Page:The purple pennant (IA purplepennant00barb).pdf/331

Rh into the backstretch it was evident that he was about done for and a rod or two further along Smith fairly leaped into the lead, taking Wallace by surprise. But the three or four yards which he gained were quickly cut down. Tupper closed in on Wallace but could not pass him, and as the next turn was reached began to fall back.

Smith, with Wallace close on his heels, entered the straightaway, running desperately. Behind him, some ten yards back, came a second Springdale man, and, twenty yards or so behind him, Tupper and a third wearer of the blue were fighting it out. For a moment it seemed that Smith might win, but fifty yards from the tape Wallace uncorked a sprint that swept him past Smith and well into the lead, while the next Springdale runner, head back, challenged Smith for second place and slowly closed up the distance between them. Wallace crossed a good six yards ahead and Smith, running now on pure nerve, saw the second blue adversary edge past him a few feet from the line.

Smith staggered as he crossed and fell limply into the outstretched arms of Skeet. Tupper finished fourth, almost as exhausted, and the others trailed in one by one. The pace had been a fast one, the winner's time being caught at five minutes, five and one-fifth seconds, and Smith, finish-