"Well, but a good coach like Buckman—" began Bacon.
"Is Burlen a good rower?" interrupted Roy.
"Great," answered Chub.
"Dandy," said Bacon.
"Best we've got," supplemented Post.
"But I don't believe he makes a good captain," said Gallup. "Whitcomb told me the other day that he gets mad as anything when Buckman calls him down."
"It's like him," said Bacon. "He never could stand being told anything. Jack's the only fellow that could ever make him do anything he didn't want to."
"They say Hammond's four this year is the best they've ever had," said Roy.
"They always say that," answered Chub sceptically.
"The first of the season," amended Gallup. "Later they begin to howl about the fellows going stale, breaking their ankles or spraining their wrists. Gee, you'd think to hear them talk a week before the race that they didn't have a man in the boat who wasn't a corpse or a cripple for life!"