“You keep still!” he cried angrily. “I lost the race, and that’s all there is to it.”
“No, that isn’t all there is to it,” Harry Worden corrected him. “You race again, and this time I intend to know what is going on.”
CHAPTER XV
DETECTIVE MARGY
“I promised my mother I’d go home at half-past four,” said Joe, uneasily.
“You can stay another ten or fifteen minutes,” Harry informed him. “You go back and tell Billy Pierce I say this race is to be done over. Tell him there’s no decision.”
“I’ll tell him you wouldn’t give a decision,” said Joe, hotly. “I won, and you’re afraid to say so, just because Polly Marley——”
“I haven’t much doubt about your cheating, Joe,” said Harry, as coolly as he usually spoke. “But as I didn’t see what happened with my own eyes, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. You’re lucky, if you’d only see it the right way.”
Joe turned sullenly away and began to plod up the hill, dragging his sled after him. At the top of the hill Billy Pierce held the eager coasters back, for he could see that some sort of argument was taking place below.
“Just a minute, Fred,” said Harry, as Fred turned to go back. “Are you willing to race again?”
“Sure,” said Fred, looking everywhere but at Harry or Polly.