"She's a hummer; there's nothing on the bluff to touch her."
"Do you think it was just the square thing, Ralph, to get that toboggan when it was understood we were to race with what we had already?" asked Theo quietly.
"Pooh!" replied Ralph, tossing his head defiantly; "everything's fair in love and war."
As he turned away and swung his toboggan round, it came in contact with Patsey Kehoe's barrel-stave sled. With a muttered oath Ralph sprang toward the obstruction, and kicking it high into the air, the clumsy little thing fell to the ground shattered into useless fragments. Poor Patsey gave a cry as he saw his plaything demolished, but Ralph's angry face silenced him again, and with tears running down their cheeks he and Katey proceeded to gather up the pieces.
"Get ready for the final heat," called out Judge Masterton.
Mrs. Ross pressed forward to Theo's side and whispered in his ear, "Good luck to you, my boy."
With every eye upon them, Ralph and Theo drew their toboggans into position. The difference between the two toboggans was very marked. Theo's was a particularly fine one of the ordinary kind, but Ralph's was made of narrow hard-wood strips secured by screws instead of thongs, and had a sharp racing look that could not be mistaken. Just as the contestants were ready to receive their ballast, Theo's glance fell upon Patsey Kehoe pressing forward eagerly on the edge of the crowd, watching him with his whole soul in his eyes. He knew well how intensely the little fellow hoped for his success, and suddenly an idea flashed into his mind which caused him to call out to Judge Masterton,—
"A minute's time, please, sir."
"All right, my lad," replied the judge.
Then, to the surprise of everybody, Theo, after whispering to Walter Powell, whom he had first intended to be his companion on the toboggan, and who now drew aside, beckoned to Patsey Kehoe. Patsy approached bashfully.