d round a cart which had been brought up by Walter's
direction carrying some refreshments for himself and his friends, and
those who had tried skill and endurance with him. When the provisions
had been duly partaken of, Walter, taking out his purse, turned to those
about him and said: "And now, to whom am I to give the sovereign, for
two have beaten me?"

"Oh, to our friend here, of course," said Gregson, placing his hand on
the strange-looking man's shoulder, "for he has done the best right
through."

"Come forward, then, my man," said Walter; "and pray, may I ask your
name?"

"Oh," said the man addressed, with a laugh, "every one knows my name--
Jim Jarrocks they calls me."

"Well, Jim, here's your sovereign, and you've fairly won it."

"Thank'ee, sir," said Jim; "and so has Will Gittins here, if I'm not
mistaken."

"How do you mean?" asked Saunders; "the sovereign was offered to the
best man."

"Them's not the terms of the advertisement," said Jim, taking the
newspaper out of his pocket. "Here it is: `I promise to give one
sovereign to any man who shall beat me in a mile race, a high jump, and
firing at a mark.' Now, I've done it and won my sovereign, and Will
Gittins has done it and won his sovereign too."

It was even so. Two had fairly won the prize. So Walter, not with the
best grace, felt in his purse for a second sovereign, which he handed to
the other winner; and the two men walked away from the place of meeting
arm in arm.

"Walter," said Gregson earnestly and apologetically as they left the
ground, "I never meant this nor thought of it. I can't let you be out
of pocket this second sovereign; you must allow me to give it you back."

But Walter declined it, spite of earnest remonstrance and pressure on
his friend's part. "No," he said; "I've got myself into a nice mess by
my folly; but what I've undertaken I mean to carry out, and take my own
burdens upon myself." And so, notwithstanding the applause and fine
speeches showered on him by his friends, Walter returned home
considerably crestfallen and out of spirits, the only thing that
comforted him being a sort of half conviction that he had shown a
considerable degree of moral courage in the way in which he had stuck to
and carried out his engagement.

As for Mr Huntingdon, his mortification was extreme when there appeared
in the next issue of the county paper a full description of the contest,
from which it appeared that his favourite s