For the Honor of Randall Part 35

"Jerry's ahead! Jerry's ahead!" yelled Tom, dancing about, and clapping Phil on the back until his chum cried for mercy.

"Hey! Let up, will you?" Phil begged. "I want to live to see the finish."

"Sid's falling back," announced Holly, gloomily, as he watched the contestants. "But Joe Jackson is pulling up."

"There goes Lem Sellig!" cried Tom, as that lad tripped on a hurdle and fell heavily. Several of his friends rushed out and picked him up.

"Go on Sid! Go on!" fairly howled Tom.

"Three cheers for Fairview!" came a shrill cry in girls' voices, and Tom knew that Madge and her chums were rallying their representatives.

Close behind Jerry came George Birch of Exter. On he raced, magnificently, with a burst of speed.

"Look out, Jerry!" warned Holly, but it was too late.

With a leap George pa.s.sed his compet.i.tor, and forged to the front. Even then Jerry might have caught him had it not been for a slight accident.

There was a cinder sticking up, dislodged from the smooth track by some previous runner, and not before noticed. Jerry trod on it, and his foot gave a twinge. He hesitated a moment, before a hurdle, and the hesitation was fatal to his chances.

He did not clear the barrier, but, though he knocked it over he himself did not fall. But he could not get into his stride again, and, a moment later, he was pa.s.sed by several others.

"Oh Sid! Sid! It's up to you!" yelled Phil, but it was not to be. Sid, well to the fore, was doing his best, but he had been depending on Jerry, and it was too late now to make the needful spurt.

Over the finish line burst George Birch, carrying the colors of Exter, and behind him came Frank Sullivan, of Fairview, with Pinkey Davenport, of Boxer Hall, a close third.

Randall had lost!

The echoes of the "Conquer or Die" song rolled away, and there came a silence. It was broken a moment later by a "locomotive-automobile" cheer from the cohorts of Exter, and then the other successful colleges joined in.

The shrill voices of the girls were heard above the hoa.r.s.er voices of their boy friends, and cheer after cheer rolled out over the field.

With tears in their eyes Phil and Frank and Tom turned away from the track.

"Never mind," consoled Holly. "Our boys did well, but fate was against us. Better luck in the big games."

"But we needed these points," whined Tom.

"I know it, you old grouch. But there's a chance yet, if we win most of the other events," declared Kindlings. "Frank, you've got to win for us, and so have you, Shambler."

"I will!" cried the new student, and Tom found himself feeling more generous toward the lad he disliked.

The friends of the winners crowded around them, while those of the losers did their best to cheer them up. Bean Perkins tried to lead his crowd in a jolly song, but it was a failure.

"Let's get our clothes on and go back," suggested Sid, gloomily.

"Don't you want to see the girls?" asked Phil.

"No," snapped the loser. "I want to sit on the old sofa and hear the clock tick."

And that was the sentiment of the four inseparables.

They did not stay to see the other events run off, but hurried back to Randall. There was gloom in the college, but it was not hopeless, for all felt that the other games would bring better news.

"We've just got to win," declared Holly, as he sat in the room of the four chums. "I know we can too, for----"

There came a knock on the door, and Tom answered. He found Wallops, the messenger, there.

"Mr. Cross is wanted on the 'phone," said Wallops.

"Who is it?" asked Holly.

"Mr. Wallace, the athletic manager of Exter college," was the answer.

"I wonder what he wants?" speculated Holly as he went to answer the call.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE ACCUSATION

"Well, I suppose you fellows are going to do your share next week,"

remarked Dan Woodhouse. He had entered the room of the inseparables shortly after Holly had gone to answer the telephone summons.

"Oh, sure," answered Tom.

"Well, we'll need every point we can pile up," went on the manager.

"Where's Holly, by the way? I thought I'd find him here, and there are a lot of things I want to talk over with him. Where is he?"

They were just telling Kindlings where Holly had gone when the lad in question came back. There was rather a queer look on his face.

"Oh, Dan, you're here," greeted Holly. "Come on out, I want to talk to you."

"And you don't want us to hear; is that it?" asked Sid with a laugh. "I like your nerve."

"Come on, Dan," went on Holly, without replying to the chaff, and there was something in his manner that impressed every lad in the room.

Kindlings must have noticed something, too, for he got up quickly, and joined his chum. As he closed the door after him, Tom and the others heard Dan ask:

"What is it? What's up? Anything wrong?"

"I don't know," answered Holly. "I'm afraid so. Wallace just had me on the wire. You know, Wallace from Exter, their manager. He asked me a queer question. Wanted to know if our list of compet.i.tors that I mailed him for the games next week, was to be revised."

"Revised?"

"Yes. He asked if those were the fellows who were going to take part in the games, and of course I said they were. Then he came back at me with this: