“Please, I’d rather you didn’t,” begged Gerald. But Arthur either didn’t hear or didn’t heed.
“Say, Jake,” he called, “what happened to you to-day?”
Hiltz looked up scowlingly. “Had a pain,” he answered morosely. “I’d have finished ahead of you if I hadn’t.”
“Too bad,” said Arthur sympathetically while a quiet smile traveled up and down the coach. “I had one myself and know what it’s like. Anyone see Norcross? He was out of it almost from the start. Guess he wasn’t feeling very fit to-day.”
“He went home long ago,” said Felder. “I met him just as we made the turn down there. Told me he was all in, and looked it, too.”
“Too bad,” said Maury. “He’s a good runner when he’s in shape. Well, fellows, we must do this again next year, now that we’ve got started. Ryan says we ought to keep up the interest by holding a school run in the spring and getting all the fellows to come out for it.”
“Might have a class race,” suggested Goodyear.
“Bully idea,” Sherwood agreed. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t build up a good cross-country reputation here at Yardley.”
“I don’t care so much about the reputation,” put in Wagner, “if we can only beat Broadwood two years out of three.”