the
Houses they had been called to represent. So it was that the Benson
start passed unnoticed until it dawned upon Colson's, the crew ahead,
that the Benson boat had drawn unaccountably nearer. And Benson's, too!
It could only be a fluke, and with that conviction Colson's settled down
grimly to the task of shaking them off.

But somehow or other it did not seem at all easy to shake them off. In
fact, to their dismay, the end of the great spurt saw the gap between
the boats no wider. Suddenly, too, Benson's spurted in their turn, and
the nose of their boat drew closer at a speed that wellnigh paralysed
Colson's.

Indeed, in the Benson boat, the pent-up energies of three days of
enforced self-restraint were being let loose in a series of desperate
spurts for the mastery. Even Durend could contain himself no longer, and
Franklin, though he had not yet reached anything like the form of the
rest of the crew, was yet able to do his part in the struggle with a
fair measure of success. Within five minutes of the start Benson's had
overlapped Colson's, and, almost immediately after, the bump came.

We need not describe the joy and relief in the Benson crew at their
unexpected victory--unexpected to all of them, for even Durend, though
he had hoped and planned, had not anticipated it so soon. To the rest of
the school the whole affair was so unexpected as to be stupefying. Only
the most penetrating and experienced observers could give a reason for
their sudden recovery, and the remainder explained away the sensational
victory by a disparaging reference to the utter weakness of Colson's.
Had not Colson's dropped in three days from Head of the River to No. 3,
and was that not enough proof of weakness? they argued. Gradually the
general view crystallized down to the opinion that Benson's had had
their fling, and could hope to make no impression upon the two really
strong crews now in front of them.

Nevertheless, though this seemed the general opinion, the following
morning found the whole school on the tow-path opposite the Benson boat.
No one wanted to see the struggle between Cradock's and Johnson's, but
everyone was anxious to see the start of the Benson crew, and to learn
whether any fresh surprises were in store for them.

There could be no doubt about the spirit of the crew. Hope and
confidence seemed to exude from every pore, and it was clear that for
them the week was only just beginning. At the report of the gun, Dur