For a time it seemed that the race would come to an ignominious end then and there, for the other canoes, or such of them as were paddled by two or more fellows, followed so closely that at the end of the first hundred yards they were on both sides of the contestants and even in front of them! “Get out of the way, can’t you?” bawled Gary. “Give me room!”
Poke, a length and more behind, was not bothered by the convoy, and chuckled at Gary’s dilemma. But Joe Cosgrove came to the rescue. Joe was sculling in a tub.
“Keep back there!” he shouted. “Keep back of the race or I’ll call it off!”
“If they don’t get back I’ll claim a foul!” shouted Gary, encouraged by the referee’s support.
“So will I!” announced Poke. “I’ll claim two fouls!”
[268]
But the referee’s command had the desired effect and Gary’s blue canoe swept out of the press, followed by its green competitor. Joe followed close behind Poke and the rest of the craft came bobbing along back of Joe in merry, laughing confusion. The Mi-Ka-Noo had been lucky enough to secure a position well in the lead of the followers from where during the first stage of the race both canoes were in plain sight.
“Poke’s just simply going to pieces,” mourned Jeffrey. “Look at him! He can’t keep her nose straight at all!”
“He can’t paddle, and he knows it,” answered Gil. “What I’m wondering is what’s his idea? I’ll bet anything he never thought of winning this race by paddling.”
“Maybe he’s got a motor hidden in his canoe,” suggested Jim with a laugh.
“If he has he’d better start it going,” said Jeffrey. “He had to stop paddling then and straighten his canoe out. Why doesn’t he remember what I told him?”
“Is he much behind?” asked Hope anxiously, craning forward.
“About three or four lengths,” answered Jim. “Sit still or you’ll have us overboard!”
[269]
“He’s just doing that to fool him,” said Hope. “You wait!”
But if Poke was playing fox he was overdoing it, for now Gary was increasing his lead with every stroke of his paddle. The blue canoe was going finely, Gary’s bare arms working the paddle with the power and regularity of a piece of machinery. He was at the end of the first loop of the course now and the starting-point was already hidden from sight by the trees which grew to the water’s edge on both sides. The sound of the accompanying boats grew less and less, showing that Poke, keeping them back, was rapidly losing. But it was not until the stream turned to the right again on the beginning of the second loop that Gary allowed himself to turn and look behind him. When he did so he smiled. Not a canoe was in sight on so much of the winding stream as lay within his vision. In another moment, easing a little from the pace he had been setting, he was around the point, keeping as close to the bank as the channel would allow. He was beginning to be aware of aching muscles in arms and legs and back, and so he shifted his paddle to the right for a few minutes. The river still turned so that he could see only a hundred feet[270] or so ahead of him at a time, but presently the bridge at Birch Island crept into sight down the stream; first the tip end of it on the Crofton side of the river, then the second stone pier and the edge of the island and then the whole bridge. There were spectators on it. They were waving to a youth on the bank who was in the act of dropping a green canoe into the water. The green canoe, which had a strange likeness to the one which Poke Endicott was in, disappeared under the further arch of the bridge and went out of sight. The fellows on the bridge disappeared, too, running to the other side to watch it. But by the time Gary neared the bridge they were back again, shouting to him and cheering loudly. Gary experienced a glow of pleasure at the discovery of such a warm sentiment in his favor. As he neared the faces leaning over the parapet he was puzzled, however, to account for the expressions on them, and for the burst of laughter that greeted him. There was something ironic in that laughter, and he realized dimly that the shouts of encouragement were not altogether sincere.
“Go it, Gary! Eat ’em up! Paddle hard!”
[271]
“Dig, Bull! You’ll get him yet! That’s the boy!”
The shouting died away as he swept his canoe out from under the old stone arch and left the bridge and the island behind. Ahead was the boat-house and the float and the end of the race—and victory! And ahead, too, was a green canoe, a green canoe with a boy in the stern whose back looked marvelously like Poke Endicott’s! Of course it couldn’t be Poke, for Poke was yards and yards behind. Gary turned and looked. Just beyond the bridge came the pursuit. He could see the boats under the arches. Which was Poke’s he couldn’t tell, but Poke was there somewhere, vanquished and discomfited. Of course, only—who was the boy ahead? And why were the watchers on the float waving to him and shouting? Now he had stopped paddling and they were helping him out and slapping him on the back and cheering. Of course it wasn’t Poke; that was impossible; but it looked—
It was Poke!
The fellow had turned and Gary had seen his face. For a moment Gary stopped paddling and stared open-mouthed as though at an apparition.[272] What did it mean? Poke had not passed him on the way up. Or—was it possible that he had passed and that he hadn’t seen him? That was an awful thought, for it suggested that he was losing his senses! Nonsense! It was some trick, some—
Then Gary saw it all! Poke had carried across the point!
Gary realized that the current was carrying him down-stream and dug his paddle again. After all, it was all right, for plenty of fellows could testify to having seen Poke put his canoe back into the river at Birch Island. Why, Gary had seen that himself! And others must have seen him leave the water on the other side. Poke had fooled him, and he supposed a lot of the fellows would think it a good joke and try to jolly him about it, but he had won the race fairly and squarely, and he could afford to let them laugh. He went on to the float leisurely. The other canoes were almost up to him now. The crowd at the landing watched him approach and cheered him a little for consolation. At the edge of the float stood Poke, bearing his honors as modestly as might be. He leaned down and held Gary’s canoe for him.
[273]
“Well paddled, Bull,” he said heartily. “But what was the trouble? Did you strike a snag or run aground?”
“You think you’re smart, don’t you?” replied Gary indignantly. “Gee, you couldn’t do a thing, Poke, without trying to make a silly farce of it! You make me tired!”
“Farce!” repeated Poke in amazement. “Oh, now, I say, Bull, don’t be grouchy because I beat you. Shake hands and let’s forget it. It isn’t my fault if I can paddle faster than you can, is it now?”
“Paddle!” fumed Gary, climbing onto the float. “Run, you mean! You cheated!”
Poke shook his head and viewed sorrowfully the fellows who had huddled around at the first sounds of the altercation. “I thought you were a good loser, Bull,” he sighed.
“Loser! I am when I lose. But I haven’t lost. You carried across the point to Birch Island. Why, dozens of fellows saw you!”
“Oh, cut it out, Bull,” said one of the audience. “Don’t get sore about it. He beat you fair and square—”
“Of course I did,” agreed Poke soothingly.
Gary sputtered with indignation. “Fair[274] and square! Why—why, he took his canoe out of the water and ran across the point with it, I tell you!”
“What! Oh, get out, Gary!”
“You’re sore, Bull!”
“You didn’t, did you, Poke?”
“Sure I did. It was quicker that way. I wonder you didn’t think of it, Bull.”
“What did I tell you?” demanded Gary in triumph as the other canoes and boats began to unload their passengers. “He knew he couldn’t win fairly and so—”
“Now you hold on a minute, Bull,” commanded Poke smilingly. He pushed his way toward the other end of the float. “Jeff, where are you? Who’s seen Punk Gibbs?” Punk answered from nearby and Jeffrey hobbled through the crowd. “Now, then,” resumed Poke. “Bull says I didn’t win the race fairly. What do you fellows say? You were there when we made the agreement.”
Jeffrey hesitated. “Well,” he said, “you know you carried your canoe across the land, Poke.”
“Of course. What of it? What were the terms of the challenge?”
“You were to start together at the old[275] bridge,” spoke up Gibbs, “and the one who got here first was to have his shoes blacked by the other fellow. That’s the agreement, because I took notice that you didn’t say anything about canoes.”
“Is that the way you remember it, Jeff?” asked Poke.
“Yes, it is. But it hadn’t occurred to me—”
“It was understood that we were to race in canoes,” exclaimed Gary hotly. “If you’d meant a running race—”
“You may have understood it that way,”............