er the word 'Go.'
Remember! Sorry we have no pistol."

Once more the competitors crouched over the scratch.

"All set? Go!"

Like the releasing of a whirlwind the four runners spring from the
scratch, La Belle, whose specialty is his "get away," in front,
Fullerton and Cameron in second place, Cahill a close third. A blanket
would cover them all. A tumult of cheers from the friends of the various
runners follows them along their brief course.

"Who is it? Who is it?" cries Mandy breathlessly, clutching Mack by the
arm.

"Cameron, I swear!" roars Mack, pushing his way through the crowd to the
judges.

"No! No! La Belle! La Belle!" cried the Frenchman's backers from the
city. The judges are apparently in dispute.

"I swear it is Cameron!" roars Mack again in their ears, his eyes aflame
and his face alight with a fierce and triumphant joy. "It is Cameron I
am telling you!"

"Oh, get out, you big bluffer!" cries a thin-faced man, pressing close
upon the judges. "It is La Belle by a mile!"

"By a mile, is it?" shouts Mack. "Then go and hunt your man!" and with
a swift motion his big hand falls upon the thin face and sweeps it clear
out of view, the man bearing it coming to his feet in a white fury some
paces away. A second look at Mack, however, calms his rage, and from a
distance he continues leaping and yelling "La Belle! La Belle!"

After a few moments' consultation the result is announced.

"A tie for the first place between La Belle and Cameron! Time eleven
seconds! The tie will be run off in a few minutes."

In a tumult of triumph big Mack shoulders Cameron through the crowd
and carries him off to the dressing tent, where he spends the next ten
minutes rubbing his man's legs and chanting his glory.

"Who is this Cameron?" enquired the M.P.P., leaning over the platform
railing.

Quick came the answer from the bevy of girls thronging past the
platform.

"Cameron? He's our man!" It was Mandy's voice, bold and strong.

"Your man?" said the M.P.P., laughing down into the coarse flushed face.

"Yes, OUR man!" cried Isa MacKenzie back at him. "And a winner, you may
be sure."

"Ah, happy man!" exclaimed the M.P.P. "Who would not win with such
backers? Why, I would win myself, Miss Isa, were you to back me so. But
who is Cameron?" he continued to the Methodist minister at his side.

"He is Haley's hired man, I believe, and that first girl is Haley's
daughter."

"Poor thing!" echoed Mrs. Freeman, a kin