LAFAYETTE HILL
It was, indeed, good coasting down Lafayette hill. This was a long and,
at certain places, a steep slope, which led from Cardiff village, over
the mountain, to the town of Lafayette. A few miles beyond Lafayette was
another settlement called Onativia. The long hill wound in and out, with
queer twists and turns and an abundance of thank-'e-ma'ams, which made
the sleds leap up in the air as the runners struck those spots.
The snow storm ceased in the afternoon, when Roger and Adrian, donning
their boots, mufflers, and short jackets, trudged off to the hill,
dragging clipper sleds with them. They found the coasting-place black
and swarming with boys and girls,--hearty, sturdy youngsters, who
laughed and shouted as they pelted each other with snowballs. The white
flakes had not become packed down hard enough yet to make the going
good, but beneath the hundreds of tramping feet and the scores of sled
runners, that process would not take long. The really swift and exciting
coasting, however, would not begin until the bill was worn smooth and
icy.
Roger and Adrian joined the happy throng of young people. Like the
others they dragged their sleds part way up the hill, and then, leaping
skilfully upon the narrow board, they slid down, going faster and faster
as they gathered momentum. The hill was two miles in extent, but none of
the youngsters cared to go to the top to get the benefit of the long
slide. It took too much time to walk up, and they preferred the more
rapid, though shorter skimming over the snowy surface.
"It isn't very good yet," said Adrian, as they reached the bottom of the
slope, after an invigorating ride. "Wait two or three days, though,
until the sun thaws it a bit, and it freezes some more, and then you'll
see coasting that is coasting. You'll see a race that I bet you never
saw one like before."
"What kind of a race?"
"A two-mile coasting race down this hill, for the championship of the
valley, among the boys of Cardiff, Lafayette, and Onativia."
"You don't mean to say they race down this hill?"
"Sure. On big bob sleds. I'm captain of our bob, and you can go 'long
this year. We'll have the race in about a week."
Just then Adrian saw some boy acquaintances.
"Hey, Ed," he called to one of them, "come here. And you, too, Jim."
Two boys joined Adrian, big, sturdy, red-cheeked lads, panting with
their exercise in the crisp air. Roger was introduced to the newcomers,
Edward Johnson and James Smather.
"I was just telling my cousin about our yearly championship race,"
explained Adrian, "when I happened to see you two. I suppose we'll have
the contest, as usual?"
"Of course," said Ed, and Jim agreed with him.
"Looks as if we could have it by Saturday," said Jim, carefully noting
the condition of the hill.
"I guess it'll be packed hard enough by then," assented Ed. "I s'pose
you fellers are ready for another lickin'," he added, grinning a bit at
Adrian.
"If you can beat this time you're welcome to," was the reply, and Adrian
seemed a little nettled.
"I reckon you won't walk away from the Lafayette boys as easily as you
did last winter," said Jim to Ed. "We beat you the year before, and we
can do it again, and Cardiff too."
"Don't holler 'til you're out of the woods," advised Adrian. "I've put
new runners on our bob."
"You'll need 'em, from the way she hung back last winter," laughed
Edward, who had been captain of the victorious Onativia team the
previous year.
The three-cornered race had been won by Lafayette two years in
succession, and, as in the contests over which Adrian had been
commander, his crew had lost in the struggle, their hearts were not
exactly happy, though neither captain nor crew was discouraged.
"Shall we say Saturday for the race?" asked Adrian at length.
"Suits me," came from James.
"I'm agreeable," assented Edward, and thus the three captains arranged.
This was Tuesday when the date for the contest was set. After making up
the details with his opponents, Adrian proposed a few more coasts down
the hill, and then he and Roger trudged off home.
"Do you think you'll win?" asked Roger anxiously as he plodded along the
scarcely broken road. He was almost as interested as Adrian, for, though
he had so recently come to Cardiff, he already felt himself one of the
boys there.
"It's hard telling," answered Adrian, after a pause. "The Onativia boys
have a very swift bob, and they usually manage to get off a little
quicker than we do. We'd have won last year, if they hadn't got to the
narrow part of the road before we did."
"What happened?" asked Roger.
"Why, we couldn't pass 'em, as there was only room for one sled there.
So they came in first. But I've got a plan for this race, though, that
ought to bring us in ahead, if I can only work it out. You just wait,
that's all."
Roger thought Saturday would never come. There was little to do about
the farm now, so he and Adrian overhauled the big Cardiff bob, which was
stored in Mr. Kimball's barn. In this work they were assisted by such of
the crew as could spare time from their duties.
The runners of the sled were filed, and polished bright and smooth.
Several extra braces were put in to stiffen the long board. The carpet,
on top of this, was stuffed again, so as to afford a softer seat going
over the bumps, and the foot-rests were altered a bit. Adrian also put
on a louder sounding gong.
Then he made a change which most of the boys declared was a foolish one.
This was to make the rear as well as the front small sled movable, so
that either and both could be steered separately. The front bob was
turned from side to side, by means of an iron wheel on an upright rod,
just as the regular coasting bob is. But it was rather an innovation to
have the rear sled steerable also. This was Adrian's idea, worked out
from something he had seen on a recent visit to Syracuse. This was the
sight of a long fire ladder truck turning short and sharp around corners
because of both front and rear trucks being movable. He reasoned if a
long wagon could be handled to advantage this way a long bob-sled might
also.
There was a particular reason why Adrian wanted to steer quickly and
turn short, as developed later. At first some of the boys who formed the
crew of the bob were inclined to protest at the use of the second
steering-wheel. But Adrian silenced them.
"Look here," he said, "I'm captain of this shebang and as long as I am
I'm going to steer it the way I think best. If anybody don't like it,
they needn't ride. I can get plenty to take those fellows' places. And
if you don't want me for captain, just sing out," and Adrian paused for
an answer.
"Of course we want you for captain," cried several.
"All right, then, just let me manage it. I'm going to have two
steering-wheels, and we're going to win the race this time."
"I hope so," commented Thomas Archer, and the others joined him in the
wish.
Finally the day of the triple contest came. On Friday the snow melted
and thawed on Lafayette hill; but that night it grew colder and froze,
until the surface of the slope was one long stretch of ice and snow,
making a perfect covering for coasting. Saturday dawned clear and cold,
but with no biting wind--a rare day for the sport.
All Cardiff seemed to be astir early that morning, though the contest
would not begin until two o'clock. An hour before that time, however,
crowds began to gather along the hill, a number of the men and boys
tramping up the steep slope to the top, that they might witness the
start.
The majority of the spectators, however, preferred to remain where they
could see the finish, and that was near Hank Mack's store, in the centre
of Cardiff, where the road from Lafayette joined with the main
thoroughfare leading to Syracuse. This was a vantage point where might
be observed the ending of the struggle, which meant so much to the boys,
and in a measure to their elders. On the far side of the main road,
opposite the end of the hill, was a big bank of snow into which the
racers might steer, if, perchance, they found themselves, at the swift
completion of the journey, unable to turn to left or right. Thus the
chance of accidents was lessened.
The boys of Lafayette and Onativia had one advantage, for they did not
have to drag their heavy bob up the hill for the start, as the Cardiff
crew did. But for this race, at least, that labor was saved Adrian and
his chums, for Mr. Kimball got out his team of horses, hitched them to
the big sled, and the animals, which were sharp-shod, easily dragged the
racer up the two-mile incline, for which aid the boys were very
thankful.
The Cardiff crew, at the head of which marched Adrian and Roger,
followed the team, walking leisurely along and keeping a sharp watch
that the bob came to no mishap. All but two of the boys would be merely
passengers, for to manage the affair only a pair of steersmen were
needed, the others being there simply to give weight and to make the
contest more interesting and exciting.
With the Cardiff crew marched a crowd of youngsters from the village.
They knew they must miss the thrilling finish of the race if they went
to the top of the hill, but they wanted to lend the fellowship of their
presence to the tail-enders of the series of contests, much the same as
a crowd of "rooters" accompany their favorite nine or eleven. Besides,
the Cardiff crew was going into a sort of hostile country and would need
some support.
When the delegation marching with Adrian reached the top of the hill
they found themselves the centre of a throng of perhaps two hundred
people, mostly boys, though there were a goodly number of young men, and
even some graybeards who still felt the joys of youth in their blood.
The Onativia crew was surrounded by their friends, and the Lafayette
contenders by theirs, and though the Cardiff organization was greatly
outnumbered, they did not feel at all disheartened when they saw how
confident their captain was.
Scores of spectators and several members of the rival crews crowded
about Adrian's bob, and the two steering-wheels at once attracted
attention. There were dozens of questions about the second wheel, to all
of which Adrian, as well as his followers, returned polite but evasive
answers.
"Mebby th' Cardiff boys calalate on slidin' back'ards 's well 's
for'ards," commented a Lafayette supporter. "Thet seems t' be their
fav'rite mode a' locomotion, jedgin' from th' last two trys."
A hot reply for this taunt was on Adrian's lips, but he checked himself.
It would not do to boast of his plan, for it was yet untried, and he
could not say what would be the outcome. So he merely motioned for his
crew to keep near him, and answered nothing to the laugh that went up at
the attempted wit of the Lafayette young man. Adrian took his cousin to
one side.
"I haven't said much to you, Roger, about making this trip," he said,
"but I want you to go along with me. You're not afraid, are you?"
"Not a bit," replied Roger, stoutly, though in his heart he was a little
apprehensive, as he saw the big white stretch sloping steeply before him
and thought of the twists, the turns, and bumps in it. "I'll go if
you'll let me, but maybe some of the crew won't like it. Besides, it
will make thirteen on the sled, and you know--"
"Can't make me believe in bad luck signs of any sort," laughed Adrian.
"As for the crew not wanting you, I've spoken to them about it, and
they're all agreeable. There are no regular rules to this race, anyhow.
You can take as many as the bob will carry."
So it was arranged Roger was to go. The preparations were nearly
completed, the judges of the start had been selected, and those for the
finish named. The latter set off on their ride down the incline ahead of
the three big sleds, so as to be at the foot of the hill on time.
There was no danger of any teams coming up the incline, as the custom of
the race was well known in the valley, and farmers gave Lafayette hill a
wide berth on that day. As Roger watched the sleds of the judges for the
finish whizz down the slope, he felt less and less inclined to make the
racing trip. But he did not like to back out now, so he nerved himself
for the ordeal.
The three captains held a short conversation and drew straws to see
which should have the choice of position at the start. This fell to
Adrian for the first time in the last three years, and he felt it was
the beginning of success.
The preliminaries were soon arranged, and the starters, who were to
shove the sleds to the edge of the hill and over the brow, were
selected. There was the last look at the bobs on the part of the
captains to see that these were in good shape and nothing loose or
dangling, and a final trying of the steering-wheels to ascertain if they
worked easily. The boys who formed the three crews began to fasten up
stray ends of scarfs and clothing, buttoning their coats tightly, for it
would be a fierce and swift journey.
Adrian wore an anxious air, which he tried to shake off, for though he
did not need to depend much on his crew, he wanted them to feel there
was a good chance for victory, as he honestly believed there was. He
tested the two wheels on his bob, made sure that his assistant helmsman
understood his duties, and he was ready. As his aid in guiding the big
sled Adrian had selected Thomas Baker, a lad of considerable muscle,
quick, and reliable.
"I guess we're in shape," announced Adrian in a low voice to his crew,
as he saw the starters coming toward him.