Gibbs tried his best, but his strokes when they grew faster grew also weaker, and the crimson canoe gained steadily until there was open water between her stern and the white bow.
“Not too fast!” warned Jeffrey. “Make them hard, Poke!”
And Poke, who was getting excited by the prospect of victory, steadied down again. Then Gibbs “caught a crab” with his paddle, Gary lost his temper and called him names and the Mi-Ka-Noo shot past the float a good length and a half ahead!
Poke subsided over his paddle and fought for breath while Jeffrey, backing water and paddling, turned the canoe about and went back to the float.
“I guess this one’s a bit faster than yours, Gary,” said Jeffrey. “She sits out of the water more, I think.”
But strangely enough Gary had an affection for his battered craft and was up in arms at once.
“It wasn’t a test of the canoes,” he said indignantly. “This one is twice as fast as yours. If Punk hadn’t nearly lost his paddle we’d have shown you. Besides, I was tired. You fellows had been resting up there.”
Poke lifted his head, gave a gasp for breath, and said:
“You couldn’t have beat us if you’d just got out of bed, Bull.”