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 and a lot of the others too. Once Shores almost had me, but I swung aside"

"It was Grover who put Shores out," said Sawin.

"I know. It was good work, too," declared Fudge heartily. "But he wouldn't have caught me, because I'd got my second-wind by that time, and the rest was easy. With the start I had none of them could have caught me."

"Hm," said Captain Nostrand, "you sort of hate yourself, don't you, Fudge?"

But the consensus of opinion was that Nostrand's sarcasm was in poor taste, although perhaps excusable to some extent since envy is a common failing. Nor was Sprague McCoy's remark thought any better of. McCoy chuckled and observed: "I thought once or twice, Fudge, you were going to lie down and go to sleep! The trouble with you is that you're geared too high!"

Fudge smiled patiently, sweetly, as if to say: "'Twas ever thus! Success is always a target for the shafts of Envy!"

At that moment, as if Fate sought to secure an even balance between joy and sorrow, Jim Grover, who had gone to the telephone a minute before,