Cinder Path Tales

16 CINDER-PATH TALES more. So confident was Simmons' princi­ pal backer that he proposed another match, though this was not yet pulled off, agreeing to concede three yardswhen we ran again. It is wonderful what effect such talk has on a contestant, no matter how confident hemay be. I had not for a moment doubted the ability of a crack man like myself to beat anything in the States atmy distance, but I now began to admit the possibility of defeat, and to consider that it meant almost star­ vation to me. You must remember I was barely twenty years old, in a strange country, and a man trained close to the limit is partic­ ularly liable to fancies. Jennie had been talkingto me all the time in her quiet way,for she had the good old English habit of subdued speech; but little did I hear then, andnow I remember almost nothing at all. I first noticed that she had become vastly indignant at a reflectionon the courageof the " Unknown who dares not show himself." "Don't fret: you'll see him soon enough, my man," shesaid, with a toss of her head. She was giving me some absurd instructions about letting Simmons get the best of the start, and then sailing by him in the last few yards, sothat the disappointment might be more intense, whensome one in the crowd