the hard ice was
the only sound. Then the racers, having found their paces, settled down
to work. They were side by side, a bare three yards dividing them. Just
behind them skated the foremost of the spectators, Roy and Warren and
Jack leading. If Schonberg had entertained any idea of having the race
to himself he was disillusioned during the first fifty yards. Once he
threw a glance at the girl. After that he settled down to work and
wasted no time. He skated wonderfully well and even the throng of Ferry
Hill boys behind could not but envy him his speed and grace. Body well
over, legs gliding back and forth from the hips, head up and arms kept
rather close in, Schonberg fairly flew over the ice.

And beside him sped Harry.

Harry was not the accomplished skater that her rival was. She was
graceful and she had speed, but she showed far more effort than did the
Hammond boy, her strides being shorter and her little brown-clad arms
swinging back and forth like bits of machinery. Half way across it
became necessary to hold well to the right to avoid the patch of weak
ice, but Harry was the last to leave the straight course and Schonberg
had to either spurt ahead of her and bear up-river or fall behind. He
chose the latter alternative, eased his pace a moment, shot behind her
and made for the lowest point of safe ice. For a moment longer Harry
clung to her straight course. Then she swung up-stream a trifle and
followed him a yard behind, seemingly paying but little heed to the
streaks of snow-ice ahead.

Schonberg rounded the danger point and made straight for the farther
bank where the limb of a black birch had been placed a few yards from
shore to serve as a turning mark. Harry had lost ground during the last
few moments, in spite of the fact that she had held closer to the direct
course between shore and shore, and was now fully twenty feet behind.
Few of the audience went beyond mid-stream, but stopped there and
watched the racers reach the farther mark, swing around inside of it and
turn back across the river. From where Roy and Jack stood it looked as
though Harry had made up a little of her lost ground, but it was hard to
tell at that distance.

"He will simply skate away from her coming back," said Jack.

"She's making a dandy race, though," Roy responded. "I didn't think
she'd do as well as she has, did you?"

"Yes, but I've seen Harry skate before this. Gee! Just look at the way
that Dutchman is coming!"