Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/239

 his canoe. That would have thrown him around the stake-boat very neatly and given him a winning place in the race; but instead of that he used his paddle on the starboard side, and of course that threw the bow of his canoe plump into Noble's side."

Frank and the judge nodded as if to say that that was about the way the thing stood, and after a few minutes' reflection the referee said— "I am perfectly satisfied and will announce my decision where all the members of the club can hear it. As we are wasting time and delaying the other sports by staying here, we will go back to head-quarters."

It was not a very sociable company of boys who turned about at this command and paddled slowly back to the starting point, and neither were Noble and Tom Bigden the only ones among them who were mad enough to fight. Two of their number were so jealous of each other and so anxious to win prizes, that they had deliberately disgraced the club in the presence of hundreds of strangers; and it is hard to see how any lover of fair play could help being annoyed over it. Joe Wayring felt