Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-14
A MANS. MAN
LAIN HAY,
AUTHOR OF "ThE RIGHT STUFF"
Copyright, 1909, by william
BlackwoOd 4 Sons.
Copyright, 1910. by H0ughtOn
Mimin Company.
CHAPTER V.-Continued.

CHAPTER V.-Continued.
The ritual observed during the final min
ute is complicated in the extreme. and
varies directly with the nervous system
Of the coach, who dances upon the bank
with stop watch in his hand to time the
minstrations of the college boatman, who
stands by with long boathook. ready to
prod the vessel into midstream.
Fifteen seconds gone says the coach.
Push her out, Ben
Ben complies. with maddening but
wise elaboration. II the boat is pushed
out too promptly the starting chain will
grow taut and tug the stern of the boat
inward toward the bank. just when her
nose should be pointing straight upstream
But this elementary truth does not occur
to the frenzied octet i'm the boat. The
gun will go and bowside will find their
oar blades still resting on the towpath.
They know it.
Thirty second gone says the coach.
Paddle on gently, how and two
His object Is to get the full advantage
Of the length of the chain, but bow and
| two know better. They are convinced
that he merely desires that they shall be
caught at a disadvantage when the gun
| fires. However they paddle .on as re-
quested with a palsied stealthiness that
suggests musical chairs.
Fifteen seconds left says the coach.
| Are You straight. cox? Ten more
SEC
| All! AS usual the chain has drawn
tight, and the stern of the boat is being
dragged inward again.
Paddle on, two!' yels the coXswain.
Two gives a cuple of frenzied digs: the
dervish with the watch, accompanied by
the bank. chants Five. four. three,
two; there is terrific roar from the
gun; the coxswsin drops the chain; the
boatman slips the point Of his boathook
| (Which. between ourselves. has been do
| ing the lions share in Keeping the ships
head straigh) from fiye's rigger, and they
are off.
| The Benedictine crew got under way
very unostentatiously. Their coach was
actually rowing in the All Saints boat
and it would be difficult to select more
glowing testimonial to the sterling sports
manship of English rowing-so the start
ing operations were wisely left to the col
| lege boatman. who had performed the
| Office for something like half century.
The flight Of time was recorded by
| Hughie himself from the watch which
hung on his stretcher beside his right
foot. The experienced Mr.. Dishart-Wat-
| son kept those too-often fatally intimate
acquaintances the rudder lines and start
| ing chain, tactfully apart, and the st.
| Benedict's boat got off the mark with a
| start that brought her within length Of
All Saints during the first half minute.
After that their opponents drew away.
AS Darcy had said, they were sea-
| soned crew, and nothing short of sheer
superiority would wear them down. The
two boats swung round Grassy corner and
entered the Plough reach about their dis
| lance apart. All Saints were rowing the
faster stroke.
| Hughie, who was keeping to a steady
| thirty-two, felt with satisfaction that the
men behind him were we'll together. No.
| Z, small but plucky, was setting bowside
beautiful example in steady swing and
| smart finish. Six-Mr. Puffin-was rowing
| a great blade. To look at him now you
would ask why he had not been included
| In the university crew. If you saw him
trying to row forty to the minute you
would marvel that he should be included
in any crew at all.
Five was not looking happy. He was
| lying back too far and Juggling at the fin
fish. To him the boat seemed heavier than
usual, for he was just beginning to realize
the difference between seconding the eff
Mr.. Duncombe. Still he was plugging
gamely. Four. a painstaking person. was
encouraging himself in a fashion entirely
his own. After every stroke as he sat up
and swung forward, he gasped out some
little sotto-voce remark to himself. such
as. "Oh. well rowed. four! Stick to It,
four! Use your legs. old man! That's
better! That's beauty! Oh, well rowed.
four" And SO on. Where he got the
necessary breath for these exercises no.
body knew; but some folk possess these
little peculiarities, and row none the worse
for them. Bow was another instance. He
| was a chirpy but eccentric individual and
used to sing to himself some little ditty
of the moment-or possibly a hymn-aIl
through race, beginning with the first
stroke and ending exactly, if possible,
with the last. He had been known. when
| stroking a boat. to quicken up to per-
ivo ta sis, aV,lx he
feared that the song would end before he
completed the course, contingency which
| he regarded as unlucky in the extreme.
On the other hand he would become quite
depressed IL he had to stop in the middle
| of verse; and he was quite capable of
| rowing rallentando if he. desired to syn
chronise his two conclusions.
| But few people have the time or in
clination for these diversions while oscil-
lating upon a sixteen-inch slide, and the
rest of the crew were swinging at and
| plugging in grim silence.
| The two boats swept into the roaring
medley of Ditton corner They flashed
past the row of piles and tethered punts
| handkerchiefs. Hughie. wrongfully ex-
ercising his privilege as stroke. allowed
his eyes to slide to the right for mo-
ment. He had a fleeting glimpse of the
crimson and excited countenance of Miss
Gaymer, as some man held her aloft in
the crowd Then the boat gave slight
| lurch and Joey was swallowed up again.
Hughie felt guiltily responsible for the
lurch, and recalling his gaze into the
proper channel-straight over the cox
SWANS right shoulder-swung out again
long and steadily.
Are we straight YETI" he gasped to
Dishy.
"Yes-just.
TELL 'em to reach out a bit
Mr.. Watson complied, in tones that rose
high above the tumult on the bank and
of bow, who was graphing with a diff
cult cadenza at the moment.
six good ones!' said Hughie, next time
his face swung up toward the coxswains.
Now, you men, six good ones!" echoed
Dishy. "One! Two! Five, you're late!
Three. -Four. Five! Bow, get hold of
it. Six! Oh, we'll rowed!''
There was a delighted roar from the
bank. The Benedfctine crew were to-
gether again after the unsteadness round
Ditton.
How far" signaled Hughes lips.
Length - and - q half" replied cox
Less" he added, peering ahead.
They were half way up the long reach
now. In another minute or two they
would be at the Railway bridge, beyond
which hard-pressed boats are popularity
supposed to be safe.
TELL 'em going - quicken" gursled
Hughie, 'ff can
Cox nodded, rather doubtfully and
Hughie ground his teeth. II only this ac-
cursed noise on the bank would cease,
even for five seconds, Dishy would get
chance to make the crew hear AS it was,
adherents like a SNOWFALL, made that feat
a Utmost IN ilnnOSSihilitV