"Are you in earnest about that, Bruce?" asked Frank.
"You bet I am in earnest!" was the assurance.
"You will try to pump a bicycle from New York to San Francisco?"
"Try it! Confound it! I tell you I'll do it if you win the mile run for Old Yale!"
"Then," said Frank, "I have a double object to work for, and I am going to win if it is in my body to do so!"
Rattleton was astonished to see Browning show so much animation.
"Why, you actually appear like your old self!" he exclaimed.
Bruce sat down.
"Tell me about it," he invited, speaking to Frank. "Some of the fellows said they saw you and Pierson chasing yourselves, and I caught what Rattleton was saying just as I came in."