"Gee whiz!" cried the Baby, in excitement. "Won't it be exciting! I don't mind the rain. I'm going to run down along the shore, and watch it! Hooray!"
"Rats!" growled Bull, angrily. "I don't care about any old race. I'm going to keep dry, let me tell you!"
Even the damper of his idol's displeasure could not change Master Edwards' mind, however; he and nearly the whole crowd with him made a dash down the shore for a vantage point to see the finish.
"There! They're off!"
The cry came a moment later, as the two lightly-clad figures stepped to the mark from which they were to start.
They were about of one size, magnificently proportioned, both of them, and the race bid fair to be a close one.
"Ready?" called the starter, in a voice that rang down the shore.
"Yes," responded Mark, and at the same moment a heavy cloud swept under the sun, and the air grew dark and chilly. The wind increased to a gale, blowing the spray before it; and then——
"Go!" called the starter.
The two dived as one figure; both took the water clean and low, with no perceptible splash; two heads appeared a moment later, forging ahead side by side; a cheer from the cadets arose, that drowned, for a moment, the roars of the storm; and the race was on.