"What are you towing?" asked the referee bluntly.
"Towing?" repeated Dick in bewilderment.
"That's what I asked," repeated the referee. "When you came down on this last spurt I'm sure that at one moment I saw a length of line rise above the water astern of you. Then, further back, I saw something else jerked to the surface."
"Why, we can't be towing anything," Dick insisted. "You saw our canoe launched."
"Late start, if you don't line the canoes up at once, referee," warned the time-keeper.
But Mr. Tyndall had his own views.
"The starting time will be delayed," he announced sharply. "Captain
Prescott, take your canoe to the landing stage."
"All right, sir."
"Captain Hartwell you will follow."
"Very good, sir."