to those sitting on the fallen tree.

"Here! Here! You boys stop that!" cried Mrs. Wadsworth. "We haven't any
umbrellas."

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't mean to shower you," pleaded Shadow. "Anyway,
it was Roger's fault."

"If you are going to race, start in!" ordered Dunston Porter.

"Well, what's the prize?" queried Roger, doing his best to keep out of
Shadow's reach.

"The fellow who wins gets the hole in the doughnut," returned Dave,
gaily.

"All ready! Line up!" ordered Dunston Porter, and after a general
scramble and amid much merriment, the boys lined up. Then came the order
"Go!" and all of them struck out lustily for the rock that marked the
goal.

At first Ben, who had taken but little interest in the horseplay just
enacted, kept well to the front. Ben had always been a good swimmer, and
many a time he and Dave had raced each other in Crumville Creek.

"You fellows won't be in it!" he shouted merrily.

"Don't you be too sure of that," returned Luke. "This race isn't over
yet."

"You fellows had better save your wind," spluttered Phil, who at that
instant came up alongside of Shadow. There followed a great splashing of
water, and suddenly Ben disappeared from view.

"Hey, you! Who fouled me that way?" roared the leader. "Whoever caught
me by the foot ought to be put out of this race."

"Must have been a whale, Ben," answered Roger, mischievously.

"I'll whale you if you do it again," was the answer. And then all of the
boys stopped talking and with renewed vigor bent to the task of trying
to win the race.

Soon half the distance to the rock was covered. Ben was still in the
lead, with Roger and Phil close behind him. Luke and Shadow had dropped
so far to the rear that they gave up all hope of winning.

"Here is where I leave you fellows," announced Phil, and made a sudden
spurt that soon placed him slightly in advance of Ben.

"Hi! hi! don't leave me this way!" yelled Roger, and he, too, put on a
burst of speed, followed a second later by Dave.

On and on, through the cool, clear waters of Mirror Lake plunged the
four boys. The goal was now less than fifty feet away.

"O my, see how hard they are swimming!" came from Laura.

"Ben was ahead, but I think Roger is up to him," announced Mrs.
Basswood.

"Those four lads are pretty well bunched up," remarked Dunston Porter.

"Shadow and Luke have dropped out of it," announced Belle. "Gracious,
how those others are swimming! Wouldn't you think i