Somewhere—it seemed to be a cry from the air right over her head—a shrill voice kept repeating:
“Come on! Come on, Bobs!”
And Bobby called up that reserve strength that Mrs. Case had talked so much about in her little lectures to the girls, and sprang ahead of her rival. She was unconscious of the fact that she was ahead. It seemed to her that the other girl was still clinging to her. She could hear the footsteps and the heavy breathing.
But suddenly she was aware that it was her own feet spurning the cinders that she heard—and her own breathing. She was winning!
And then the tape snapped across her chest and Jess and Eve Sitz, who had run over to watch the finish of the race, caught her in their arms.
“Splendid! Bully for you, Bobs!” cried Jess. “Why, there isn’t any other quarter-mile runner in Central High. You take the palm!”
And not until then did Bob understand that the girl she thought she had run so closely was a hallucination. The second runner was yards behind her at the finish!
They bore Bobby into the gym. building and Mrs. Case insisted upon Dr. Agnew’s seeing her again almost immediately. The physician was still in the building, and he came when called. The physical instructor was examining the time card Laura and her assistants had made out. She would not divulge their time to the runners, and the time keepers were sworn to secrecy; but everybody knew that Bobby Hargrew had made a good showing.
“There’s nothing the matter with that little girl,” said the doctor, confidently. “Only, these sudden strains are not valuable. Yes, once, by the way, is all right. As long as one does not go beyond that reserve strength that your instructor harps upon,” and he laughed.
Bobby was naturally proud over her achievement, for she knew that she had run a very fast quarter. She was only sorry that she could not know herself just how fast she was. But that was a secret Mrs. Case kept from her.