With the middle of March came some class games,
and Dennis was among the "also rans," getting no better than fourth place
in the two-mile. The worst of it was that he knew he could have run it
faster, for he felt strong at the finish, but had no burst of speed when
the others went up on the last lap. But in April he did better, and it
soon developed that he was improving. The week before the Yale-Harvard
games he was notified that he was to run in the two-mile as pace maker to
Lang and Early, the two best distance men on the squad. Nobody believed
that Yale would win this event, although it was understood that Lang stood
a fair chance if Dennis and Early could carry the Harvard crack, Richards,
along at a fast gait for the first mile.

So it was all arranged that Early should set the pace for the first half
mile, and Dennis should then go up and carry the field along for a fast
second half. Then, after the first mile was over, Early and Dennis should
go out as fast as they could, and stay as long as they could in the
attempt to force the Harvard man and exhaust him so that Lang could come
up, and, having run the race more to his liking, be strong enough to
finish first.

The day of the games came, and with it a drenching rain, making the track
heavy and everybody uncomfortable. But as the inter-collegiates were
the next week, it was almost impossible to postpone the games, and
consequently it was decided to run them off. As the contest progressed, it
developed that the issue would hang on the two-mile event, and interest
grew intense. When the call for starters came, Dennis felt the usual
trepidation of a man who is before the public for the first time in a
really important position. But the feeling did not last long, and by the
time he went to his mark he had made up his mind that that Harvard runner
should go the mile and a half fast at any rate, or else be a long way
behind.

At the crack of the pistol the six men went off, and, according to orders,
during the first mile Early and Dennis set the pace well up. Richards, the
Harvard man, let them open up a gap on him in the first half-mile, and,
being more or less bothered by the conditions of the wet track, he seemed
uncertain whether the Yale runners were setting the pace too high or not,
and in the second half commenced to move up. In doing this his team mates
gradually fell back until they were out of it, and the order was Dennis,
Early, Richards, and Lang. At t