“What?”
“She is! She is! Oh, girls, Fairview is going to win!”
“Who—who is second?” demanded Mabel.
“Randall!” came the reply.
Then there was silence. The girls looked at one another. What they thought, who shall say?
On came the three shells. The cheers increased. There was a din of horns and rattles. The band played madly—no one knew what the tune was—and cared less.
“Steady all!” cried Jerry, as he noticed a tendency to quicken. “Steady all!”
On came the Randall shell. Just a little to her rear was Boxer Hall, struggling desperately and with breaking hearts to offset the disadvantage of overtraining and over-confidence. For that is just what it amounted to. It looked hopeless for them now.
As for Fairview, she had maintained the lead she had unexpectedly gained over Randall, and the eager—almost bursting—hearts in the boat hoped that the co-educational college could row it out unto the end. But there was no disguising the fact to themselves that they were rowing against such a rival as they had never before met.