Cinder Path Tales

158 CINDER-PATH TALES who scooped the sprints, though a dry track would not have given them a place. Dick spentmost of the day watching the contests, as disinterestedly as if he was a native of the Isle of Java. He was clothed in a big gray blanket wrap and an omni­ present smile. The wraphad crimson cords and tassels, was extremely becoming, and more than one pair of bright eyes looked at him approvingly from the grand stand. Our Virginia jumper was certainly the handsomest and most distinguished-looking of all the contestants, and the girls al­ ways wish such a man to win, and are surprised and disappointed when some raw- boned chap with carroty hair, freckled face, and not a regular feature beats out their favorite. It was a glorious day, the sun bright, the sky cloudless, the seats crowded, and the college cheers like volleys of in­ fantry atshort range. When the " running broad "was on, andthe numbers were called, Dick did not answer to his, and we were forced to look him up, the clerk meanwhile fussing and fuming, and using language more forceable than polite. At last I found him looking dreamilyacross thetrack ata pretty girl in the grandstand, as if this was his only business. He followed me with a bored