Fred heard and turned to look. Sure enough, Joe had a new sled and it was a beauty, long and low and with the flexible steering gear of the best make of sled. Harry Worden, a post-graduate student in the high school, was examining Joe’s possession in evident admiration.
“Some sled!” was his verdict.
Then he saw Fred and waved to him. The Riddle Club members knew Harry Worden very well. The spring before, when he was a high school senior, he had served as referee at a riddle contest held between their club and the Conundrum Club. They liked him very much.
“Hello, Fred,” called Harry. “Come on over here and look at this.”
Fred went over to the other side of the road, glad of a chance to see the new sled more closely.
“It’s a peach!” he told Joe, heartily. “Present?”
“Got it for my birthday,” Joe answered. “This sled cost a lot, and it’s better than any one else’s. I’ll bet I can beat any one on the hill now.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” drawled Harry Worden, lazily. “It isn’t always the sled that wins a race. Something depends on the boy who does the steering.”
“Bet you I can beat any one on the hill,” Joe boasted.
Harry only laughed and turned away and Fred went back to his friends.