Cinder Path Tales

QUEERED THE "MILE" 79 its parched mouth, singingears, and leaden feet. Both are game to the core, and it is now only a question of endurance. Here is the runner's purgatory, where the sins ofthe past are settled, andhere it is that Kitty's ice-cream sodas take a h nd in the sport. What wouldBlack give if he had not im­ bibed their awful sweetness? Inch by inch Jack draws up on him, his jaw set, hiseyes aflame, his stride shortening, but still quick and straight. Black's faceis leaden, his eyes glassy, his longlegs giving at the knees at every stride. Down the stretch they come,the crowdon its feet, but too excited to yell, Kitty with her hand over one eye, and her handkerchief tight betweenher white teeth. For twenty yards they run almost sideby side, and then Jackpumps aheadand breaks the tape, a winner by a scant yard. Black follows over in a heap, staggers a step or two, and falls beforeany onecan catch him. Sick, washe ? Well, rather! He had a touch of colic thatdoubled him up like a grasshopper. He groaned and coughed, hewrithed and twisted, like a lob­ ster on the coals. I knew it was not a dan­ gerous matter,and gave him little sympathy, extracting a half confession concerning his training escapade of the previous evening.