"Yes," agreed Welter, "but I'll take the starch out of them soon. There won't be any racing in that shell."
"Why, what are you going to do?" Luke wanted to know.
"You'll find out pretty soon," muttered the bully. "I'm going to get even with that Frank Racer and his brother if it's the last thing I do. You'll see."
Then the two unpopular lads walked off while the other students trailed along the river bank, following the shell.
CHAPTER XV
THE CHALLENGE
"Well, we didn't do so badly," remarked Frank, when the oarsmen had returned to the float, and had carefully lifted out the shell.
"Oh, it might have been worse," admitted his brother.
"We didn't make very fast time," declared Jack.
"And we didn't try for it," said Frank quickly. "We want to get so we pull a good stroke together, and then we can hit up the pace."