little girl behind us one big tear on her cheek.
+
+Suddenly the Colonel caught my arm and pointed to the two flags, the
+Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes waving side by side.
+
+"Look at that," he cried; "that's a sight worth coming far to see."
+
+"Yes," said Tom, uncovering, "and with lads like those who have fought
+it out to-day to defend them, it would be a bad job to try to pull them
+down."
+
+We lingered for a little while, and when we separated it was agreed that
+Tom and I should join the Colonel and a friend at the Army and Navy Club
+for dinner.
+
+There we talked of many things, but mostly of the two great nations
+which we represented. "'Tis the same breed, after all," declared the
+Colonel, oracularly. "Of course the cross strain is there, but it has
+not hurt at all as far as I can see. Do you know what did the most to
+convert me? Well, it was that handshake with young Brown. A Frenchman
+can't shake hands, and neither can a German, though good fellows both
+may be. But Brown had the good firm grip close to the crotch of the
+thumb, and looked me straight in the eye meanwhile. 'Tis only the
+Anglo-Saxon can do this properly."
+
+When the evening was well on, we drank a toast or two; for the Colonel's
+friend, who was a retired naval officer, declared that it was an
+occasion where a dry dinner would be a disgrace, and he was strongly
+seconded by Tom.
+
+So first came "The Queen, God bless her."
+
+Then "The President, God help him," as Tom piously ejaculated.
+
+We drank to the two teams, good winners and plucky losers both, and then
+to the flags.
+
+"I have nothing against the other bits of bunting," declared Tom,
+generously; "but what is the use of having more than two? Let us arrange
+it now. The Union Jack shall fly over the eastern, and the Stars and
+Stripes over the western hemisphere. The Frenchman, German, and Russian
+shall take what is left."
+
+"That leaves them the sea," I interposed.
+
+"The sea!" cried Tom; "why, that is ours already beyond dispute."
+
+It was just at midnight that we drank our last toast with all the
+honors. It was the "Anglo-Saxon Race." May its two great nations never
+meet in sterner conflict than that fought out in friendliness, on green
+field and brown cinder-path, under a smiling sky!
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: First For Money]
+
+
+It was late in the winter of 186- that I arrived in Boston, having bade
+farewell to Old England for good and all.
+
+It was not an easy thing to do, and it was with a wrench of the heart
+that I made the break-away.
+
+I confess the separation was not entirely of my own choosing, that I
+left under a cloud I do not care to lift, that I had sinned the sins of
+youth and repented of them. Nothing more shall I say; but one thing I
+can never quite forget,--back in old Lancashire was I gentleman born and
+bred.
+
+When I landed, less than fifty dollars had I in my pocket; but that did
+not fret me, for I had been assured an Englishman of good birth and
+breeding had but to pick and choose in the "States." All my money and
+most of my conceit were gone when I met Arthur Hacking a month later.
+
+I had first stopped at a good hotel, and offered my services at genteel
+occupations, such as banking and school-teaching. But business men,
+very naturally, declined to trust a man without references who admitted
+that his past was not clear; and from school-teaching I was prohibited
+by a lamentable weakness in both mathematics and the languages. Indeed,
+I then realized for the first time that there were more important
+schools than that of the "cinder-path," and something more was needed to
+get on in the world than a highly cultivated pair of legs.
+
+As my money disappeared my ideas moderated. I moved to less and less
+pretentious quarters, until an attic-room and a sickly fire became
+luxuries I was likely soon to miss.
+
+As if it were yesterday do I remember the raw March morning, when,
+having spent a few cents out of my only remaining dollar, I set out to
+make a last desperate effort for employment other than that of the
+horny-handed son of toil. At noon I stood on the corner of Washington
+street and Cornhill, utterly at a loss what to do. My overcoat was in
+pawn, and an east wind, such as Boston only knows, was freezing my very
+marrow. The streets were full of half-melted snow and ice, and my feet
+were wet and cold.
+
+As I stood there with much of the feeling and something of the attitude
+of a lost dog, I suddenly recognized a man to whom I had applied a few
+days before for a position as bookkeeper. I stopped him and asked
+bluntly for work of any kind. He offered me a job as day laborer,
+cutting ice on some pond several miles away; for he was the manager of
+an ice company. I should have accepted at once had he not, with true
+Yankee shrewdness, argued from my evident necessity and unskilfulness
+that I should work for less than a regular day's pay. At this I
+demurred, but should certainly have yielded had not Hacking, by some
+freak of fortune, passing by, caught in my speech the accents of the
+"old Shire."
+
+He introduced himself without ceremony, and taking me by the arm, led me
+away, telling the ice-cutter to go to a place where the climate would
+give him no occupation, unless he changed his business.
+
+Hacking was a big, bluff chap with a red face, and not a bit of the
+Yankee about him, though he was then some ten years over. When he
+offered me his friendship, and suggested that we could talk better in a
+warm place, and after a lunch, you may be sure I did not refuse him. My
+heart and stomach were alike empty.
+
+All through my disappointments a stiff upper lip had I kept, but this
+first bit of kindness was almost too much for me, and I nearly played
+the woman for all my twenty years.
+
+We adjourned to the "Bell-in-hand," where I told as little as possible
+of my story to him, between alternate mouthfuls of cold beef and
+swallows of old ale.
+
+I confessed to him I was "dead broke," and could find no employment;
+that is, no employment for which I was fitted. He asked me for what I
+was fitted, and I told him I was blessed if I knew; that as near as I
+could discover day labor was about all I was good for. He clapped me on
+the back with a "Never say die, my lad!" but could think of no
+suggestion which promised me any relief, and finally invited me to drive
+home with him. He owned a little inn at Brighton, and promised me food
+and shelter for a few days until I could "gather myself together."
+
+That this very necessary feat could be performed in a "few days" I very
+much doubted; but the invitation I accepted gratefully, and five o'clock
+found me sitting beside him on the narrow seat of a light carriage, my
+portmanteau tied on behind.
+
+The road to Brighton was a very decent one, and the big roan mare he
+drove reeled off the miles in a way that opened my eyes to the
+possibilities of the trotting horse. I doubt if there was her equal in
+all England.
+
+A clock was striking six when we stopped before the door of the
+"Traveller's Rest," and I slid off the seat on to the frozen ground, my
+legs so stiff that I could scarcely walk.
+
+It was a large white house, with green blinds, and a piazza with tall
+white pillars in front. Cosy enough it seemed, too, with its lighted
+windows and its smell of hot meats; while from the bar in the corner
+came the sounds of a jingling piano and a good voice singing an Old
+Country ballad of "Jack and his Susan."
+
+I found the inside of the house as comfortable as the outside looked
+inviting, and it was after a better dinner than I had eaten for many
+days that I sat with Hacking in a little parlor off the bar, my feet
+toasting at a coal fire, taking a comforting pipe and an occasional sip
+of the "necessary."
+
+It did not take me long to find that Hacking was most interested in
+sporting matters, and our conversation gradually harked back to the
+cracks of the cinder-path who were in their glory when he left
+Lancashire, ten years before. A little information I gave him about old
+friends, and then we talked of those who had taken their places, Hacking
+bewailing the fact that there were none like the "good uns" of the past.
+
+"How many men are there to-day," he asked, "who can do the hundred in
+even time?"
+
+"There are very few good sound even-timers in all England," I answered,
+"and only two among the amateurs,--one a Cockney, the other a
+Yorkshireman. The only Lancashireman who can do the hundred in ten
+seconds is sitting with you to-night, and little likely to see the Old
+Country again for many a long year, if ever."
+
+At this, Hacking gave me a very comprehensive look, puffed a few times
+vigorously at his pipe, and said, "Young fellow, boasting is a very bad
+habit, particularly on sporting matters. I will bet you your board bill
+for a month against the pipe you smoke, that you cannot show me better
+than eleven seconds to-morrow morning."
+
+"Eleven seconds!" said I, "a school-boy should do that."
+
+"Yes, eleven seconds," spoke up Hacking again. "You are not in condition
+and the track is slow, which will even matters up, and I'll give you the
+advantage of the odd fraction."
+
+I accepted his proposition very promptly, though the pipe was the only
+friend I had, and a relic of old college days which I should have hated
+to lose. While I was certainly not in training, poverty and worry had
+left me no superfluous flesh, and it must be a bad track indeed which
+could pull me back to eleven.
+
+We talked and smoked until a little after ten, when I pleaded fatigue
+and went upstairs to bed, Hacking agreeing to call me at six o'clock the
+following morning, as he said he had reasons for wishing the trial
+private. He showed me to a very comfortable room on the second floor,
+which seemed luxurious after my experiences of the last two weeks.
+
+Although I had left home without the formalities of farewell calls, and
+under the cover of the night, I had put in my luggage, small as it was,
+a pair of running shoes, trunks, and jersey. Why I did this I could not
+have told; certainly not in expectation of using them again, for I
+thought there was no sport in America, and that I had run my last race.
+
+I think now it must have been the unconscious wish to keep one link with
+the good old days when I had carried the "dark blue" to the front, or
+thereabout, over brown cinder path and soft green sod.
+
+I did not sleep very well for all my comfortable quarters, and when
+Hacking knocked at my door on the following morning I had been up an
+hour or more, and was clad in full running togs, having ripped from
+trunks and jersey all trace of the well-loved color.
+
+When he looked me over his eyes glistened, for he had not seen an
+English athlete in a proper rig for many a long day.
+
+We went down the back stairs and through the barn yard to a little track
+behind the house. It was a foggy morning and one could barely see the
+length of the hundred yards. I jogged once or twice over the course to
+warm up, and discover some of the bad spots, and then announced that I
+was ready for the trial.
+
+Just then the sun came out, and as I waited at the start while Hacking
+went to the finish, he walked through a golden haze. It seemed a good
+omen. I felt more at home in my running-shoes than I had since I left
+the Old Country, and was once again happy, with my foot on the mark,
+drinking in full draughts of fresh air and waiting for the signal to be
+off.
+
+This was the drop of a handkerchief, for Hacking did not care to use a
+pistol. There was the quick spring, the crunch of the cinders, the rush
+of the soft wind, the ever-quickening stride, until with one last effort
+I passed the post with a rush.
+
+It was a rough trial, sure enough, but Hacking's watch showed ten and
+four-fifths. He announced himself satisfied, confirmed his promise, and
+my worry about food and shelter was over for a full long month.
+
+I now spent a number of days trying still to find something to do which
+I could fairly handle, going into the city each day, but entirely
+without result.
+
+I was at no expense, however, for I walked to and from town, and took a
+cold lunch with me. This last was attended to by Hacking's niece, a
+tall, fair-haired girl, a trifle awkward yet, for she was only sixteen,
+but pretty, and promising to be a real beauty later.
+
+She was very kind and gracious, as a good girl is sure to be toward one
+in trouble. Indeed, Jennie's sympathy soon became liking, and might
+perhaps have grown to something more had it received any encouragement.
+I do not mean by this that I was irresistible or that she was at all
+unmaidenly, for a more modest girl I never saw. But she was very lonely,
+her uncle allowing her not the least word with any of his customers. I
+was the first young fellow she had ever known, and sixteen is a romantic
+age.
+
+Never was I beast enough to have gone further than a mild flirtation
+with a girl like Jennie, and now I was bound in honor not to abuse the
+confidence of a friend, the only one I had. There were some old
+Lancashire memories, also, which would not down.
+
+I had not been long at the "Traveller's Rest" before, at Hacking's
+request, I went into mild training, and soon after he broached to me a
+plan by which I might make enough to keep me for some months, and
+incidentally a comfortable penny for his own purse.
+
+This was the plan:
+
+There was in Boston a man by the name of Simmons, who was yards better
+than any one in the country. Hacking plainly told me that while I ought
+to win, even I had no sure thing, but that he would risk a hundred
+dollars or more on my success; that he could get odds of at least two to
+one, and that he would give me one-third of the winnings.
+
+It may be a matter of surprise that I should decline this offer,--almost
+an object of charity, with everything to win and nothing to lose; but
+there was something very disagreeable to me in the thought of turning
+professional. The line between amateur and professional was then, and is
+now, much more closely drawn on the other side than here,--and rightly
+so, to my mind.
+
+While I do not propose to preach a sermon on this text, "I could, an' if
+I would." The jockeying in our American colleges, though very skilfully
+done, is bad in every way and hurts legitimate sport not a little.
+
+I felt, I say, that in running for a wager with a professional I was
+forfeiting my standing as a gentleman amateur, and my claim to be
+considered a gentleman at all.
+
+Jennie thought the same thing, and came mighty near a quarrel with her
+uncle over the matter. But he, led more by the ambition to pull off a
+good thing than by mercenary motives, would not give up his plan, though
+Jennie begged with tears in her eyes,--an argument which had never
+before been ineffectual.
+
+It was only when I had lived on his bounty a full week over the month
+that he hinted, delicately enough (for a right good fellow was he), that
+my time was up. There was nothing else to do but consent, and a week
+later the "Boston Herald" announced that there was "a match on between
+Chipper Simmons and Hacking's Unknown, $200 to $100, distance one
+hundred yards, to be run May 1, at Hacking's Brighton track, at four
+o'clock in the afternoon."
+
+I had three weeks of careful training on the wretched little track, and
+when the morning of May 1 dawned I was fit as possible, and able to run
+for my life. It was not an English May day, but more like what I was
+used to seeing in the Old Country a month earlier. The sky was blue, and
+across it drifted soft white clouds, for there had been showers in the
+night. There was the smell of the moist earth, and what little wind
+there was blew from the south, and carried the fragrance of the
+pear-blossoms from a young orchard to my window as I threw it open.
+
+I took my tub and Hacking gave me a right good rub down after; not a
+very artistic performance, but given with good will and with a strong
+hand. When it was done he looked me over with a critical eye,
+pronouncing me very fit, "barring a heavy pound or two;" but as I had
+done my work faithfully he could find no fault. He thought me a bit
+over-confident, and told me so; but I had never for a moment doubted my
+ability to defeat anything against me, and I paid little attention to
+his words. I was not conceited, but I knew there were not a half-dozen
+amateurs in all England in my class, and was sure an Old-Country crack
+must outclass anything the States could produce.
+
+As early as two o'clock the spectators began to arrive, and I, following
+my own inclination as well as Hacking's suggestion to "get under cover,"
+went upstairs and knocked at the door of Jennie's little sitting-room.
+
+She greeted me most cordially with a handshake and a "good day to a good
+winner." She was dressed in her best gown, and had been sitting at the
+window to watch the arrivals. I took a seat by her side on the little
+chintz-cushioned window-seat, and watched with her.
+
+To those who to-day see the throngs of well-dressed and refined people,
+many of them ladies, who attend college, amateur, and even professional
+sports, it may not be amiss to describe the spectators of my first match
+at Hacking's Brighton track, back in the sixties, for a typical sporting
+crowd it was.
+
+They drove to the door in all sorts and descriptions of vehicles, drawn
+by animals as various. They soon filled the long sheds back of the
+house, and then a dilapidated fence was utilized for hitching-posts, and
+even a few trees of the young orchard.
+
+The drivers were many of them Englishmen, for the average American was
+too keen after the dollars in those days to leave them for sport of any
+kind. The adjournment to the bar was almost unanimous, where enough
+money was taken for fancy drinks to make good Hacking's stake had he
+lost.
+
+We could see them come swaggering up the steps, many of them carrying
+whip in hand, and there was much loud talk of passing Tom, Dick, or
+Harry on the road, with the "little bay" or the "brown colt."
+
+We could hear them plainly, for the window was up a bit, and they did
+not talk in whispers.
+
+Every now and again some one would chaff Hacking on his Unknown, telling
+him to "trot out the wonder," or "give us a sight of the man who runs
+Simmons even."
+
+It was three o'clock when a long moving wagon labelled "Boston Belle"
+drove up to the door, containing Simmons, his backers and immediate
+attendants; and the crowd at the bar sauntered out on the piazza to meet
+them, and hurried back in augmented numbers to patronize still further
+the tall bottles behind the mahogany.
+
+I had a glimpse of Simmons as he stepped out; but he was enveloped in a
+long ulster, and all I could discover was that he was extremely tall and
+dark.
+
+His supporters had plenty of money, and soon ran the odds up to three to
+one, at which figures Hacking accommodated them to a considerable
+extent. I had not another supporter, however, for they all seemed to
+consider that Hacking had quite lost his head, and took the match as a
+huge joke. It was very evident that, if I broke the tape, it would be a
+most unpopular, as well as unexpected, win. Hacking stuck to them well,
+but at last got all he wanted, and declined to risk any more. So
+confident was Simmons' principal backer that he proposed another match,
+though this was not yet pulled off, agreeing to concede three yards when
+we ran again.
+
+It is wonderful what effect such talk has on a contestant, no matter how
+confident he may be. I had not for a moment doubted the ability of a
+crack man like myself to beat anything in the States at my distance, but
+I now began to admit the possibility of defeat, and to consider that it
+meant almost starvation to me. You must remember I was barely twenty
+years old, in a strange country, and a man trained close to the limit is
+particularly liable to fancies.
+
+Jennie had been talking to me all the time in her quiet way, for she had
+the good old English habit of subdued speech; but little did I hear
+then, and now I remember almost nothing at all.
+
+I first noticed that she had become vastly indignant at a reflection on
+the courage of the "Unknown who dares not show himself."
+
+"Don't fret: you'll see him soon enough, my man," she said, with a toss
+of her head. She was giving me some absurd instructions about letting
+Simmons get the best of the start, and then sailing by him in the last
+few yards, so that the disappointment might be more intense, when some
+one in the crowd yelled out with a Yorkshire accent, "Fifteen dollars
+to five on the long-legged Chipper. Fifteen to five against the 'veiled
+lady.'"
+
+There was a loud laugh at this, which was too much for Jennie. She
+jumped up, went to her little desk in the corner, and took from one of
+those secret drawers, which are so evident, her purse, and emptying it
+in her lap counted out five dollars and a few cents over. She then
+called the chamber-maid, gave her the five dollars, and told her to give
+it to Jerry, the hostler, to bet on Mr. Brown.
+
+"'Tis an easy way to make money," she said, with an immense amount of
+disdain at my remonstrance.
+
+I sat with her a while longer, she doing all the talking, for my mind
+was occupied, to put it mildly. When the little clock on the shelf
+pointed to three-thirty, I left to get into my running-togs, she giving
+me a good grip with her soft warm hand, and saying, "I shall see you win
+from the attic window."
+
+When I reached my room, which Hacking told me to keep locked, I had a
+difficulty in finding the key-hole that I had never experienced, except
+"after dinner" or at late hours of the evening, my fingers being quite
+unsteady. As I stripped, my courage seemed to leave me with every
+garment. I remember I wondered if it would come back again when I put
+on my running-clothes. A little better I did feel, but at the last
+moment I broke the lace of my left shoe as I was pulling it tight.
+
+Now, there is an old superstition that this means a lost race, and
+though I had never thought of such a foolish thing before, it seemed now
+a sure omen of defeat.
+
+Indeed, I may as well confess first as last, that when Hacking knocked
+at my door, for the first time in all my life (and the last as well) I
+was in a blue funk.
+
+Yes, a rank quitter was I on that afternoon of May 1, 186-, and I am not
+sure I should not have cut and run, had there been the least chance to
+get away.
+
+Hacking discovered my condition at once, and grew mighty serious when
+his efforts to hearten me were unsuccessful. And truly the man had good
+reason to be serious,--a good three hundred dollars at risk, and here
+was his man with knees kissing and lips white.
+
+There was nothing to do but to go on with the game, though, to make it
+worse, as I walked down the back stairs, I caught my spikes in a crack
+and nearly put myself out of the race by a bad fall before the start. It
+is almost an absurd thing to say, but when I picked myself up and
+discovered I was entirely uninjured, I cursed the ill-luck which had not
+allowed me to be disabled.
+
+I did have pride enough to make a brace when I reached the open air, and
+flattered myself I did not show how badly I felt.
+
+I was enveloped in a long top-coat, which hid me completely, but as we
+forced our way to the track through the spectators, who crowded around
+to get a look at me, my teeth were set to keep them from chattering.
+There were several offers of three to one, and one of four to one, as we
+passed; but Hacking said he had enough, and I think he told the truth
+and could have said "more." He hurried on with me to the start, where
+Simmons stood with a little cluster of his most ardent admirers.
+
+As we approached, Simmons threw off his ulster, and came forward to meet
+me. His eye caught mine, and he smiled in a very peculiar way,
+discovering immediately my condition, and held out a long brown hand,
+without a word.
+
+I extended mine mechanically, expecting an ordinary handshake, but
+greatly to my surprise he gripped it in a most vicious squeeze which
+brought almost a cry of agony to my lips. I learned afterwards that this
+was a common trick to intimidate and dishearten, but was entirely
+unprepared for anything of the kind, having always run against
+gentlemen, where all proper courtesies were observed.
+
+The effect upon me was, however, directly opposite that expected. My
+trouble was not so much lack of courage as simple nervousness. With the
+shock of the pain this disappeared as if by magic, and in its place came
+at first a blind rage at the injury, which I could scarcely restrain,
+and then the determination to win, if I never ran again.
+
+I was a different man. I threw off my top-coat, and facing my opponent,
+looked him over critically and carefully. I am free to say I could not
+deny him a long breath of admiration. He was over six feet tall, dark
+and slender, showing signs of the infusion of Indian blood which was in
+his veins. He was clad in a common undershirt, far from clean. Instead
+of trunks he wore overalls cut off just above the knees, and on his feet
+were a pair of well-seasoned moccasins.
+
+Yet despite his unsportsmanlike and ludicrous costume, a better-built
+man for a sprinter I never saw, and I have seen some of the best.
+
+His legs were long and lithe, well-rounded, but not too heavily muscled,
+and every cord and sinew showed through the brown skin as fine and firm
+as a bowstring. He carried not an ounce of extra weight above the belt,
+although his chest was full and his arms sinewy. With the strong jaw and
+piercing black eyes, there could be no question of their possessor's
+determination. I knew my work was cut out for me with a big pair of
+shears; that I had met a man as good if not better than myself, and I
+must do all I knew to win. That I was to win I had now determined,--a
+grand, good condition of mind for a contestant to possess.
+
+Simmons observed me as critically as I did him, and I think that the
+more he saw of me the less he liked me. The contrast between us was as
+great as possible. I was as fair as he was dark, several inches shorter,
+and although without any superfluous flesh, much larger boned and
+muscled. Indeed I was built more like a "quarter-miler" than a sprinter.
+I must have bettered his weight by several pounds, and had not the
+top-coat covered me, and my nervousness shown itself, I question if he
+would have tried his little bit of brutality upon me.
+
+While the survey of my opponent was most comprehensive, it was the work
+of seconds. He suddenly produced a roll of dirty bank-bills, and shook
+them in my face with a "See here, young fellow, I go you one hundred to
+fifty you're a loser." I opened my mouth to decline the bet, but my
+words were drowned by a torrent of mingled abuse, invective, and I know
+not what of "billingsgate." It ended in an endless repetition of the
+very conclusive sentence, "Put up, or shut up," "Put up, or shut up,"
+which evidently gave him an extreme amount of satisfaction. I was not
+then the possessor of fifty cents, and was pleased when the starter
+silenced him with the peremptory order to "Get on your marks."
+
+I went to the line at once, followed by Simmons, and as the crowd was
+being pressed back slowly behind the ropes, Hacking drew me a little
+aside and gave me his last instructions. "Now, my lad, listen to what I
+say. You've got your heart back all right, and can win if you use your
+head. The starter will hurry the pistol a bit, for he would like to see
+you win, and you need not be afraid of going away too soon. Get a yard
+to the good, and hold it, for if you cannot show clear at the tape, you
+will stand no show with the referee."
+
+I learned afterwards that while both were supposed to be fair and
+unprejudiced men, Hacking had practically named the starter, and
+Simmons' backer the referee. The former would give me all possible
+advantage, and the latter would see none but my opponent at the finish
+without opera-glasses unless I had him plainly beaten.
+
+To those who do not know, I will say that, in a sprint, very much
+depends on the start; that a contestant must be off with the pistol, or
+steal on it if he can. But if he gets away before the shot, he is
+brought back and penalized a yard for each offence. Knowing that the
+pistol would be a bit quick was a decided advantage to me, as I could
+start without fear of being set back.
+
+As I got in position, I had made up my mind to the following facts:
+First, that I had the best side of the track. It was the west or
+farthest from the house, and well I knew every inch of the brown
+cinder-path that stretched before me. For the first fifty yards there
+was nothing to choose; but on the east side, which Simmons had taken,
+just before the finish was a soft spot which would trouble him. Second,
+the rain of the previous night had made the track quite heavy, which
+should also help me, as my greater strength must push me through. Third,
+my appearance had not been without its effect on the crowd, and I had
+heard a word or two of approval of my "get-up," also of the quiet and
+business-like way in which I had met Simmons' tirade.
+
+We were on our marks and waiting for the word when suddenly my opponent
+discovered my running-shoes, and insisted that I must run in smooth
+soles like himself.
+
+He kept up a wordy warfare with Hacking on this subject for at least
+five minutes, Hacking arguing that there were no restrictions, and that
+I could wear top-boots or golden slippers if I chose.
+
+Simmons was silenced at last by the crowd, who plainly saw I would not
+run without spikes, and were bound to see a race.
+
+All this controversy, together with the continued brutality of my
+opponent, had put me fairly on edge. I was as cool as possible, ready to
+do all I knew, eager to start, and growing more determined if not more
+confident every minute.
+
+I had given an occasional glance at the attic window of the hotel where
+I could see Jennie, and every time I looked came the wave of a little
+handkerchief that did me a heap of good.
+
+As I "set myself," and looked down the track, fringed on either side by
+the crowds of spectators pressed close against the ropes, not one of
+whom was friendly to me, every nerve of my body tingled, and the
+"fighting blood" passed down to me through many generations of good old
+English stock was at a fever heat.
+
+Now I saw nothing and thought of nothing but the red worsted at the
+finish; I strained at the mark with every muscle tense, my weight well
+forward, and a buzz in my ears like the song of a huge top.
+
+From the starter's lips came the "On your marks,"--"Ready,"--"Set," and
+then a bit ahead of time came the "crack" of the pistol, and we were
+off.
+
+Can any one describe the mad ten seconds of a sprint? 'Tis over in a
+breath, and words are slow.
+
+I doubt I had a foot the best of the start, but Simmons was a trifle
+"phased" by the quick shot, and did not get his speed so quickly. But
+when he did get it, how he came!
+
+At fifty yards we were even, and at seventy-five (do all I could)
+Simmons had drawn a yard to the good.
+
+A yell went up from the crowd. It made him think he had me beat. But had
+he? His easy wins had taught a fatal fault of slowing at the finish. The
+soft ground helped it, and the yell that gave him a false confidence
+drove me mad with glory. I let out the last link in me, and passing like
+a shot, broke the tape, a clear winner by a yard.
+
+There was no mistake: Hacking's "Unknown" had won.
+
+I ran much farther over the finish than did Simmons, and when I worked
+my way to the referee through the crowd, the decision was announced,
+and my opponent was like a fiend. He threatened the referee, and swore
+he would break the neck of the d---- "ringer" with the spiked shoes.
+
+Although I was not looking for trouble, I should not have hesitated to
+show him I knew another game beside running if he had laid a hand on me.
+Thanks to his friends' persuasion, with some physical force added, he
+was pulled away and through the crowd.
+
+This last had now become quite friendly to me, having gone from
+curiosity to admiration for the man who could beat the "Chipper" even.
+Some shook my hand, others patted me on the back, and many suggested an
+adjournment to the bar with unlimited liquid refreshment as the "proper
+medicine for a good winner."
+
+They took my declining in good part, and soon Hacking forced his way to
+me, and tearing me from my admirers, gave me a chance to retire to my
+room.
+
+I found Jennie at the top of the stairs, with tears of joy in her eyes,
+and a bit hysterical from excitement. Greatly to my surprise (and her
+own as well, when she realized what she had done), she threw both arms
+round my neck, and kissed me twice before she came to herself. Then
+there was a bright blush, a quick turn, the rustle of skirts, and the
+slam of the door.
+
+I was glad enough to reach the solitude of my room, where from the
+window I saw Simmons bundled into the "Boston Belle" by a half-dozen
+dejected supporters, and with none to do him honor among the many.
+
+"_Le roi est mort, vive le roi_," is as true on the cinder-path as in
+the great world outside.
+
+But as I sat in my room, a winner, with the cheers still echoing in my
+ears, and good money awaiting me, it was a sad heart that beat under my
+jersey.
+
+For the "red pottage of Esau" I had sold my birthright.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Hollow Hammer]
+
+
+It was on a June day back in the late "sixties" that I first saw Angus
+MacLeod, the hero of my story of "The Hollow Hammer."
+
+I had given a boxing-lesson to a little jeweller in South Boston who was
+burdened with a pugilistic ambition, and was walking leisurely homeward,
+enjoying the fine weather and the exercise in the open air. As I
+sauntered along at an easy pace, with my eyes wandering here and there,
+something in the day or the neighborhood reminded me of the "Old
+Country," and particularly the ancient town of Bury. I think it must
+have been the sight of the iron-foundry down the street, with the flames
+streaming from its chimneys.
+
+I know I was harking back to almost forgotten scenes, and old
+acquaintances who had doubtless long ago forgotten me (excepting one,
+perhaps), when a chorus of rough voices brought me to myself with a
+start. The noise came from behind the high fence which shut in the
+iron-works yard, and I could not make out what it meant until I reached
+the open gate and looked in.
+
+It was the noon hour, and there were a lot of men lounging about, eating
+from their tin pails, smoking short black pipes, and doing whatever else
+they fancied. The yard was as level and smooth as a tennis-court, but
+without the least sign of turf except along the fence and fringing the
+foundation-stones of the foundry building.
+
+The noise came from a crowd of workmen, clustered together not far from
+the huge door. A row of them sat on the ground with their backs against
+the wall, and there were a dozen or more standing together in a bunch.
+These were mostly the younger men, who, not content with five hours'
+work since sunrise, were having a friendly test of strength in putting
+the shot.
+
+They were using for the purpose an old cannon-ball, which must have
+weighed a bit over the sixteen pounds by the size of it.
+
+Cannon-balls were plenty in those days, for the war was not many years
+over.
+
+Now, there is always something interesting to me in the sport of a lot
+of workingmen. They take a bit of a lark with all the more heartiness
+because they do not have too many of them. Then, again, this
+shot-putting contest was for the pure love of the game, and without the
+selfish incentives of money, prize, or glory.
+
+There was a running fire of good-natured chaff all the time, and at each
+"put," good, bad, or indifferent, the contestant was guyed unmercifully
+for his style or distance. Failing this, some old personality was raked
+up, the allusion to which brought out no end of laughter and applause.
+
+It was an interesting scene, with plenty of variety and color. The men
+were mostly big, brawny fellows, with sleeveless flannel shirts of red,
+blue, or gray, open at the breast; and grime or rust could not hide the
+splendid development of arms, chests, and shoulders.
+
+The sun was warm and bright, and here and there a tin pail would catch
+the light, and shine as clear, I warrant, as ever the shield of a good
+knight, back in the old days when there were sterner sports than tossing
+an iron shot. Many a good man could I see, but at the game they were
+trying they had much to learn. 'Twas a case of "bull beef," and little
+more.
+
+I watched them a few minutes, but was about to move on when there
+appeared at the door of the foundry a young fellow who caught my eye at
+once.
+
+He was stripped to the waist, fresh from a struggle with the stubborn
+iron, and his body was drenched and shining with sweat. His arms and
+shoulders were round and firm; but there was no abnormal development, or
+sign of a bound muscle, and he stood with an ease that proved good legs
+under him, though hidden by the thick corduroys. His hair was light and
+curly, and his face was smooth and clean cut.
+
+Many bigger and some stronger men have I seen, but none whose
+proportions were so perfect.
+
+Among the few remembrances of my books is that dialogue of Plato which
+describes the sensations of Socrates at first seeing the beautiful
+youth, Charmides. Well (may Socrates forgive me the comparison), I had
+the same feeling when I first looked at Angus MacLeod on that June day,
+back in the "sixties." Barring the difference in costume, and the grime
+which a little water would remove, I believe they were alike as two
+peas.
+
+The lad (he looked scarcely twenty years of age for all his development)
+stood a moment or two in the doorway, watching with an amused smile a
+big fellow put the shot a scant twenty feet, after an enormous amount of
+effort. Then he was noticed by some one who called out, "Come here,
+Mac, you porridge-eater, and show them how to do it."
+
+At this he laughed, shook his head, and would not budge. But the call
+was taken up by others, with a lot of chaff, like, "The lad's bashful,"
+"A Scotch puddler's always shy except on pay-day," and a plenty more
+like it.
+
+At last a young fellow in a blue jersey, and an old chap, the color and
+material of whose shirt were alike doubtful, took each an arm, and led
+him, holding back a bit and laughing, to the circle within which the
+shot lay.
+
+He picked it up, dropped it while he drew his narrow belt a hole or two
+tighter, and then picked it up again. He rolled it a bit in his hand,
+raised it two or three times from his shoulder high above his head,
+balanced a moment on his right leg, with the left lifted, and then, with
+that easy wrist and hand motion, and that little "flick" at the end, he
+sent the old cannon-ball a good two yards farther than any who had
+tried.
+
+It was a right good "put," though not a phenomenal one, and hardly a
+fault could I find with the style, barring a little failure to get the
+full turn of the body.
+
+Almost as soon as the shot landed, and before the mingled applause and
+good-natured chaffing were over, he left them with a parting joke, and
+disappeared through the door, going back to his waiting furnace. This
+was my first sight of Angus MacLeod.
+
+I looked him up a few days later, got acquainted easily, and in fact hit
+it off right well with him from the beginning. I was just enough older
+for him to look up to me a bit in other matters beside athletics, and on
+this last subject he gave me credit for possessing all the knowledge in
+the market. I learned that he had been in this country some four years,
+that he lived with an uncle, one of the pillars of a Scotch Presbyterian
+church, and that Angus was himself a churchman, devout and regular in
+his habits.
+
+He had taken to athletics, with no other preparation than the school-boy
+sports of old Aberdeen, making a specialty of the "shot-put" and
+"hammer-throw."
+
+This last was his favorite sport, and by dint of regular practice in an
+open lot back of his house he was able to show about ninety feet as a
+best performance. He improved this at once under my instruction, working
+up to a regular hundred feet in a couple of weeks. This pleased him very
+much, and he took kindly to my suggestion that he enter some open
+competition, and see what he could do in a contest.
+
+Indeed, he was quite confident that he could give a good showing, making
+much of the fact that the MacLeods had been noted for their strength for
+centuries. Many stories he told me of old John M'Dhoil-vic-Huishdon,
+from whom he claimed to have descended. This John was the head of the
+MacLeods of Lewis. He lived in the days of James VI., and, though a man
+of small stature, was of matchless strength. Some of the tales, I
+confess, I should have doubted, had not Angus been both a Scotchman and
+a church member of good standing.
+
+It was quite easy for us to choose an opportunity for Mac's début, as
+there were some very convenient sports only a few weeks ahead.
+
+These games, Scotch and otherwise, were the principal attraction at an
+annual excursion of Caledonian societies, comprising all those within a
+radius of one hundred miles of Boston.
+
+Purses were small, but the enthusiasm great; and many a canny Scot,
+under the influence of a "wee drappie," would back an impossible winner
+for all his pockets might hold.
+
+These were the good old days of Duncan Ross and Captain Daily, and at
+one of these Caledonian excursions there afterward occurred that
+never-to-be-forgotten wrestling bout on the deck of a boat moored in the
+lake. So fierce was the struggle that the men worked overboard, and
+neither being willing to break hold, they were well filled with water,
+and in fact half-drowned before they separated.
+
+Angus belonged to one of the Boston clans, and naturally chose these
+Caledonian games for his first appearance, working hard, training
+faithfully, and saying nothing, for a very quiet chap was Mac. If all
+the men I have trained had been as easy to handle as MacLeod, I should
+have one or two less gray hairs than I now possess. Unfortunately,
+church members are not in as large a percentage as I would wish on the
+cinder-path.
+
+Now, I had at first no intention of pulling a dollar out of the affair,
+except my regular fee for training. Even this I at first declined,
+wishing to help my friend purely out of friendship. Mac would not have
+it, however, and as his pay was high, I allowed him to have his way.
+
+I had now been making a business of training athletes for nearly a year,
+getting a good living out of it, and had at the beginning a nice little
+nest-egg in the bank, ready for a rainy day.
+
+Exactly how this was accumulated I do not care to say. These tales are
+in no sense confessions, and I shall avoid the "strutting I" as much as
+possible.
+
+After my defeat of "Chipper" Simmons, at Hacking's Brighton track, there
+were a couple of years passed not at all to my liking, though profitably
+enough for one of small ideas. I took on matches wherever they promised
+a dollar. I ran everybody, and every distance, from a fifty-yard dash to
+a mile run, and almost invariably won, largely because of the pains I
+took with myself, and my careful training. I learned all the tricks of
+the trade, gave close finishes always, did an artistic "fainting act,"
+and made myself a subject of regretful, not to say painful, remembrance
+to a large part of the sporting fraternity.
+
+They stood it all right for a couple of years, but the summer before I
+met MacLeod I suddenly discovered I had about squeezed the orange dry.
+They had, very naturally, grown more and more shy of me, until it had
+become impossible to obtain a match, except under prohibitive
+conditions. I tried giving good men eight yards in the "hundred" and one
+hundred yards in the mile for a while, but discovered it was a hard
+business, with nothing in it. My only profit, as far as I could see, was
+to run crooked, and fake a race or two, but at this, though not
+over-nice, I drew the line.
+
+I was willing to underrate my powers, and fool the fancy on my
+condition; to win by a scant yard with pretended effort, in order to
+pull on my opponent to another race; but to back him on the sly and lie
+down, to pull money from my friends, I could not. A gentleman I might
+not be, but honest I would be still. Indeed, despite the "winning way" I
+had, my reputation was of the best as a rare, good runner, as a square
+man who gave his backers a straight run for their money, and as the most
+knowing man in the States concerning work and training for the
+cinder-path.
+
+On this last I made up my mind to trade. I announced my absolute
+retirement as a contestant, and my intention to make a business of
+training and handling others.
+
+My prices startled them a bit at the beginning, but after I had made a
+few winners out of almost impossible timber, I was kept fairly well
+occupied. When the winter put a stop to my out-of-doors work, I became
+instructor in a gymnasium, and gave lessons in boxing and fencing. I
+even prepared one man for a ring contest, which he won, thanks to his
+perfect condition, after acting as a chopping-block to a better boxer
+for a couple of hours, this affair satisfying me at once and forever
+with the prize ring.
+
+At the coming of the spring I found my book very well filled, and would
+by June have been quite content to have trained Mac with no recompense
+whatever.
+
+Yet I had no objections to make money from others, and discovered a very
+fair opportunity, as I thought, about two weeks before the games. I then
+received a bit of information that there was a dark horse grooming for
+the hammer throw, in the person of an Irishman by the name of Duffy. He
+was an enormous fellow, as strong as an ox, could do nearly one hundred
+feet, and the tip made him a sure winner.
+
+Now, I was very confident I knew better, though ninety feet, in those
+days, was phenomenal for an amateur, and a throw of one hundred had not
+been made in any previous contest. The best of the news was kept for the
+last, and that was that Duffy had plenty of friends with good money to
+back him.
+
+I figured at once that MacLeod could just about call the trick, that
+being a smaller man would help the odds, and that, properly managed,
+there was a pretty penny in it.
+
+Mac was now doing from one hundred to one hundred and five in the most
+consistent manner, and I made up my mind to plunge on him a bit, keeping
+quiet so that Duffy's friends might show their hands first. This was
+easy enough, for Mac did all his work after supper in the vacant lot
+back of his house, where no one could pull a tape over his throws. It
+was prudent, also, for MacLeod had very rigid ideas about betting
+(gambling he called it), and would undoubtedly have protested, if he had
+not declined to show at all.
+
+Duffy's friends began very cautiously with small figures, and I took all
+that showed through a third party. When one hundred dollars was promptly
+covered, however, they made up their minds there was something else
+good, and became a bit shy.
+
+I let them alone until the evening before the excursion, when I sallied
+into the Duffy neighborhood, and at one to two offered to produce a man
+weighing under one hundred and seventy pounds who would win against all.
+Now, a hammer-thrower of this weight is rare, and I found all the money
+I cared to cover. Indeed, I exceeded my limit a trifle. Then I wandered
+over to Mac's field, pulled the tape over his throw of one hundred and
+eight, and went home and to sleep, for not a grain of anxiety had I over
+the result. I doubt if I should have given five per cent. to be insured
+a winner.
+
+The day dawned, fine and hot. We went down from Boston a good three
+hundred strong, men, women, and children, the last turning out a whole
+clan by themselves. There were bagpipes squealing, babies crying, and a
+Babel of rough Scotch tongues. Tartans were displayed in all the colors
+of the rainbow. Some were content to show only a tie, ribbon, or shawl,
+but a fair percentage were in full Highland costume, and far from
+comfortable many of them looked.
+
+The dress is wonderfully picturesque, and nothing is more becoming to an
+athletic man with straight legs and strong brown knees. But for a petty
+tradesman with legs like pipe-stems, knock-kneed, and ghastly white it
+is particularly trying, and many of the gallant Scots looked as if they
+would like to don the protecting "breeks" to which they had become
+accustomed.
+
+We all piled into the hot and dusty cars, and after an hour and a half
+were glad to get a breath of fresh air as we steamed down the bay.
+
+Indeed, when we reached the "Point," a little before noon, I was loath
+to go ashore, for the trees on a ridge of land cut off the wind, and the
+place was like a furnace.
+
+Nothing looked comfortable but a pair of bronze lions who flanked the
+roadway to the hotel, and had they been alive I am sure they would have
+found the day altogether too tropical.
+
+I could see the crowds flocking around the swings, merry-go-rounds, and
+the monkey cage, and there was a motley crowd in hired bathing-suits
+enjoying a dip in the salt water. Of these last only was I in the least
+envious.
+
+The clans, immediately upon landing, formed in procession, and marched
+off in the broiling sun, a half-dozen pipers playing "The Campbells are
+coming" as loudly as possible, skirling like so many pigs under a gate.
+
+The most conspicuous figure was an old fellow who blew as if his life
+depended on the effort, and until I feared he would burst his bagpipe if
+he did not rupture a blood-vessel first.
+
+He seemed to feel that the world was looking at him, and he was well
+conscious of its admiration. He was big-boned, loose-jointed, and so
+sandy that it was a riddle to guess his age. His shoulders were badly
+rounded, but he straightened up every few seconds in an abortive effort
+to appear erect on this occasion, if never again. He was clad in full
+Highland costume, even to dirk and claymore,--a rather unusual
+accompaniment, and dangerous as well, for a Scot on a merry-making
+where Scotch whiskey and Scotch ale mingle freely. He wore the MacNab
+tartan, and the kilt looked as if it had been slept in, all twisted and
+wrinkled.
+
+As the clans marched up the hill and between the lions, I could see the
+bright red tartans of the Frasers, the black and green of the Gordons,
+and the beautiful parti-colors of the Stewarts. There were many others,
+all showing bright in the sun; and there was a lift to the heels of the
+marchers which nothing could have caused but the shrill notes of the
+bagpipes. Indeed, they were enough to start the sluggish blood in my
+veins, though I suppose my ancestors had long years ago heard the same
+sounds with resentment, as the Scots swarmed over the border. As a
+parlor instrument I should admit it had its superiors, but for strong
+men going to battle I doubt if it has its equal.
+
+There were all kinds of men in the crowd, from the gray-haired veteran
+to the little fellow, born on American soil, who had never seen the
+tartan kilts except on a holiday. There were a number of contestants in
+the line, with strong, athletic figures, but not one could compare with
+Angus, in the yellow and black of the MacLeods, as he marched, almost
+the last. I saw the girls had their eyes on him, though Mac neither
+noticed nor cared, for he thought them "kittle cattle," and was much
+fonder of handling hammer and shot.
+
+I had seen little of Angus since the start, for he was a clan officer
+and had many duties, but found him, to my surprise, not in the least
+nervous, and quite confident of winning. Did not old John
+M'Dhoil-vic-Huishdon outclass all competitors in the old days, and was
+not Angus MacLeod a lineal descendant, to whom had come the family
+strength?
+
+He said he had heard that there had been considerable money bet on him
+to win, which he deplored, and that he would not have gone into the
+thing at all had he foreseen it. I told him he was very foolish, for a
+man might bet how long a Sunday sermon would last, and that if he did
+not risk anything himself, not to trouble himself about others. Though
+unable to argue, he shook his head, and was, I saw, uneasy, but I had no
+fear of his drawing out at this late day.
+
+When the crowd disappeared, I went to the hotel, and engaged a quiet
+room, on the cool side of the house, where Angus joined me as soon as
+the procession broke ranks.
+
+I made him lie down a little while, gave him a sponge and rub-down, and
+after a good lunch, such as a man should eat who expects soon to call
+upon the best powers of his body, he pronounced himself feeling strong
+enough to throw the hammer into the bay. We could see the crowd,
+contestants and all, file into the long dining-rooms, where "clam-bakes"
+were served. A very nice lunch for an excursionist, but about the most
+awful diet possible for an athlete, particularly if he gorge himself in
+a laudable ambition to get the full value of his fifty cents.
+
+We waited until it was after two o'clock, and found the games already
+started when we arrived at the place called in compliment the "athletic
+grounds." It was simply an enclosure roped off from an open field; track
+there was none, except as the feet of contestants had worn off the turf
+and the sun had baked the surface hard. There were no seats, and we
+found our way with some difficulty through the spectators, who crowded a
+dozen deep all the way round, and tested the strength of the rope and
+the firmness of the wooden posts through which it was drawn. An eager,
+hot, and perspiring crowd it was, jostling, pushing, and elbowing, and
+the last half-dozen rows might as well have been in the Orkneys, as far
+as seeing the sports was concerned. As usual the tall and strong were in
+front, and the short and weak were behind.
+
+We found the enclosure full of contestants and their friends, the latter
+an insupportable nuisance, in everybody's way, not excepting their own.
+We saw Duffy standing with a little knot of henchmen, and they gave Mac
+a critical glance as he walked by my side. It had leaked out in some way
+who my man was, and the interest in him was great. They knew I was not
+in the habit of taking up anything unless it was good, and some of Mac's
+friends from the foundry had got a day off, with their last pay
+envelopes with them.
+
+All the officials and two-thirds of the crowd were Caledonians, but the
+contests were nearly all open, and there was a large number of other
+nationalities represented, particularly the Irish.
+
+Of system there was next to none, changes were frequent, and orders
+given and countermanded in the same breath. The noise was deafening and
+the heat insupportable. The dust was like a good Scotch snuff as far as
+sneezing properties were concerned, and of about the same color.
+
+We were just in time to see the "fat men's race," in which the
+contestants ran themselves almost into apoplexies. I am sure some of
+these mountains of flesh must have permanently injured themselves, and
+endangered their lives by their exertions.
+
+I do not pretend to remember all the contests that followed, but there
+were opportunities for every one, man, woman, and child, old or young,
+to distinguish himself. Beside the regular sprints, runs, jumps, and
+weight contests, there were "sack," "wheelbarrow," "potato," and
+"three-legged" races, all opportunities for great laughter and applause.
+
+I ordered Mac back to the hotel when we learned that the "hammer-throw"
+was the very last event, and only sent for him when the afternoon had
+nearly dragged itself out.
+
+The last casts were then being made at "tossing the caber," which, being
+the most characteristic Caledonian game of all, had a most formidable
+list. Indeed, Angus was much disappointed that he had not entered, in
+which feeling I did not at all join, for I wanted him to save all his
+strength.
+
+I remember now a little bandy-legged fellow in a crazy-looking kilt who
+struggled with the heavy log, which he could scarcely lift, let alone
+toss. He turned to me after a superhuman effort, his face aglow with
+pride and exertion, and remarked breathlessly, "Rinnin's weel eneugh for
+laddies; thot's the sport of a mon."
+
+The "hammer-throw" had been left for the last, as I was informed,
+because none would leave until it was over, thus ensuring a full
+attendance until the end. The reason the "hammer-throw" was so popular
+was because there was more money on it than all the other events
+combined, also because of the race feeling excited by the nationalities
+of the two most-favored contestants.
+
+Perhaps a third of the spectators were Irish, and being more aggressive
+and outspoken, were almost as much in evidence as the Scotch themselves.
+Indeed, the applause when an Irishman won (and they had more than their
+proportion of firsts that day) was as loud as at the victory of a Scot.
+
+In the "hammer-throw" there were a scant half-dozen entries, the reputed
+prowess of Duffy and MacLeod disheartening the less ambitious. I was
+surprised to see among them old Sandy MacNab, the piper, but learned
+that he had been a famous man with the weights, and had pulled off the
+event here only last year. Indeed, for all his age (and more than twenty
+was he) he was a good man yet despite his cadaverous appearance. He had
+for years pulled money out of these Caledonian games, although the
+amount of his winnings had diminished with his increasing years.
+
+To-day he had backed himself to win the "Old Men's Race," and won
+easily, but unfortunately stood to lose all he had made, and more too,
+in the "hammer-throw."
+
+In making his book to get second or better, he thought he had been
+remarkably conservative, but receiving startling information concerning
+Duffy and Mac when it was too late, had found it impossible to hedge. He
+went into the contest expecting to lose, but resolved to make a try for
+his money all the same. His contortions were wonderful, and convulsed
+the crowd every time he threw, although he was serious enough, and
+succeeded in getting into the finals with nearly ninety feet.
+
+I shall never forget how the old fellow threw down his bonnet in the
+dust, spit on his hands, and braced himself for his first trial. There
+was a little crowd around the measurer, who stood a good one hundred and
+twenty feet away. These MacNab noticed just before he threw, and
+insisted that they "gang awa oot o' dainger" before he would make his
+try, although there was just as great chance of his hitting the
+flag-staff of the hotel.
+
+After he had finished his dialogue with the crowd, in which he held his
+own, and more, he grasped the handle again with his long, bony fingers.
+At first swinging very slowly, then faster and faster, until with a
+double twist that made his kilt stand out like a ballet-dancer's skirt
+about his long, knee-kissing legs, he gave a grunt and a gasp, and let
+go. He watched the hammer through the air with bulging eyes, and when
+it landed, ran after, and argued with the measurer over an extra
+half-inch in a maddening fashion. Sandy was a privileged character,
+however, and had a roar of applause every time he tried.
+
+When MacLeod came up for his first throw, he caught the crowd
+immediately, so handsome and modest was he. He found particular favor
+with the "ladies," and not alone did I hear "Eh, but he's a braw
+laddie," but one little Irish girl, close to the ropes, with blue eyes
+and the proverbial smudge under them, set an example of cosmopolitan
+freedom by clapping violently.
+
+Yes, a right well-looking man was MacLeod that day, as he twisted his
+fingers round the hammer-handle and prepared to throw. He had a fair,
+open face, well colored by the sun; indeed, darker was it than the hair
+that curled round his forehead. His arms and shoulders were splendidly
+developed, and his legs brown, and corded like a distance runner's. So
+well-proportioned was he that he did not look the twelve stone which he
+really weighed, and there were murmurs of applause when he threw the
+hammer ninety-eight feet in his first trial, Duffy having shown but
+ninety-six just before him. Neither bettered in their second attempts,
+but when Duffy sent the hammer over ninety-nine feet in his third,
+putting into the effort all the enormous strength of which he was
+master, a yell went up from his well-wishers which did his heart good,
+and he came as near smiling as was possible for so surly a fellow. There
+are no supporters on earth like an Irish crowd; they are hopeful to the
+last, and many an event has an Irishman won, under the inspiration of
+the cheers of his adherents.
+
+Less loud, though not less hearty, was the applause when Mac sent the
+hammer one hundred and one and a fraction, in the faultless style I had
+taught him. Not the equal of Duffy in strength (for the Irishman was
+almost a giant in height and girth), he knew how to use all he had to
+the best advantage, and he was working himself slowly up to his best
+effort to follow.
+
+As I have already said, MacLeod, Duffy, and MacNab were left in the
+finals. Duffy was grave and quiet when he made the first of his last
+three throws, and grew graver yet when the measurer gave him less than
+before, and while Sandy was doing his contortion act, twisting, jumping,
+and breathing hard, like a man possessed, he had a conference with two
+of his principal backers who stood by themselves apart.
+
+I was feeling very comfortable, for Duffy, I was sure, had done all he
+was capable of; and when Mac did one hundred and four I decided I was on
+"Easy Street," and began to count my earnings. All the time I kept my
+eyes about me, and was surprised to see the look of confidence with
+which the Irishman came up for his next to last turn. He planted his
+feet firmly, swung his huge arms round his head until he grew black in
+the face, and then a last effort, and the hammer flew through the air.
+
+I knew the moment it left his hand that it would best any throw made,
+but I was astounded when the measurer announced over one hundred and
+eleven. Where was my money? I could not believe it possible, for I had
+sure information that Duffy had never quite covered one hundred feet,
+and while Mac should do his one hundred and eight or a trifle better, I
+did not believe he could make the one hundred and eleven to save his
+life.
+
+It was while Angus was making his next to last throw that a sudden
+suspicion came to me. I was probably wrong, but my money was in danger,
+and no chance would I throw away to save it. This time Mac was dead in
+earnest, and getting his strength in just right threw only an inch short
+of one hundred and ten. I waited until Duffy was about to make his last,
+and then walked down just in time to be by the side of the measurer
+when the hammer landed. I saw the tape, it was over one hundred and
+twelve; and the yell that followed the announcement was enough to madden
+one who stood to lose a half-year's earnings.
+
+I picked the hammer up, and tested it carefully, balancing it in my
+hand, and as I held it there came to me a grain of hope. Was it light,
+or was I led astray by my wish? I had seen it weighed by the judge; the
+head looked full size, and the handle all right. In those days the
+handles were of wood weighing about a pound, and made the total
+seventeen pounds or close to it. I had carried the hammer half-way back,
+when Mac came to me and said, his eyes black with determination, "'Tis
+my last chance, but I'll beat him yet." I gave him no answer, but walked
+on until Duffy saw me. I was testing his hammer in my hand, doubtful
+whether or not to ask for a reweighing, when I caught his eye, and
+decided.
+
+MacNab saw me too, discovering something queer about my face, and he and
+Duffy were at my side together, the latter holding out his hand to take
+the hammer, his face flushed and his voice husky, as he asked "What in
+h----" I was trying to do. MacNab said something, just what it was I do
+not know, but it showed his disposition to support me, for he was on
+the anxious seat as well as myself.
+
+To Duffy's demand I answered as calmly as possible, "I believe this
+hammer under weight, and ask for a reweighing," holding it behind me
+meanwhile. At this there was a "hurly-burly" at once, Duffy's friends
+surrounding me, and had it not been for MacNab's support I should have
+been in difficulties. The old man did not know what fear was; no one
+dared lay a hand on him, because of his popularity with the crowd, and
+he drowned all other voices with his shrill pipings.
+
+He demanded a reweighing much more forcibly than I. "I winna gie it
+'tell the weght iss weghted. I winna, na, I winna," he yelled again and
+again, like a broken-winded bagpipe for all the world.
+
+Mr. Fraser, the judge, and a very fair man, saw that he must do
+something, and silenced the uproar, although old Sandy kept up a
+muttering all the time. "You saw me weigh the hammer," said he, looking
+at me. "I called it seventeen pounds one ounce, and you made no
+protest."--"I do not cast any reflections on you," I answered, "but this
+hammer which has just been thrown is certainly not a sixteen-pound
+hammer. I can prove my statement, and ask that all throws with it be
+disallowed." Then MacNab, who stood between me and Duffy, with one hand
+on the handle, set up such an infernal din that Fraser immediately
+consented, and I handed him the hammer. At this Duffy changed his tune,
+and proposed to withdraw, saying he would not have any dirty Englishman
+nor sneaking Scotchman doubt his word. He shook his huge fist in
+Fraser's face and demanded the immediate return of his property. In this
+he made a mistake, for the judge was as full of fire as a little Scotch
+terrier, and he promptly walked to the scales and laid the hammer on
+them.
+
+Then there was a dead silence. MacLeod came to my side, for the lad had
+not spoken a word since the row began; not that he lacked pluck, but he
+had a mortal antipathy to a windy dispute, and knew I was fully
+competent to protect his interests. The weight was on the
+seventeen-pound mark, but the hammer did not lift it, and I saw by the
+eager faces that the crowd was becoming suspicious. The little judge
+pushed the weight to sixteen pounds, and still the beam hung; and only
+at fifteen-eight did it rise. Everybody looked at Duffy's flushed face,
+and Fraser demanded an explanation, though there did not seem to be much
+that could be said.
+
+The tall Irishman hemmed and hawed a bit, and then said huskily, "Faith,
+I think it must have struck a stone and knocked off a piece." Despite
+our seriousness, this ingenious explanation was too much for us, and the
+whole crowd laughed until it could laugh no more, Duffy sneaking off in
+the confusion.
+
+Old man MacNab became almost delirious in his joy at saving his money in
+this miraculous way, for Duffy's disqualification put the lank Scott
+second; and after he had loaded me with acknowledgments, he left, with
+the laudable ambition of getting outside all the whiskey on the
+premises. The last I saw of him, his long legs were swinging gayly to
+the notes of the Highland fling, with a fair prospect of winning the
+prize.
+
+As the crowd flocked back to the hotel, Fraser thanked me for my
+firmness which had led to the discovery of the fraud, and I declined to
+accept any, as I had only watched my money. I did agree to take the
+light hammer, and he gave it to me together with another which had been
+picked up from underneath the feet of the crowd.
+
+On the way home MacLeod and myself compared them carefully, and were
+greatly puzzled. They were almost identical; the size and form of the
+heads, the turn of the handles, and the initials "P. D." burned into the
+ends were alike in both. We could not understand where the difference in
+the weights came in, until we arrived at my rooms. Here I knocked out
+the handle of the light hammer, and found the centre of the head
+hollowed out in a most artistic manner, and the mystery was solved. I
+have no doubt but that Duffy did not use this until he was forced to do
+so, and that he threw the full-weight hammer which Fraser tested for the
+first four trials. Only when he was sure that MacLeod, "the little
+Scottie," was a better man, and his (Duffy's) money was as good as gone,
+did he fall back on the artistic reproduction, which could have been
+easily handed to him by a friend in the crowd.
+
+I confess I made a very pretty penny out of this transaction, and it was
+all the more welcome because of the fright I had been in over it. Poor
+Mac was not so fortunate, for although he positively declined to take a
+penny from me, he was given credit at the church for having gambled
+disgracefully, and was near being expelled for it.
+
+If this should seem at all an improbable tale, I will assure you that
+much the same incident occurred among our gentlemanly friends, the
+college athletes, at a comparatively recent date, although it was kept
+quiet in deference to somebody's feelings, and not exploited as was the
+"hollow hammer" back in the late "sixties."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: His Name Is Mud]
+
+
+There is always a "post mortem" atmosphere about Fall track athletics.
+
+Baseball shows a bit more life, for now the ambitious Freshman receives
+his "trying out" and struggles valiantly to catch the critical eye of
+the Captain, in search of new material for the "Nine."
+
+The only "real thing" is football, which reigns supreme until
+Thanksgiving Day dethrones him.
+
+This period is the most trying one of all the year to a trainer. One
+after another of his men on whom he depends for points on field and
+track are drafted for the "gridiron," until there is scarcely one left
+except the second-raters, whom he would gladly spare. Try to imagine my
+feelings as I watch a football game from the side lines, when Hopkins,
+my only ten one-fifth man is picked out of the bottom of a "scrimmage"
+with one of his precious legs twisted, or Baily retires with a
+dislocated shoulder,--Baily, who alone can be depended upon for any
+distance with the "shot." Shaw pulls his sweater over his head and
+takes Hopkins' place at "half back," Marlowe drops his blanket and fills
+the gap at "tackle" caused by Baily's retirement, and the game goes on
+just as before. No one seems to care much, but I think of the coming
+Spring and wonder what kind of a showing we are destined to make.
+
+I had seen a short practice game between the second and third elevens,
+and had watched a few men listlessly circling the track, until the
+gathering dusk warned me that it was time for dinner. I stopped a moment
+at "Conner's" to arrange for some shoes for the team, and was half-way
+across the square when I saw ahead of me, and in the middle of the
+street, quite a little crowd, from the centre of which came a confused
+jumble of barks, growls, yelps, and howls, the sure sign of a canine
+disagreement. Now, of course, I did not countenance any such low sport
+as a battle between two street curs, but I elbowed my way through, as I
+am afraid most men would have done, and I am not quite sure that my
+motive was wholly the separation of the combatants.
+
+I found them to be a very large and very good-natured St. Bernard, not
+quite full grown, and a very small and intensely angry terrier, weighing
+about as much as his opponent's left leg. Indeed it was not, strictly
+speaking, a fight at all, if it takes more than one to make a fight,
+which is I believe an accepted axiom. The terrier, a mixture of hair,
+mud, and impotent rage, would scramble over the wet pavement and make a
+desperate spring at the big St. Bernard's throat, either to be avoided
+by a lift of the head or a turn of the body, and the little fellow would
+roll over and over, then gather himself up and attack his good-natured
+foe again with renewed virulence.
+
+It was really very funny, for neither of them was getting hurt, and when
+at last the big fellow, in sheer desperation, placed his paw on his
+assailant and held him down struggling vainly, it caused a hearty laugh
+from all the crowd. The St. Bernard looked doubtfully at us, very much
+as if to say, "Is not this a very awkward position for a gentleman to
+find himself in?" and at last, seeing a gap in the crowd, he suddenly
+lifted his paw and tried to make good his escape. In this he nearly
+succeeded, but was not quite quick enough, for his crazy little
+assailant caught him by the first joint of his hind leg, and buried his
+sharp little teeth deep in the cartilages. This was really too much for
+the big fellow's temper, already sadly tried, and turning with a howl of
+pain, he seized his vicious little enemy in his big jaws, shook him a
+second or two fiercely, and then dropped him on the pavement. It was all
+over before we could interfere, and the big fellow's anger passed as
+quickly as it came.
+
+He saw at once that something was wrong, for the ragged little body lay
+on its side entirely motionless, with the exception of a spasmodic
+twitching of the legs. He sniffed at him carefully, then gave us a look
+of reproach, at which I confess I felt ashamed, and trotted sadly away.
+
+It was just at this moment that a number of the football men appeared,
+led by big Shack Sawyer, who quickly elbowed his way to the inner circle
+by my side, demanding "What's the row, Professor?"
+
+"Only a little dog fight," I answered, a bit shocked at the sudden
+transformation from comedy to tragedy.
+
+"It looks more like a dog funeral than a dog fight," spoke up Seever,
+who was as usual at Shack's elbow.
+
+"I wonder what his name is?" inquired an hysterical woman with a
+falsetto voice, who had appeared from I know not where, to ask this
+particularly interesting question.
+
+"The dog's name!" exclaimed Shack; "his name is 'Mud,' I guess, and no
+mistake." At which there was a half-hearted laugh, for the silent
+little chap on the pavement was a pathetic sight indeed. Somebody said,
+"Throw some water on him," and a bareheaded boy with a dinner-pail in
+his hand filled it at a horse-trough close by, and Shack took it and
+threw half its contents on the terrier.
+
+No sooner had the water struck him than he gave a sneeze, like the
+hunchback in the "Arabian Nights" who had the unfortunate experience
+with the fish-bone, struggled to his feet, and after a somewhat unsteady
+circuit of the crowd in a vain effort to find his late antagonist,
+decided he had put him to flight, and began to bark triumphantly.
+Indeed, the "dying gladiator" showed every sign of being as good as new,
+with the exception of a little patch of red at his throat and a very
+muddy and bedraggled coat.
+
+He went from one to another, wagging his stump of a tail frantically;
+and when the crowd broke up he dropped in at Sawyer's heels as if he had
+always belonged there. Shack allowed him to follow him home, and after a
+somewhat perfunctory effort to find an owner, he became Shack's dog from
+this time on, and a very lucky dog he was.
+
+When "Mud," for Shack's random christening proved permanent, was treated
+to the twin luxuries of a bath and a comb, he showed quite an
+attractive personality. That his coat of arms bore the "bar sinister,"
+there was not the least doubt. His master declared there was no "blot on
+his scutcheon," and that he was a pure-blooded, wire-haired fox terrier;
+but his legs were too short, and his hair both too long and too silky
+for any such claim. Seever made out an imaginary pedigree for him, in
+which many canine aristocrats of different breeds appeared; but Marlowe
+declared he certainly must have numbered somewhere among his ancestors a
+very plebeian New England woodchuck.
+
+Shack took a deal of chaffing over his "high-bred dog," but clung to him
+nevertheless, and Mud sprang into instantaneous popularity with the
+whole college. He had indeed a number of very valuable qualities, the
+most important of which was an undaunted courage. He was afraid of
+nothing that walked on four legs, or two either, for that matter. A dog
+of his own size or smaller he treated with an easy condescension. He
+looked upon anything larger as an enemy, and a very big dog he
+considered a personal insult, no matter how he behaved. I am inclined to
+think that the root of his anger was simply jealousy of superior inches.
+Whatever the motive was, however, Shack was kept busy pulling him out of
+the jaws of bigger dogs whenever he took him for an airing.
+
+Mud could certainly not claim to be "no respecter of persons," for he
+had a very different manner with which to treat the gentleman from that
+he gave the laboring man. He was suspicious of the latter, even in his
+Sunday broadcloth, and when he met him clad in overalls and jumper he
+greeted him with a canine fusillade that was irrepressible. For rags and
+dirt, despite his very questionable past and decidedly suggestive name,
+Mud had a great antipathy. The sign "No admittance to beggars and
+pedlers," which decorated the lower hall, was quite unnecessary after
+Mud became a tenant, for he could pick these gentry out, no matter how
+skilfully disguised, and indeed showed qualities which would have made
+him invaluable in Scotland Yard.
+
+He was forever on the move, and could tire out the most persistent
+visitor in any sort of a game. Mud's favorite was a sort of "rough and
+tumble" in which his opponent tried to bury him in the sofa pillows, and
+out of which he always emerged with every hair on end, his eyes like
+live coals, and his voice cracked from his efforts to make himself heard
+under a pyramid of cushions.
+
+Shack tried to keep his hand in for the "hammer throw," and practised
+rather intermittently when football gave him a few spare moments. Then
+was Mud in his particular glory. He would trot to the gymnasium at his
+master's heels, watch gravely from one of the long benches while Shack
+stripped and dressed, and then follow him into the middle of the field
+with an unmistakable air of pride.
+
+When Shack took the hammer in hand Mud would begin to whimper, and as it
+whirled faster and faster round Shack's head, the howl grew more and
+more crescendo until the missile took to flight, with Mud after it so
+fast that it seemed as if he must sometime get the good sixteen pounds
+on the middle of his back.
+
+So great was the danger that Shack hit upon the expedient of having Mud
+guard his sweater, which turned out to be the only way to keep the
+energetic little fellow still. It was surprising too what a changed dog
+he became when this responsibility was put upon him. He watched
+suspiciously every one who approached, and there was no friend near
+enough to be allowed to encroach on the forbidden ground occupied by
+Shack's old sweater. Marlowe tried to pull it away suddenly one day, and
+left a piece of his sleeve between Mud's sharp teeth as a memento of
+the encounter.
+
+It was after two or three weeks' residence in Shack's hospitable
+quarters that Mud attained the zenith of his popularity and became
+mascot of the class of 188-. In fact, he bade fair to attain the very
+pinnacle of a dog's ambition, and to occupy the position of "luck
+bringer" to the whole college.
+
+His predecessor had been a brindled bulldog of such extraordinary
+ugliness that it approached the beautiful, but he had fallen into
+disgrace after allowing the Freshmen to win the deciding game of
+baseball in the Spring, and the class had not filled the vacant place
+until Mud came to ornament it.
+
+Shack failed this year to make the big team and played on his class
+eleven, where he was a bright particular star. In the first game with
+the Freshmen which they won, Shack at "centre," and Mud as mascot on the
+side lines, divided the honors, and the game went eighteen to nothing in
+their favor. After this Mud was solemnly installed in his position by
+Seever, who gave him a charge much like that to a newly installed
+minister, and to which Mud listened very seriously, with his head on one
+side, as he sat on a big chair with Shack's cap over his left eye.
+
+It was hoped that Mud would furnish sufficient magic to make his class
+winner in the game with the Seniors, which would decide the college
+championship. When the day arrived he appeared at the gymnasium with an
+enormous ribbon at his throat and much pride in his breast. He was so
+distinctly elated that when Marlowe threw Shack's moleskin trousers at
+him and told him to "Shake 'em," he declined to descend to so
+undignified a sport.
+
+No, his game was to be football that day.
+
+It was late in October, and there was a thin mist threatening rain,
+through which they travelled to reach the gridiron on which the struggle
+was to be fought out. It was rather a rough field, with the trees all
+around it, and the ground was quite covered in places by the dead maple
+leaves. There was a mixed mob composed of the two classes; much
+enthusiasm and more noise.
+
+Mud was installed in a place of honor on the side lines close to the
+centre, and for a throne was given Shack's old sweater and told to
+"Watch it."
+
+Immediately across could be seen the Senior mascot, a very disreputable
+Billy goat, "bearded like the pard" and with only one horn left. When
+Mud got a glimpse at his rival, nothing but a distinct sense of duty
+restrained him from an immediate attack. When "William" was led,
+struggling violently, around the field just before the game started, Mud
+ran out on the long sleeve in a vain effort to reach his very
+disreputable-looking enemy, but even then could not be tempted to leave
+his precious charge.
+
+He became very much excited when the men took their places for the
+"kick-off," and barked furiously at every "down" during the first
+"half." It was a hard old game, too, and one remembered long after.
+Class games are often more severe than contests with outside teams, for
+class rivalry is very strong, and there are not the same pains taken to
+restrain roughness. The Seniors kept bucking the line fiercely, and
+Shack at "centre" had all the fun he wanted holding his ground against
+repeated assaults. He was well backed up, however, by Marlowe on one
+side and Terry on the other, and the "half" ended with the score six to
+nothing in favor of the Sophs.
+
+It was a proud moment indeed for little Mud when he was led around the
+field with the big ribbon on his neck, and so important did he feel that
+he did not even notice old "Billy," although he trotted close by him.
+
+The Seniors started in with the same tactics when the whistle blew
+again, although they had not been at all successful. Not a "round the
+end" play did they make, and they were at last rewarded for their
+perseverance by knocking the wind out of Marlowe so completely that he
+was obliged to retire.
+
+The man that took his place was sandy enough, and well up in the game;
+but he was too light to keep his feet on the soft ground, and it did not
+take the Seniors long to discover that a plunge at "right guard" was
+good for from two to five yards every time. Old Shack gave all the
+assistance he could, but he was fairly well employed in attending to his
+opposite, and the result was that the ball was worked slowly but
+steadily up the field with every prospect of being carried over the
+Sophs' line.
+
+Nothing but the call of time could save them, and they lined up more and
+more slowly, struggling desperately and praying for the sound of the
+whistle. Down the lines the spectators followed, cheering hoarsely, and
+cutting up the soft turf like a huge drove of cattle. There were but two
+more minutes of play and a scant five yards to make. Old Shack had a cut
+over his right eye, and a little stream of blood trickled down his
+mud-stained cheek. He was steaming like a "yoke of oxen," and his canvas
+jacket was drenched with sweat, one stocking was down over his shoe, and
+a sleeve of his jersey was gone, showing the huge arm with its corded
+muscles.
+
+He knew well enough that the "touchdown" must come unless something was
+done, but no good chance did he get until the ball was inside the
+five-yard line. "Four-twelve-twenty" called out the "quarter back," and
+the big "senior centre," crouching low against Shack's strong shoulder,
+snapped the ball back just as he had done a hundred times before that
+day. He got a bit too low, in fact, for Shack gave him a jerk, and
+before the little "quarter" could get the ball out of his hands Shack's
+big paw was on him, rolling him over like a kitten, and before he knew
+what had happened he had lost the ball, and Shack had it snugly tucked
+under his arm.
+
+How the Sophs cheered, and when a moment later the whistle blew they
+would have shouldered Shack had he not made it impossible by lying flat
+on the muddy ground.
+
+During these last five minutes Mud had been deserted and well-nigh
+forgotten, mascot though he was. The crowd had surged up the field where
+the fierce struggle was going on, and the little fellow was left all
+alone, with nothing to occupy him but his own thoughts. He could look
+across to "Billy" on the other side, tied to a post, and alternately
+barked at him and whined for the friends who had left him.
+
+Mud had no chains but those of duty, yet for him they were sufficient.
+He would very much have liked to follow the crowd, or better still to
+have had his own little game of football with "Billy" across the way,
+with neither an umpire nor a referee to keep account of distance or
+prevent rough play; but here was Shack's precious sweater, and here he
+was bound to stay.
+
+It had been raining too for a little while, and the little fellow was
+getting cold and wet. He trotted around the narrow limits of his desert
+island, giving an occasional shiver of discomfort, and wishing in his
+heart that he was in his own snug place by Shack's warm fireside. The
+thought of Shack warmed him a bit, despite the cold, and he lay down
+again, waiting patiently for his master.
+
+When the whistle blew he sprang to his feet, for he knew as well as
+anybody that the game was now over, and when he heard the shouts he gave
+a bark or two of triumph. His friends would be back soon, and might
+perhaps lead him around the field again. He could not see very well, for
+it was almost dark, and still the crowd lingered at the far end of the
+field. At last they began to come toward him; at first moving slowly,
+then more hurriedly at the thought of dinner, until some started to
+run, and there was a big rush for the narrow path which opened through
+the trees not far from where Mud stood.
+
+The latter saw them coming, and he waved his stump of a tail and wiggled
+his little body as he thought of the hand touches, and the "Good old
+Mud" he was so soon to hear from Shack himself.
+
+The crowd came like a wide, wide sea; but little Mud had no thought of
+danger until they were close to him. He saw the big wave about to roll
+over, he half turned as if for flight, and then, crouching low, he
+sprang at the first man who set foot on the sweater he was left to
+guard. He made no sound, and in the darkness and confusion the wave of
+humanity swept over him, and did not pause until it left him crushed and
+scarce alive. When Seever saw him as he followed the rushing mob, the
+little fellow was dragging himself painfully back to the big sweater and
+had a bit of gray cloth in his sharp teeth, which he had torn from the
+first intruder.
+
+Shack was giving a shoulder to Marlowe when some one cried out, "Shack,
+old man, Mud's hurt;" and he left Marlowe in an instant, and was off
+like a shot with a dozen men after him.
+
+When they reached the crowd that clung in a dense circle, much as on the
+first night, they found Mud lying on the sweater, his poor little body a
+shapeless thing.
+
+Shack bent over him with a groan, then lifted him tenderly in his arms,
+and for a moment there came in the little fellow's fast-glazing eyes the
+light of recognition. He licked the big hand that held him so carefully,
+shivered a little, crept close to Shack's stained jacket, trembled a
+little longer, and then lay still at last on Shack's broad breast.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: How Kitty Queered The Mile]
+
+
+I hear it whispered every now and again that the reason a probable
+winner disappoints is because he is drugged. This is why that quarter on
+which Tom White had a mortgage goes to an inferior man, and because of
+this Jack Lewis, who was yards better than his field, is beaten out in
+the "run in" of the "220" hurdles.
+
+Now, I am prepared to say, after a longer track experience than falls to
+the lot of most men, that in almost all such affairs the fault is with
+the men themselves, who have either not done their work, or, more likely
+still, have overtrained and gone stale.
+
+Indeed, I honestly believe that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred
+the best man wins because he is the best man, and the rest of the field
+lose simply because they have not the legs, lungs, heart, or courage
+necessary to bring them in first. There is mighty little "hocus-pocus"
+business in amateur athletics, and the atmosphere of the cinder-path
+is, after all is said, as pure as any on earth, not excepting that of
+politics and the legal profession.
+
+I know a very few events where men were drugged to put them out of
+contests, but they are, in the main, uninteresting tales which I do not
+care to tell.
+
+In the little crack I mean to have with you, although no drugs were
+used, there is about the clearest case of "fix" I know, and, what is
+more to the point, I'll bet a fiver you will read it to the end.
+
+I became acquainted with Kitty Murray when I was putting the finishing
+touches to the athletic team of a large New England academy, just what
+and where I cannot say, for very obvious reasons.
+
+They had on their list an annual contest in field sports with a rival
+academy, and called in outside training talent only six or eight weeks
+before the games.
+
+Kitty, with whom I struck up a friendship a day or two after my arrival,
+was a little English girl, as fresh and fragrant as an "Old-Country"
+rose such as I used to find long ago in a distant Lancashire garden. She
+was only five years over, and it seemed like going back again just to
+hear her talk. We became great friends during my stay in the little
+town, and I shall never quite forget her.
+
+I hope the story I am about to tell will not be thought to reflect on
+her, and it will not, unless I bungle badly in the telling of it. Now, I
+do not, of course, defend the "queering" of a race, and Kitty as surely
+put a contestant out of winning place as if she had used a drug, yet it
+was not done for money. The man did not deserve to win, and I confess I
+like her all the better for the deed.
+
+Kitty's father had come from an Oldham factory, thinking, like many
+another, that in America he would own his mill within a five year. The
+five years had passed, and he was still running his eight looms in the
+big weave-shed by the river, where he first went to work.
+
+Kitty had tended her five looms by his side for a year or so, and then
+found more congenial as well as more remunerative surroundings in a
+little store near the academy grounds.
+
+This store occupied the lower story of a dwelling-house, which had been
+built out toward the street, until its wooden porch infringed on the
+sidewalk, and its flight of long steps rose from the edge of the gutter.
+
+Whether it fractured any of the town ordinances by preëmpting the
+sidewalk in this way I do not know, but it had a particularly inviting
+appearance, like a host coming half way to meet you, and the porch,
+sheltering from sun and shower, was a perfect drag-net for customers.
+
+The front was all window, and the stock in trade plainly visible from
+the opposite side of the street. Here was candy in jars on the shelves
+and in trays on the counter, fruit in boxes and baskets by the windows,
+a huge soda fountain near the door, and an ice-cream parlor back of the
+store, with its horrible marble-topped tables, like gravestones awaiting
+the inscription of "Sacred to." I have travelled a bit, first and last,
+but nothing more dismal than an American ice-cream parlor do I remember
+to have seen.
+
+While it cannot be denied that Kitty's confectionery was often stale,
+her fruit flavorless, her soda frothy, and her ice-cream as full of
+starch as a Chinese laundry, Kitty herself was all right, and fresh and
+dainty enough to offset all the deficiencies of her wares.
+
+I can see her now, as I tell this story, with her bright "Old-Country"
+blushes, her soft brown hair, her blue eyes, and her trim little figure
+which her gowns always fitted so snugly. She was a marvel of neatness
+from ribbon to shoe tip, and was rather extravagant in the matter of
+foot-gear, for Kitty had a sweet foot and ankle of her own, concerning
+which she was not ignorant.
+
+Cap'n Holden, the proprietor of the store, was a long, lank Vermonter,
+who had run a ding-dong race with consumption for twenty years, and was
+likely now to make an age record ahead of many a hearty man. He lived in
+a couple of rooms back of the ice-cream parlor, and left the management
+of the store very largely to Kitty, doing the drudgery, and leaving the
+high artistic to his assistant, content to find the money-drawer
+comfortably filled each night.
+
+There was a steady stream of the academy boys flowing in and out the
+door of Holden's store all day, ruining their digestions, and going
+broke on pocket-money for the sake of basking in Kitty's smiles. A
+clever little business woman was she, too, for eighteen years, and very
+well aware of her worth, as Mr. Holden had learned to his cost, for he
+paid her what seemed a fabulous salary.
+
+Now, my coming to the town was a serious misfortune to Kitty's business.
+The taking some thirty of her best customers and forbidding their
+accustomed indulgence in sweets, under penalty of not making the team,
+must have resulted in serious inroads on her trade.
+
+She laughingly took me to task for this, one morning, soon after my
+arrival, asking me how I expected her to get her living, and declaring
+that Mr. Holden was looking at the poor-house with fearful glances. And
+then, as I leaned on the counter, she began to pump me in a very pretty
+way concerning the academy's chances in the coming games, showing an
+especial interest in the mile. Would I please tell her who would win in
+this event?
+
+Now, it must not be thought that I have been in the habit of giving tips
+to inquisitive young ladies, for one thing a successful trainer must
+learn is to hold his tongue; but in this case there was no secret
+involved, and almost no money on, so I told her frankly that there were
+only two men of any use at all, Black and Harris.
+
+Well, would I please tell her (ladies always say "please" in a
+particularly wheedling way when they ask what they know they should
+not),--would I please tell her which was the faster.
+
+I answered that Harris was a very neat little runner who would win in
+average company, but that Black's stride was too much for him, and
+Harris could not show within five seconds of Black's time for the
+distance. Here the corners of Kitty's pretty mouth dropped most
+suddenly, and I then and there surprised the secret that under the folds
+of her flowered muslin lurked a shy liking for Jack Harris.
+
+This was not at all to be wondered at, for Jack was a mighty nice boy,
+pleasant to every one, and a fine performer in almost all branches of
+sport. Black was about the same age as Harris, nearly twenty, and,
+unlike Harris, was tall and dark, and rather surly and superior. They
+were both to leave for college at the end of the year, considered
+themselves men grown, and cherished a mighty strong liking for little
+Kitty. They were equally anxious to win the "mile," and to this end had
+trained very conscientiously, breaking the tape in the sight of Kitty's
+bright eyes being, after all, the strongest incentive.
+
+I talked quite freely with the little girl, for she reminded me of old
+Lancashire, and she on her part took no particular care to conceal the
+fact that she should like very much to see Jack Harris win.
+
+As the days went by I took special pains with Jack, but though he
+improved nicely he could not quite reach Black, and as the time of the
+contests approached I could give Kitty no encouragement, much as I
+should have liked to do so.
+
+The very night before the games I went into the store and, in answer to
+her question, told her plainly that unless Black was taken suddenly ill,
+he would certainly best Jack, and that from all reports Harris was just
+as sure of second place, as the other academy had only moderate talent
+to offer in the "mile."
+
+"And would Jack win, then, if Black was out of it, or a bit off?" she
+asked, with a little tremble of disappointment in her voice.
+
+I answered that a race was never won until the tape broke, and the
+judges had given their decision, but that it certainly looked that way;
+and while Kitty was weighing out some peppermints to an old lady, with
+an ounce of smiles for which she did not charge, I passed quietly
+through the ice-cream parlor into Mr. Holden's little den in the rear.
+Holden and I were quite cronies by this time; we often chatted together
+of an evening, and I dropped quite naturally into a rocking-chair near
+the door, which was ajar, and through which I could get a good view of
+the store without being myself observed.
+
+He was reading the "Boston Globe" with the aid of his glasses, his pipe,
+and a pitcher of hard cider. He filled me a glass of the last, pushed
+the tobacco-jar across the table toward me, and handed me the sporting
+half of the paper without a word. I took a drink, lit my pipe, and
+pretended to read the paper, keeping a close watch on the front shop
+meanwhile.
+
+Now, I had a method in all this, which was to be where I could see that
+none of the boys broke training in this most dangerous place, on the
+night before the contests. I had given the boys a much more rigorous
+course of training than was usual, and was a bit afraid of some of them,
+not accustomed to deprivations of any kind.
+
+I sat smoking my pipe, and reading my paper, a fragment at a time,
+customers coming and going, but saw nothing of interest until about nine
+o'clock, when Harris entered, looking particularly well in tennis
+flannels and sweater. He bade Kitty a "good evening," in that pleasant
+way of his, and asked for a pound of mixed chocolates.
+
+"A pound of mixed chocolates!" exclaimed Kitty, instantly alert. "Why,
+Jack Harris, you know you ought not to touch a single piece, and you to
+run to-morrow! Not an ounce will I give you."
+
+I think Harris was pleased at the motherliness of the little girl, for
+he told her without any chaffing that the candy was intended for his
+sisters, who were spending the night at the hotel, with their aunt. "Do
+you know, Kitty," said he, "they would not give up their chocolates to
+win a world's championship?"
+
+"I would, then," said Kitty. "It must be splendid to go over the line
+first, with the rest following after. I suppose that's what you'll do
+to-morrow."
+
+"Not likely," he answered frankly; "Black is yards better, and unless he
+has a stroke of paralysis in the stretch, I shall have the pleasure of
+following him in, and must content myself with second place or worse."
+
+"Oh, Jack," said Kitty, "I wish you could win; you must win. Can't I
+help you in some way?"
+
+"I don't know how," he answered, "unless you can furnish me a pair of
+legs as long and as good as Black's, and they are hard to find."
+
+"Don't joke," said Kitty, with a look of reproach. "If I were you I'd
+beat him without any legs, I'd get ahead, and stay there if it killed
+me."
+
+There was in this just a hint of reflection on the boy's courage, but it
+was given in such good heart, that he could not take offence, and he
+laughed in rather a forced way and said, "I suppose I am an awful duffer
+not to be able to call the trick, for I have worked my best, and not
+thrown away a single chance. The truth is that Black is a better man at
+the distance, has been as careful as myself, and is not likely to take
+any liberties with himself until the race is over. I saw him a little
+while ago, and he was looking 'out of sight.'"
+
+At this there was silence for a little, for the outlook was certainly
+quite hopeless. From my seat by the door I could see them plainly, and I
+felt rather like an eavesdropper, when Kitty put her hand on Jack's
+sleeve in her earnestness.
+
+They made a pretty picture with their flushed faces and easy attitudes,
+and I thought of an old garden-gate in Lancashire where there had been
+much the same scene long ago.
+
+They talked together a moment or two longer in low tones, and then Kitty
+became suddenly conscious, and went back again behind the counter, with
+a touch of embarrassment. Jack took his box of candy, and said "Good
+night," stopping at the door a moment to say, "Win or lose, I shall do
+all I know. I promise you he shall know he has been in a race, and I
+shall run clear out, or run a winner."
+
+There were only a few more customers, for we kept good hours in the
+little town, and I was about to take my leave, satisfied that my men
+were all in bed, when Black entered.
+
+Now, this was clearly in disobedience of my instructions, which were,
+for this night, bed at nine-thirty, and it was now five minutes later by
+the clock over the stove. While the training of this academy team was a
+small matter for me, some of my best friends whom I had handled on big
+college teams were anxious for them to win, had considered the matter
+well-nigh settled when they had prevailed on me to take them on, and I
+had been very strict and painstaking in my handling of them. I was
+naturally provoked that Black should openly disobey instructions, and I
+sat back in my chair to watch developments.
+
+I do not remember what Black said, but he made an effort to be agreeable
+which was not particularly successful. There was something about his
+manner indicating condescension, which was not at all pleasing to
+Kitty's democratic spirit. She very promptly took him to task for being
+out after hours, and with a very different tone from that used when
+reproving Jack Harris.
+
+"I don't mean to be dictated to by any old played-out martinet of a
+trainer," said he gruffly. "It is all well enough for those who have no
+sure thing. I saw Harris going to his room fifteen minutes ago, but I'll
+sleep when I like, and beat him then."
+
+At this very foolish and boasting remark, involving also a reflection on
+Jack's prowess, I could see Kitty's eyes flash, and her cheeks redden,
+and then there came over her face a very peculiar expression of
+determination I could not at all understand. She changed gradually from
+indifference to interest, and finally said, with a well-assumed air of
+admiration, "It must be splendid to be so sure of winning; and don't you
+have to train at all?"
+
+"Deuced little," he answered; "I go through the motions with old Brown,
+but eat and drink just what I like, and sleep four or eight hours, as I
+prefer."
+
+Now, this was a bare-faced lie, and his sin found him out as quickly as
+in any "goody" book I ever read, for Kitty went on to say in her pretty
+way, becoming every moment more genial and fascinating, "Isn't that
+nice? then you can take a soda with me before I start for home."
+
+Remember that I was all the time in the back room with Mr. Holden,
+listening to the talk, rather hot under the collar at Black's "old
+played-out martinet," and wondering what in the world little Kitty was
+plotting.
+
+Black looked a bit doubtful at her offer; he had trained to the dot, and
+did not mean to throw away a single chance to win, but such an
+invitation from Kitty was an unheard-of honor, he could not very well
+eat his words, so he consented with an assumed alacrity, and Kitty
+proceeded to draw a glass of soda for him.
+
+And such a glass of soda as it was! If Mr. Holden had seen it he would
+have had a fit; nothing like it had ever gone over his counter, expense
+was not considered, and profit there could have been none. I could see
+the whole devil's brew myself, but Black could not, for Kitty stood
+between him and the glass.
+
+First she put in a double quantity of heavy, thick chocolate, then a
+liberal lump of ice-cream, and finally hardly enough soda to mix them.
+She drew a glass of Vichy for herself, and I watched as they drank, and
+chatted, and laughed together.
+
+Now, what were the reasons why I did not interfere, while my best
+mile-runner was getting outside of this horrible mixture?
+
+The first was, that we did not need him to win the "mile"; the second
+was, that his remarks concerning myself were not inclined to make me
+care for him personally; the third was, that I thought defeat might
+teach him a much-needed lesson; and the last and most potent, I must
+confess, was, that I had not the heart to spoil Kitty's wicked little
+game, which she was playing so beautifully.
+
+As I said before, it was as clear a case of "fix" as if she had given
+him a drug, and between a mild dose of poison and the glass she mixed,
+there was little for an athlete in training to choose.
+
+I sat in the back room for at least a half-hour longer, and saw Black
+drink three more glasses of different flavors, chosen with special
+reference to their baleful effects; and so pleasant and jolly was Kitty,
+and so happy was Black, that I am sure she could have substituted a dose
+of rhubarb without his notice.
+
+It was after ten o'clock when Kitty put on her hat, and I afterward
+learned that she talked a full hour longer with him at her gate, an
+unheard-of thing for Kitty, who was particularly careful of gossip, and
+it was midnight when he rolled into bed.
+
+He must have had the digestion of an ostrich not to have been
+immediately and positively ill; but he was not, and barring a little
+lack of color, he gave no indication of his previous night's
+extraordinary training, when he went to the mark for the mile.
+
+It had been a mighty busy day for me; the boys were young, some of them
+had never been contestants before, and they were nervous and uncertain.
+I got through the morning as best I could, giving advice here, answering
+a question there, telling some little fellow with a white face that
+there was no doubt of his winning, and another, who was over-confident,
+that he had no chance unless he followed instructions to the dot.
+
+Dinner over (for at our boarding-house we dined at noon) I started for
+the "grounds," which were over on the other side of the little town.
+The wide street was well dotted with carriages, and the sidewalks
+crowded with townspeople, country folk, and a liberal sprinkling of the
+supporters of the rival academy. Most of the mill-hands were out, and
+the rattle of the looms was subdued, half of them being silent.
+
+I threaded my way through the mob as best I could, for, every few feet,
+some one would buttonhole me to ask a fool question. Then again, did you
+ever notice how much harder it is to work your way through a crowd of
+country people than one of equal density in the city? There is a
+sluggishness and inertness very different from the quick movements of
+those whose feet are accustomed to tread city paves.
+
+However, when I got beyond the shopping quarter, where the
+dwelling-houses began, the streets were free enough, and I crossed over
+to the south side, the day being warm, and the shade of the elms
+grateful. I was passing Holden's store, when Kitty appeared in the
+doorway, as if by accident, and with a very pretty look of mingled
+surprise and pleasure. She looked as if she had just arrived from
+Arcadia, or had stepped out of a Dresden dish, with her fresh muslin
+figured with little sprays of flowers, a big hat on her soft brown
+hair, and a parasol in her hand which displayed the academy color.
+
+Her cheeks were bright, and grew a shade brighter as she asked, "Please,
+Mr. Brown, may I walk along with you?" Receiving my very hearty assent
+she tripped down the steps and across the street, taking special pains
+to save the figured muslin from the dust of the street. I think I said
+that Kitty's ankles were irreproachable.
+
+Although it was very evident Kitty had been to some pains to see me, I
+found her very silent and preoccupied. She had said not much more than a
+silly word or two about the weather, when we reached the Lee place,
+where she said she must leave me, as she had promised to stop for Sally
+and Kate. As she put her hand on the latch of the gate she gave me the
+first hint of what was burdening her mind by asking, "Are the boys all
+feeling well?"
+
+I said, "Yes, as far as I know," and then to try her, "though Black
+looks a bit queer, for some unaccountable reason."
+
+"That's too bad," answered Kitty, with considerable affectation of
+sorrow, as she swung the gate open; but I noticed a little widening of
+the mouth, and a tell-tale dimple in her cheek almost betrayed her. Not
+once did she raise her eyes to mine either, something very unusual with
+her, for she had the frankest glance possible.
+
+I watched her as she mounted the steps and rang the bell, and then
+walked on beneath the tall elms, philosophizing over that most
+interesting subject, "a woman and her ways," something the masculine
+mind cannot understand, but likes to struggle with.
+
+The track was in the centre of the "campus," an enclosure of several
+acres of soft green turf, fringed and fenced by its row of tall trees.
+Around the track the spectators were gathering, and the grand stand was
+beginning to fill. All the officials and most of the contestants were
+already inside the ropes, the former bustling around with their
+bright-colored badges flapping, and extremely busy doing nothing; the
+latter, in their spotless trunks and jerseys, with bare brown legs and
+arms, looking "sweet enough to kiss," so I heard a pretty little matron
+say on one of the lower seats. Indeed, I know few finer sights than a
+young fellow, clean-limbed and lithe, trained to perfection, with eyes
+bright, and face darkened by the sun, waiting in his running-togs, with
+a background of green grass, and overhead the cloudless sky.
+
+As soon as I got among them, the boys flocked around me, and after a
+hearty word or two I sent the team off by the catcher's fence, a little
+beyond, for there were no dressing-rooms, and I wanted to know where to
+find them. Jack was looking "finer than silk," and Black not half bad,
+although a trifle dark under the eyes. I was not at all sure that even
+Kitty's dose was enough to stop him.
+
+Now, I do not propose to say a word about any event but the "mile." This
+was the last event on the list, we were comfortable winners already, and
+everybody was speculating how badly Black would fracture the record;
+there seemed to be no doubt about his winning, and, unpopular as he was,
+it was with many admiring exclamations that he ran a few yards to limber
+up. His long legs moved like clock-work, and his stride was remarkable.
+
+We had just lost the final heat of the "220," and when the starter's
+whistle blew for the "mile" I could see the faces brighten up, for it
+was confidently expected that Black and Harris would run first and
+second, and leave a pleasant taste in the mouth to take home to supper.
+
+There were six starters, and when Jack took his place on the outside, he
+was the finest-looking boy of the lot. Not having grown so fast, he was
+more rounded and filled out than the others, though he carried not an
+ounce of useless tissue. His arms and legs were better developed, and
+his face was clean cut as a cameo.
+
+Kitty sat directly on a line with the tape, on the top row of seats,
+between the Lee girls. One of them, I could see, was keeping a watchful
+eye on the west, where the thunder heads were gathering.
+
+But Kitty did not see any clouds, not she. She did not care if the
+deluge came after this race; and what was a shower, or a wet gown? She
+was red and pale by turns, breathing hard, and had both elbows on the
+top rail behind her, as if to brace herself for the ordeal. Wonderfully
+attractive was she in this attitude of repressed excitement, and though
+the grand stand was full of pretty girls, dressed in their best bibs and
+tuckers, I saw none to compare with her.
+
+When Jack glanced up at her, she leaned forward and waved her hand,
+giving him a look that brought the color to his cheeks. But when he
+turned, got on his mark, and put out his hands, his flush faded, the
+half smile disappeared, and in their place came as stern a look of
+resolution as I ever saw in a boy's face.
+
+And yet I doubted he could win.
+
+True, he was just the one to do a shade better in competition than in
+training, but Black was likely to do no worse (unless pulled back by the
+sodas), and with a strong five seconds to the good, it was a beautiful
+race to guess on.
+
+"Marks! Set!" The bang of the pistol, with its little wreath of smoke
+rising in the still air, and they are off. "Crunch, crunch, crunch"
+sound the quick feet on the cinders, a stout fellow, not half trained,
+taking the lead, and bound to drop out before the "half," unless I am no
+judge. They disappear a second behind the catcher's fence, emerge again,
+swing round the turn, straighten out again, and the men are well
+trailed, as usual, at the lower turn. Down the stretch they come, and
+just before they pass the posts Black jumps into the lead, amid the
+applause of the grand stand. Where is Jack? Why, where he ought to be
+with the pace like this, and three-quarters more to run. He has followed
+my orders to the dot, starting off easily (one of the almost impossible
+things to teach a young runner), trailing behind the field, and he
+finishes the first quarter last of the six, and a full twenty yards
+behind Black, running strong and well, though not so showily as his
+rival.
+
+I see poor little Kitty's face grow white and hopeless as they go by.
+
+Round the track they swing again, two men dropping out at the lower
+turn, already run off their feet, and one of them the stout fellow, as I
+expected. Indeed, as they pass the posts the second time all have come
+back a bit to Jack but Black, and Kitty's face is touched by grim
+despair, for that dreadful twenty yards still stretches between the one
+she wishes to win and the one she tried to put out of the race.
+
+On the third quarter Jack lets out a link, picking up one after another,
+until only Black leads him, and when they start on the last lap he is
+running strong and fairly fresh, only ten yards behind, and the rest
+trailed badly.
+
+Kitty's face is the queerest mixture of hope and fear I ever saw.
+
+Black runs with the confidence of repeated victories in trials, and
+attempts to open up the gap again; but Jack has a bit up his sleeve
+still, answers with a little spurt of his own, will not be denied, and
+is only a bare five yards to the bad as they straighten out for the last
+hundred yards.
+
+Here Black glances over his shoulder, and I can see his look of
+surprise. Jack has never been so close up at this stage of the game. It
+is evident that both the boys are approaching "Queer Street," "Queer
+Street" with its pounding heart and panting lungs, its parched mouth,
+singing ears, and leaden feet. Both are game to the core, and it is now
+only a question of endurance. Here is the runner's purgatory, where the
+sins of the past are settled, and here it is that Kitty's ice-cream
+sodas take a hand in the sport.
+
+What would Black give if he had not imbibed their awful sweetness?
+
+Inch by inch Jack draws up on him, his jaw set, his eyes aflame, his
+stride shortening, but still quick and straight. Black's face is leaden,
+his eyes glassy, his long legs giving at the knees at every stride.
+
+Down the stretch they come, the crowd on its feet, but too excited to
+yell, Kitty with her hand over one eye, and her handkerchief tight
+between her white teeth.
+
+For twenty yards they run almost side by side, and then Jack pumps ahead
+and breaks the tape, a winner by a scant yard. Black follows over in a
+heap, staggers a step or two, and falls before any one can catch him.
+
+Sick, was he? Well, rather!
+
+He had a touch of colic that doubled him up like a grasshopper. He
+groaned and coughed, he writhed and twisted, like a lobster on the
+coals. I knew it was not a dangerous matter, and gave him little
+sympathy, extracting a half confession concerning his training escapade
+of the previous evening.
+
+Kitty, the little Jezebel, blushed like a rose when Jack waved his hand
+at her, as he was carried off on the shoulders of some enthusiastic
+friends.
+
+Little did he know how he came to win over a faster man; little did
+Black understand there had been a plot for his undoing; and unless she
+reads this story, Kitty will always think her secret is a secret to all
+the world.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Atherton's Last Half]
+
+
+Back in the mountains of North Carolina, where the air is like a tonic,
+free from all taint of river mist and swamp malaria, and medicined by
+the fragrance of pine and hemlock, lives Teddy Atherton.
+
+His house is perched on a spur of the mountains, and can be seen with a
+good glass from Asheville on a clear day. It has green blinds, tall
+wooden pillars, and granite steps. It is the pattern that New England
+builders used to fancy fifty years ago or more, and looks a bit strange
+in its setting of mountain and forest. Here Teddy spends his time among
+his books, fishing and hunting, in the company of his dogs, or the
+society of an occasional friend, truant from business or profession.
+
+For a few weeks only in midsummer he risks the dangers of our east
+winds, and is seen at the Somerset and Country Clubs, much to the
+gratification of a host of friends.
+
+He has had me South with him a couple of times, and never goes back
+without inviting me to dine with him. I always accept, though the
+pleasure of his society is more than offset by painful recollections. We
+linger long at the table over my favorite madeira, and we talk of the
+old days, the old contests, and the old boys, grown now to be stout
+merchants, lawyers, and I know not what. Some of them have lads who will
+bring new honor to names already famous on track and field, and some,
+alas! have been beaten out by that famous runner and certain final
+winner, old Death himself.
+
+Often, as I sit and watch Atherton across the table, there comes into my
+eyes, not at all accustomed to such a freak, so clear a hint of
+moisture, that nothing but a mighty volume of smoke saves me from
+detection.
+
+He is a small man, five feet five or less, and not exceeding eight stone
+in weight. His closely shaven face is thin and brown, his eyes dark and
+full of fire, his mouth firm and sensitive. There is nothing of the
+despairing or helpless invalid about him; his shoulders are square, and
+his movements resolute; yet he knows, and I know, that his life hangs by
+a thread. I know whose fault it is, in part at least, that his days are
+numbered, that his chest is hollow, and that, despite his self-control,
+he cannot restrain every now and again that hacking cough.
+
+I shall tell the story, not because I like to, but as a warning to those
+who are willing to make a winner, no matter what the risk or cost.
+
+Late on an afternoon, just before the inter-collegiate games of 188-,
+there sat on the gymnasium steps a group of college sports, with heavy
+brows and serious minds.
+
+Even the weather was dubious, for the wind had worked round into the
+east, the clouds were gathering, and the air was damp and dismal. What
+few men there were on the track wore sweaters, and one or two had pulled
+long trousers over their trunks to keep their legs warm. The elms had
+got their heads together, as if conspiring mischief, and we had talked
+ourselves pretty well out, with no good results.
+
+We had that day given the team a serious "try out," and were fairly
+contented with its showing in all the events but the "half."
+
+There was no question about it, Bates could not call the trick; that is,
+not with his present showing.
+
+We all agreed that he was good enough, but he had no head at all. He ran
+his second quarter to the "queen's taste," and finished strong and well;
+but on his first lap he sogered like a Turk, and came in at least five
+seconds slow. He had no idea whatever of pace, was not a sprinter, and
+was easy for any opponent with a turn of speed, who would trail him
+round and pass him in the stretch.
+
+We had told Sherman (who had no chance to win, and knew it) to run the
+first lap in fifty-nine, instructing Bates to stay with him. Bates
+stayed all right, but Sherman was as far off as the man he paced,--in
+the first trial running in sixty-three, which was as bad as ever; and in
+the second pulling him out to fifty-six, so that neither finished.
+
+The question was, who should make pace for Bates.
+
+There were, sprawling on the steps that night, beside myself, Griffith,
+Smith, "Doc," and of course Tom Furness, for Tom had missed few such
+conclaves in the last half-dozen years.
+
+Now, the public knows pretty well who wins the events, but mighty little
+about the planning and contriving by which the athletic material of a
+college is developed and made the most of. Upon us five rested much of
+the responsibility for making winners of the team of 188-. With me it
+was a matter of business and professional standing; to the others, the
+glory of their college, and the personal satisfaction of having added
+to it. All of them were practical men, who had in days gone by carried
+their college colors, and Tom Furness had been a mighty good athlete,
+who had put a record where it stood untouched for a good five years. Tom
+was tall, fair, and sanguine. An optimist by nature, he never dreamed of
+anything but success, was a favorite with the graduates, while the
+college worshipped him. I never saw the man who could put heart into a
+losing team like Tom Furness.
+
+Just below him sat "Doc" Peckham, dark and silent. He was short and
+brown bearded, the very opposite of Tom, and had a rather embarrassing
+way of puncturing Tom's pretty bubbles. He was not so well liked as
+Furness, but was after all fully as valuable an adviser. He had a good
+practice in the city, but managed, in some way, to leave it whenever he
+was needed. Griffith and Smith were men who, as a rule, agreed with the
+majority, and myself in particular; so they were quite as useful as if
+they had been perpetually inventing foolish plans.
+
+We had been silent a full minute, which is not long for a crowd of
+college "gray-beards," when Tom Furness jumped to his feet with the air
+of a man who has made up his mind, expects opposition, but is still
+confident of the integrity of his position, and said, "Teddy Atherton's
+our man."
+
+"Teddy Atherton be blowed," said "Doc," who sat on the bottom step, his
+knees under his chin, drawing inspiration from his pipe. "He's run
+nothing but the 'quarter' for the last three years, and while he shows a
+fraction slower than Allen and Waite in practice, has a better head, and
+I would not give a toss-up for the difference between them."
+
+"That's it," said Furness; "it's Teddy's good head that we want. Now
+listen to me. We have three 'quarter milers' who finish under a blanket,
+and any one of them is about good enough to win. Allen has shown a shade
+the best time, and we certainly cannot pull him out, while Waite would
+sulk like a bear with a sore head if asked to make pace, and probably be
+worse than useless. Atherton, beside having better judgment, is a
+particularly unselfish chap, and if handled right will consent, and fill
+the bill exactly."
+
+"Deuced hard on Atherton," said Smith; "he's trained faithfully, has a
+chance to win in the 'quarter,' and yet we ask him to sacrifice himself
+in the 'half' because Bates is a duffer and will not use his head."
+
+We discussed the matter a while longer, and had barely arrived at an
+agreement, when who should come briskly from the gymnasium but Teddy
+himself. He jumped down the steps, and was hurrying away, with a joke at
+our serious faces, when I spoke up and said (for such uncomfortable
+commissions were usually assigned to me), "Wait a minute, Atherton, we
+want a word with you."
+
+"All right, old man," he said, "but be quick about it, for I've a dinner
+waiting for me that will be cold after seven o'clock." He was fresh from
+his shower-bath and rub-down, and looked as if he had stepped out of a
+bandbox. We could guess where the dinner was, for Atherton was very
+serious about Mollie Kittredge; and whether Mollie smiled or not,
+Mollie's mamma was complacent enough, and did her best to give Teddy a
+clear track and no contestants. Mollie was a howling favorite, "blonde,
+bland, and beautiful," who, it was rumored, did not care to be won by a
+"walk-over," and would have liked Teddy better if he had been a bit more
+difficult.
+
+Now, I believe it is best to go at once to the point with a disagreeable
+matter, so I said bluntly, "I'm sorry, Atherton, but we have decided to
+ask you to run in the 'half'; it is a late day to make the change, and
+it will, of course, give you no chance to win; but it seems to us the
+only thing to do under the circumstances."
+
+The boy winced, looked at us keenly to see if we were serious, then grew
+grave and said, rather sarcastically, "Your reasons for selecting me in
+particular as the scape-goat are of course good and sufficient, and you
+will pardon me for asking what they are?"
+
+I went over the matter with him in detail, assisted by Furness, giving
+all our reasons, doing my best to make the project as inviting as
+possible; and Atherton finally consented, as we expected. It was,
+however, a very serious face he carried off, and one very different from
+that which smiled upon us at the beginning. We were all mighty sorry for
+the boy, and I felt as if I had committed a petty theft, and deserved
+the penitentiary, or worse. I had only been the spokesman for the rest,
+and had racked my brains to think of some way to save Atherton from the
+sacrifice; but Tom was really unassailable in his position, and even
+"Doc" did not oppose him.
+
+I watched the lithe figure as it disappeared around the corner of the
+fence, realizing how full of disappointment my message must have been,
+and was sorry enough about it.
+
+Atherton had arrived at college without either athletic training or
+ambition. A student of the first rank, so that he was known at once
+where muscular ability is much more likely to obtain recognition than
+mental strength, it was not until his second year that I saw much of
+him.
+
+He then took up running, not so much with a view of contesting, as to
+fill out his lungs and increase his strength. It was not long, however,
+before he began to show decided improvement, and steadily gaining, had
+run unplaced, but close up, in his junior year. He had brought himself
+out in this way without in the least losing rank as a scholar, and I
+knew it was his one remaining ambition to get a place in athletics, and
+win a point for the old college on this last competition to which he
+would be eligible. If he had been a musty bookworm I should not have
+cared so much, but he was a splendid fellow, of good family, and a great
+favorite of mine, because of his pluck and good nature.
+
+He appeared next day on the track, as agreed, a little serious, but not
+at all disagreeable; which made me feel more guilty than ever. In fact,
+I tried to apologize, and for this received, as I deserved, a sharp
+answer, that the decision was doubtless correct, and there was no
+necessity for further talk.
+
+He listened to my instructions carefully, took Bates along within a half
+second of the fifty-nine, and left him in the stretch to finish four
+seconds better than ever before. Teddy was badly used up, of course, for
+he was not at all accustomed to the distance, and when I gave him a
+shoulder to the gymnasium, he was as limp as possible. He took our
+congratulations with a half smile, and would not confess that he was
+much the worse for the effort.
+
+Tom Furness was much elated, insisting there was no question but that we
+had made a change to the advantage of all but Teddy, and it was right
+that he should suffer for the good of the cause. It is wonderful with
+what complacency we look upon the sacrifice of others.
+
+As I thought it over that night, I had serious doubts about Atherton's
+condition, and the next morning I told Furness just how badly he was
+used up; but I did not take a decided stand, as I should have done, and
+the reason was purely selfish and unworthy. I was, of course, anxious to
+win the cup; it meant much to me, and I decided to take the risk.
+
+The day came round, particularly sultry and close. The sky was brassy,
+the sun a ball of fire, and what little wind there was felt like the
+breath of a furnace.
+
+It was a day to break records, and to break a trainer's heart as well;
+for often a man who is right "on edge" will show up limp and lifeless
+under such conditions, going stale in a night.
+
+I had changed rooms at the hotel so that the men might sleep with all
+the air possible, given them an early breakfast, and got them over to
+the grounds before the sun was very hot.
+
+We settled ourselves in the dressing-rooms, and the men stripped at once
+for the sake of comfort and coolness. A beautiful sight it was. An
+athlete looks much like a city clerk with his clothes on, but stripped
+to the buff there is a mighty difference. No weak, skinny legs, no fat
+disfigured bodies, no bunched and rounded shoulders.
+
+You may boast of your fine horses and beautiful women, but give me an
+athlete in perfect training, particularly if I have had the handling of
+him, and have seen the fat disappear and the strong, clean muscle take
+its place.
+
+The boys are seated on the long benches or standing in front of the
+lockers. Here is the slender figure of a sprinter, not an ounce of
+superfluous flesh or unused muscle, the cords of his shapely legs
+standing out clear and firm through the satin skin. There is a
+shot-putter, stopping a moment to chaff with a friend, stripped to the
+waist, his shirt in his hand. See how the mighty muscles stretch across
+his breast and back! See the big, square neck, and that right arm and
+shoulder, round and firm and hard!
+
+It is not men like the last that I worry about, for the heat will do
+nothing but good to an anatomy like this; but the thin and slender
+chaps, with not too much vitality at best, and trained close to the
+limit--these I look over closely and carefully. I was more anxious about
+Atherton than any other, and found him off in a corner by himself, near
+the window. Perhaps the most popular man on the team, he was not over
+jolly this morning, and the boys saw it, and left him alone. His clothes
+were already hung in his locker, in that particularly neat way that some
+of the boys might have copied to advantage. He had on his trunks and
+jersey, and was lacing his running-shoes.
+
+I asked him how he felt. "All right," he said; but I knew better. The
+hot night had told on him, and he was a bit pale and tired-looking. I
+told him to get into his wrap, find a cool and comfortable place, and
+take it easy until he was wanted. He followed instructions, as usual,
+and I saw almost nothing of him until the "half" was called, late in
+the afternoon. As usual, we had pulled off some unexpected wins, and
+lost several "lead-pipe cinches." The latter, however, were far more
+numerous, and I was decidedly on the anxious seat. Indeed, as near as I
+could figure, unless Bates won the "half" we were out of it.
+
+Of Sherman we expected nothing; he was put in to fill out the string,
+and because a man will sometimes surprise those best informed of his
+incapacity.
+
+Bates we hoped would win, and Atherton was expected to run his first lap
+in fifty-nine cutting wind and setting pace, to keep on in the second
+lap at the same speed until he reached the stretch, where he was to drop
+out (probably dead beat), leaving Bates to run in and break the tape.
+There was little glory in this programme for Atherton, and I had seen
+his face lengthen out when Allen and Waite romped in, first and second
+in the "quarter." It was "dollars to doughnuts" he would have made a
+strong third or better, and I saw he thought so himself, although he
+said nothing.
+
+We had just won a first and third in the high jump, and I was feeling a
+little better when the men were called for the "half." I met Teddy in
+the middle of the field, and walked along with him to the start. He was
+looking very white and serious; but I said nothing at all to hearten
+him, for I knew he was clear grit and did not want it.
+
+I did tell him that the race was more in his hands than Bates', and that
+from those who knew he would receive all the credit of a win, if he
+brought Bates in first. He said not a word in answer, only nodded his
+head, threw me his wrap, and went to the mark.
+
+As the numbers were being called, I had a chance to look around me.
+There was the usual crowd inside the ring, the officials, the reporters,
+and those infernal nuisances the men with a pull, who do nothing, and
+interfere with all who have duties to perform.
+
+The grand stand was right in front of me, spread like the tail of a huge
+peacock, and a perfect riot of color, for every second person was a
+lady, and what better opportunity than this to wear what was loud and
+bright? As my eye wandered over the crowd, I began to pick out familiar
+faces, for I have a keen sight for a friend.
+
+There was Jack Hart and Tom Finlay, two of my old boys, sitting
+together, one of them from Denver, and the other professor in a Maine
+college; there was Dr. Gorden a bit lower, and Fred Tillotson with his
+pretty wife; there was Charlie Thomas with a little fellow in a
+sweater, evidently a dead game sport already, and a chip of the old
+block, for his face is red with excitement, and his eyes like saucers
+with enthusiasm.
+
+I was taking my eyes away to look at the men, when they fastened on a
+figure a few rows from the top. It was that of one of the most striking
+girls I have ever seen, as perfect a blonde as even Old England could
+show, and with a very British air of reserve, despite the excitement
+around her. She was a marvel,--tall and well-developed, groomed and
+gowned to the dot. I could see she was looking straight at Teddy in the
+calmest style imaginable, but still rather surprised that he did not
+return her glance.
+
+But Teddy had for the moment quite forgotten her. He was bent over his
+mark, his eyes straight ahead, ready for the first sound of the pistol,
+for his instructions were to take the lead from the beginning.
+
+There was a strapping field of a dozen or more, but most of the others
+were prepared to take the customary start for a "half"--easy away, and
+fast work when heart and lungs had worked up to it.
+
+"Marks! Set!" the crack of the pistol, and Teddy shot out as if for a
+sprint, slowing immediately, however, when he had taken his place.
+
+Bates pulled out of the ruck at the turn, and fell in behind him,
+following orders. Round the track they swung, stringing out, one and
+another coming up and going back as if on wires, but Teddy and Bates
+holding the lead. My watch showed fifty-eight and three-quarters as they
+finished the first lap, a beautiful performance on Teddy's part, though
+I had expected it, for he was a connoisseur on time, if I ever saw one.
+
+There followed them over, and close up, a cadaverous-looking man from
+one of the minor colleges, whose style I did not like, but who was going
+very strong, and whom I might have thought dangerous had I not been told
+he never finished. Sherman was twenty-five yards back, in the rear of
+the lot, and running in a very hopeless fashion.
+
+I was relieved to see how well Teddy did his work, and noticed the
+slight flush on his cheeks as he passed.
+
+I could see that Mollie Kittredge too had a little added color in her
+cheeks, but in no other way did she show any particular interest in the
+race.
+
+For the first half of the second lap our programme was followed out all
+right, Atherton still leading at a lively clip, Bates right at his
+heels, and the tall outsider barely holding his own.
+
+Then the unexpected happened. Bates began to show signs of tiring, fell
+back inch by inch, and the tall outsider came up at the same rate. Just
+before the lower turn they got together, and there was a short struggle;
+but Bates was as arrant a cur as ever wore a shoe, and he yielded the
+place, though he had strength enough to run another lap, had he the
+heart to go with it.
+
+Teddy was, perhaps, five yards to the good when he swung into the
+stretch, and looked over his shoulder, expecting to see his college mate
+close up and ready to take up the running. Instead, he saw an unexpected
+contestant, coming fast, and Bates was full five yards behind, slowing,
+and evidently out of it.
+
+Now Atherton was, of course, well-nigh spent; he had followed
+instructions to the dot, and was not expected to finish.
+
+There was a half-second's hesitation and a look of fear; but as quick as
+he realized the conditions, the little fellow swung his face to the
+front and set his teeth with the evident determination of making a fight
+for the race.
+
+A mighty cheer went up from the spectators, for Teddy had many friends,
+and the whole college knew under what circumstances he was running; but
+I doubt if he heard anything but the crunch, crunch, crunch of the
+swift feet behind him. I knew it was a hopeless task, for his opponent
+was fresh as paint, and full of running. Gradually his longer stride
+drew him up, but when he tried to pass, Teddy still had a word to say,
+and met him with the most stubborn resistance. He was almost gone, his
+face white as death, his eyes glazed, and he kept his speed only by
+sheer force of will.
+
+Somehow, I know not how, for I could hardly have taken my eyes from the
+runners, I knew that Mollie Kittredge was on her feet with a look of
+horror in her face.
+
+Down the stretch they came, the little fellow with the drawn cheeks, and
+his opponent tall and strong and confident. Side by side they came,
+neither gaining, until perhaps fifteen yards from the finish, when the
+big fellow shot by.
+
+Teddy staggered on, but lurched forward, and fell, a few feet short of
+the line, just as the winner broke the tape.
+
+He fell without an effort to save himself, plowing through the cinders
+with his white face. There was a convulsive struggle to crawl over, and
+then he lay still, dead to the world, with one hand stretched out toward
+the line.
+
+The half-dozen who finished ran by the motionless figure, and I was over
+it a second after. Tom Furness was almost as soon as myself, and
+together we lifted and placed it on the soft turf inside the track. We
+were surrounded by a crowd of contestants and track officials, but a
+cry, followed by a commotion in the grand stand, drew their attention,
+and we were left alone.
+
+So full of agony was the cry, that I looked up myself, and was just in
+time to see the statuesque Mollie throw up her hands and fall back in a
+dead faint. Yes, blondes have hearts, after all.
+
+We were not much troubled by the crowd, for they thought it was only a
+man "run out," and that he would be all right in a minute or two, and
+walk off as well as ever.
+
+Alas! I knew better; it was a bad case, and I could find little sign of
+life in the limp body. We made an effort to revive him, but Tom could
+not get a drop from his flask through the clenched teeth, and one side
+of the face was bleeding, where it had slid over the cinders. The crowd
+was coming back, the spectators were beginning to notice us, so I told
+Tom to take the legs, and I took the head and shoulders, and we started
+for the dressing-rooms.
+
+A pathetically light weight was it, and I was heart-sick, for, though
+one hand was over the heart, I could feel no motion through the thin
+jersey. "Doc" joined us at the door, and I was never so pleased to see
+any one in my life, for I knew that he would do all that could be done,
+and we need not experiment with some one we did not know.
+
+When we got into a quiet room we placed Teddy on a rubbing-couch, and
+"Doc" immediately applied the most powerful remedies to revive him. They
+were at first unsuccessful, but by hypodermic injections of strychnine
+and brandy, the wearied heart and lungs were at last induced to start
+feebly on their accustomed tasks.
+
+We were standing by the couch, watching the hint of color grow in the
+boy's cheeks, when suddenly the limp figure made a convulsive effort
+(consciousness taking up the thread where it had been broken, a few feet
+short of the tape), and he almost lifted himself to his feet before we
+could catch him. As he fell back in our arms, there came to his lips the
+bright-red blood-spots, precursors of a fearful hemorrhage.
+
+It was almost impossible for us to check it, for the boy was delirious,
+would not lie still, and kept saying in a determined way, "I will win! I
+must win!"
+
+He would turn his head, and call, "Bates! Bates!" in a frenzy of fear
+and disappointment. "Bates, where are you? My God, where are you? I'm
+sure I followed orders, and did not come too fast."
+
+Then he would find Bates, and say contentedly, "There you are, old man,
+close up; I'll drop out now, I'm almost gone; push out and win."
+
+Suddenly he would discover it was the outsider, and would cry out with
+fevered lips, and try to break away from us and run.
+
+Then he would lie still, but in his mind was going over the agony of the
+finish again and again. He would turn to me and say excitedly, "You told
+me I need not finish. I can't run the 'half,' and you know it. It's
+dark, and they have run off with the tape. I finished long ago, and
+still you make me run."
+
+Sometimes he would drop his hands and say despairingly, "I cannot do it,
+I cannot reach the worsted; O God, I cannot!"
+
+Then he would discover Tom, who was almost as crazy as Teddy himself,
+and had been utterly useless from the time the hemorrhage set in. He
+would say to Tom, "Don't look at me like that, old man; I know I lost
+the race, but I did my best, my very best, and ran clear out. Look at my
+cheek, where I fell; you must see I was dead beat." He would try to
+argue with Tom, who had not a word to say, except of sorrow and
+self-reproach. He would look at Tom, and say, "Perhaps you're right,
+and I'll not complain, but why did you tell me to set pace, if you meant
+to make me finish?" Or he would say over and over again, "I was not
+strong enough; I did the best I could; I did the best I could."
+
+Indeed, he did not cease talking all the time we were with him, until he
+was given opiates and taken to the hospital.
+
+Here he spent many weary weeks, and was only pulled through after the
+most persistent care. But though he got on his feet again, he did not
+fully recover, and even a long trip to the Bermudas did not get his
+lungs in shape. He spent some months in Southern California, and settled
+finally among the Carolina hills, the nearest point to his old New
+England home, where he could expect to prolong his days.
+
+I have seen many gallant winners, many whose courage and determination
+made them such; but when I tell the story that comes closest to my
+heart, I tell of one a notch above them all. I tell of Teddy Atherton,
+of his last "half" which he _lost_.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Charge of the Heavy Brigade]
+
+
+There were three of us in my office at the gymnasium. It was late
+afternoon of a February day. The hail was beating against my windows,
+and a punching-bag was drumming the "devil's tattoo" in the next room.
+There were all sorts of sounds outside, from the clatter of pulley
+weights dropped on the floor to the steady tramp of the runner's feet on
+the track overhead, but in my room a Sabbath stillness reigned.
+
+Fred Seever was perched on a chair in one corner ready dressed for
+departure, and N. P. Sawyer, familiarly known as "Shack," sat on the
+weighing scales clad only in trunks, jersey, and an air of melancholy.
+It would not have been a comfortable seat for most anatomies, and the
+metal work must have felt chilly; but Shack had eccentric tastes, and
+never occupied a chair if he could find anything else to hold him.
+
+I had just remarked in the quietest manner possible, "It is pretty well
+settled that Seever does not run this year." This was the cause of
+Shack's melancholy and Seever's silence.
+
+"Well, if that's the verdict," said Seever, with considerable heat for
+one so quiet, "it's mighty hard lines, and a blooming hothouse plant it
+makes of me. I've been planning the whole year to get back at the
+Dutchman, and now at the last moment you say I don't start."
+
+"Yes," spoke up Shack, "you should get a glass case for the dear boy,
+and put him in it, labelled 'Rare Specimen,' 'A Runner too Good to
+Run.'" He followed up this ingenious suggestion by untangling his long
+legs, rising slowly to his feet, and suddenly throwing a stray
+boxing-glove which he had picked up from the floor, hitting the "Rare
+Specimen" a blow in the short ribs that brought forth an involuntary
+grunt. "By the way, Professor," he continued, "do you think it quite
+safe for a little chap like me to toy with a sixteen-pound shot?
+Mightn't I drop it on my precious toes some day?"
+
+"I've told you my reasons plainly enough," I answered, looking up from
+my desk and laughing at big Shack in spite of myself. "You remember last
+year. Seever went into this same 'mile handicap,' running from scratch.
+There were thirty-odd entries, and he was blocked, elbowed, and pocketed
+all the way through, getting a toss from Kitson in the last lap that
+sent him rolling into a corner with skin enough off his knees to make
+parchment for his diploma."
+
+"I wasn't hurt, though," argued Seever, "only sore for a few days."
+
+"'Twas luck that saved you then," I answered; "suppose you'd broken a
+leg, as you might easily have done on that hardwood floor, where would
+we have been at Mott Haven, with not a man jack of you good for
+four-thirty?"
+
+"Give it up," said Shack. "Did you notice that the same field, too, let
+the Dutchman through like a greased pig? Hartman had half a dozen club
+mates in the lot, and as many more were quite willing to do all within
+the law to keep a college man out of it."
+
+"Well," continued I, "Fred Seever is neither a wrestler nor a football
+player. These indoor games are all right, and for the average man there
+is no better place to learn quickness than in a mob of runners swinging
+round the raised corners of a slippery board track. But Fred has had
+experience enough, and is sure to appear on the cinder-path with the
+warm spring days in good condition if left entirely to himself. In the
+second place, he is too slender to take any chances."
+
+"Yes," interrupted Shack, "those pipe-stem legs are marked
+'breakable.'"
+
+I concluded with, "The verdict is that, unless I have some good reason
+to change my mind, Seever's name will certainly be scratched."
+
+At this there was a dead silence. Shack looked at Seever questioningly,
+then shook his head, and began to whistle "Ben Bolt" in a particularly
+dismal manner.
+
+When I found they had nothing more to say, I resumed my examination of
+the list of entries to the first big "Indoor Athletic Games" of the
+season. I had just received it from the "official handicapper," and was
+considerably interested to find what my men had been given. They figured
+in every handicap, and in the "forty-yard novice" there were no less
+than fourteen of them, nearly all Freshmen, with two or three who would
+show a turn of speed. There were a few I did not intend should run,
+among them Seever, for the reasons I had already given.
+
+These games are a perfect godsend to a trainer, coming as they do at a
+time when it is very hard to keep the men up to their work. The
+gymnasium is indispensable in a country where from December to April the
+cinder-path is either hard with frost or white with snow. But when a man
+has done his fifteen minutes at the pulley weights for the hundredth
+consecutive afternoon, he finds the excitement of "One, two, three,
+four, five, six," begins to pall on him, and by the last of February
+even "practising starts" loses its charms. It is then the circuit of a
+billiard-table becomes the favorite track work, and the digestion of a
+good dinner the principal muscular exercise.
+
+I had checked off about half the names, finding few surprises, when the
+quiet of my room was broken by the entrance of a dozen fellows who had
+just learned of the arrival of the list. Did you ever hear the work of
+that very conscientious gentleman the "official handicapper" discussed
+by a crowd of contestants? Of half a dozen men perhaps one is pleased
+and says so, two or three have no fault to find but do nevertheless
+grumble out of principle, and the remainder "kick like veteran mules,"
+and blackguard in shameful fashion the man whose only sin has been to
+overrate their abilities.
+
+"What's this?" cried Ferris, a high jumper, looking over my shoulder. "I
+get only four inches, and Bob here gets six. That's highway robbery, and
+I don't care who knows it. He did five-eight to my five-seven only
+yesterday."
+
+"Here's little Larry with five yards in the 'forty,'" spoke up Shack,
+who had monopolized the view from my right side, his broad shoulders
+shutting off all the rest; "the infant won't do a thing to them, will
+he?"
+
+"What do you get yourself?" inquired Turner, who was bigger than Shack,
+but not quite quick enough to get a place of vantage.
+
+"That's what I ought to be looking for," answered Shack, "but I always
+think of others first. They'll put something of that kind on my
+tombstone. Where's the 'shot'?" He ran his big finger down the page,
+remarking meanwhile, "I gave Jones [the handicapper] a good cigar only
+last week, and told him that I had not been myself the whole winter."
+Shack said this with a deep sigh, as if he well knew he was threatened
+with an early decline. "I expect to find nothing less than the same old
+eight feet for yours truly." His finger suddenly stopped, as he said
+this, and then straightening himself with an energy that sent two or
+three men flying backward, he exclaimed: "Great Jupiter! Look at that!
+Only look at that! And 'twas a good cigar too. He gives me just four
+feet, the least of any of you, and Turner here, who tied me this
+afternoon, gets the eight instead." At this there was a big laugh at
+Shack, whose woes were a joke to all.
+
+Down the list they went until all were informed, and then they gradually
+sifted out, leaving Seever and Shack still with me. I could not
+understand why they stayed, for they knew well enough that further
+argument would be useless; but I paid no attention to them, going on
+with my checking.
+
+The "mile handicap" was almost the last event. I crossed out Seever's
+name, which figured alone at "scratch," saw that Hartman had his
+twenty-five yards, the same as last year, marked off Root at fifty and
+Murphy at seventy yards, and then suddenly discovered, just below, the
+names of G. Turner and N. P. Sawyer with the same allowances. To say I
+was surprised would but faintly express my feeling, as Turner was a shot
+and hammer man who had played football, weighed nearly one hundred and
+ninety pounds, and had never to my knowledge run a yard on a track in
+his life. N. P. Sawyer was the seldom used patronymic of Shack, who had
+resumed his seat on the scales in the corner, and was evidently by his
+air of expectancy waiting for an explosion. I had sent in neither name,
+and was utterly at sea regarding the whole affair.
+
+"Well, Sawyer," said I, turning rather abruptly toward him, "what does
+this mean?"
+
+"Simply this," replied Shack, very frankly, as if he had expected the
+question and had his answer ready,--"simply this, that I thought we
+would pay the devil in his own coin, and give Hartman and his
+fellow-pirates of the 'Rowing Club' a taste of their medicine; let the
+Dutchman carom against Turner and myself a few times, permit Kitson to
+enjoy the experience of a tumble like that he gave Fred last year, and
+carry the latter bit of 'rare porcelain' through the mob without getting
+chipped."
+
+"A very pretty plan," I remarked sarcastically, "but why was I not
+consulted in the matter?"
+
+"Simply because we were doubtful of your consent, and wished to get as
+far along as possible before we had our little talk with you."
+
+"Of course," remarked Seever, "we knew you would have the final word to
+say, but we thought you would prefer not to have the plan yours, and to
+be able to say that you did not even send in the entries."
+
+"That was certainly very thoughtful of you."
+
+"Yes," interposed Shack, "there is a remote chance of a little 'shindy'
+when the 'Heavy Brigade' gets well started."
+
+"If you and Turner are mixed up in it, I should think the chances
+considerably more than even," I remarked; "but why in the world did two
+ice-wagons like you and Turner go into it? You can neither of you run a
+mile in ten minutes."
+
+"Ten minutes," cried Shack. "We'll let you hold a watch over us and see.
+You said just now that Seever was neither a wrestler nor a football
+player. Well, this is, you admit, something of a football game, and we
+have a football aggregation for it. Root is in it too. He played 'left
+half,' Turner 'right,' and I 'full back' on the team all last fall. Root
+has been doing the mile for a couple of years, and is a fair performer.
+Turner is a mighty fast man for his weight, and can go the distance. As
+for myself, although my well-known modesty shrinks at the assertion, I
+am a 'crack-a-Jack' at any distance from one hundred yards to ten miles.
+I am indeed. With a seventy-yard handicap Seever has no show with me. I
+thought we three could do the trick nicely with a little of the
+interference we worked up together and found mighty useful on the
+'gridiron.'"
+
+"That's your plan, is it?" I asked. "Well, 'tis as crazy as its maker,
+which is saying a great deal."
+
+At this there was silence again, Seever twirling his thumbs, and Shack
+running his fingers through his mop of hair in a hopeless fashion.
+
+"I am not sure, however, but that with some modification I shall let you
+try it." At this Seever looked a shade less discouraged, and Shack gave
+a broad smile of triumph, and then listened with much seriousness as I
+said, "In the first place, there must be no interference with Hartman;
+do you promise this?"
+
+"We do," answered Shack, who was quite willing to make any condition if
+Seever could be allowed to run.
+
+"In the second place, you must make pace for Seever as decently as
+possible, and not one of you catch a judge's eye."
+
+"We swear it," replied Shack, raising his big hand solemnly above his
+head.
+
+"All right; if you will look out for these things I will let you try. It
+is time something was done, and even an extreme step like this may be
+the means of straightening matters out."
+
+We talked the affair over for some time together, and when we parted our
+plans were well matured. I found that Root, Turner, and Shack had been
+training carefully for several weeks with this in view. They had all
+done the "mile" in fair time, although the last "quarter" was something
+of a task for big Turner. Shack, however, very much to my surprise,
+showed me a performance on the short gymnasium track that proved with
+seventy yards' start no one on earth could catch him, and the event was
+simply at his mercy. Seever begged him to go in for himself and pull
+the thing off, and I advised the same; but this did not tempt Shack at
+all.
+
+"I had rather see Fred beat out the Dutchman than to win a dozen races,"
+he declared, rubbing his hands.
+
+So the affair was settled. I gave him a careful trial a few nights
+before the "games," and decided that Hartman with his first mate Kitson
+and his "fellow pirates," as Shack called them, were likely to find
+rough sailing on Saturday night.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is an almost endless variety in outdoor games. The weather
+conditions alone are enough to make each day stand out by itself. Cloud
+and sunshine, heat and cold, wind and calm, not to speak of the
+occasional smart shower at about five o'clock when interest is at its
+height, make an almost limitless combination.
+
+There is none of this diversity to indoor games. The track is neither
+fast nor heavy, and the boards are no softer on one evening than
+another. The temperature is always a bit too high for comfort, the air
+too close for laboring lungs, and the same bright light glares on all.
+There may of course be something in the games themselves to make them
+noteworthy, and those of February, 189-, I shall always remember through
+the charge of the "Heavy Brigade," so called by Shack, who claimed it
+quite outclassed the performance of the "Light Brigade," because the
+danger was greater and there were no dead nor wounded.
+
+When I arrived at the "hall" at a little after seven o'clock, they were
+preparing to start the preliminary heats of the "forty-yard novice," a
+weeding-out process quite necessary, but not particularly exciting. The
+"clerk of the course" was calling off the names of the contestants, and
+nearly a hundred young fellows were gathered around him, answering one
+after the other, as he checked off the list. Some were hidden from
+shoulder to toe by voluminous wraps, some wore sweaters of various
+shapes and colors, and some were clad only in jersey, trunks, and
+running shoes. The officials, who wore their badges and an air of
+_blasé_ indifference to distinguish them from common mortals, were much
+in evidence, and a good-sized squad of carpenters and helpers were
+busying themselves around the track.
+
+The men on the floor far outnumbered the spectators, who as a rule were
+content to wait for the semi-finals at eight o'clock and enjoy an
+unhurried dinner meanwhile. There were a few boys in the gallery, here
+and there a little bunch of a half-dozen or so in the seats surrounding
+the track, and on the platform only two pretty girls occupied seats on
+the very back row, who were anxious to see somebody win his heat,--a
+brother perhaps.
+
+In a far corner of the gallery the musicians were arriving. They would
+not begin to play for some time, however, and meanwhile the high walls
+echoed to every sound, and the long strips of bunting hanging from the
+ceiling waved slowly with the wind from the open windows.
+
+I could see among the crowd of contestants who gathered around the white
+lines at the start several boys in whom I was interested; but I had
+nothing to say to them, and went over to the opposite corner, where the
+judges clustered around the finish posts. The red worsted was waiting
+for its first break, and beyond, hung against the walls, were the
+mattresses to catch the sprinter unable to check his speed. On one side
+were the hurdles in a long row ready to be pushed into place. In a third
+corner was the seven-foot circle with its raised cleat for the "shot
+put," and the last triangle was occupied by the standards and cross bar
+for the "high jump." The movable platforms for the raised corners were
+in two sections, and pulled apart so as not to interfere with the
+"dash."
+
+I had only time for a word or two, a nod here and a handshake there,
+when, at a sign from the starter, the judges took their places, and the
+timekeepers stood with watch in hand ready to record the flying fifth
+seconds. I could look along the smooth floor and see the men take their
+places. There was Downer, a little Freshman, white with the excitement
+of his first public performance. He was a nervous chap, and one of my
+most promising men. Up goes the starter's hand, "Marks," "Set," the
+report of the pistol, and out of the circling crowd break the five
+struggling forms. There is the beat of eager feet, one, two, three,
+four, and between the posts they dash, little Downer coming away in the
+last few strides. "Thud" he goes against the mattress; "thud," "thud,"
+"thud," "thud," go the other four, and the first heat is over. As they
+come back, the judges check off the "37" from Downer's back, his
+nervousness all gone, and in its place a confidence for which there is
+as little excuse.
+
+There were a score of heats varying little from this, as many more in
+the "forty-yard handicap," and when they were finished nearly every seat
+in the building was taken, and the platform had blossomed out like a
+bank of flowers with the bright colors which the ladies wore. Now the
+band starts up with a swinging "March," and everything takes on a new
+life.
+
+In the next two hours there was nothing particularly worth recording.
+Shack won the "shot put" in spite of the four feet about which he had
+complained so loudly, thus proving the astuteness of the much maligned
+"handicapper." Sawyer came to me with Root and Turner just before the
+"mile" was called, his long wrap dangling loose around his heels, and a
+broad grin on his face. He answered my inquiry as to whether everything
+was all right with an expressive nod, and then quoted a line or two from
+some pathetic ballad in which the horrors of a death on the battle-field
+were vividly depicted. He called off the roll very solemnly. Root and
+Turner answering to their names, he told them to look to their
+accoutrements, to tighten their horses' girths, and when the starter
+sent them to their places, he gave the order to "saddle" with great
+seriousness, leaving me with a step or two in imitation of a
+particularly clumsy charger.
+
+He was fixed with Turner at the seventy-yard mark, among a crowd of a
+score of limit men. When they took their places, Shack was well outside
+in the first row, and Turner well inside on the second. Root was twenty
+yards back with another smaller knot of men at the fifty-yard mark, and
+there were half a dozen at the thirty-five.
+
+Fritz Hartman was alone on the twenty-five-yard line, and Seever stood
+by himself at "scratch." Fritz was a well put together little chap, with
+curly yellow hair, round face, and a great favorite with the gallery and
+the "Rowing Club." There were a half dozen of the latter among the
+contestants, all of them showing the crossed oars on the breasts of
+their jerseys. Seever was almost as fair as the Dutchman, but he was a
+bit browner, his hair was darker without the curl, and he stood at least
+three inches taller. He kept his wrap on until the last moment, taking
+no chances with a draft of cool air which blew from an open window
+behind him. I knew there was nothing to be said to him, for he knew his
+business perfectly, but took my position near the limit men, who were
+having considerable fun with Shack and Turner.
+
+One little fellow told Shack he would be quite a sprinter when he "got
+his growth." And Shack confessed he did not feel quite strong enough for
+the distance. When Turner pulled off his sweater, revealing his enormous
+shoulders and chest, he did appear a bit out of place among the lighter
+men around him. One of them said Turner was in good shape, but a "bit
+fine," and asked if he had not done a "trifle too much work." Another
+declared that Shack was so wide, he blocked the whole track. There
+seemed to be an impression that the two big fellows had gone in for a
+lark, or with the idea of settling who was the best at the distance, and
+with no idea of winning. Of the real plan of the "Heavy Brigade" there
+was no sign that any one had the least suspicion.
+
+There was some cheering from the galleries for Hartman when he took his
+place, and when Seever threw off his wrap there came a little burst of
+applause from the spectators on the platform, and from the seats which
+circled the track.
+
+Many remembered Seever's nasty fall of the previous year, and it was
+pretty well surmised that he meant to make a mighty hard try to win
+where he had failed before. Indeed, by that peculiar telegraphy which
+runs through a large crowd, almost every one knew that the "mile" was to
+be the event of the evening. Seever was a fine sight in his spotless
+running suit, his arms a bit slender, not an ounce of useless weight
+above the belt, and his legs long and lithe as a greyhound's. He might
+not be a "hothouse plant," but he was certainly not qualified to join
+the ranks of the "Heavy Brigade."
+
+The band stops in the middle of a bar at a signal from the "announcer,"
+while he calls out the winners of the "high jump" in stentorian tones.
+Then comes almost perfect silence as the thirty-odd men bend over their
+marks, and are off with the sound of the pistol. They make a noise like
+a heavy freight-train, and when the limit men strike the first corner it
+was a case of the "ready shoulder" and "useful elbow," sure enough.
+Three or four went down, sliding along the smooth boards. A couple were
+up almost without loss, but one of them has enough and goes limping off
+the track. Big Turner, despite his football experience, almost comes to
+grief, for he had a man right under his feet; he staggers through,
+however, with a plunge that sends another man to the edge of the track,
+and is by Shack's side a moment later. Of course anything with a pair of
+legs can run a single lap at the speed with which the best of them start
+out who mean to finish in good time. The first lap showed few changes,
+except that the whole lot had strung out in a long procession, first one
+and then another coming up or going back, but with no very radical
+changes. There were a couple of fellows with no idea of pace who
+started from limit as if they had a hundred yards only before them, and
+who came up close to Seever, who was in no hurry yet.
+
+In the second lap Hartman began to draw away, and at the end of the
+third passed a man or two and came up to a little bunch of nine or ten
+close together. Root was among them, and made a little spurt as Fritz
+went by; but the rest opened a gap like a barn door, through which the
+Dutchman slipped with ease, and set out for those ahead.
+
+"That was very pretty," said I to myself; "now we will see if Seever
+gets the same chance." Fred, who had now struck his gait, and got his
+heart and lungs in good working order, quickening his stride, passed a
+few stragglers almost before they saw him, and came up to the same bunch
+through which Hartman had gone so easily. He trailed after them a
+little, and then swung wide to go by on the outside; but a stout fellow
+with the crossed oars on his breast went with him, his right arm well
+out, and his elbows up, taking Seever almost to the rail. The latter was
+forced back again, and in the straight tried to slip through a promising
+gap, but they put the bars up as he came along, and he found himself,
+despite his best efforts, nicely pocketed at this early stage of the
+game. There was considerable indication of disapproval from the
+audience, and some hisses; but there was Seever, sure enough, "in
+Coventry" and no mistake.
+
+All this time Shack and Turner were running easily, and they now began
+to slip back faster still among the tail-enders, being joined by Root on
+the way. When Seever found himself blocked, he slowed a little,
+according to instructions, and a second or two later the three men came
+back, and led him with Shack first, Root second, and Turner just ahead.
+Then, as if a trumpet had been blown, the "Heavy Brigade" swung into
+position something like the letter "V," with Shack at the apex, Root a
+little back and outside, and Turner in the same relative position on the
+inside. There was nothing at all conspicuous about all this, and I doubt
+if any one noticed it but myself. Seever now came up a little, and took
+his place behind the "troop." They ran in this way for a few strides,
+and then, as if the order to charge had been given, the "Heavy Brigade"
+started at speed.
+
+I held my breath a bit as they came up to the bunch which had blocked
+Seever a moment before. Shack tried to swing wide, but again the stout
+fellow with the crossed oars came out, and with him a couple of others.
+Then Shack came in a little, chose a place where there was a small gap,
+the trio "hit her up," and went through the crowd like a particularly
+powerful snow-plough. The stout fellow tried to swing in, but he could
+make no more impression against Shack than a stone-wall, and when he
+bumped back against Root the latter worthy sent him to the rear. Turner
+took care of his corner without a stagger. It was a mighty neat
+performance, for no one was taken off his feet, though several had been
+thrown out of their strides when the "Brigade" cut through. The audience
+cheered as Seever swung by, and set out behind his body-guard at a pace
+that meant mischief to some one. They had all been running easily, and
+now they passed one contestant after another until they came to a second
+bunch a bit more solid than the first.
+
+Shack trailed them for a half lap; looking in vain for an opening, he
+swung wide, he made a try for the inside, he stepped this way and that,
+and then suddenly, as if at the touch of the spur, the "Heavies" cut
+into the line in front where it was weakest. There was no opening; so
+Shack selected a little fellow in the middle, and ran right over him,
+taking pains to send him wide out of Seever's way. Root had little
+trouble, but Turner found himself in an awful hole. I could see his
+huge shoulder as he forced through, and at one time I thought he was
+surely down, but he came through a little behind the rest, puffing like
+a grampus. He was strong and game, however, and a moment later was in
+his place again, although far from comfortable.
+
+The audience was now on its feet, for there were but a couple of laps
+left, and the real race was now to come. Half of the starters had
+dropped out, half of the remainder were hopelessly trailed, and the
+leaders were close together. Hartman had perhaps ten yards over Kitson,
+and about the same distance back were the "Heavies," with Seever close
+up. This latter "piece of rare porcelain," as Shack called him, had been
+taken through without a touch and was running as if on eggs. They pulled
+Kitson back fast, and caught him at the last corner. He was a tall
+fellow with a closely shaven head, who was a runner, sure enough, and
+used his arms almost as much as his legs. It was almost impossible for a
+light man to get by him on a narrow board track.
+
+Just what he tried to do I never discovered, for the crowd of
+contestants inside the track were all huddled together and partly hid my
+view. All I am sure of is that the man with the "useful elbow" suddenly
+performed a parabola of surpassing splendor, and landed in a very dazed
+condition between the knees of a fat man in the front row of spectators.
+
+Kitson had no sooner been put out of danger than Root and Shack swung
+wide, and Turner also stepped out of the way, falling among the crowd
+inside the track pretty well run out, and Seever came through and set
+out for Hartman like the "Headless Horseman."
+
+The Dutchman ran as if the famous spectre of Sleepy Hollow was indeed
+after him, but Seever was as fresh as paint and would not be denied.
+Foot by foot he gained, and passing him at the last corner broke the
+tape a comfortable winner by a couple of yards.
+
+Of course he received plenty of acknowledgment for his plucky race, but
+not half the applause that came to Shack, the doughty leader of the
+"Heavy Brigade," who came romping in third, with a grin on his face like
+the first quarter of a harvest moon.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A Virginia Jumper]
+
+
+I remember it was on a Monday morning that I sat in my office at the
+gymnasium, opening a three-days' mail. I had been out of town, and found
+quite a formidable accumulation of letters on my desk.
+
+It was early, not later than eight o'clock. The November sun was
+shining, and the woodbine that framed the eastern window was blazing
+almost as brightly as the fire in the grate. It was all very cheerful. I
+was glad to get back again, and with an old cricket jacket around my
+shoulders I set myself to clean up the arrears of work.
+
+I always handle my mail on the principle of elimination; that is, I
+first open the unsealed envelopes containing circulars, then those of
+apparently little consequence, and so on down to the most interesting
+and important. Of course I sometimes make mistakes, but not very often.
+I distinctly remember that on that day an envelope with a black border
+was saved for the very last. The postmark was illegible, and it was
+addressed to me in a particularly old-fashioned and graceful hand.
+
+When at last I broke the seal, I found its contents as follows:
+
+  THE OAKS, FAIRFAX CO., VA.
+
+      DEAR SIR: I am desirous that my son may win distinction in some
+      form of athletic sport. I understand that you have charge of the
+      instruction in this department. It is my wish that he be given
+      especial training in that exercise to which he is best adapted. I
+      have already advised him concerning my plan. I write you also,
+      because he has unfortunately little ambition in this direction,
+      and I must ask that he be given particular care and attention. I
+      shall be pleased to have you send me the customary bill for such
+      extra work. My son comes of a family renowned for strength and
+      vigor, and should be able to surpass all competitors. I should
+      consider a second place no better than absolute failure. Asking
+      your serious consideration of the above, I am,
+
+  Sincerely yours,
+  MARGARET LEE FAIRFAX.
+  TO MR. WALTER BROWN.
+
+Now, I have received a great many letters concerning athletic matters in
+my time, but few more interesting than this. Concealed under a very
+matter-of-fact speech and manner, there is in me a vein of the
+imaginative which I occasionally indulge. Sometimes a very small matter
+will be enough to send me on a very wild flight. I remember that I read
+the letter with the black border again and again, trying to picture to
+myself the one who wrote it. There were nine sentences, and six of them
+beginning with the "I,"--evidently a woman of strong personality. "I am
+desirous," "It is my wish," certainly indicated one accustomed to have
+her inclinations respected. "He comes of a family renowned for strength
+and vigor, and should be able to surpass all competitors," plainly
+showed a woman proud of her birth, and ambitious for success. A
+Virginian, a Fairfax. I made a mind picture of her as she wrote the
+letter, sitting in a cool and shaded room in one of those
+white-pillared, wide-halled mansions, built a century ago among the
+oaks. She was dressed in black, her figure tall and slender, her back
+straight and her head well poised. Her hair had a few threads of white
+in it, but a hint of color still showed in her cheeks, and the light had
+not yet gone out of her dark eyes. Her mouth I pictured a trifle
+thin-lipped and positive. At an old mahogany desk with big brass
+escutcheons she sat, the magnolias' heavy fragrance in the air, the song
+of the darkies sounding faintly from the distant fields. This is the
+picture I made on that November morning, and how long I should have
+dreamed I cannot say, had not Paddy's voice from under my window waked
+me from my trance, with "Jerry, ye Kildare divil, luk at the rake ye
+lift out the night; it's half a mind I hev to comb yer thick hid wid
+it."
+
+Jerry protested his innocence in tones only less strident than Paddy's
+own, and the remarkably fluent and aggressive tirade of the latter was
+only lost to me when they had walked down the track and out of ear-shot.
+
+Now, I defy any one to make mind pictures under such conditions, and I
+became my practical self at once. I shut off the romantic stop with a
+thud, and turning on the business pipe, proceeded to answer my mail.
+Most of the circulars went into the waste basket; receipted bills into
+one compartment, unpaid into another. I answered a few of the routine
+letters, and then oddly enough I broke my rule, and took up the
+black-bordered letter again.
+
+Who was this candidate for athletic fame? His name was not even
+mentioned in the letter. Evidently the son of Margaret Lee Fairfax was
+supposed to be too well known to need any further title. A reference to
+my list gave me among the freshmen, "Richard Spotswood Fairfax, The
+Oaks, Fairfax Co., Va.," but this did not help me at all. He had
+certainly not appeared on track or field, or I should have remembered
+him, and he had even neglected a physical examination. He was probably
+bandy-legged, big-waisted, round-shouldered, and hollow-chested. He
+might be a sufferer from dyspepsia and heart disease; there were chances
+that he had a fancy for Greek roots, and thought football brutal. I have
+been asked by doting parents to make champion sprinters and weight
+putters out of just such timber,--although the age of miracles is past.
+
+I had a conventional way of answering such letters, and prepared to go
+through the usual forms. A modest request it was indeed! "I should
+consider a second place no better than absolute failure." Little did she
+realize what a combination of excellences go to make up a winner, nor
+how many good men train faithfully for four years without getting a
+place.
+
+Give him "especial care and attention"? Well, hardly, if he does not
+care enough about himself even to have his chart made out.
+
+I had taken the sheet of paper and written the "Dear Madam," when there
+came a knock at the door, and at my "Come in," it swung leisurely open.
+Just how I came to the conclusion I cannot tell, but I knew the first
+moment I set eyes on my visitor that it was Richard Spotswood Fairfax
+himself. He was not at all the monstrosity I had painted him; in fact,
+he was a mighty good-looking fellow. He was a little above average
+height, with a dark oval face, brown hair, and a wide smile that "wud
+timpt a man to borry a dollar," as Paddy once said. His tailor knew his
+business, though his suit of brown tweed fitted a trifle more loosely
+than our Northern style would have permitted. He also wore a low
+roll-collar, that showed a firm, round neck to advantage. He smiled when
+he entered, and sank into a chair by the side of my desk with a sigh of
+content and another smile. He was in no hurry to speak, and as I learned
+after was never in a hurry to do anything. He looked me over a moment
+with his handsome sleepy blue eyes, and then spoke in that melodious
+drawl which is taught nowhere else but in "ole Virginny." I do not
+remember how he introduced the subject, for I was too much taken with
+his voice to notice. I cannot begin to describe it, or the easy way in
+which the words followed each other, divorced from all such aggressive
+letters as _r_, _g_, and _t_.
+
+He told me he wished to be examined, and assigned some branch of sport
+to which he could give his attention; in effect, just what his mother
+had written, except that he omitted to say anything about winning or a
+first place. I asked him if he had ever done anything in athletics, and
+he said that barring a little gunning, a moderate amount of riding, and
+considerable fishing, he had done nothing at all in sports. He expressed
+a decided preference for the fishing, which I thought was
+characteristic.
+
+To my question as to whether he had any choice whatever concerning work
+on track or cinder-path, he answered, none at all, except that which
+called for the least exertion would best suit his book. I decided that
+his mother had written truly when she said he "lacked ambition in this
+direction," and might have said that he lacked ambition in any other. It
+was surprising that I did not take a dislike to one who professed such a
+decided aversion to manly sports, but the boy was so open and frank
+about it that the impression was not at all disagreeable.
+
+After Fairfax had told his story and answered a few questions, I ordered
+him in a short, Yankee fashion (that seemed almost brutal compared with
+his easy tones) to strip and I would take his measurements. At my
+direction he rose slowly, went over to the corner, leisurely took off
+coat and vest, and when he got down to the buff, and I looked up from
+my writing, as I live, I had answered three letters, and the clock had
+ticked off a full five minutes. (Two is usually enough to transform a
+shackled slave of Fashion to the freedom of a state of nature.) I laid
+my pen aside, and taking tape in hand began to look him over. I confess
+I could hardly restrain an exclamation of surprise. His languid ways and
+slow movements had not prepared me for any such development as he
+showed. The conventional costume of the nineteenth century is a
+wonderful disguise, designed by some man-milliner to hide the
+imperfections of a degenerate race. The trained athlete and the flabby
+dude look much alike in loose trousers and padded coats.
+
+Now, Dick was neither athlete nor dude, though if I ever saw a man cut
+out for the former, he was the one. His skin was dark, but clear and
+velvety. He stood easily, with every muscle relaxed, and was as
+symmetrical as a demi-god. There was nothing out of proportion, no fat,
+no unused muscle, and no over-development. Indeed, I surmised, what
+afterward proved true, that he was the best specimen of an embryo
+athlete that it had ever been my good fortune to see.
+
+I took him to the standard and found his height five feet ten and
+one-half inches. He lifted the scales at one hundred and fifty-eight,
+and then I put my tape on him and began my measurements. As I marked
+down one after another my admiration grew, and when I had finished and
+he had dressed and left me, I could not deny myself the pleasure of
+making out his chart, even before I finished the mail. A wonderful chart
+it was, too. The average percentage was not as high as that of one or
+two fellows who had the advantages of intelligent handling by good men
+at first-class preparatory schools, but when it came to symmetrical
+development, there was not one in the same class with him. The line was
+almost straight, a slight advantage only showing in measurements below
+the waist.
+
+After the chart was finished I put it in a conspicuous place on the
+mantel, went back to my letters, and finally wrote Mrs. Fairfax as
+follows: "I shall be pleased to give your son the attention you ask.
+Although it is impossible to guarantee any degree of success, he has the
+advantage of an unusually good development, and may make something of
+himself if he is willing to work faithfully and follow orders. It rests
+more with him than myself. There will be no extra charge."
+
+It may seem rather a curt letter, but compared with what I usually write
+in answer to like requests it was remarkably "Chesterfieldian." Not
+that I am ever likely to so far forget myself as to neglect the common
+courtesies, but it is often necessary to be very positive in order to
+protect against further annoyance. I received an acknowledgment from
+"The Oaks" a few days after, which was not quite as dictatorial as the
+first, and in which the "I" was not nearly so much in evidence. It also
+asked me to report occasionally, and hinted that maternal authority
+might be invoked in case of difficulty, and that Richard Spotswood
+Fairfax had been taught to respect it thoroughly.
+
+Dick appeared on the cinder-path the second day after his call on me,
+clad in irreproachable track costume, and I gave him a little trial with
+some of the other freshmen who had been out several weeks. He had never
+worn a running-shoe before that day, nor entered a contest, and yet he
+ran the "hundred" in eleven and three-fifths, and the "quarter" a little
+under the minute, coming in as fresh as paint, and without turning a
+hair. It was odd to see him standing with a half-dozen other fellows,
+who were drenched with perspiration, and wheezing like blacksmiths'
+bellows, while he was not even tired.
+
+The next day he cleared four feet eleven in the "running high," and
+nearly seventeen in the "running broad." Now, these were wonderful
+performances for a novice, particularly as Dick seemed not to exert
+himself in the least.
+
+That night, as I sat in my room smoking a comforting pipe, I thought the
+matter over very thoroughly. I am a shy bird for "wonders," and doubtful
+concerning "phenoms," but I made up my mind in cold blood that almost
+anything was possible for Richard Spotswood Fairfax, of "The Oaks." With
+the advantages of my handling, he ought to be a world beater, and no
+mistake. As Tom Furness expresses a good thing, "There was frosting on
+top, and jelly between the layers."
+
+Of course I said nothing of this to Dick, but ordered him regular
+all-round work in the gymnasium for the winter, and told him if he took
+good care of himself, we might make something of him in the spring. In
+those days we had no big indoor meets, and the men were allowed to do
+very much as they pleased until near the end of the winter. I am of the
+opinion that such rest is better in the end than a continuous course of
+training, particularly for men under twenty-one.
+
+I saw considerable of Dick, and was well satisfied to have him keep to
+easy exercise. He filled out a bit, and the muscles on his shapely body
+grew large and firm as the days went by. I was a bit troubled by the
+boy's extreme popularity, for it brought continual temptation to shirk
+work. Some one or another was perpetually asking him away, when if he
+had possessed fewer friends, he would have been less troubled. He was a
+mighty fine-looking fellow, and with an unlimited fund of good nature
+and good cash (two most essential passports to college popularity),
+spring found him the best known and best liked man of his class, a
+favorite with man, woman, and beast. He had stuck to his work most
+faithfully, and barring a little fling or so, such as all boys of his
+age are likely to take, I had little fault to find with him. I remember
+I expressed one day my surprise that he had not missed his hour in the
+gymnasium more than once or twice since he started in, and was told, as
+if the answer was conclusive, that he had given his promise. He also
+added later that a Fairfax never broke his word, even in the least
+degree.
+
+One common difficulty I escaped with Dick, that of keeping him from the
+football field, the grave for the hopes of so many a promising athlete.
+Dick pronounced the game altogether too much like work to suit him, and
+no entreaty would move him in the least; not even the plea that he was
+"needed," or the threat that he would be considered disloyal to his
+class, had any effect whatever on him.
+
+Now, it must not be thought for a moment that I object to football in
+its proper place. It is the king of sports, and stands by itself,
+unrivalled in its attractions for all of Anglo-Saxon blood. It is the
+best successor to the knightly tourney that this prosaic century has
+left us. Neither an occasional accident, nor the foolishness of some of
+its supporters, with excuses for defeat, nor demands for apologies, will
+ever succeed in killing it.
+
+The game is made, however, only for strong, stocky men. To see one with
+a turn of speed, long, shapely legs, and slender body mixed up in a
+scrimmage, and sure to end in the hospital at last, is more than I can
+stand. It should not take those unfitted for its fierce struggles, but
+qualified by nature for other forms of sport.
+
+After considerable thought I decided to have Dick try for the running
+broad jump, and for these reasons: First, the team was weak in this
+department. Second, this was a trifle his best performance. Third, Dick
+chose it, as calling for the least labor. Indeed, he absolutely declined
+distant running, unless he was bound to it by his promise to his
+mother.
+
+So Dick settled down to regular work and practice at the "running
+broad," and appeared each day as surely as the clock struck the hour;
+not even Frost, a veteran of four years, was as much to be depended on.
+
+Now, there is no more practical school than that of the cinder-path;
+with given athletic material, a certain amount of work should bring
+exact results. We look for them just as confidently as the farmer looks
+for his crops in the autumn, after the planting of the spring and the
+cultivation of the summer. There may be accidents, just as the farmer
+has a hail-storm, or like fruit under an untimely frost a man may go
+stale at the last moment. But, barring accidents, we expect a gradual
+growth and development in just proportion to the natural ability of the
+man.
+
+Now, strange to say, Dick Fairfax contradicted all known laws; his style
+improved, and his physical condition as well, but his jump was the same
+old jump after several weeks of practice. He worked up to an average of
+nineteen-six, but there he stuck, and no handling, instruction, or care
+could pull him on to the even twenty feet. Encouragement, blame, the
+incentives of trial contests, and even ridicule were all the same to
+Dick. I did all I knew,--and a bit well-informed I claimed to
+be,--giving him more attention than any three other men. This was
+partly because I liked the boy, and partly because I received a letter
+from "The Oaks" once every week asking how Richard was getting on. I
+have a decided aversion to lying, and I disliked to tell the truth to
+the lonely woman who looked forward so confidently to her son's success.
+But most of all I stuck to Dick because of the possibilities I saw in
+him. His legs were marvels; from toe to thigh, muscle, sinew, and bone
+were perfect. And yet Seever, with his crooked joints and spindle
+shanks, could best Dick's best effort by a good foot. I racked my brain
+for reasons of the failure, but with no result. I tried all possible
+changes, even to a take-off with the left, but all in vain. Nineteen-six
+he could do before or after breakfast, and probably at midnight, if
+tried at that unusual hour. He was the most consistent performer I have
+ever seen. The trouble was that it was consistency to a distance of no
+use at all to us. Little Jack Bennett, who had started in with something
+like a thirteen-foot jump, had plugged away day after day, until he was
+"hoss and hoss" with Dick, and the latter was quite content. Approval or
+disapproval were all the same to him, and he answered both with a smile,
+or a careless glance from his sleepy blue eyes.
+
+Beside Dick and Jack there were Frost and Seever, two veterans who had
+reached their limit, and were good for a scant twenty-one. We had not
+one first-class man.
+
+Now, while I am telling this tale more particularly for the initiated, I
+mean to make it plain to others less well informed, and will for their
+sakes say that the honor of the broad jump championship is to-day
+divided between Reber in America and Fry in the Old Country, both of
+whom have negotiated twenty-three feet six and one-half inches. No one
+jumping less than twenty-one feet has any chance in a first-class
+competition, and it would have done us as much good if Dick had done
+nine feet as nineteen; that is, no good at all.
+
+Mrs. Fairfax reminded me in her first letter, after I had informed her
+that Dick had chosen the "running broad" as his special event, that this
+was a traditional Virginia sport, and she was pleased with the
+selection. She called my attention to the fact that Thackeray in his
+story of the "Virginians" makes Harry Warrington cover twenty-one feet
+three inches against his English rivals, and says that Col. George
+Washington could better this by a foot. Now, if this is history, and the
+truthful George did the distance with a short run on grass, and no
+take-off but a line on the turf, he was a wonder, and better than any
+we can show to-day. If Reber and Fry had lived in his time they would
+not have been in his class, and should George Washington return to
+earth, and enter a contest to-day (I hope there is nothing sacrilegious
+in the thought), he would distance their best efforts. A mighty fine
+pair of legs he must have had, and what he could have done with modern
+improvements, such as spiked shoes, a five-inch joist, on a nice
+cinder-path, and with prepared ground to land in, we can only guess; I
+should say he could have bettered his record by a good yard. It is easy
+to understand how such a man could succeed in the great game of war.
+
+Our Virginian jumper, despite all his advantages, was content with a
+performance of nearly three feet less than that of the father of his
+country, who had hailed from the same State.
+
+So matters went on, until one morning late in April I arranged with Dick
+to give him an early morning trial alone. He demurred at this most
+decidedly, being very fond of his morning nap, but consented finally, if
+I would agree to call him. I cannot tell how I allowed him to wheedle me
+as he did; but it was a way he had with all, and few could resist him.
+
+It was a little after seven when I left my door and started for Dick's
+room. Now, I am no spring poet; in fact, thirty years' connection with
+the cinder-path has knocked most of the romance out of me, but I
+remember that morning still. It had been a late winter, and this was
+really the first dawn with no chill on the air; the trees were
+blossoming, the birds singing, the sun shining, the air like a tonic,
+and there was an indescribable something which told that winter was gone
+at last.
+
+After some delay at Dick's door,--for he was a wonderful sleeper,
+particularly in the early morning,--I succeeded in waking him, and sat
+in the window-seat while he took his tub. I helped him a little in the
+rub-down, and a man more fit I never saw. This over, Dick pulled on his
+trunks, jersey, and sweater, and taking his shoes in his hands he
+followed me leisurely down-stairs. We waited a moment on the steps,
+while he pulled his shoes on, and then jogged over to the track. So
+fresh was the air, that just before we reached the ground I found myself
+quickening strides with Dick, until we finished at a very pretty sprint,
+something I had not done for a long time. It does not help a trainer to
+compete under any conditions with his man.
+
+Perhaps it was partly because I felt that I had unbent too much with him
+that I made my lecture, already planned, more severe than intended; at
+any rate, it was a mighty stiff talk the boy got. I knew it was useless
+to mince matters, and was resolved to cut through his armor of good
+nature and indifference, if there was a vulnerable point, and a straight
+thrust could reach him. A couple of weeks before, the captain of the
+team, disgusted with Dick's unsatisfactory work, had quite lost his
+temper with him and told him in so many words that he was not worth the
+salt of the training-table, and must make a brace or he would not make
+the team at all.
+
+Almost any other man would have either got hot and given a sharp answer,
+or more likely still gone into his boots with disappointment. Dick,
+however, did neither. He gave one of his wide smiles, maddening enough
+to an earnest man, took the matter very calmly, and volunteered to get
+his feed at his own expense whenever we tired of furnishing it. He
+remarked that a table with a little more variety would suit his palate
+fully as well, and after the talk went on with his tiresome jump of
+nineteen-six just as if nothing at all had been said.
+
+Now, while this was provoking enough, and under usual conditions would
+have resulted in a summary drop from the team, we did not take the boy
+at his word. We were in desperate need of a broad jumper, and hoped that
+he might get out of the rut, and pick up that extra foot or two before
+the games. We thought it possible, also, that in a big contest the boy
+might be stirred up a bit, very much to his benefit.
+
+On this April morning I talked about as plainly as I knew, using good
+old Anglo-Saxon phrases, and not many French idioms. I would not care to
+see my exact words in print, and I am afraid some of the bright eyes
+that I hope to please with this book would open wide with surprise. A
+trainer is given a certain license, like the driver of a yoke of oxen
+and the captain of a football team. I knew one of the latter who was
+seriously blamed because his puritanical training forbade the use of any
+stronger language than "board of health" when a signal was lost or the
+ball was dropped. Out in the open air, and among strong men, it is very
+easy to form the habit of using strong words on occasions like this.
+
+I told Dick, in effect, that I had given him time and attention that
+rightfully belonged to other men on the team, and had nothing to show
+for it; that he could do better, and must do better; that his lack of
+improvement was a reflection on me as well as himself; and finally, if
+he was not an arrant cur, without courage and without honor, he would
+have tired of a child's jump long ago. "Why, man," said I, "if you had
+sand enough for an ant-hill, with a pair of legs like yours, you would
+be making a jump of twenty-three feet this morning."
+
+Now, Dick was a great pet of mine and had never heard a hot word from
+me; he was very much surprised, and when I called him an "arrant cur,
+without courage and without honor," he flushed to the roots of his hair.
+The question of his honor was what touched him most deeply, for his
+Virginia atmosphere had made him especially sensitive, if not over
+careful. I was pleased to see his face grow dark, and the smile fade
+from the corners of his mouth. He was first indignant, and then in a
+towering passion. He stepped toward me, with clinched hands, and opened
+his mouth a couple of times to speak, but not a word did he say. Then he
+turned suddenly on his heel, walked away from me down the cinder-path,
+pulled his sweater over his head, dropped it on the grass, faced toward
+me again, and set himself for his sprint.
+
+I was standing with him close to the joist when I delivered my lecture,
+and I remained where I was, wondering what the boy was up to.
+
+He came down the path for his jump, with his jaw set, his eyes aflame,
+his brows black, and with two bright red spots in his cheeks. One of
+Dick's faults was that he would not force himself to full speed, an
+absolute essential for a good broad jump. In fact, a man who will not or
+cannot sprint should not be allowed to waste his energies on this event.
+This morning was an exception to the rule with Dick, for he came toward
+me like a whirlwind, apparently paying no attention to either stride or
+distance. He fortunately reached the mark all right, caught the joist
+firm and strong, and launched into the air with his knees high.
+
+I cannot describe my sensations as he shot by me, better than to say he
+seemed to fly. I knew before he landed that the old mark of nineteen-six
+was gone forever, but when he broke ground close to the end of the box,
+and fell forward, I could not gather my senses for a moment. Dick picked
+himself up like a flash, his brows still threatening, and coming up to
+me said hoarsely, "Measure that, you English blackguard!" and strode off
+to his room without even stopping to pick up his sweater.
+
+I said nothing at all in answer, for I was not in the least offended at
+the uncomplimentary language. Not that I am accustomed to being
+addressed in other than a respectful manner, but in this case I had
+really brought the anger on myself intentionally, and I had been
+successful beyond my fondest hopes.
+
+As Dick disappeared behind the fence, Tom Furness swung round the
+corner, out for an early spin round the track.
+
+"What do you call that?" said he, looking at the marks.
+
+"It is the biggest jump ever made by man," I answered solemnly.
+
+"A jump from the hard ground, either sidewise or backward," said Tom;
+"nothing but wings could carry a man from the joist to those marks."
+
+"Look them over," I said, "before you question them."
+
+Well, to make a long story short, the marks told their own tale; the
+ground was unbroken except by his feet, for there had been a shower the
+night before. There were proofs enough to convince Tom that Dick's shoes
+with Dick in them had run down that cinder-path, and from the joist had
+jumped the distance. Tom saw readily that the heel prints were too deep
+for a short jump backward, and too even for one sidewise. There was the
+broken ground, showing that the impetus was from the joist and the
+jumper was at a high rate of speed, and had lifted high in the air.
+
+When we had argued it all out satisfactorily, Tom suggested that we had
+better measure it before we talked any longer, for it might not show up
+to what I thought.
+
+He took the end of the tape and held it to the joist, while I walked
+ahead, with the reel rattling as I pulled it out. By the well-worn
+figures up to twenty-one I went; twenty-two and twenty-three were
+slightly blurred, but the twenty-four was fresh and bright, and at
+twenty-four two and one-quarter I stopped, and looked back to see if the
+tape was all right. I lifted my hand again, examined the ground very
+carefully, pulled the tape tight, and made the mark twenty-four feet one
+and three-quarter inches, back of which there was not the hint of a
+break.
+
+Then Tom and I changed ends and he found it just the same.
+
+There was no mistake about it. Given a competition and witnesses on that
+April morning, and the record would not stand to-day at twenty-three six
+and one-half, but a good seven and one-quarter inches better, and the
+name of Richard Spotswood Fairfax would be fastened to it.
+
+Now, I expected that Dick would be all right with me the next time we
+met. I thought he would be pleased that my words, however severe, had
+forced him to the big jump, and even anticipated an apology for his
+offensive words. In this, however, I was mistaken. I did not realize the
+extreme sensitiveness of a Virginian and a Fairfax to any reflection
+upon his honor. Dick met me courteously enough, but distantly, and
+indeed was never the same to me again.
+
+I found, too, that my lecture had only a temporary effect, for he took
+up the old jump of nineteen-six the same as before, apparently as
+contented as ever.
+
+Tom Furness was foolish enough to tell the story of Dick's big jump, and
+was jollied therefore by everybody, receiving credit for a most
+Munchausen imagination. Tom let them rough him all right, for nothing
+pleased him better, but came to me at last with Sam Hitchcock asking me
+to settle a bet, whether or no Dick Fairfax had broken the record of the
+running broad jump in practice.
+
+Of course I could but tell the truth under such circumstances, although
+I knew I was putting my reputation for veracity to a severe test. I
+declared very seriously that Dick had certainly bested the
+twenty-four-foot mark under record conditions. Sam was incredulous, and
+went so far as to remind me that it was not at all a joking matter, for
+a good ten-dollar note must change hands on my decision. At this, I
+repeated my statement positively as before, and Sam paid over the money
+without any further remark.
+
+It was altogether too good a story for him to keep, and it soon became
+an interesting subject of discussion. Those who knew me best (and Sam
+among them, despite his loss) believed the tale, but there were many
+"doubting Thomases." Some made it a subject for senseless jokes and
+witless questions, such as, "Was the tape elastic?" "Did he jump from
+the roof?" or "Did he do it very, very early in the morning?" Other
+"smart Alecs" declared the twenty-four feet was all right, but the extra
+one and three-quarters inches they could not go.
+
+Now, I am not at all averse to a draw on the long bow when swapping lies
+with a sporting friend and both know the game we play, but when I speak
+seriously I wish to be taken in the same way. Beside, I had allowed
+money to pass on it, and that should have settled the matter.
+
+It was partly due to my resentment at this banter that Dick finally made
+the team and little Jack Bennett did not. The latter certainly became
+better in practice, but I claimed that neither were of any use at their
+regular jumps, and that Dick's extraordinary performance, for which I
+vouched again, while not likely to be repeated, was possible, and made
+Dick the better man for the choice.
+
+When the decision was finally made, about a week before the games, I
+wrote Mrs. Fairfax a long letter, telling her the whole truth, giving
+special emphasis to the early morning trial. I declared my only hope for
+Dick's success (and that a faint one) was that the heat of a contest
+with men of other colleges, and before a crowd, might wake him up and
+get him a place. I did not see how he could win except by a miracle. I
+declared that I had kept my promise to her most faithfully, and that my
+disappointment was, if possible, greater than her own.
+
+I received an answer promptly, which read as follows:
+
+  THE OAKS, FAIRFAX CO., VA.
+
+      DEAR SIR: I understand the conditions perfectly, but am still
+      confident that Richard will win. He must win. Give him the
+      enclosed note just before his last trial. On no account allow him
+      to see it before, nor permit any considerable interval between the
+      reading and Richard's last jump.
+
+  Sincerely yours,
+  MARGARET LEE FAIRFAX.
+  TO MR. WALTER BROWN.
+
+Now, I confess that when I finished the reading I really questioned the
+sanity of the "châtelaine" of "The Oaks." What effect could a note have,
+no matter how worded, upon easy-going Dick Fairfax? What appeal could
+she make that would add the necessary feet to his jump? It made me think
+of boyish stories of the age of chivalry, when talismanic words were
+efficacious. I read this short note over as carefully and even more
+wonderingly than the first black-bordered letter written by the same
+hand. Then I put it away in my pocket, resolved to follow instructions
+implicitly, no matter how foolish they might seem. I should have nothing
+with which to reproach myself, and would give Mrs. Fairfax no occasion
+for fault-finding. So the matter was left, and Dick went on with the
+rest of the team, perfectly contented with himself and all around him.
+
+The games that year were not particularly interesting, except the one
+event for which we were so poorly prepared, and in which even Tom
+Furness did not have the courage to claim a single point.
+
+It was a clear day after a three-days' rain, and the track was heavy,
+which happened to suit us. We had a couple of "mud larks" who scooped
+the sprints, though a dry-track would not have given them a place.
+
+Dick spent most of the day watching the contests, as disinterestedly as
+if he was a native of the Isle of Java. He was clothed in a big gray
+blanket wrap and an omnipresent smile. The wrap had crimson cords and
+tassels, was extremely becoming, and more than one pair of bright eyes
+looked at him approvingly from the grand stand. Our Virginia jumper was
+certainly the handsomest and most distinguished-looking of all the
+contestants, and the girls always wish such a man to win, and are
+surprised and disappointed when some raw-boned chap with carroty hair,
+freckled face, and not a regular feature beats out their favorite. It
+was a glorious day, the sun bright, the sky cloudless, the seats
+crowded, and the college cheers like volleys of infantry at short range.
+When the "running broad" was on, and the numbers were called, Dick did
+not answer to his, and we were forced to look him up, the clerk
+meanwhile fussing and fuming, and using language more forceable than
+polite. At last I found him looking dreamily across the track at a
+pretty girl in the grand stand, as if this was his only business. He
+followed me with a bored look, and several backward glances delayed his
+sufficiently leisurely footsteps.
+
+There was another delay on account of the ground; for, as frequently
+happens, the soil in the box where the men landed was so soft that it
+broke back several inches. Seever was the first man, and I did not want
+him to throw away a single chance. A spade was sent for and the loose
+earth flattened down a bit, but it took considerable time. The clerk,
+measurer, and almost every one else were put out but Dick, who had
+thrown himself full length on the soft turf by the side of the path, and
+bore the delay with extreme fortitude.
+
+Most of the other contestants had taken a trial jump or two to get their
+strides and make their marks, but Dick waited contentedly for his number
+to be called, and would have been just as well satisfied if he had been
+skipped altogether.
+
+Seever was the first of a large field, and when his number was announced
+he threw off his wrap and walked down the path. He was one of the most
+awkward men I ever saw, but as honest as he was homely. All his
+opponents wished him well, and several of them, as they sprawled around
+on the grass, had a joke or a bit of chaff for him as he left them. I
+always like to see the first trial of the "running broad." There is the
+narrow cinder-path, the whitewashed joist, and the soft earth, smoothed
+by repeated rakings ready to receive the prints of the spiked shoes.
+After that it is tedious until the weeding-out process is completed, and
+the three best men fight it out for the places.
+
+I could have told within three inches of what Seever would do before he
+made his jump, for he was extremely steady, and had been at it for four
+years, and reached his limit. He came down the track awkwardly, but at a
+good speed, caught the joist firmly with his big foot, rose in the air
+with a grunt, and landed with a thud. The measurer announced twenty feet
+one-quarter inch without hesitation, for Seever always jumped high, and
+kept his heels together. Two or three others tried, and then came Frost,
+our second man, a little fellow with curly black hair. He was a bit
+better or worse than Seever, but inclined to be careless, and to-day it
+cost him dear. He overstepped the joist so far that he wrenched his
+ankle badly and was forced to retire, limping off to the dressing-room
+on a couple of the boys' shoulders.
+
+Dick was almost last, and when he was called, he rose slowly, with a
+yawn, threw the gray wrap over Seever's head, and walked down the path
+as if he cared not where it led. When he turned, he looked up to the
+grand stand and gave the little blonde in the blue dress a glance and
+smile, for which he was most liberally applauded. At first only a few
+pairs of little gloved hands clapped, but they were persistent; others,
+who supposed for some reason or other applause was the proper thing at
+this time, joined in, and Dick received quite an ovation, although he
+had done nothing and was expected to do nothing.
+
+I can see him to-day as he looked then. His arm out for his sprint; his
+bare legs, brown and sinewy, but smooth and graceful as a girl's; his
+whole figure a model for an artist. He was much surprised at the
+applause, for he was not used to it, and did not expect it. The color
+rose in his dark cheeks as he started down the path, quickening speed
+with every step, until just as his college cheer sounded its first sharp
+note he caught the joist, and bounded into the air. It was a perfect
+jump, barring a little lack of determination, but with much more fire
+than usual. I watched as the measurer pulled out his tape, and was
+pleased enough when he gave the distance as twenty-one two. I had been
+thinking all the day of the mother down in the old home, whose heart was
+so bound up in the success of her boy. I would have given a month's
+salary to have been able to send her the telegram she hoped for.
+
+One after another, tall and short, stout and slender, good and bad, had
+their three trials, and Dick was in the finals by an inch and a half.
+Poor old Seever was out of it, and Dick was the only string we had left.
+All of our people were perfectly satisfied at this, and Tom was smiling
+as a Cheshire cat. I had absolutely no hope that Dick would do better
+than third, for after his first attempt, although the applause had been
+louder than ever, he had taken no notice of it, and had apparently lost
+all interest in the sport. Being accustomed to his surroundings, he went
+through his performances in a perfunctory fashion, showing a fraction
+over twenty feet, and then a fraction under. Indeed, he had become his
+old listless, careless self again.
+
+In the finals he did first nineteen-nine, and then, despite the
+desperate effort I made to stir him up with sharp words, he fell back to
+his old maddening distance of nineteen-six and one-half.
+
+The other two competitors, a little fellow with light hair, and a big
+chap with not much hair of any color, had respectively twenty-two one
+and one-half, and twenty-one and three-quarters inch to their credit.
+All seemed over but the shouting when Dick walked slowly down the
+cinder-path for his last trial. No applause did he get either, except
+from the gloved hands, for men do not like to see an athlete without
+determination, no matter how well they may like him in society.
+
+As he walked down the path, I followed along a little behind him on the
+turf. I waited until he put his hand out, in exact accordance with
+instructions, and then I handed him his mother's message. He looked at
+me a moment with surprise, then took the black-bordered note and broke
+the seal.
+
+He read it hastily, and the color left his face as if a mortal fear had
+stricken him. Into his eyes there came first a far-away look, then one
+of the fiercest determination. He crumpled the note in his left hand,
+faced around for his sprint, and was off like a flash. I watched the
+lithe figure and followed it, but Dick had landed long before I reached
+the joist. He had caught the timber much as he had done on the April
+morning, and had thrown his knees high as before. I saw him cut the air,
+and my heart came into my mouth as I thought of a win and a broken
+record both. But it was not to be. I saw him land in the end of the box,
+far beyond any other jump; but, to my horror, he had reached too far
+with his feet, and though he made a desperate effort, he balanced a
+moment, and then threw himself on his back and side. He picked himself
+up without a word, and throwing his gray wrap over his shoulder pushed
+his way through the little crowd of contestants and officials, and
+strode off toward the dressing-rooms without even waiting for the
+measurer.
+
+I had eyes now only for the tape. The footmarks were plain as possible,
+and on the right and several inches back were the prints of Dick's thigh
+and elbow in the brown earth. The measurer pulled the tape out
+carefully, and I saw his finger slide by the twenty-two mark, where they
+hesitated a moment. He examined the broken ground with eager eyes, and
+at last his thumb stopped at the three and one-quarter inch. The little
+fellow who had made the twenty-two one and one-half was close by my
+side, and I heard him sigh at the sight. He had another trial; but the
+first place had seemed his already, and now he must fight for it with
+only one more chance. I was quite sure that Dick's jump was good enough,
+and so it proved. Richard Spotswood Fairfax was a winner. I was delayed
+a little, and when I reached the dressing-room I learned that the boy
+had dressed hurriedly, and driven off in a carriage by himself, without
+a word for any one. When I reached the hotel, he had taken his
+departure, waiting neither for congratulations nor farewells.
+
+The first telegram I sent that night was to Virginia, and the first
+letter I read, on my return, was one with a black border.
+
+  THE OAKS, FAIRFAX CO., VA.
+
+      DEAR SIR: I am in receipt of your telegram. I must thank you for
+      the faithfulness with which you have fulfilled my request. It is
+      not probable that Richard will continue in athletics. I enclose
+      herewith a compensation which is certainly due you. I shall be
+      greatly disappointed if denied the pleasure of its acceptance.
+      Wishing you the success you deserve in your profession, I am,
+
+  Sincerely yours,
+  MARGARET LEE FAIRFAX.
+  TO MR. WALTER BROWN.
+
+So closed my correspondence with the "châtelaine" of "The Oaks," whom I
+never saw, but about whom I have often thought. What did she write in
+that black-sealed, black-bordered note? I have puzzled my brain over it
+many and many an hour. I think I have guessed the riddle; but true or
+false, it must be kept a secret still.
+
+Dick himself is certainly not an enigma. He is only the most pronounced
+case of a description I have met before and since.
+
+He had ability, but not the inclination nor the will. A temporary anger
+on that April morning had given him the necessary determination to force
+his muscles to their extreme exercise of power. His mother's note had
+furnished a motive which had brought him in a winner. Without
+incentives, his muscular powers were not exercised, and his performances
+were ordinary.
+
+Sometimes, as I sit by the fireside, smoking my pipe over old memories,
+I think of Dick, and wonder what he would have done had he Teddy
+Atherton's head on his shoulders, or his heart inside his ribs.
+
+Of all my athletic disappointments Dick furnished me with the most
+disheartening, and among all the surprises of field and track none has
+equalled the Virginia jumper.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: And Every One A Winner]
+
+
+We are winners. The lobby of the hotel is crowded. Athletes, college
+men, travellers, and a curious public are well shuffled together. It is
+the same old pack of cards that I have seen for years, though the faces
+change. That "know-it-all" by the post is a new man, yet he is telling
+just how and why we won, like the wiseacres who preceded him, and the
+others who will follow; for this line of succession never runs out. He
+is telling how he has foreseen the result for weeks, and can call
+witnesses to prove his faultless prediction of six months ago. Yes, he
+can, though we only pulled out by the skin of our teeth, after sitting
+on the anxious seat all the afternoon; and had not Jim Harding thrown
+the hammer ten feet farther than ever before, we never should have won
+at all. But this only makes the "know-it-all's" wisdom more remarkable,
+and my ignorance as well, for I had thought the team a losing one,
+though I had, of course, held my tongue.
+
+Bah! Thirty years have not reconciled me to this gentry, with the addled
+brains and brazen throats.
+
+Most of the college men are gathered in little groups, around which the
+crowds ebb and flow in a surging tide. That its strongest current is
+through the swinging door of the bar-room cannot be denied, nor that it
+shows signs of the source from which it sprang. There are at least three
+grains of talk to one of listen, which is the regular dose, though the
+athletes pull the proportion down. They are, as usual, quietest of all.
+They have developed other muscles than those of the tongue; and yet even
+they are a bit talkative to-night, and have an unmistakably festive air
+about them.
+
+After months of preparation and weeks of strict training, when rigid
+rules prohibit, and all the pleasant things of life seem labelled "Keep
+off the grass," there is a maddening pleasure in being free again,--free
+to taste that favorite dish, palatable but indigestible; free to inhale
+the fragrance of a good cigar; free to watch the hands of the clock
+swing into the small hours; free, as Harry Gardner expresses it, "to do
+as you darn please once more."
+
+For those who have lost there is the necessity of drowning sorrow, and
+it is certainly the duty of a good winner to give his victory a fitting
+celebration. There is not as much difference in the two ceremonies as
+might be imagined.
+
+Our team has broken training, and some of them are breaking it badly.
+There are the long summer months before them, with the leisure hours at
+seashore or mountains, and no more work until the cool winds of autumn
+begin to blow. Even those of the most regular habits are kicking over
+the traces, and some of the wilder spirits, that make a trainer's hair
+gray before its time, to whom the six months' restraint has been a
+galling yoke, are giving themselves very loose rein. I am sorry to say
+that this particular team has not a large percentage of either deacons
+or clergymen, though Jim Harding afterward took holy orders, became an
+honor to the cloth, and will some day be a bishop. I occasionally attend
+his church; and when I see his huge form at the desk, and hear his
+voice, powerful and earnest, as it echoes to the farthest corner, I
+wonder if he has forgotten the night when we looked for "Paddy's cousin,
+the copper," when "every one was a winner."
+
+As I enter the hotel lobby, after dinner, on this evening of the games
+of 188-, I discover Jim standing near the street entrance with Harry
+Gardner, and a little knot of college friends and admirers. They are
+smoking like bad chimneys, and between puffs are giving a green reporter
+some most surprising bits of information, much to their own enjoyment
+and the delectation of their friends. The little reporter is taking
+copious notes, which will create a sensation in the morning, if the
+sporting editor does not discover them before they get into print. Jim
+is big and blond, and Harry slender and dark; the former has made a
+first in the "hammer-throw;" the latter, after winning his trial heat in
+the "hundred" with ease, got away badly in the finals, and had to
+content himself with adding a single point to our score.
+
+Now, Jim and Harry are particular friends of mine; I shall never handle
+them again, and I want a last word or two of farewell. They have
+developed under my care from awkward boys to the finished athletes they
+are to-night. I have seen the firm, round muscles becoming more and more
+perfect; the heart and lungs grow equal to more and more severe tests,
+and the increasing courage and self-reliance (without which there can be
+no success on the cinder-path) which will help them through many a
+struggle with the world they are about to enter. It is one of the sad
+parts of a trainer's life that he must lose such friends.
+
+I force my way through the crowd, getting numberless nods and greetings
+of a warmer nature, for I am a well-known man in such a gathering. I
+strike the strong current flowing to and from the bar; but a little
+patience, and a liberal use of the elbow, brings me to the boys at last.
+I give them each a hand, and we exchange a word or two of
+congratulation. Harry is, I see, a bit sore at his misfortune, for he
+had been picked as a sure winner. I give him a word of praise for his
+gallant effort to make up a three-yard loss at the start. There are many
+sprinters who would not have tried at all, let alone have pulled off the
+much-needed point. I tell Harding, with assumed resentment, that he has
+been sogering all the time, abusing my confidence by playing the
+sleeper, and that he has always been good for the extra ten feet.
+
+At this Jim gives one of his basso profundo laughs, and in answer to my
+question as to what mischief he is plotting, replies that Harry and
+himself are waiting for Paddy, who has gone with Tom Furness for a
+little something "to kape the night out," and that they have promised
+the Irishman to help him look up his cousin "Dinny Sullivan, a copper."
+
+I find that all they know about this cousin is that he is a policeman,
+on duty somewhere in the Bowery district. The boys admit the scent is
+not strong, but anticipate good sport in the hunt, whether they bag the
+game or not. There is always fun with Paddy, for though he has become a
+mighty knowing man on cinder-path and track, and is not as green as when
+he tackled the "ghostly hurdler," he is a delicious bit still.
+
+He appears a moment after, the "Knight of the Rake and Roller,"
+accompanied by Tom; and judging from the aroma that clings to them, the
+necessary precautions have been taken against the baleful influences of
+the night air.
+
+Tom is as happy and sanguine as ever, shakes me by the hand as if my arm
+was a pump-handle in midsummer, and immediately protests that not a step
+will he take out of the house unless I go with him.
+
+At this they all insist that the party will be incomplete without me. I
+must go, or I shall break up the party and spoil sport. After
+considerable resistance, which I admit now was assumed, I consented at
+last. The truth was that, while I had not trained as had the boys, I had
+given many months of care and anxiety to them, and really wanted a bit
+of a fling myself. I knew very well what the little walk would lead up
+to, but reasoned that the boys were bound to get into trouble, and that
+it would be a charity to look after them. In fact, I played the
+hypocrite in a way for which I should have been ashamed.
+
+Although Tom and the boys gave unmistakable signs of "having dined," and
+Paddy of his heroic remedies against the night, we all meander to the
+bar for a last measure of precaution, light fresh cigars, and sally
+forth.
+
+The clocks are striking eight as the door swings behind us, the stars
+are beginning to show, and the street lights to shine. The air is mild,
+and the pavements seem like a country road after the awful crowd of the
+lobby. The rattle of the pavements is silence compared with the rattle
+of tongues which we have left behind us.
+
+We pile into a carriage which Paddy selects from a number drawn up to
+the curb,--because the driver is a Connemara man. We are not
+particularly comfortable with three on one seat, and five pairs of long
+legs interlaced; but our ride is enlivened by Paddy's conversation, no
+less brilliant than fluent, which is a magnificent compliment.
+Occasionally Tom succeeds in getting in a word, but the rest of us are
+out of it. He is about to give us some reminiscences of "Dinny's"
+boyhood when the carriage stops, much to our surprise, for we do not
+realize the lapse of time.
+
+We alight before a corner drug-store, and Paddy calls the "Connemara
+man" an "Irish thief" when Tom pays him an exorbitant charge. He is
+easily placated, however, and goes into the store to inquire after
+Dinny, while we wait outside. We look through the window, between the
+red bottle on the right and the blue bottle on the left, and see him go
+up to the clerk at the soda fountain. The latter, a tall, pale-faced
+youth, answers shortly, and points to a big directory on a little shelf
+in the corner. Paddy walks over, upsetting a rack of sponges on the way,
+opens the directory doubtfully, turns over its leaves, runs his finger
+down a page or two, looks more and more puzzled, and at last beckons us
+in.
+
+We enter, and find him looking blankly at an almost unending list of
+Dennis Sullivans, engaged in many occupations, and several of them "on
+the force." After a careful examination, befitting the seriousness of
+the occasion, we pronounce the task hopeless, and file out again. Our
+departure is apparently greatly to the relief of the pale young man, for
+we had laughed until the bottles rattled when Paddy described his cousin
+as a "big chunk av a man, wid a taste for gin, an' a bad habit av
+snorin'."
+
+We halt in the lee of the mortar and pestle, while the crowd surges
+past, and hold a council of war. Harding suggests that our best plan is
+to form a rush line, letting none pass until they tell all they know
+about "Dennis Sullivan, the copper." This proposition is hailed with
+delight by all but Tom and me, and though we are in the minority our
+opposition succeeds. To spread a drag-net across a Bowery sidewalk I
+believe to be a decidedly hazardous proceeding, and likely to result in
+the catching of fish too big to land. We finally form, with Paddy ahead,
+then Jim and Harry, Tom and myself bringing up the rear.
+
+We had not taken a dozen steps before Paddy halts a tough-looking chap
+with "Do yes know me cousin, Dinny Sullivan?" The prisoner wears a very
+short sack-coat, plaid trowsers, and a tall silk hat. He has a "mouse"
+under one eye, and the other, though lacking the honorable decoration of
+its companion, is red and angry. His mustache is closely clipped and
+dyed a deathly black; the cigar in the extreme corner of his mouth is
+tilted at an acute angle. He blows a cloud of smoke over Paddy's
+shoulder, and looks us all over suspiciously, each in turn.
+
+Now, we are rather a formidable party: Paddy and Jim as big as houses,
+Tom tall and angular, myself a rugged specimen, and Harry, though not
+adding much to our physical strength, evidently spoiling for trouble.
+As a rule, the little men are the aggressors, and most dangerous of all
+if they have a crowd with them.
+
+Paddy's first captive, in deference to our superior force, decides to
+act the civil, and asks gruffly, "What's his biz?"
+
+"He's a cop," answered Paddy, "a big chunk av a man, wid a scar over the
+lift eye, under the hair." Identifying a man by a concealed scar is too
+much for Tom, who breaks into a hearty laugh, and the prisoner himself
+gives a half smile, when after denying all knowledge of "Dinny" he is
+allowed to pass on.
+
+We next halt a couple of young fellows, evidently gentlemen, out on a
+lark. They recognize in Paddy a character worth cultivating, and keep
+him talking several minutes, asking fool questions; but they finally
+admit that "me cousin Dinny Sullivan" is not on their list of
+acquaintances.
+
+We spent some time in this way, Paddy doing picket duty, the main army
+close up in support. After questioning a dozen or more we make up our
+minds that Dinny is certainly not as well known on the Bowery as John L.
+or Tony Pastor, and that the success of our mission is doubtful. We had
+enjoyed the dialogues immensely, particularly that with a good-natured
+German. The latter understood hardly a word of English, but spoke his
+own language like a cuckoo clock. Paddy, of course, knew not a single
+word he said, but stuck to him for several minutes, giving up English at
+last, and treating us to the classic accents of old Ireland.
+
+Nearly all we met had taken the matter good-naturedly, but one or two
+did not see the joke, and turned ugly. One big fellow talked fight, but
+the proposition was received by Paddy with such extreme joy, and
+preparations were made with such alacrity, that he thought better of the
+plan and withdrew his challenge. This was greatly to Paddy's
+disappointment, and Harry's as well, the latter offering to take the
+Irishman's place, though he would have been fifty pounds short weight.
+
+We had been stopping frequently for Paddy to take further precautions to
+"kape the night out," and the rest of us doctored with the same medicine
+in smaller doses.
+
+Paddy was now perfectly happy, and he had his reasons. The "byes" had
+won; he was drinking, under Tom's most learned and experienced tuition,
+a different new drink every time, and in his heart of hearts was sure of
+a fight before the sun rose.
+
+What more could an Irishman ask; and a Connemara Irishman at that? His
+face was growing redder and more smiling every minute, and his feet,
+although they performed their duties after a fashion, would certainly
+not have been equal to the "crack in the floor test," as on the night
+when he encountered the "ghostly hurdler."
+
+But although Pat would have been contented to continue in the same
+blissful state until the crack of doom, the rest of us began to tire of
+the quest, and to look around in search of other things beside "Dinny,
+the copper." The streets were crowded, the stores open, the bar-rooms
+doing a rushing business, and the places of amusement in full blast.
+
+Suddenly Jim stopped before the bulletin board of a little variety
+theatre, and began to examine it critically. There was a long list of
+names in black letters,--singers, dancers, acrobats, boxers, and I know
+not what else; but Jim's eyes were fixed with great seriousness at the
+tall red letters at the bottom. They declared, in extremely mixed
+metaphor, "A Galaxy of Stars, and Every One a Winner."
+
+"I'm going in," said Jim, with much gravity, throwing his cigar away.
+
+"How about Paddy's cousin, the copper?" asked Harry.
+
+"He's as likely here as anywhere," Jim answered; "beside, it says that
+'every one's a winner,' and that's the only kind for us to-night."
+
+We were all of us quite ready for a change, so we stepped into the
+little lobby, Paddy first going up to the ticket office to ask, "Is me
+cousin, Dinny Sullivan, the copper, inside?"
+
+The ticket-seller, a big, fat fellow, with weak eyes and a Roman nose,
+thought Paddy was trying to jolly him, and answered "No," quite tartly.
+Paddy, of course, resented the incivility, and declared himself to be a
+gentleman, and he cared not who knew it. He further ventured to doubt
+whether the man behind the window was in the same class with himself,
+and, gradually abandoning the reproachful accents with which he had
+begun, became first unparliamentary, and then abusive.
+
+The ticket-seller stood it for a while, and then told Paddy to pass
+along, that "Dinny Sullivan" was not inside, but that they had two other
+policemen who were no relation of Pat's, but would take care of him just
+the same.
+
+This last threat raised Paddy's anger to the boiling point, so that he
+first tried unsuccessfully to enter through the locked door, and then
+reaching his huge fist through the little open place in the window,
+shook it as near the Roman nose as the length of his arm would permit.
+
+We finally persuaded him to subside, and Harry took his place with a
+roll of bills to purchase the tickets. He had hardly begun to speak,
+however, before Harding caught him, and lifted him, despite his
+struggles, on to the shoulder of a big statue of Terpsichore, in the
+corner, reminding him, gently but firmly, that the invitation was his,
+and he must be permitted to pay the bills. He obtained five seats in the
+front row of the orchestra, and parted therefor with two dollars and
+fifty cents.
+
+We were inspected a trifle suspiciously by the door-keeper, but filed
+in, and found the little theatre filled with a numerous and enthusiastic
+audience. The gallery was packed, the cheap seats on the rear of the
+floor well taken, and only a few of the more expensive ones in the front
+of the house unoccupied. The air was hot, and full enough of the fumes
+of alcohol to burn. Before we had adjusted our lungs to the new
+conditions, a little fellow in a dirty zouave suit took the checks from
+Jim, and ushered us down the centre aisle to our seats in the front row.
+We made considerable noise, for the steps were of uneven depths, and at
+unequal distances, and Paddy stumbled all over himself at every
+opportunity.
+
+Harry went in first, followed by Pat, Tom, myself, and Jim, in the order
+named. We were obliged to squeeze by an old lady and her daughter who
+occupied the end seats, and the former, sitting next to Jim, resented
+the necessary crowding by sundry sniffs and looks of disgust. Her
+displeasure was so evident that Jim felt called upon to apologize, which
+he did in his most grandisonian manner, and in tones not less loud than
+those of the singer on the stage, "I beg your pardon, madam; I assure
+you it was unintentional; I have tender feet myself, and can sympathize
+with you."
+
+At this there was a burst of applause and laughter. I looked around and
+could see a number of college men scattered through the orchestra,
+evidently ready to encourage any exploit to which such "dare-devils" as
+Jim and Harry might treat them.
+
+There were a few of the gentler sex in the audience, but the great
+majority were men, the flotsam and jetsam of the Bowery. Some of these
+joined in the laughter at Jim's elaborate apology, and others scowled
+their resentment at the disturbance. From the abode of the gallery gods
+(filled mostly with boys, big and little) came a shrill "Put 'em out!"
+and a big wad of paper composed of an entire "World," and thrown by a
+skilful hand, which landed on the top of Jim's head.
+
+But Jim, apparently not at all noticing the attention which he was
+attracting, unfolded his play-bill, and began to study it with the air
+of a connoisseur, or a provincial manager in search of talent. The
+document was headed with "BILLY JAYNE'S REFINED VAUDEVILLE CO.," and
+near the bottom of the first page was bracketed, "Robert Loring, Basso
+Profundo, Nautical Songs, Without a Rival."
+
+It was evidently Robert who was "doing his turn" when we entered, for
+his song told of "wild waves, brave ships, oak timbers, fearful storms,
+wrecks, and watery graves," in tones deep enough to make the heart
+quake. He ended, just as we were well settled in our seats, with a row
+of descending notes, the last several feet below the lowest brick of the
+cellar, and bowed himself off the stage, amid a burst of applause, which
+was followed by another demonstration, well mingled with laughter, when
+Jim remarked very audibly to the old lady by his side, "I really wonder
+how he does it," and "Shouldn't you think it would hurt him?"
+
+Loring had already occupied the full time for "his turn" (we discovered
+later that the performer came out and filled up his ten minutes just the
+same, whether applauded and encored, or greeted with stony silence), so,
+notwithstanding vigorous clapping, assisted by the more demonstrative
+boot-heel, Robert only made his bow from the wings, and departed.
+
+As he disappeared on one side, a diminutive little darky hurried on from
+the other, and changed the cards, announcing as the next star, "Sam
+Walker." An examination of the play-bill rewarded us also with the
+information that Sam was the "World's Champion Clog Dancer, Lancashire
+Style." Two attendants in ragged costumes brought out a big square of
+white marble, which they deposited with considerable labor on one side
+of the stage, and after a little delay, to make the audience impatient,
+the distinguished Walker appeared, clad in well-chalked white tights,
+and with the champion's belt buckled round his waist. It was at least
+six inches wide, and so heavy with gold, silver, and precious stones
+that the redoubtable Sam was obliged to remove it before he could dance
+at all. Sam's brother Alfred, in a rusty dress suit, took his seat in a
+chair on the other side of the stage, and with an enormous accordeon
+furnished the music for the champion, who treated us to a continuation
+of festive taps, stopping with wonderful precision whenever the music
+broke off, even if in the middle of a note.
+
+Next came "Annette Toineau," the "Queen of French Song, Fresh from Her
+Parisian Triumphs;" and the big man at the piano began to execute a
+lively tune, which set all the feet in the house in motion, until
+Annette herself appeared. This she did with a nod, a wink, and a kick
+that won instant applause, even before she opened her mouth to sing. An
+enthusiastic admirer in the gallery called out, "You're all right, Liz,
+old girl," from which remark, and the accent (much more Celtic than
+French) with which she afterward treated us, I argued that Annette was
+but a stage name, and the "Parisian Triumphs" probably a fiction of the
+manager. Annette was a very pretty little girl, with a trim figure in
+abbreviated skirts, and she sang rather naughty songs in a manner that
+made them worse than they were written.
+
+I could hear Jim, after she was through, remark to the old lady by his
+side, that such songs were likely to lead to the perversion of youth,
+and should not be sung except to those who had reached the age of
+discretion; by which I suppose he meant himself and the old lady,
+though she was old enough to be his grandmother. Jim's censorious
+remarks were, however, more than offset by Harry, who, at the other end
+of our line, applauded so vociferously that Annette rewarded him with a
+direct and beaming smile when she made her last bow.
+
+Then followed "Leslie and Manning, Knock-about Grotesques," "Cora, the
+Queen of the Slack Wire," and "Sam Berne, the Dutch Monarch;" the last
+of whom first convulsed us by asking Tom, in a sepulchral whisper, to
+"Please wake your friend," pointing to Paddy, who was indeed asleep; and
+then had a very funny dialogue with the piano-pounder, in which they
+both pretended to get in a towering passion over the question as to
+whether the singing or the accompaniment was the worse.
+
+The delights of the play-bill were now well-nigh exhausted, the next to
+the last on the list being "Alice Wentworth, America's Most Dashing
+Soubrette." She appeared to the tune of some gay waltz notes from the
+long-suffering piano. Alice was a slender girl, with brown hair and
+large, dark eyes. I doubt she could ever have been "dashing," though
+pretty she certainly had been. There were also signs that "once she had
+seen better days," as the old song goes. But now, despite the
+assistance of paint and padding, it was evident that sickness or
+dissipation had robbed her of most of the attractions she had once
+possessed. Her face was too thin for the bright color on her cheeks, her
+steps were too listless for the generously filled stockings, and she
+coughed several times before she began her song. It was a jolly little
+thing, sung in good time and tune, and with those touches which indicate
+unmistakably the rudiments, at least, of a musical education. The song
+was well received, but at the end of the verse she had a dance, which
+called for considerable exertion, and was very trying for her. She got
+through the first two verses all right, but when she started the third
+her strength was gone; she broke down, and gasped for breath. The piano
+continued for a few notes, then stopped, and there was a dead silence.
+It was a pitiful sight enough: the poor girl trying to get strength
+enough to continue, coughing and gasping painfully; but some one in the
+orchestra back of us hissed, there was a cry from the gallery of "Take
+her off," and then a chorus of yells and cat-calls. It was the same old
+wolf instinct which makes the pack tear to pieces the wounded
+straggler,--the wolf instinct in some way transmitted to man.
+
+I was indignant enough, and looked around at the audience after the chap
+that made the first hiss, but should probably have done nothing had not
+Tom Furness, who has the biggest heart in the world, made an effort to
+stem the tide. He jumped on his feet, rising to his full height, and
+began to applaud with all his might. Of course we all joined in, Paddy's
+big feet and hands making a prodigious noise; and the better nature of
+the audience being given a lead, the hisses were drowned by a great
+storm of applause that fairly shook the old theatre.
+
+Poor Alice succeeded in getting enough breath to finish her song, and,
+dancing no more, gave as an encore "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonny Doon,"
+in a way that reached the hearts of the toughest in the house. It is
+wonderful how such an audience is affected by the pathetic. An allusion
+to an "old mother," an "old home," or suffering from sin and wrong will
+catch them quicker than the most doubtful verse.
+
+The last word of the old Scotch song ended, Alice made her bow amid
+applause as hearty if not as noisy as when we drowned the hissing, and I
+hope the poor girl was able to keep her place, or, better still, went
+back to the old home, among the New Hampshire hills, perhaps, or under
+the shadow of the Maine pines.
+
+There was now a great bustle on the stage, a rush of "supes," and a
+clamor of orders. The scenery was pushed back and the drop-scenes
+hoisted out of the way. Padded posts were set in the floor, ropes strung
+and pulled taut, making a very satisfactory ring, and the chairs placed
+in the corners. By the demonstration on the stage and the eagerness of
+the audience, it was evident that we had now come to the great
+attraction of the evening. The play-bill read "George Johnson,
+Heavy-Weight Boxer, Will Knock Out Three Opponents in Three Rounds Each,
+or Forfeit $50 to the Man Who Stays."
+
+Now, although I was fairly well informed concerning the boxing world, I
+was unable to remember "George Johnson's" name, and wondered why he had
+not been taken on by some of the well-known men who intruded themselves
+into the papers so frequently. The play-bill said clearly that he had
+challenged the world, and Tom suggested that Johnson was probably too
+good for them to take him on, or perhaps he had not a diligent backer
+who could wield a vigorous pen. Harry, who stripped at one hundred and
+thirty, declared his willingness to put on the gloves with Mr. Johnson
+if they would let him stand on a chair. Paddy, to whom the performance
+had become a dreadful bore, endured only through respect for the high
+society in which he was travelling, had now become wide awake, and at
+Harry's remark pricked up his ears and asked with much interest if they
+gave any one in the audience a chance to put on the gloves. Jim told him
+that there were probably three "stiffs" already engaged to go through
+the motions of a knock-out, and Paddy remarked that it was a pity, and
+subsided for the time.
+
+When everything was arranged, the pails of water, sponges, and towels
+handy, and the gloves thrown into the middle of the ring, the manager
+introduced Mr. Richard Foley as the referee of the bouts, ending his
+remarks with some very florid compliments to Mr. Foley's well-known
+fairness in such matters. What was our surprise to discover in the
+gentlemanly referee the identical man we had first stopped on the street
+to inquire for "Dinny Sullivan, the copper." He wore the same short coat
+and plaid trousers, but had discarded the tall hat and the cigar,
+without which he looked lonely. The mouse under his eye had also
+disappeared, the artist having succeeded in disguising its mournful hue
+by a skilful application of flesh paint.
+
+After the enthusiasm which greeted his appearance had a little
+subsided, Mr. Foley raised his hand in a Napoleonic fashion to command
+silence, stepped to the front of the stage, and hanging on the ropes in
+an attitude of extreme ease and freedom from restraint, made the usual
+little speech without which a boxing contest would seem out of joint. He
+declared the bout to be one of "a friendly nature" for "scientific
+points only," and ended with the warning that any disturbance from the
+audience would stop the contest immediately.
+
+At the close of his remarks appeared the celebrated George Johnson, a
+tall mulatto, who took his seat in the chair facing the audience,
+followed by his handlers. He was stripped to the waist, and wore a blue
+sash, white trunks, and tan shoes. He was a powerful fellow, well
+trained, and looked like a bronze statue when he rose, bowing and
+smiling at a little group of colored friends who called to him from the
+front of the gallery.
+
+A moment later "Jack Costigan, the Jersey blacksmith," made his début,
+and was greeted with even more enthusiasm than Johnson, probably because
+of the predominating nationality of the audience, for he was certainly
+not a beauty, or even a well-built man. Indeed, he was a mighty
+tough-looking customer, his black hair clipped close enough to reveal a
+number of white scars, his face pockmarked, his shoulders stooping, and
+he was at least ten pounds lighter than Johnson, with much less height
+and reach. He looked sheepish enough to prepare us for the "lie down"
+that was to follow, and seemed pleased that his chair gave him the
+opportunity to turn his back to the spectators.
+
+After the very labored introductions by Mr. Foley, in which a slight
+allusion was made to their previous records, the men took their corners,
+and at the call of "time" they shook hands and got to business. Now, I
+shall have hardly a word to say concerning this bout, for there was a
+much more stirring one to follow. It was evident from the beginning,
+although Johnson was the better man, and could have won anyway, that
+Costigan was not sent to do his best. He was an old war-horse, performed
+his part well, kept up the mill until the middle of the third round, and
+then at a comparatively light blow went down. He pretended to make a
+desperate effort to rise while the ten seconds were counted, then picked
+himself up, and Johnson was declared the winner.
+
+After Costigan disappeared there was a long wait, the house growing more
+and more impatient. At last the manager appeared and announced his
+great regret that the two other boxers had disappointed him. He
+announced that one of them had a broken arm, and read a physician's
+certificate to that effect. The other, as far as we could learn, was
+suffering from a broken heart; that is, he had, after looking the
+redoubtable Johnson over, declined to face him for any consideration.
+
+The manager, again expressing his sorrow at the unavoidable
+disappointment, handed our friend, Mr. Foley, a fifty-dollar bill,
+making a great splurge about it, and asked if there were not some
+gentlemen in the house who would take the places of the delinquents.
+
+At this there was a dead silence, except the noise made by Paddy and
+Harry whispering together, but what they said I did not understand.
+Again the manager repeated the request, evidently not expecting its
+acceptance, and ended with a challenge reflecting delicately upon the
+courage of his audience.
+
+He had hardly spoken the words when suddenly, to my surprise and dismay,
+Paddy rose slowly to his feet, and clearing his throat said, in husky
+tones, "Faith, thin, 'tis a pity it is not to hev the foight, and
+lackin' a better I'll give him a bit av a go meself."
+
+There had been many murmurs of disappointment when it looked as if there
+would be but one bout, instead of three as advertised, and at Paddy's
+speech there was deafening applause. I did my best to dissuade him, as
+did Tom Furness as well; but Jim took up the plan with enthusiasm, and
+despite our protests the three "devil-may-cares" crowded along the
+aisle, and disappeared through a little door under the gallery, which
+led to the stage. A few moments later they filed on, all three with
+their coats off, stepped through the ropes, and Paddy took his seat in
+the chair facing Johnson, his red face wreathed in smiles, and his
+sleeves rolled up to the elbows, Jim and Harry going to work in a very
+business-like manner to prepare for the contest.
+
+Now, all this was great fun for the audience, the manager, and even
+Johnson himself, who grinned back at Paddy, showing a long row of white
+teeth. It took no expert to see that the Irishman was dead easy, and
+there were the anticipated windmill swings, and abortive efforts to hit
+on his part, and a scientific exhibition from Johnson, with a knock-out
+to follow.
+
+Tom and I expected nothing better, unless Johnson should be careless
+enough to let Paddy hit him once, in which case he might be treated to a
+surprise party, for Pat had an arm like a gorilla, and a fist as big as
+a small ham. Indeed, when Jim tried to push the gloves on which
+Costigan had discarded, after his lie down, he found it a job requiring
+the exercise of patience and considerable strength as well.
+
+At last Paddy was all right, Harry fanning him with the towel, Jim
+kneeling behind him, whispering sage advice into his ear, to which Paddy
+nodded his head with a confident grin. We were close enough to hear his
+husky, "'Tis right you are," and "Sure that wud phase 'im." The boys
+looked striking enough on the stage, with their refined faces,
+fashionable clothes, and spotless linen. Not one in the building but
+knew they were gentlemen, and nearly all wished them success with their
+man. Paddy himself had caught the crowd also, the gallery becoming his
+at first sight of his wide smile and the sound of his "illigant brogue."
+
+Mr. Foley called "time," and at the word Harry gave a last flap, Jim a
+final word of advice, and as Paddy rose to his feet they pulled the
+chair through the ropes, and left their man in the ring, to do his
+"_devoir_" as best he might.
+
+He certainly was not anxious, nor did he lack confidence in himself. He
+advanced cheerfully, shook his opponent by the hand, and got in
+position. Now, where Paddy learned to "shape himself" I never heard,
+but I doubt if there is anything like it in the long history of
+"Fistiana." I have seen many queer things in old sporting prints, where
+the fancy of the artist, I am sure, has maligned the science of good men
+with their "fives," but nothing like Paddy's pose has ever appeared to
+me before or since. His left foot was well forward, his left arm high,
+as if he feared the rap of a "shillalah" instead of the straight blow of
+a fist. His right hand he held low behind him, ready to hit, as if he
+held a flail or a "bit av a scythe," and he swung his fist round and
+round in a little circle. Even Tom and I could not refrain from
+laughter, the crowd yelled themselves hoarse, and Johnson could hardly
+restrain himself.
+
+The latter shaped beautifully. After his first surprise was over he grew
+serious, stepped in, led lightly, landing on Pat's nose, and when Paddy,
+after a belated duck, swung a terrific blow at his opponent, he found
+him well out of reach. It was just as I expected: Johnson could hit
+Paddy when and where he pleased. He played with him as a cat would with
+a mouse. He made a punching-bag of him, hit and got away. He ducked, he
+countered, he dodged, he swung on Pat's jaw. He side-stepped, and tapped
+him lightly; he uppercut him when he made a bull rush, so that his head
+lifted as if on a hinge. He hooked him with right and left, and played
+the "devil's tattoo" all over his body, ending with a rib-roaster that
+made even Paddy sigh. In short, when Patrick O'Malley, our "Knight of
+the Rake and Roller," took his seat at the end of the first round his
+smile was gone, and he looked like a man in a trance.
+
+Johnson had hit hard enough to have put most men to sleep, but on
+Paddy's tough anatomy had made no serious impression, after all. Pat's
+right eye was in a fair way to close, and his face looked puffy and his
+neck sore, but he was as strong as ever, and his courage as good, though
+he probably would have been willing to admit that over the picnic aspect
+of the occasion there had come a cloud. Harry and Jim got at work at him
+with sponge and towel the minute he took his seat. A very artistic
+exhibition they gave, and no doubt Jim's advice which he whispered was
+very good, but there was nothing before Paddy but a "knock-out" unless
+the unexpected happened.
+
+Johnson was without a mark, and I question whether he had been hit at
+all. He took his drink, smiled up at his handlers as they worked the
+cool sponge over his hot chest and arms, and leaned back on the ropes
+with an air of extreme contentment.
+
+When the bell rang for the second round Paddy came up in good condition,
+but with a somewhat dubious expression on his countenance, and he kept
+his left a little lower, ready to stop some of the straight punches he
+had accepted so generously in the first round. He did not swing quite as
+wildly as before, and although hit harder, the blows did not land quite
+as often. In the last half-minute, however, Johnson cut loose, and
+Paddy's broad face and thick neck were visited in a savage manner. The
+bell barely saved him, for the poor fellow was fairly smothered with
+blows, and yet he stood up to his punishment without flinching, and
+fought back as best he could.
+
+Tom had lost patience when he saw Paddy staggering like a bullock under
+an axe, and though I told him we could do nothing to help, he insisted
+we should at least be with the rest of the party. So the minute the bell
+rang for the end of the round, we crowded along the seats, and hurrying
+through the door, I was just in time to reach Paddy's corner before he
+started in for the third and last round. Now, of all men on earth Paddy
+believed in me; Jim and Harry were all right, and doing all possible for
+him, but when he felt my hand on his arm, and heard my whisper in his
+ears, his heart, almost gone, came back to him. He turned his swollen
+face up to me, and with a new light in his eyes he said, "Tell me what
+I'll do, Misther Brown; tell me, darlin', an' I'll lick the nager yet."
+
+There was something wonderfully pathetic in his blind confidence, and I
+never cared so much for the big-hearted Irishman as I did that minute.
+To tell the truth, I had been half willing to see him knocked out after
+his foolish persistence against my advice. Then again I knew it was not
+at all a serious matter to one with his strength and vitality, and a
+dash of cold water would leave him no worse memories than a sore head
+and a few bruises. But after his appeal I felt very different. I racked
+my brain, but though I had been studying his opponent from the
+beginning, trying to find his weak point, he was so very shifty on his
+feet, and Paddy was so deathly slow, I could think of nothing. Pat had
+been swinging at his opponent's head, from the very start, the same old
+blow, landing never. He had not tried for the body once, and I made up
+my mind just before the bell rang, and whispered, "Never mind his
+top-knot, Paddy; wait until he leads, then step in, and hit him in the
+ribs; and hit him hard."
+
+The third round started much like the others, but now on Paddy's face
+was not the foolish smile of the first, nor the dubious look of the
+second. "Misther Brown" had told him what to do, he was supremely
+confident in my wisdom, and had no doubt of the result. His mouth was
+firm and his eyes clear as he faced his opponent and waited for his
+opportunity.
+
+I could see that Johnson did not half like the change. He was altered
+too, his face had grown cruel, his eyes fierce, and he came in like a
+tiger crouching for a spring. The joke was all gone out of the game now;
+he must knock Paddy out in the next three minutes or the fifty dollars
+would be forfeited. Nothing but a blow in the right spot would be of any
+use, and it must have the full swing of the body behind it. I could see
+plainly by his high guard that he feared nothing from Paddy but a swing
+on the head, and I doubt if he thought of much else beside how he could
+land on the point of Paddy's jaw just the right blow. As I knelt between
+Jim and Harry, peering through the ropes, I made up my mind that Paddy
+had good enough advice if he knew how to use it.
+
+As usual, Johnson stepped in, leading with his left a light tap, meant
+only to open up Paddy's guard, so he could swing on him. As usual, he
+landed on Paddy's nose, the blood starting freely; but instead of
+answering with a blind swing as before, this time Paddy took the blow
+coming on; indeed, he started in before he was hit, and the blow did not
+stop him at all. The result was, he found himself, for the first time,
+almost, since he had put his hands up, at a good striking distance. With
+a fierce grunt he smashed his huge fist full on the mark where the ribs
+branch, just above the belt. It was a terrible blow, unexpected, given
+with all the good intentions that a sense of debt could foster, and with
+the impetus of their two weights, for Johnson was coming in himself.
+
+It doubled his antagonist up like a frog, and Paddy was kind enough to
+undouble him with a straight push in the face that straightened him up
+again. Harry could not refrain from calling, "Now's your time, Pat!" for
+which he was very properly warned by the referee; but Paddy really did
+not hear him, and needed no advice. Science was forgotten, and in the
+mix-up that followed, Paddy showed a ready hand, cultivated by many a
+boyish fight and youthful set-to. Johnson was now not so much interested
+in putting Paddy out, as in saving himself; he was fighting blindly,
+hugging and clinching when he could; keeping away as much as possible,
+and growing more and more groggy under the shower of blows that were
+rained on him. Time was nearly up when, after a break away, Paddy
+stepped back, gathered himself, rushed in, and swung his huge right hand
+with all the strength of his powerful body. It was a half hook, and it
+landed on Mr. Johnson's jaw, and he went down like a felled tree,
+falling with stiff knees, and striking nothing until his face reached
+the floor with a thud. He made no effort to rise, and Paddy was so wild
+that, had I not called to him, I think he would have gone into Johnson's
+corner for a fresh antagonist among his handlers. Johnson lay on the
+floor while the ten seconds were ticked off, and then Mr. Foley stepped
+to the footlights, and, announcing that Mr. O'Malley had won the bout,
+handed him the fifty-dollar bill.
+
+Paddy hesitated a moment, for he had not thought once of the money; then
+he drew from his hip pocket an old-fashioned leather folding wallet,
+much worn and discolored, and with a chuckle put the big bill safely
+away. The audience had risen as one man to cheer Paddy when the decision
+was given, and now the tumult broke out again, and he was forced to bow
+his acknowledgments from over the footlights. Even this was not enough,
+and he finally cleared his throat, and made a short speech, of which I
+could distinguish nothing but the last words, as he gave a comprehensive
+sweep of his gloved hand, including our whole company, and yelled, "An'
+ivery wan a winner." He would have spoken longer had not the manager,
+with rare presence of mind, dropped the curtain in front of him. Johnson
+had come to himself very quickly with the assistance of his handlers,
+and now stepped up to Paddy with very honest congratulations, and the
+contestants shook hands with mutual respect and no ill will.
+
+We were delayed a few minutes by our inability to get the boxing-glove
+off of Paddy's big right hand; the left he had removed himself on
+receipt of the bill. We finally cut it off him, formed in line of march,
+and threading our way through the wings, joined the last stragglers of
+the audience as they filed out. I tried hard to subdue the spirits of my
+companions, but with little success. Jim and Harry were greatly elated,
+and Tom (who of all men enjoys winning) was now as bad as the others,
+and deserting me, left the conservative vote in a very decided minority.
+
+There was certainly nothing lacking in the perfect success of the
+evening but the fact that "Dinny, the copper," the great object of our
+search, had evaded us. I voted to give him up and go back to the hotel;
+the others hesitated, but Tom, who never despairs,--Tom still declared
+that Dinny would yet appear. Tom is a man who has faith that a ball team
+will win with the score five to one against in the ninth inning, two
+out, and a weak hitter at the bat.
+
+Jim and Harry were too much elated by their success with Paddy in the
+"squared circle" to ask for much else. In fact, they were slightly
+hilarious. The intoxication of victory, on top of their efforts to "kape
+the night out," was a bit too much for them. In passing along they
+tipped over a table by the door, sending a shower of play-bills on the
+floor, and when a stout fellow remonstrated, Jim promptly "crowned" his
+derby hat with a blow that sent it down to his chin.
+
+In the lobby the big wooden statue of Terpsichore, standing in scant
+attire, with one foot lifted for the dance, caught Harry's eye. He
+whispered to Jim and Paddy, and before I could interfere, they had torn
+her from her fastenings, and "stood the old girl on her head." As the
+muse was being balanced in this undignified position in the corner,
+there suddenly arose a cry of "Police!" "Police!" in high-pitched and
+nasal tones from the ticket office. It was Paddy's "ancient enemy" who
+had discovered us, with his face close to the aperture, secure in the
+protection of the window. He called lustily, until a huge fist swung
+through the hole, and landed on the Roman nose with a dull, sickening
+thud. Silence followed Paddy's skilful blow, but the mischief was done,
+for there suddenly appeared through the door behind us a knock-kneed
+bobby, club in hand. Tom called "'Ware the cop!" and by giving the
+promptest kind of leg bail they just escaped him, bolting out the door,
+and across the Bowery, the crooked-legged copper close after.
+
+Harry, who was leading, swung down a dimly lighted alley, Jim and Paddy
+following in order. The policeman, who apparently had little confidence
+in his ability to catch such nimble-footed gentry, stopped at the
+corner, and commenced a devil's tattoo with his night club on the
+pavement as a signal for some compatriot to head off the fugitives. Tom
+and I, who were close up, dashed by him without a word, resolved to
+stick to our friends, no matter what the cost. Tom was chuckling with
+delight, gave me a look over his shoulder, and set a killing pace, with
+the laudable ambition of running me off my feet, as well as distancing
+our pursuers. Chasing and being chased is one of the primitive
+pleasures of man, and I doubt if we ever quite outgrow it. We cut
+through the darkness, with the cool night air in our faces, sprinting
+over the slippery cobble-stones of the pavement as if in the finals of a
+"hundred." There was a mad pleasure in it all, and the listening for
+sounds of pursuit and the looking sharply ahead for threatening danger
+added a double zest. It reminded me of a night in old Lancashire, when
+with some schoolmates I had raided a farmer's orchard, and with the
+spoils under our jackets we had led him a cross-country run of a couple
+of miles, knowing that a good thrashing was close behind as the
+punishment for a stumble or a temporary shortness of breath.
+
+We were gaining on the three dark forms ahead, for we could see them
+more and more plainly as they bobbed against the lights at the end of
+the street. Occasionally some one would yell at us from a window or
+doorway, but the pounding of the knock-kneed bobby was growing more and
+more faint, and we heard no footsteps at all behind us. We had almost
+reached Paddy, whose boxing efforts had told on his endurance, and I was
+just about to call to Jim and Harry, when suddenly there emerged from
+the darkness a herculean figure in brass buttons.
+
+It floated into the middle of the alley, like the ghost of Hamlet's
+father, silent, huge, portentous. A long arm reached for Harry as he
+dodged to one side of the alley, and gathered the little fellow in,
+while Jim slid by on the other side. Paddy sprang to Harry's assistance,
+and got a blow with the flat of the hand that sent him in a heap on the
+pavement. Jim was about to mix in the fracas, but Tom and I, who knew
+better than to assail the majesty of the law, caught and held him. For a
+moment neither of us spoke, watching Harry's futile struggles. He was
+being held firmly, but gently, like a fractious child, and a voice of a
+richness that cast Paddy's brogue quite in the shade said soothingly,
+"Arrah there, be aisy. It's hurtin' yesel' ye are. Be aisy, or I'll pull
+ye in."
+
+I was glad to hear the figure speak, for the silence was quite uncanny.
+Tom advanced in that conciliatory way of his when he feels that he has a
+delicate task before him, and was about to make his little appeal, with
+one hand on the roll of bills in his pocket, when Paddy, who had sat up
+at the sound of the voice, and was looking fixedly at Harry's captor,
+gave a howl of mingled surprise and joy, and exclaimed, "Begorry, Dinny,
+ye Connemara divil, let the lad go, or I'll break yer face."
+
+At these words Harry stopped his struggles and Jim abandoned his efforts
+to break away from me. Tom stood with his mouth wide open, uncertain
+what to do, and I waited as if I was watching a play, and the dramatic
+climax was about to be sprung on me.
+
+Paddy rose slowly and unsteadily to his feet; and the big policeman took
+him by the collar with his unoccupied hand, and led him to the light of
+a little window, where he studied his face a moment in silence.
+Gradually over the big copper's face there spread a grin of recognition,
+his brown mustache drawing up at the corners, despite his efforts to
+look severe.
+
+"Sure, 'tis yesilf, Patrick, ye blaguard," he said at last, shaking his
+head; "but frind or no frind, divil a wan o' me cares, if wrong ye've
+done."
+
+"It's only a bit av a lark, an' no harm at all, at all," answered Paddy;
+and then he told the story of the evening, the search, the boxing
+contest, and the mischief in the lobby, making as little as possible of
+the latter, and expatiating at length on our efforts to find "Dinny, the
+copper," with our extreme pleasure at final success. He ended by
+introducing us all with much pride and satisfaction.
+
+Dinny listened at first with suspicion, afterward with a flash in his
+blue eyes as Paddy described his victory over Johnson, and finally with
+a slow smile, expanding into a grin, as the adventure in the lobby was
+described.
+
+When Paddy finished, the "arm-of-the-law" turned without a word, letting
+Harry and Paddy go free again, tapped on the little window, through
+whose brown curtain enough light had streamed to make recognition
+possible, and waited in silence until there came a sound of moving
+bolts. He then pushed a door open, led us through a dark entry, and into
+a little back room, where was a long table, plenty of chairs, and a
+kettle singing on the stove in the corner. I have a suspicion that it
+was from this very same snug retreat that Dinny emerged when the sound
+of the rattling night club disturbed him. I learned that the little room
+was the sanctum sanctorum of the widow Rafferty, whose bar-room in front
+was too public to suit the refined taste of Mr. Dennis Sullivan, and was
+also perhaps more exposed to the gaze of an inquisitive inspector.
+
+Dinny went to a corner cupboard, with the air of a man who knew the way,
+took from it a brown jug, and placed it carefully on the table with a
+half-dozen tumblers. He pointed to the chairs with a wave of his hand,
+and when we were seated he broke the silence with, "Gintlemen, 'tis
+proud I am to meet ye all, though in bad company ye come" (the last with
+a smile at Paddy). "I've a little something here" (looking fondly at the
+jug) "will kape the night out; 'tis the rale old stuff, such as we used
+to drink in old Connemara. 'Tis aisy I've been with yes, but, faith, I
+swear to pull in ivery mother's son that will not drink with me."
+
+We all filled our glasses, though Tom called us to witness that he drank
+under protest, and only through fear of arrest. Just how long we
+lingered in the widow Rafferty's back room I cannot tell, but we
+discovered Dinny to be the very prince of coppers, able to tell a good
+story and sing a better song. He was a broth of a boy, and would have
+gladdened the eyes of the manager of a football team. He stood six feet
+three in his stockings, and weighed two hundred and fifty pounds, all
+good stuff, and as hard as nails. His uniform was fresh, and fitted him
+like a glove, while every button was bright as a West Point cadet's.
+When we came to part with him it was with mutual expressions of good
+will, which were increased when we discovered he had sent for a
+carriage, and the same awaited us in the dark alley. If he has his dues
+he is chief of police by this time.
+
+We were a bit quiet on the way home, a little weary, and very contented
+and happy. There was a hint of the morning in the east as we alighted at
+the hotel, and the lobby was silent and deserted.
+
+We were much pleased to find that the elevator was still running, and we
+climbed aboard, at peace with all the world, and just ready for bed. As
+Tom said, a five minutes earlier or later would have spoiled it. When we
+reached the third floor, Paddy insisted that we must go with him to the
+fifth, so we kept on, and Harry unlocked the door and Jim lit the gas.
+When we bade him "good-night" and the elevator began to drop, he stood
+in his doorway, a smile of perfect bliss shining on his honest face. He
+waved his big hand at us with a gesture that was half farewell, half a
+benediction, and murmured huskily "An' ivery wan a winner."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of At Start and Finish, by William Lindsey
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