At the report of the pistol Don straightened himself quickly from his crouching position and tore lightly down on the first of the ten hurdles, springing off the right foot, turning his body slightly to the right and clearing the bar with a long, low, graceful rise that was scarcely more than a stride. Three long steps and he was again in the air, his rear ankle just tipping the wood as he landed on the ball of his right foot and sped on, apparently without effort. Again and again his white-clad form rose and fell down the line of hurdles until the last one was surmounted and he had crossed the finish running like a deer, swiftly and lightly. Then with a series of high, shortening strides he gradually slowed down and turned back.
“Isn’t it pretty, the way he does that?” said a voice in Wayne’s ear, and the latter turned to find Paddy beside him.
“You bet it is!” answered Wayne warmly. “I wish I could do it!”
“Ever try?”
“No; did you?”
“Once; last year. Don had five hurdles set up out here, and I told him I’d beat him over if he’d give me a start. So I tried. He waited until I was over the first hurdle. Then he started.” Paddy paused and grinned reminiscently.
“Who won?”
“There wasn’t any race, me boy. The spalpeen went across the finish while I was trying to pick myself out of the third hurdle. You see, I got over the first all right, but when I reached the second there was something wrong; I had too many feet or—or something; and I got there on the wrong one. I finally jumped off one of them—I think it was the left hind foot—knocked the hurdle over, ran for the next one, landed on top of it, and then—well, then the hurdle and I were all mixed up together. I think it struck me, but I’m not sure. Oh, hurdle racing is something that I wasn’t cut out for. I’m quite willing that Don should do my share.”
Don and the other two lads came up while Wayne was still laughing over Paddy’s narrative, and, yielding the pistol, Wayne stood aside and watched the next trial. Don got into his overcoat again and Connor and Middleton crouched at the mark.