"Don't scowl so savagely, Thad," warned Hugh. "There's no need of letting them understand we're on to their game. The advantage always lies in catching the other fellow off his guard. Let's laugh while we walk past, as if we'd been figuring out how a certain prize was already dangling close to our fingertips."
So Thad managed to "take a brace," profiting by the sage advice of his comrade; and, as they passed Nick and his two cronies, Hugh remarked as pleasantly as he could:
"I've been watching you run to-day, Nick, and I honestly believe you are right up with the top-notchers in the game. There may be some surprises next Saturday for those who think they've got it all figured out who's going to win the prizes. And Nick, as far as I'm concerned, I'd like to see you take the long-distance prize, honestly and cleanly, if I can't get it myself. You're a representative of Scranton High, Nick, and we're all out to see the old school do herself proud."
Nick seemed taken aback by these hearty words on the part of the fellow whom he had so long sought an opportunity to injure. He shot a hasty glance, accompanied by the uplifting of his heavy eyebrows, toward his companions, who, thereupon, catching a sly wink, perhaps, both chuckled audibly as though amused.
"Oh! I've already as good as copped that Marathon prize," Nick went on to say, at the same time thrusting out his chin in his customary aggressive and boastful fashion. "I calculate to give the folks some surprise by the ease with which I'll come in away ahead of the next competitor. There'll be a wheen of those who also ran, bringing up the tail of the procession. Long-distance is my best suit, and I've waited a while to show up certain chaps in this town who think they are just the thing. Don't worry about me, Morgan; Nick Lang generally gets there when he throws his hat into the ring."
At that the other two laughed uproariously, as though they thought the joke too good for anything. Possibly they took Nick's reference to "those who also ran" to mean Hugh Morgan particularly; and in their minds they could see him desperately trying to break his bonds; or climb up out of the deep pit into which he had gone crashing when the covered mattress, formed of slender twigs and dead leaves, had given way under his weight.
Hugh and Thad walked on, the latter fairly boiling with illy-suppressed anger.
"That fellow always gives me a pain, Hugh," he was saying, as they increased the distance separating them from the still merry trio in the rear. "He is really the meanest boy you could find in all the towns of this country. But fellows like him sometimes catch a Tartar; so, perhaps, it might happen in this case," and Thad, who evidently had something on his mind, would not commit himself further, as they walked on in company.