A week after the accident Frank was able to step on his foot, but the doctor strictly forbade any violent exercise. However he did not prohibit practice at weight throwing, and Frank soon proved himself an expert at this, almost equaling Dutch, so that Holly and Kindlings made a temporary shift in their list of entrants.
“But I’ll be in the jump all right,” asserted Frank, and rather to the surprise of the doctor the injured foot healed so well and rapidly that there was a prospect, after all, that the Big Californian could take the place originally assigned to him.
“I hope he can,” said Holly. “For we need him, and Sid Henderson, while he’s good, isn’t quite up to Frank’s mark.”
Sid knew this himself, but he was, by constant work, gradually improving. Meanwhile hard practice went on among the various track squads.
The grounds at Tonoka Park were being put in shape for the big quadruple meet, and there was every prospect of success. The various committees held frequent meetings, and it was said that many tickets were being disposed of, so that there was a prospect of well-filled treasuries.
Many of the lads against whom Tom and his chums had played football or baseball were to uphold the colors of Boxer Hall and Fairview. As regarded Exter little was known, though it was rumored that a number of well-known amateurs were enrolled under her banner.
“Exter is the only one we haven’t a good line on,” said Holly Cross one afternoon, as he called at the room of the inseparables to inquire about Frank, who was almost himself again.
“Why, you don’t have any fear about her fellows; do you?” asked Tom, taking the call as an excuse to stop studying.
“Yes, I do, in a way. I tell you, boys, Randall will need every point she can pile up. You know how we score, with a thousand points as the maximum for the best in each class of events. Seconds and fractions of inches count, so don’t forget that, and go for every last ounce of strength or wind that you have. A point in any event may make or break us.”
“Will it be as close as that?” asked Sid.