neck!"

"But watch that stroke, will you; did you ever see anything so fine?
Oh! you poor Riverport, get your tear-rags ready to weep!"

"Wait a little. You'll be laughing out of the other side of your mouth,
Crabtree!"

So the various backers of the two teams bantered each other as they
kept their eyes fixed on the rival shells. Thef boats were pushing up
against the strong current of the Mohunk, steadily biting into it, and
increasing the distance between them and the stakeboat that was
presently to mark the closing scene of the river drama.

Steadily they kept on, nearing the bend that would shut them out from
the sight of the great crowds gathered on either bank near the judges'
boat. If the cheering diminished in volume at that point, it was taken
up above, until one long wave of sound arose, every conceivable noise
being used to create an uproar, from horns and whistles to megaphones,
and class yells from the various schools.

It was a time long looked forward to, and which would last for so short
a period that everyone seemed to think it necessary to exhaust himself
or herself as speedily as possible.

"There they are, turning the bend now!" declared the anxious Cissy.
"Oh! which one leads, Flo; tell me, please?"

"As near as I can make out, they seem to be running evenly," the other
girl replied, with the glasses to her eyes, as though she could not
drop them, or even gratify the curiosity of her best chum by allowing
her a peep.

"And do you see Sid, and is he showing all the others how to keep cool,
and hold himself in reserve against the last home quarter-stretch?"
demanded Cissy.

"Well, I like that, now!" exclaimed the indignant Flo, who, as we
chance to know, also had someone she admired in that school crew; "just
as if there didn't happen to be seven other fellows rowing alongside
Sid Wells. I know one at least who plays second fiddle to nobody."

"There they go around the bend!" cried another girl.

"And listen to the roars above there; will you?" called a boy passing
by, who was decked out in Riverport colors. "Why, there must be a whole
mob of people up to see 'em turn the other boat. I'd like to be there
right now, if I could jump back here to see the finish."

"Watch the signals!" now arose on every hand.

Everybody knew what this meant, and consequently the eyes of the entire
multitude began to be fastened on a particular place up at the bend.
Here arrangements had been made by those