The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-26

working their best. On this lap he
passed two of his Keokuk rivals.
On the return there was not even a
SILK hat to bother him, and he swan
like shark The second Keokuk boy
he caught up with and passed splen-
didly. He gained swiftly upon the man
in the lead, and the spectators held
their breath to see If he could win by
a squirt on the home stretch. The
Keokuk boy was well tagged and
swimming in a slovenly manner. But
he was showing a clean pair of heels
in fact, clean pair of soles to Pref
~. And he won by exactly a length,
his right hand touching the goal just
as Pretty's right hand came level with
the Keokukian's foot.
Nine of the twelve events had been
finished and Keokuk had won six of
them. The prospect was not promising
for the strangers from the North But
the Lakerimmers thought far less OF
winning their railroad fare home, then
they did of keeping the glorious name
of Lakerim from being smirched with
defeat.
The tenth event was a canoe battle
The Lakerimmers had often practiced
ii together. Tug was their best war
rior and he had downed them all, but
lie Abu always ndQ TO row MS
canoe for him.
These canoe battles are very much
like the jousts of the knights of old,
the victory going to the one who I'M
horses, or rather un-boats, his rival
1t would be still more like the old
times If there had been chariot tour
naments with a charioteer to guide the
horses while the warrior prodded his
enemy with a lance and tried to knock
him from his chariot. But whatever it
was like, it was a pretty thing to
watch and an exciting battle TO fight
The LakerimmerS were very bitter
in what they had to say about B. j.
for leaving them in the lurch at a
| time of such great need. They decided
that Boobies would be the next best
oarsman in his place.
The Keokuk knight was Clinton Fos-
ter, and his squire was Walter Her
bert.
At the proper moment the canoes
| took their places at opposite ends of
the pool; the canoeists were seated,
paddles in hand; the warrior standing,
his one foot on the bow, grasping d
| long lance with large pad at the end,
| like the button on the fencer's sword
or more like the swabber of a cannon
eer.
At the signal shot the canoes dash
| ed toward each other and the knights,
| keeping their balance with difficulty,
! crossed lances. Tug wabbled a little
on his foot, but recovered in time to
keep from falling over into the water.
| The canOeists backed water and,
whirling about, rushed upon each
| other again. Now Boobies practiced
a trick that he and Tug had talked
| over. AS the two warriors lunged at
each other, Tug making a very fierce
| face and seeming to thrust out as far
as possible, really held himself back a
| little, and Boobies, making a quick
| swerve with the canoe, Widened the
distance. Foster, in his eagerness,
| threw himself at Tug, who leaned
backward slightly, just enough to en-
! courage his adversary to lean farther
out.
Foster found himself hanging over
the water and about to fall into it face
| forward. He could not reach Tug with
| his lance or he would have leaned up
on him. He tottered and toppled like
a tight-rope walker who has lost his
balance. But by a great stroke of luck,
he managed to keep his feet.
| Now Boobies turned his canoe
sharply and drove it toward Fosters
boat. Tug made vicious jab at Fos-
ter and caught him still wavering. But
| the trick was it's own undoing, for all
| Tug could succeed in accomplishing
was to push Foster back to an up
right position and help him recover his
balance. Then Tugs lance slid off and
4 it was necessary to row away for an
other charge.
There was a little more of this weary
lodging, and much backing and filling.
Then both Tug and Foster lost their
| patience, and on the next charge came
at each other full tilt. There was a
| fine mix-up of lanCes and much thrust
ing and showing and prodding. The re-
suit of this was that each of the
knights began to push the other over
backward, and each would have fallen
into the water, had not his trusty
squire managed the part with great
skill and padded away easily until the
lost balance could be found again.
There was another bit of close quarter
play and neither won.
(To be Continued)