"
"As for me," spoke up Bill Rodgers, breaking his silence, "it
seems to me that Prescott's idea is good and fair."
"What do you say to that kind of stuff, Page?" inquired Hi quickly.
"I---I---er---well, I am agreeable to anything that pleases the
rest of you," stammered Courtney Page, by nature, a sail trimmer.
"You're a chump, then," Hi retorted elegantly. "The whole reason
why Prescott objects to one boy representing each school is that
he's afraid I can out-swim any boy that Central Grammar can produce."
"And I take it, Martin," Dick retorted, "that your reason for
insisting on the one-boy race, is due to your belief that you
can win from any one boy. Very likely you are the fastest and
strongest swimmer in any Gridley school. But a race with seven
boys on a side will better represent the average abilities of
the two schools. In baseball we tried to find out which school
had the average best players. We didn't try simply to find out
which school could boast of the one star player."
"That's right," nodded Len Spencer.
"Prescott, you're afraid to race with me, you or any other one
fellow in Central Grammar!" exclaimed Hi indignantly.
"No; I'm not afraid to swim against you," Dick declared quietly.
"I won't have the championship between the two schools rest on
any such race, but I'll enter a separate race against you---any
distance---this in addition to a seven-fellow race between the
schools.
Pages:
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189