“Yes. And if only they had been on hand to see the ball game,” returned Jack. And then his mind went back to Ruth and to her father and he wondered how Mr. Stevenson was making out about the stolen paint-making formulas.
In the singles Fred was victorious over Billy Sands and Jack came in ahead of Paul Halliday. In the doubles Spouter and Andy lost to Ted Maxwell and another of the Longley boys, while Gif and Randy won with ease over the lad known as Fiddler and Codfish.
Of course the six-oared race, which took place three hours later, was the big event. For this purpose two boats which were almost alike were chosen and a course around a number of the islands was mapped out. Some men in motor-boats from Beldane were asked to act as judges and in the end the event took on quite a look of importance, many coming from all around the lake to witness the contest.
“Here is where we have got to win!” declared one of the Longley boys. “It will even up for losing that ball game.”
“Well, we’re going to win!” cried another, who was one of the best oarsmen at the academy. “If you’ll follow my directions we can’t lose.”
For this race both crews had practiced carefully, and when they came out to the starting line each looked to be in the pink of condition.
The race proved a great surprise in more ways than one. The sun was shining, but there were heavy clouds in the sky and just as the race started it began to rain. Then the wind blew up sharply.
“Row, boys, row!” cried Gif, who was setting the stroke.
“Gee, feel the rain!” murmured Andy. “We’re in for a ducking.”
“Never mind; pull!” answered Jack.