"What kind o' fambly was that?" interrupted the sour puncher. "Thirds,
an' halfs, an' things. Sounds more like 'rithmetic than a fambly."

"It was harder'n 'rithmetic," Single replied darkly. "This here half
brother o' my wife's was a Cognowaga" (Caughnawaga).

"Gee, what a fambly!" groaned the other, but Single did not heed him.

"An' his name was Sam Sharp," Single went on. "'Course that wasn't his
real name. He was a sportin' gent, an' that was his sportin' name. He
was one o' them all-round fellers. Run! Say, he c'd make a jack-rabbit
look like a fly in a tub o' butter. He c'd jump higher'n this here roof,
an' vault twic't as high. An' them big shots an' weights that they
put--I'd hate t' tell you how far he c'd put 'em. You wouldn't b'lieve
me."

"We don't b'lieve you, anyhow," muttered one of the boys, but Single
didn't seem to hear. He was wrapped up in his story.

"He'd throw th' discus from here down t' th' corral."

"What's a discus?" asked a puncher.

"It doesn't matter, but he c'd throw it," said Single. "An' he was
champeen of America; not only that, but champeen of th' whole world."

Now, it didn't make much difference whether Single's story was true or
not. One didn't have to believe it to enjoy it. He aimed to astonish,
rather than to be truthful. But these statements were too much for the
imagination of his hearers--or rather for their lack of it. He was
greeted by a chorus of hoots and yells of disbelief, that developed into
a volley of boots and spurs and cans and anything that could be thrown,
and he was fairly driven from the room.

And the odd part of it was that Single was only a little ahead of his
time. For there was an Indian boy living then who afterwards did things
as hard to believe, so marvelous that I must tell about him.

His name is Jim Thorpe, and he is a Sac and Fox Indian. His running
record for one hundred yards is ten seconds. For one hundred and twenty
yards, with three-feet-six-inch hurdles, fifteen seconds; running broad
jump, over twenty-three feet; running high jump, over six feet. He put a
sixteen-pound shot over forty-three feet, and a fifty-six pound weight
in the neighborhood of twenty-eight feet, and made a pole-vault of over
twelve feet. He ran a half-mile and a mile at great speed.

When the Olympian Games were held in Sweden, and all the champion
athletes of the world took part, it was the ambition of each to win one
event, or even to run one-two-three in it