"Why wash till afterward?"
The jury retired to deliberate and announced amid cheers that to equalize matters Mr. Peanuts Biddle would be handicapped two-fifths of a second. The candidate took this ruling very much to heart and withdrew.
The Tennessee Shad, closing the list of entries, slouched up to the starting-line amid great excitement to better the record of Doc Macnooder.
He first inspected the washstand, filling the basin higher than customary and exchanging the stiff face towel for a soft bath towel, which would more quickly absorb the moisture.
Doc Macnooder, who followed these preparations with a hostile eye, protested against this last substitution, but was overruled.
The Tennessee Shad then divested himself of his coat and undergarments amid cries of:
"Oh, you ribs!"
"What do they feed you?"
"Oh, you wish-bones!"