't know," he replied, "we plug hard, and thinking you are bound
to bump everybody is part of the game. It's no use starting to race
with your tail down."

The papers considered that we were bound to rise, but for two years
they had been saying that and all we had done was to lose more places.
I wished that I could meet some one who was not sure about the success
of our boat, and at last I discovered him in Lambert, who said our crew
looked like a picnic party, which had gone too far out to sea, and had
to plug for all they were worth to get back before night. Then I
defended them and felt more happy. The fact was the Torpids were a
sort of test case; if we went up I felt we should have fairly turned
the corner, but if we went down I was afraid our fit of enthusiasm
would cool rapidly. No one who was rowing in them could have been more
excited than I was. The Bradder noticed it and complained, but for the
moment I was incapable of caring much about things which had happened,
and after all there is something to be said for anybody who is really
keen on one thing, if he does not make himself a very terrific bore.

On the first night of the races we got a dreadfully bad start, and for
two or three minutes we were in danger of being bumped. Then we
settled down and began to draw close to Corpus, but our cox was too
eager and made unsuccessful shots at them. After the second shot I
could not run another yard, so perhaps a little training might have
done me good, but we did catch Corpus at the "Cher," and that began a
triumphant week. We made seven bumps, and though a lot of men said our
crew showed more brute force than science, it must have been nonsense,
because we went up from fourteenth to seventh, and when a boat gets
fairly high in the First Division there is sure to be some one in it
who can row properly. The stroke of the 'Varsity eight told me that
the best man in our Torpid was Jack and I believed him very easily.

"He could be made useful in the middle of a boat with a bit of
coaching," he said to me.

"You'll be up next year, so look out for him," I answered, and I told
him that I thought Jack was a splendid oar, which was no use because he
only laughed.

I had become so accustomed to a dismal return to college from both the
Eights and Torpids that the change was quite delightful, and on the
last day of the races we had a huge "bump" supper in hall. From that
supper some of our dons stood aloof and