"Course I can," spoke up Pudge resentfully. "I'm not so heavy as I look." If there was one form of exercise the fat youth did not shy at it was rowing.
"It's lucky you're not as heavy as you look to be below the ears," drawled Yansey. "You'll make ballast, all right. Five and three are eight, and there's little nubbin for cox. Didn't see him at first."
"I suppose not," sneered Hicks, who nearly always took offense when his physical proportions came into question. "There's a whole lot of things you Blackporters have never seen."
"I suppose we'll have our eyes opened when you fellows get to rowing," laughed the skipper of the Nothing To It.
"Quite likely," Phillips chimed in. "Give us two weeks of good weather and we'll show you something in the line of rowing that'll make you blink."
He said this chaffingly, although he was enthused with the spirit of confidence. Even Midkiff showed interest. Cloudman was the only green hand. He had never given much thought to any sport but baseball.
Before they returned to the cove where the catboats lay, Kingdon said to Horace Pence: "Come on over with me in the Spoondrift to-morrow, and we'll get the shell."
"You mean to try it?"
"Try what?" asked Rex.
"To beat those fellows at their own game. All these long-shore chaps can row."