till the very best that Phelps was able to do was to cross the line as
third. It was true that again he had won a point for the honor of his
class, but it was first place he had longed to gain, and his
disappointment was correspondingly keen.

It was Hawley who again received him in his arms, and once more the
young giant endeavored to console his defeated classmate, for as such
Will looked upon himself, in spite of the fact that he had come in
third, and therefore had scored a point in each race. But as Hawley
perceived that his friend was in no mood to listen, he wisely refrained
from speaking, and both stood near the track watching the contestants in
the various events that were not yet run off. Too proud to acknowledge
his disappointment in his defeat by departing from the field, and yet
too sore in his mind to arouse much enthusiasm, he waited till the games
were ended and it was known that the sophomores had won by a score of
sixty-four and a half to forty-eight and a half. Then he quietly sought
the dressing room, and as soon as he had donned his garments went at
once to his own room.

It was a relief to find that not even Foster was there, and as he seated
himself in his easy-chair and gazed out at the brilliantly clad hills
with the purple haze that rested over them all, for a time a feeling of
utter and complete depression swept over him. Was this the fulfillment
of the dreams he had cherished of the happiness of his college life?
Already warned by Splinter that his work in Greek was so poor that he
was in danger of being dropped from the class, the keen disappointment
of his father apparent though his words had been few, the grief in his
home and the peril to himself were all now visible to the heart-sick
young freshman. And now to lose in the two track events had added a
weight that to Will seemed to be almost crushing. He had pictured to
himself how he would lightly turn away his poor work in the classroom by
explaining that he could not hope to win in everything, and that
athletics had always been his strong point anyway. But now even that was
taken away and his failure was almost equally apparent in both.

He could see Peter John coming up the walk, receiving the
congratulations of the classmates he met and giving his "pump-handle"
handshake to those who were willing to receive it. It was maddening and
almost more than Will thought he could bear. It was a mistake that he
had ever come to college anyway,