saw Flo Temple flaunting her flag at him meaningly. "I
tell you I never felt in better trim than I do right now--as fine as
silk. And unless something unexpected happens to me on the road, I'm
going to bring those three tallies home for Riverport, or know the
reason why. After all that's happened lately to make me happy, I just
don't see how I could lose. Quit worrying, Brad."

And under this inspiring kind of talk the track captain did brace up, so
that he even allowed a smile to creep over his grim face.

"Well, you're the one to give a fellow tone, and make him feel good,
Fred," he remarked. "I reckon you feel confident without being too sure;
and that's the way a fellow competing against others ought to feel. He's
just got to believe in himself up to the last second; and in lots of
cases that same confidence wins out. But I wish you hadn't had to take
part in that half-mile sprint. It might have done something that you'll
find out after you get well into the long race."

"Oh! let up, won't you, Brad?" urged Fred. "I tell you I'm in perfect
condition. And I'll prove it pretty soon, you see; for it's getting near
the time for my run right now."

Throughout the grandstand they were already talking of that long five
mile run, which was bound to excite more interest than any other event
of this glorious day of sports.

"They say Fenton strained a tendon in his foot, and limps already," one
of the up-river fellows remarked, with a wink toward his comrades; for
he knew how quickly Mame Wells would take up cudgels for her colors.

"Oh! he has; eh?" she exclaimed derisively; "very well, Mort Cambridge,
just you step out and tell your runners they'd better be straining some
of _their_ tendons, because they'll need everything that Fred Fenton's
got, if they want to be in sight when he comes romping home. A strained
tendon, humph! Look at him walking across the field right now; did you
ever see anybody have a more springy step than that? Isn't it so, Flo?"
and there was a shout, as the doctor's daughter, with a flushed face but
with sparkling eyes, nodded her head defiantly.

"How does the score stand?" asked someone, breathlessly.

"Eleven for Mechanicsburg, to thirteen for Riverport, and five for
Paulding."

"And only the road race left on the calendar, which counts three points.
Then it will settle the championship; for the side that comes in ahead
there will win in number of points, Mechanicsburg just nosing over,