the loins. This to the Indians was nothing, for
they seldom wore more in warm weather, but Dick would have preferred to
keep on part of his dress. The laws of the course, however, would not
permit of this, so he stripped and stood forth, the beau-ideal of a
well-formed, agile man. He was greatly superior in size to his
antagonist, and more muscular, the savage being slender and extremely
lithe and springy.

"Hah! I will run too," shouted Henri, bouncing forward with clumsy
energy, and throwing off his coat just as they were going to start.

The savages smiled at this unexpected burst and made no objection,
considering the thing in the light of a joke.

The signal was given, and away they went. Oh! it would have done you
good to have seen the way in which Henri manoeuvred his limbs on this
celebrated occasion! He went over the ground with huge elephantine
bounds, runs, and jumps. He could not have been said to have one style
of running; he had a dozen styles, all of which came into play in the
course of half as many minutes. The other two ran like the wind; yet,
although Henri _appeared_ to be going heavily over the ground, he kept
up with them to the turning point. As for Dick, it became evident in
the first few minutes that he could outstrip his antagonist with ease,
and was hanging back a little all the time. He shot ahead like an arrow
when they came about half-way back, and it was clear that the real
interest of the race was to lie in the competition between Henri and
Tarwicadia.

Before they were two-thirds of the way back, Dick walked in to the
winning point, and turned to watch the others. Henri's wind was about
gone, for he exerted himself with such violence that he wasted half his
strength. The Indian, on the contrary, was comparatively fresh, but he
was not so fleet as his antagonist, whose tremendous strides carried him
over the ground at an incredible pace. On they came neck and neck, till
close on the score that marked the winning point. Here the value of
enthusiasm came out strongly in the case of Henri. He _felt_ that he
could not gain an inch on Tarwicadia to save his life; but, just as he
came up, he observed the anxious faces of his comrades and the
half-sneering countenances of the savages. His heart thumped against
his ribs, every muscle thrilled with a gush of conflicting feelings, and
he _hurled_ himself over the score like a cannon shot, full six inches
ahead of the little chie