rt to the victors, noisily entered it, they found him standing by his
machine. It was supported by two rests placed under its handle bars, and
he was gazing curiously at the big wheel, which he was slowly spinning
with one hand.

"Hello, 'Cider'!" cried the first of the new-comers, "what's up? Anything
the matter with your wheel?"

"I believe there is," answered the ex-captain, in such a peculiar tone of
voice that it at once arrested attention. "I don't know what is wrong, and
I wouldn't make an examination until some of you fellows came in. In a
case like this I believe in having plenty of witnesses and doing
everything openly."

"What do you mean?" asked one of the group, whose noisy entrance was now
succeeded by a startled silence.

"Turn that wheel and you'll see what I mean," replied Snyder.

"Why, it turns as hard as though it were running on plain bearing that had
never been oiled!" exclaimed the member who had undertaken to turn the
wheel as requested.

"That's just it, and I don't think it's very surprising that I failed to
win the race with a wheel in that condition, do you?"

"Indeed I do not. The only surprising thing is that you held the lead so
long as you did, and managed to come in third. I know I couldn't have run
a single lap if I'd been on that wheel. What's the matter with it? Wasn't
it all right when you started?"

"I thought it was," replied Snyder, "but I soon found that something was
wrong, and before I left the track it was all I could do to move it. Now,
I want you fellows to find out what the matter is."

A few moments of animated discussion followed, while several of the
fellows made a careful examination of the bicycle.

"Great Scott!" exclaimed one; "what's in this oil cup? It looks as though
it were choked with black sand."

"It's emery powder!" cried another, extracting a few grains of the black,
oil-soaked stuff on the point of a knife blade. "No wonder your wheel
won't turn. How on earth did it get there?"

"That is what I would like to find out," answered the owner of the
machine. "It certainly was not there when I left the club house; for I had
just gone over every part and assured myself that it was in perfect order.
Since then but two persons have touched it, and I am one of them. I don't
think it likely that anybody will charge me with having done this thing,
seeing that my sole interest was to win the race, and that if I so nearly
succeeded with my wheel in this con