The days intervening until the time came for the games were busy ones
for the boys in the island camp. The Balsam was thoroughly overhauled,
and everything removed from her that might tend in any way to retard her
speed. Frequent cruises were made and every boy was assigned to some
special duty on the boat so that when the race was held there would be
no confusion. None of the young campers had any desire to lose the race
through inefficiency.
Long swims were indulged in to improve their wind and strengthen their
muscles. Canoe races were held and different combinations tried to
enable them to select the strongest team. A course a half-mile long was
marked out and time-trials held in an effort to decide upon the fastest
pair. All four boys were to be in the race but it had been decided that
the best policy was to put the best two paddlers in the same canoe. By
following this plan it was thought that their chances for winning would
be greatly improved. First place was to count two and second one in the
sailing and canoe races and in the tilting match. In the swimming race
three places were to count, the points to be scored being three for
first, two for second and one for third. The team scoring the greatest
number of points was to be declared the winner.
Practice for the tilting match occupied very much of the boys' time. Two
long poles had been cut and one end of each was wound with old rags and
blankets, thus forming a large soft knob.
"If we'd only saved those clothes that we had on when the skunks got
after us," remarked George, "we could have won a tilting contest from
anybody."
"What do you mean by that!" inquired Grant curiously.
"Simply this. Instead of using rags to wind the poles with we could have
used those clothes."
"What advantage would that have been?"
"Don't you see?" demanded George. "All we'd have to do would be to point
the pole at our opponent. We wouldn't have to touch him at all; as soon
as he got a whiff of that awful odor he'd simply faint and fall
overboard and we'd be the winners."
"A great idea, Pop," laughed John. "Why didn't you think of it at the
time?"
"In the first place I didn't know anything about this tilting match at
the time; in the second place, even if I had, I don't believe I'd have
kept them. Whew, they were awful!" and George shuddered at the
recollection.
"They certainly were," agreed Fred. "Don't talk to me about it; my
clothes were all in the same condition as yours."
The same system that was adopted for selecting a team for the canoe race
was used for the tilting match. Every possible combination of the four
young campers was tried in an effort to find the strongest competitors.
Grant and John had been selected for the canoe race, and Grant and
George were decided upon for the tilting contest.
It had been taken for granted that Grant would be on both teams; he
outshone his companions in every form of game and sport just as he did
in his knowledge of books. He and George were heavier than the other two
boys and consequently made a more powerful team for the tilting match.
Weight would be an asset in that sport, for it is much easier to knock
down a light man than it is a heavy one; especially when a tricky and
shaky canoe is under your feet.
"I seem to be out of it," remarked Fred ruefully when the final
selections had been made.
"Why are you?" demanded Grant. "You're going to be in the canoe race
just as much as John and I?"
"I know it, but I'm not on the first team."
"That's all right, you and Pop might beat us out after all."
"Huh," exclaimed Fred. "Pop doesn't do any work; he just sits there and
expects me to do it all."
"You know that's not so, Fred," protested George warmly. "No one in the
world works harder than I do."
"Well, if that's so," returned Fred, "all I can say is that there are an
awful lot of loafers in the world."
"All four of us will be in every event except the tilting match," said
John. "You and I are both out of that, Fred."
"You can save your strength while that's going on for the swimming
race," said Grant. "We'll have to depend on you two to win first and
second in that."
"How long is it going to be?" asked George.
"A hundred and seventy-five yards. Tom Adams was over here yesterday
while you were away and we decided on that distance."
"It seems to me like a queer distance though," said George. "How did you
ever happen to hit on that?"
"Why, we wanted to make it a hundred yards and they wanted a two-twenty.
We finally compromised on a hundred and seventy-five yards."
"That's fair enough," said George. "How are we going to measure off
these different distances?"
"Guess at them, I suppose," laughed John. "It won't make any difference
whether they're exact or not, I guess."
"No, I imagine we're not going to break any time records so we needn't
bother about such details," agreed George.
"We haven't had any practice so far to-day," remarked Fred. "What's the
matter; are we afraid of getting over-trained?"
"That can be done easily enough, all right," said Grant. "Don't you
remember what the track coach we had at school last year said?"
"He said I'd never make a runner if that's what you mean," laughed
George.
"No, not that. What he said about training."
"What was it?" asked Fred. "I don't remember."
"Why, he said it was much better to be under-trained than over-trained.
Another thing, when a fellow was training for a certain event he'd never
let him run the full distance in practice."
"Is that so?" exclaimed George. "That doesn't sound logical to me
though."
"All right," said Grant, "but you know which school won all the meets
held anywhere around home, don't you?"
"We did," said George.
"That's just it," exclaimed Grant, "and yet you say that trainer was no
good."
"I didn't mean to say that. All I said was that it didn't seem
reasonable to me not to let a fellow run the full distance."
"Well, Mr. Smythe used to say that the great temptation for most fellows
was to do too much work. They'd go out and run all the afternoon and
hang around until they were tired out and then wonder why they felt
heavy in the legs and had no life in them."
"Sailing can't hurt us anyway," said John.
"That's right," agreed Grant, "and I'm in favor of doing this: stop
training for the events to-morrow. That'll leave us two days to rest up
before the games are held and we can devote those two days to learning
how little we know about sailing."
"I know that already," laughed George. "I'm afraid we're going to get a
good beating in that race."
"Oh, I don't know," Fred objected. "They might run on a rock or
something."
"That's our best chance all right," said George. "I have an idea that
those fellows are all awfully good sailors."
"I hope we have some wind," said Grant hopefully. "We'll never finish
the race unless we have a pretty stiff breeze. Personally I think the
course is too long."
"Twice around the lake," said John. "That's not so far."
"It's pretty far," insisted Grant. "Wait until you see the buoys out and
then you'll realize it."
"Who's going to put them out?"
"The red team," laughed Grant.
"They're doing most of the work, aren't they?" inquired Fred.
"Well, they wanted to; naturally I didn't object."
"They're going to get dinner over here, you know," said George. "That'll
give us something to do."
"Just think of it," exclaimed John. "Won't we be hungry that day? The
swimming and canoe races and the tilting contests all in the morning and
then food. You'll have to cook a lot, Grant."
"I realize that," said Grant grimly. "I guess we can feed them though."
"Suppose we're all even at the end of the morning," exclaimed George.
"That would certainly make the sailing race exciting, wouldn't it?"
"It sure would," Fred agreed. "We'll have plenty of time to sail it too,
Grant. All afternoon ought to be long enough."
"That's right," said Grant. "Yes, I hope we can get around twice in one
afternoon."
"This canoe race is what's bothering me," exclaimed George. "That'll
take it out of us all right. It's hard work paddling and as long as Fred
and I aren't the first team I wonder if it wouldn't be better if we
didn't go in it at all. If we were fresh for the swimming race that
might increase our chances."
"I know," said Grant, "but it seems to me that every fellow ought to be
in every event."
"But look here," George objected. "You and String are a much better pair
than Fred and I. You simply walk away from us every time; we can't
possibly beat you so what's the use?"
"You might get second, and that one point might win for us."
"I have an idea," exclaimed John suddenly. "Why not make it a relay
race? We can race around the island and if we do that everybody can be
in it and it seems to me it would be a lot more fun that way."
"That's fine," exclaimed George warmly. "Fred and I can paddle the first
lap and you and Grant the second. Will those other fellows agree to it
though?"
"I don't see why they shouldn't," said Grant. "It's just as fair as the
other way; fairer if anything because it gives every one a chance."
"We'll have to ask them about it though," said John. "Why can't we sail
down there now and see them?"
"We can," said George springing to his feet. "Let's do it, too."
A few moments later the Balsam was under way, headed for the end of the
lake and the camp of the enemy, the red team.