d. The girls had had a big
advantage and were still swimming strongly. Will and Roy began to agree
with Frank that they had given them too long a handicap.

On the other hand, the girls were not so confident. The strain was
beginning to tell even upon their tried young muscles. Their breath was
becoming labored and the goal seemed terribly far away.

Mollie and Betty had fallen a short distance behind the other two. They
had felt the tax the speed was making on their strength, and had decided
wisely to save the rest of it until it was more needed then at the
present.

Naturally Amy and Grace thought their friends were giving up and
marveled at it. How on earth could they have lost out so soon? Had they
been more versed in races they could have answered that question
themselves.

Meanwhile the boys, pulling hard, had managed to make up half the
distance between them and the girls, and in sight of Betty's and
Mollie's evident weariness their hopes soared high. Why, with these last
two out of the running the race was as good as won.

On, on they came, hand over hand, stroke following stroke, rhythmic and
strong and confident.

Betty looked at Mollie and Mollie looked at Betty, and each knew she had
discovered the other's secret and at the same time recognized a rival.

Amy had come to the limit of her strength with the goal an eighth of a
mile away. She knew that for her the race was over. The waters pushed
her back, forced her back, seeming like some pitiless enemy bent upon
her downfall.

And what of Grace? She would not acknowledge to herself that her
strength was leaving her--why, she had swum as far as that many a time
before--it was absurd that she should give up now. Besides, she was
leading them all. With this thought she put the remainder of her waning
strength into a few last desperate strokes.

Meanwhile, the boys had caught up with Mollie, and seeing this she
quickened her stroke, forging ahead again. But Betty kept the same calm,
steady stroke which had so deceived the boys--and the girls, too, for
that matter, with the exception of Mollie.

On, on they came--almost abreast now. The boys, tired from the long
chase, were resting, gathering strength for the last spurt.

The finish line had been very conveniently marked by a slender tree
which had evidently been torn down in some terrific storm and now lay
half on the shore and half upon the water. This, then, was their goal.

Conway was the first