" but they got away, nevertheless, and with
all the grace and speed of--two loaded hay wagons.

"Whoopee!" yelled one in the crowd. "Look at 'em go! You can't see 'em
for dust!"

"Two dollars on the knock-kneed guy," shouted another.

Slim turned his head for the fraction of a second to learn whether this
insult had been directed at him, and his opponent gained a lead of a
foot.

"Go it, you deerhounds," shrilled an Irish tenor in the crowd. "Work
your feet, not your arms."

"The elephant leads; come on, you whale!" shouted another.

By this time the runners had made the curve at the bow of the boat and
were coming up the starboard side, toward the stern.

On the nearest armed convoy an officer was taking in the contest through
a pair of marine glasses, and apparently enjoying it immensely.

"Hooray! Hooray!" yelled the crowd of onlookers as Slim spurted and the
pair rounded the stern and came down to the tape at the end of their
first lap, neck and neck. Both were puffing like porpoises.

"Hey, Sausage, you've got a flat tire," cried a youth as they passed.

And from another: "Your engine's knocking, Skinny. Reduce your spark."

So the good-natured raillery continued while the two fat boys drove
doggedly on, now at considerably reduced speed, but still side by side,
each determined to capture that plum pudding.

They had passed the tape a second time, snorting louder and in shorter
gasps than before, and with the biting repartee still assailing their
ears, when the man who had disappeared into the hold of the ship came
into sight again, carrying a large can.

"Quick!" he warned those about him. "Right here--before they see."

And he proceeded to divulge the contents of the can as a heavy grease,
almost the color of the deck, which he began to smear heavily thereon
over the entire surface that the runners would have to cover, from a
distance fifteen feet away from the tape.

"They're on their way," whispered a voice, and the crowd parted to give
the two the proper space in which to finish the race. There was an air
of great expectancy among the onlookers.

The lads were still struggling along neck and neck, but Slim's leg work
was so timed as to make him the first to strike the grease. He slid,
tried to regain his balance, skidded into his competitor, who also was
floundering for a foothold, and then, progressing to a spot where the
grease was thicker, both feet went out from under him and he went down