ter. I reached the surface at last, and, once above water, felt all
right again. I looked about anxiously for my duck. But he was still
down below. I reckoned, from the direction in which he had dived, that
he would not be able to go far to either side, and therefore would rise
close to me, probably exhausted, and if so, I had a good chance at last
of catching him. So I waited and watched the place, but he never came.

Remembering my own sensations, and how nearly I had come to grief, I
took a sudden fright, and concluding he must be in straits down below,
shouted to the boat to come to the place, and then dived. I groped
about, and looked in all directions, but saw no sign of him, and
finally, in a terrible fright, made once more for the surface.

The first thing I was conscious of, on getting my head up, was a great
shouting and laughing, and then I caught sight of that abominable duck,
who had come up behind me, and had been laughing all the while behind my
back, while I had been hunting for him in a far more serious way than I
need ever have done!

Before I could turn and make towards him "Time!" was shouted from the
bank; and so the Parkhurst Swimming Contest ended in a lamentable,
though not disgraceful, defeat of the "fivers."

CHAPTER SEVEN.

ATHLETIC SPORTS AT PARKHURST.

The last Saturday before the summer holidays was invariably a great day
at Parkhurst. The outdoor exercises of the previous ten months
culminated then in the annual athletic sports, which made a regular
field-day for the whole school. Boys who had "people" living within a
reasonable distance always did their best to get them over for the day;
the doctor--an old athlete himself--generally invited his own party of
friends; and a large number of spectators from Parkhurst village and the
neighbourhood were sure to put in an appearance, and help to give
importance to the occasion. Athletic sports without spectators (at
least, so we boys thought) would be a tame affair, and we were sure to
get through our day's performances all the better for a large muster of
outsiders on the ground.

The occasion I am about to recall was specially interesting to me, as it
was the first athletic meeting in which I, a small boy just entering my
teens, ever figured. I was only down to run in one of the races, and
that was the three-legged race; and yet I believe there was not a boy in
the school so excited at the prospect of these sports as I was