Ralph Henry Barbour

“ Allan Ware was eighteen years old, a straight, lithe lad, with rather rebellious brown hair and a face still [18] showing the summer’s tan. His features were not perfect by any means, but they were all good, and if you would not have thought of calling the face handsome, you would nevertheless have liked it on the instant. There was a clearness and steadiness about the brown eyes, a gentleness about the mouth, and a firmness about the chin which all combined to render the countenance attractive and singularly wholesome. It was a face with which one would never think of associating meanness. ”

“ But Monday morning came and brought recitations and lectures, just as though there was no such thing as football, and the college settled back into the usual routine. At noon the sting of defeat was forgotten. At night, fellows were cheerfully discussing the chances for the next year. If we take defeat too hard, at least we recover quickly; there is hope for us in that.
Allan, for all that he was quite as patriotic as any, felt the defeat of the varsity team less than he did the cessation of track work. ”

“ The point went out to meet the attack, another clever pass was made, and then— Presto! goal was shaking his head and pulling the disk out from under the netting. The second had scored.
“Ah, that was great work, Pete!” cried Allan, admiringly.
“That was playing!” said Hal. “Oh, it was great!”
“Real science, I call it!” declared Tommy. “How’d you do it, Pete?”
“Don’t you mind their scoring, Pete,” said Allan, encouragingly. “You knocked your man down. Just you kill all you want to.”
Pete skated over and scattered them with his hockey. ”

“ To-day the sky was almost cloudless, the sun shone warmly and there was a quality to the air that made one want to do great things, but yet left one content to do nothing.
When Pete approached the field he saw that the varsity and freshman baseball teams were both at practise, that the lacrosse candidates—whose antics always [198] amused him—were racing madly about at the far corner of the enclosure, and that the track men were on hand in force. The scene was full of life and color and sound. ”

“ Instead, he told Allan he had done well enough for a starter, and promised to give him a trial at the two miles a week later.
Meanwhile the relay candidates were tested and sifted, the candidates for the field events practised daily in the gymnasium, and athletic activity seized upon the college. The baseball cage resounded with the thump of the balls and the cries of the players, the rowing-room gave forth strange sounds of an afternoon, and the basket-ball team, undisputed lords of the gymnasium floor for two months, were hustled into a corner and given scant attention. ”

“ Let’s go down to the ‘Ranch’ and see what Pete’s up to. I can’t study any more to-night.”
Town Lane was as dark as pitch save at remote [183] intervals where street lamps flickered half-heartedly, and to reach Pete’s domicile at night without breaking a limb was quite a feat. To-night nothing more exciting occurred than a collision with a stable door which was swinging open, and the two reached the corner to find Pete’s windows brightly illumined. Tommy, being in a musical mood, took up a position underneath and broke into song. ”

“ Stearns was shouting unintelligible things at his side and apparently trying to climb his back in order to see the finish. The throng was yelling for Hooker, for Rindgely, for Harris.
And then, suddenly, comparative silence fell. Twenty yards away the runners became recognizable. The crowd stared in wonderment. Well in the lead and increasing that lead with every long, perfect stride came an unknown, a youth with pale cheeks disked with crimson, [11] a youth of medium height with lithe body and long legs that were working like parts of machinery. Back of him ran Hooker ”

“ He was taller than Tiernan and bigger everywhere than Monroe; the judge came barely to his shoulder. The muscles of his arms were like great ropes under the clear skin. Once more he crossed the ring, and once more the leaden ball was hurled forward. From the stands came a chorus of applause. Tommy’s face lighted, and even Billy gave an appreciative nod. The Robinson trainer, standing across the circle, shot a quick glance at Pete as he stepped out and took his sweater from the turf. ”

“ Allan had come up to Erskine from Hillton without heralding; he was not a star football player, a brilliant baseball man, nor a famous athlete; he had always run in the distances at the preparatory school principally because he liked running and not because he believed himself cut out for a record breaker. His afternoon’s performance had been as much of a surprise to him as to any. At Hillton he had been rather popular among his set, but he had never attempted to become a leader. ”

“ Tommy Sweet suggested that he might rig up a treadmill in his room and run to his heart’s content, like a squirrel in a wire cage. But Tommy wouldn’t promise to feed him all the peanuts he could eat, and so Allan refused to try the scheme. ”

“ Picture a bare, plank-ceiled loft, some forty feet long by twenty feet broad, divided in the exact center [70] by a partition of half-inch matched boards and lighted by five windows. Imagine the walls and ceiling painted a pea-green, mentally hang two big oil-lamps—one in the middle of each room—from the latter, and spread half a dozen skins—bear, coyote, antelope, and cougar—over the discolored floor, and you have Pete’s apartments. ”

“ Watch that man Burns over there; the tall chap with the tow hair; he’s dangerous. And— Say, Billy,” turning to the trainer, who had slipped across the track to them, “Ware’s in it, after all. I was telling him to——”
“Get the lead at the start, or as soon as you can, and just simply hold it, if you have to break a leg,” said Billy, quietly. “How are you feeling?”
“I—I don’t know,” answered Allan. “But—I guess I’m all right.”
“Good. See that light-haired Robinson man over there at the pole? Well, play for him, Ware. And don’t let him head you for a minute. All right now.” ”

“ Then the enemy, violating the rules of warfare, fell upon him as one man, and he was borne, struggling and kicking, back into the citadel and deposited on the couch.
Allan returned to the front yard and rescued his handkerchief, which was trailing in the snow as Two Spot chased an imaginary mouse around the bare and solitary rose-bush. Tommy had meanwhile poked the fire into a blaze, and victors and vanquished drew up to it, while Pete smoked the pipe of peace and the others ate sweet chocolate, which, as Tommy pointed out, represented the fruits of victory. ”

“ When the trainer had gone, Hooker called across:
“Say, Ware, you’re done for now.”
“How’s that?” asked Allan.
“Why, when Billy takes a fancy to you, he just merely works you to death. You weigh when you get over to gym and then weigh again, say, three weeks from now. You won’t know yourself.”
A laugh went up. Rindgely chimed in with:
“You’ll find your work different from winning a mile with a couple of hundred yards handicap.” ”

“ Clarke Mason once said: “I’ll bet some day Tommy will commit second-degree murder so they’ll [41] give him hard labor for life.” For the rest he was a cheerful, likable fellow, aggressively honest and painfully conscientious.
“What did you think of that run of Cutler’s?” he asked, breathlessly, as he sank onto the seat at Allan’s side. “Peach, wasn’t it? It’ll show up great in the diagram I’m making; see!” He opened his note-book and exhibited a puzzling maze of lines and dots, figures and letters. “That’s the first half. Everything’s there—runs, kicks, plunges, penalties, the whole show.” ”

“ Tommy suggested.
“Must have cost the other fellows something,” laughed Hal. “I saw Rindgely lose three. You were a destructive chap, Pete.”
“Rindgely was plumb crazy,” answered Pete, with a broad smile. “Every time he got a new stick, I bust it for him. I don’t just know whether that’s good hockey, but I know it worked mighty well. But Rindgely’s got it in for me, all right.”
“He seems to have it in for me too,” said Allan, thoughtfully. “The other day he didn’t want to make pace for me when I tried the two miles, and acted nasty as you like afterward in the locker house.” ”

“ Behind Allan ran an unknown Robinson man, then Hooker, then Tammen, then Burns. Conroy was dangerously far back, and, with others in his neighborhood, was showing that he didn’t approve of the pace.
Of all distances, the two miles is the hardest to run. Speed as a factor in success is largely eliminated, and endurance is the supreme test. The race requires a large courage on the part of the runner, the courage to endure. It has been said, and truly, that it takes a fast man for the sprints and a brave man for the distances. ”

“ Allan shook hands with the three, while the group laughed at Stearns’s fling at the managing editor of the college weekly. Long was a startlingly tall fellow, with a crooked nose and twinkling, yellowish eyes, and Monroe was short and thick-set, and looked ill-tempered. Mason, Allan recognized as one of a half-dozen [26] men whom he had seen about college and as to whose identity he had been curious. Mason was the sort of fellow that attracts attention: tall, broad-shouldered, with shrewd, kindly eyes behind glasses and a firm mouth under a straight and sensitive nose. ”

“ Allan listened. From beyond the little promontory came the unmistakable quack of a duck. Pete pumped a cartridge into the barrel of his carbine and tiptoed toward the shore. Allan seized his shot-gun, fell over a stone, and followed. Pete waved him back, and then returned.
“They’re around that point. We’ve got to go mighty quiet; if we don’t, they’ll fly. Keep low until you get to the pebbles there, and then get down and crawl. Come on!” ”

“ Walter Stearns followed the freshman runner with his gaze while he began the turn. Kernahan too was watching him, and with something like interest. But all he said was:
“Stride’s pretty good; feet drag a good deal, though.”
“Who’s that closing up?” asked Stearns. “Oh, it’s the sophomore chap with the black hair. He’s an idiot, that’s what he is. Look! he’s trying to pass Long-legs. There he goes! Long-legs has sense, anyhow. Sophomore’s taken the lead, and look at the pace he’s making! Long-legs is dropping back; none but a fool would try to keep up to that.” ”

“ While the stands cavorted and cheered, Poor kicked the goal. Erskine was already victorious, and Robinson’s youngsters seemed to realize the fact. For, though they fought valiantly and doggedly for twenty minutes longer, it was evident that they no longer looked for victory. With every repulse their defense grew perceptibly weaker, while their rivals, as though they had husbanded their strength until now, made each [64] attack fiercer than the one before, until in the last ten minutes of the contest they simply drove the Brown before them at will. ”

“ Poor is a plucky little chap, and maybe he’ll give Jones a run for his money. Look at him!”
At the other end of the hall Erskine’s last hope was leaning over the mark, one slim white arm thrust forward and one reaching impatiently back toward where Tolmann, swaying and gasping, was vainly striving to save the race. Poor looked plucky without a doubt, and when, after what seemed an age, Tolmann struck weakly at his hand and staggered off the track, he was [169] off like a shot, his thin legs twinkling like a salmon-colored streak as he followed the Robinson captain. ”

“ So Allan told him, and Pete grew very thoughtful as the short narrative progressed. When Allan had finished he asked:
“I suppose these fellows that do stunts at the Boston meet go to pretty near all of them, don’t they?”
“Oh, I don’t know; a good many, I guess. Why?”
“Just wondering,” answered Pete. “Come on and send that telegram. If you address it to the president or treasurer or something, it will do, won’t it?”
“I’ll send it to the chairman of the Athletic Committee,” said Allan, seizing his hat. “I’m glad you thought of it, Pete. You’re some good in the world, after all, aren’t you?” ”

“ There were fifteen entries, and among them were men from Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Erskine College. Erskine’s representative was rather nervous as, with his number flapping at his back, he was assigned the place at the pole in the front line. Beside him was a Cornell runner whose prowess was well known, and Allan Ware marveled at his own temerity. Surely, he had no chance against the Cornell man, nor, for that matter, against several of the others. Well, he would run as well as he knew how and take his beating philosophically. ”

“ Stearns had displayed a confidence that, in Allan’s case at least, had been a great incentive to hard work. Stearns frowned a little as he answered:
“Oh, well, maybe to-morrow I’ll be hopeful again. A fellow can’t help having a spell of nerves now and then, you know.”
“Well, if it’s only that, we’ll forgive you,” Mason replied. “I thought maybe something had happened. Things have a way of happening, I’ve noticed, just before a meet; Jones lames his ankle, Brown is put on probation, Smith is protested, or something else unforeseen plays havoc.” ”

“ So up he went, working as hard to beat out the Technology runner as though first place was at stake. And beat him he did, and turned off of the track and walked back to the dressing-room apparently as untired as when he had started.
“You lost that race,” said Kernahan, “when you lost your place in the first row. But don’t you care; you’ve learned a thing or two, and one of them’s to wait for the pistol.”
“But I’m not decently winded,” Allan complained. “I could run the mile now, and yet those chaps beat me.”
“Sprinting ability is what you’ve got to learn, my boy. ”