Rosalind was paling and flushing by turns, and even Frank, who glanced at her occasionally, could hardly determine whether she favored Starbright most, or Morgan.
In the final twenty-five yards Starbright seemed to lift himself and fly, and crossed the line easily and neatly the winner.
The smile was still on Morgan’s face as he returned to Rosalind’s side.
“My skates are dull,” he said. “I think I could beat him with another pair. But now we’ll see what Merriwell will do!”
One of the interesting things of the afternoon was to be a race between Frank Merriwell and Jack Simmons, a junior, who was everywhere noted as the “Skate King.”
The enemies of Merriwell were jubilant. They had openly boasted that Frank would never dare to meet Simmons in a race on ice-skates, though they were forced to concede that in nearly every form of athletics Frank was the best man who had ever been seen in Yale. But Frank, though he had defeated Jack Ready and some others, had never laid any claims to be a wonder on skates.
He had not wanted to enter a race against Simmons, for, in arranging the “entertainments,” his idea was to give others an opportunity to show what they could do. Therefore, he had no desire to exploit his abilities. But he had finally consented, when Simmons came to him and told him that he personally wished to make the race.
The excitement over the previous contests was tame compared with that now witnessed.
Frank came on the ice wearing the winged skates which had been given him by Inza Burrage the previous winter. They were as handsome as were ever turned out by a skate-maker, and on the heels, as ornaments, were pairs of tiny metal wings, in imitation of the winged sandals of Mercury.
Jack Simmons wore racing-skates of the most approved pattern. He believed that he was really the king of skaters, and he was anxious to prove his superiority to Merriwell in this great winter sport.