“Go it, Jerry!”
Like two clocks, so far as regularity went, the two contestants bent their backs and pulled with might and main.
One thing was certain, unless something happened, it would be a close race.
But now the Lakeview boys were getting wild.
“See Jerry! He is gaining.”
“Jerry is five feet and more in the lead!”
It was true. Slowly but surely our hero was forging ahead. Should he be able to keep this up he would cross Si Peters’ course at the turning point.
But now Wash Crosby showed his hand. Without so much as a toot of the whistle, his steam launch kept drawing closer and closer to Jerry’s side.
Then it gradually went ahead, until Jerry was caught in the swash of the tiny waves it produced.
Under ordinary circumstances these waves would not have been noticed, but in a shell, and especially during a race, even such apparent trifles count heavily.