ng-path
to cheer you, already out of breath; but up here at the very
finish, with all Oxford looking on, when the prize is the
headship of the river--once in a generation only do men get such
a chance.

Who ever saw Jervis not up to his work? The St. Ambrose stroke is
glorious. Tom had an atom of go still left in the very back of
his head, and at this moment he heard Drysdale's view holloa
above all the din; it seemed to give him a lift, and other men
besides in the boat, for in another six strokes the gap is
lessened and St. Ambrose has crept up to ten feet, and now to
five from the stern of Oriel. Weeks afterwards Hardy confided to
Tom that when he heard that view holloa he seemed to feel the
muscles of his arms and legs turn into steel, and did more work
in the last twenty strokes than in any other forty in the earlier
part of the race.

Another fifty yards and Oriel is safe, but the look on the
captain's face is so ominous that their coxswain glances over his
shoulder. The bow of St. Ambrose is within two feet of their
rudder. It is a moment for desperate expedients. He pulls his
left tiller rope suddenly, thereby carrying the stern of his own
boat out of the line of the St. Ambrose, and calls on his crew
once more; they respond gallantly yet, but the rudder is against
them for a moment, and the boat drags. St. Ambrose overlaps. "A
bump, a bump," shout the St. Ambrosians on shore. "Row on, row
on," screams Miller. He has not yet felt the electric shock, and
knows he will miss his bump if the young ones slacken for a
moment. A young coxswain would have gone on making shots at the
stern of the Oriel boat, and so have lost.

A bump now and no mistake; the bow of the St. Ambrose boat jams
the oar of the Oriel stroke, and the two boats pass the
winning-post with the way that was on them when the bump was
made. So near a shave was it.

Who can describe the scene on the bank? It was a hurly-burly of
delirious joy, in the midst of which took place a terrific combat
between Jack and the Oriel dog--a noble black bull terrier
belonging to the college in general, and no one in
particular--who always attended the races and felt the misfortune
keenly. Luckily they were parted without worse things happening;
for though the Oriel men were savage, and not disinclined for a
jostle, the milk of human kindness was too strong for the moment
in their adversaries. So Jack was choked off with some trouble,
and the Oriel men extric