Frank Armstrong at Queens

by Matthew M. Colton

  CHAPTER XV.

  FRANK WINS HONORS ON THE TRACK.

  David very quickly dropped into the school life, just as Frank haddone. The two room-mates were always together. David was eager tosee everything, and every day found him, after the school work wasdone, down at the track or the gridiron. He also found time to getacquainted with the muscle building apparatus in the gymnasium. Acertain small amount of gymnastic work was required at Queen's, butDavid had determined to take up some specialty. From the nature ofhis infirmity those things which could be done with the arms and bodywere, of course, the only things open to him. Patsy's assistant inthe gymnasium, Harry Buehler, took him under his wing, and set him attasks which would help to develop his arm and shoulder muscles.

  "Do you think there's any chance for me to do anything for theschool?" inquired David, shortly after he began his work.

  "Why, certainly there is. One of the best athletes we had here threeor four years ago was a chap named Bascom. He had bad legs, but theway he could handle himself on the horizontal bar was a caution. Heset the record here, too, for rope-climbing. I don't think it will bebroken for some time to come."

  David made a mental note that if he could develop, he would take awhack at that record, whatever it was. In the meantime he was contentto do the simple athletic tasks which were set for him. Frank, whowas not much for gymnastic work, preferring the outdoor athletics,came down to see David one day, and found that youngster lying on themat and raising dumbbells at arm's length.

  "Great Scott," he said, "where did you get all that strength? I don'tbelieve I could do that so easily."

  David grinned. "Perhaps the explanation is that the strength Ihaven't got in my legs goes to my arms. I can lift heavier ones thanthat. Look," and he seized a 25-pound bell and swung it up and down.

  Frank was amazed. "I didn't think you had such strength. What willyou be when you work a while under Buehler? I'll certainly not getinto a fight with you. I'd have no chance at all."

  "I guess we will not fight right away," returned David. "But I say,you are in the track games to-morrow, are you not? I noticed abulletin tacked up on the door giving the entries. Does football stopthe afternoon of the games? I see some of the players' names there."

  "Yes, they give the pigskin warriors a day off, and some of them takepart. The games are chiefly to give Patsy a line on what there is inthe incoming class. In order to make it interesting as a contest,every one takes part, the 'Q' men as well as the new men."

  "You're going to try the hundred and the broad jump, I see."

  "Yes, Patsy says I may be good at one or the other if I live longenough. But I haven't much hopes of myself. I'm too green."

  "I'll bet you will make the best of them all," said Davidenthusiastically.

  "Oh, come now, David, no taffy here. It's bad enough for a fellow whocan do something to have a swelled head, but when a fellow can't doanything at all, it's fatal. So don't try to puff me. I won't stayand listen or I may get the big-head microbe. See you later. Don'tstrain yourself with those big weights. I'm responsible to your dadfor your well-being. Ta, ta."

  At four o'clock the next afternoon there was a sprinkling of Queen'sboys, the non-athletic fellows, down on the stands, to see whatthe new class was likely to do for the school in the way of trackathletics. Queen's had been down in the dumps in this particularline of sport for several years, and it had become almost a habit tolose to Warwick. There was always pretty good material available forthe weight events, but for some singular reason no sprinters headedQueen's way. It had become noised about that a new sprinter in theperson of Frank Armstrong had been turned up by Patsy, and every onewanted to see just how fast he was.

  The first race to be run was the quarter in which there were sevenstarters. Queen's track was a quarter-mile, and the runners wereto start at the middle of the back stretch, and finish down thestraightaway. This gave them only one turn, and it was supposed tobe easier on that account. Hillard was scratch man on this event.The new men were given various handicaps--that is, Patsy set themat points from 10 to 20 yards further along, so as to even up theirspeed with that of Hillard, who had won the event the year beforefrom the best that Warwick had to offer.

  "Nothing in that bunch," said a Senior as he looked the fellows over;"they're not strong enough. Look at that skinny Freshman with 20yards handicap. I'll bet he'll die half way down the stretch."

  The little chap he referred to was a slender boy of fourteen, lighthaired almost to whiteness, and very spindly in his shanks. He hadcome from some little town in the western part of the state, and wasso insignificant looking that no one paid much attention to him inthe fall practice. Even Patsy's eye failed to note him. His name wasBrown--Tommy Brown.

  After Patsy had put all his runners on their marks, he gave the usualpreparatory signal for starting, and the pistol snapped. There was arush of spectators for the end of the straightaway where the runnerswere to finish. Hillard, sure of himself, and moving rapidly, soonbegan to overhaul the inexperienced Freshmen. One by one he passedthem, and as he swung into the straightaway with half the distancegone, only two were ahead of him. One of these was the fellow who hadrun second to Hillard the year before, and the other was Brown, theskinny one.

  "Look at that toothpick coming," rose a cry from the watchers. Hecertainly was "coming" like a locomotive, his thin legs flyingand his arms working like flails. A hundred yards from the finishHillard caught Peckham, but the little whitehead was still leggingit ten yards in front of him. And now Hillard settled down to do hisbest. Slowly he came up on Tommy Brown while the school yelled itsapplause, but those thin, flying shanks still continued to move withunbroken rhythm, and despite Hillard's greatest efforts he could notoverhaul the Freshman who, with a great burst of speed, broke thetape six feet ahead of the champion. Immediately there was a babel ofvoices.

  "Hurray for Skinny!"

  "New world-beater come to town."

  "Hurray for the Freshman!"

  "Hard luck, Hillard, old boy."

  Patsy who had made a short cut from the start of the quarter tothe finish, and got there just in time to see the Freshman's greateffort, hurried after him on the way to the gymnasium, and whispereda word of praise in his ear. Coming back he displayed a stop watchwhose hand pointed to 55 3-5 seconds.

  "And that's going some for a kid," he said. "I'll make something ofhim before he gets through at Queen's." And Patsy kept his word, forTommy Brown not only won points for his school, but when he went tocollege---- But that's another story.

  After the quarter mile came the half, but nothing worth while turnedup there. The event was run in slow time, and the Freshmen who wereentered made a very poor showing.

  Then came the first heat of the hundred yards dash. Twelve runnerswere entered--among them Frank Armstrong, who was drawn in the firstlot to be sent over the distance. As they came from the gymnasium andtrotted up to the start, their good points were commented on by thespectators.

  "Armstrong looks like a runner," said one. "He has a good step and agood face."

  "I don't care about his face," said another of the group, "if he hasgood legs and knows how to use them."

  David and Gleason were perched on the uppermost row of the standwhere they could see the entire length of the hundred. David was allexcitement. "Do they all run together?" he asked Gleason.

  "Oh, no, they run it in heats or trials. It wouldn't be fair to runthem all at the same time for they couldn't all get an even start.This track will only accommodate six at one time. First, second andthird in each heat qualify for the finals, so you see each runner hasto go over the distance twice."

  "I see."

  "They're getting ready," announced Gleason. "See them getting down ontheir toes. They're off!"

  A white puff of smoke came from the pistol in Patsy's hand, and thesound of the explosion came sharply to their ears. Away at the top ofthe stretch they saw the runners spring forward.

  Down the track they swept for thirty yards,
none having anyadvantage. Then the runner on the pole and Frank began to forge tothe front. On they came, nip and tuck, until just near the finish thefellow on the pole made a great effort and broke the tape four orfive feet ahead of Frank. The third man was a step behind Frank.

  "Oh, what a pity he couldn't keep up," said David mournfully.

  "What's the matter with you? He did exactly right," said Gleason.

  "How is that--he was beaten, wasn't he?"

  "Yes, my son," replied the Codfish, "he was beaten for first place,but he qualified for the final, and that's all you need. What wasthe use of his running himself out? You see what an effort the otherfellow had to win, didn't you? I told Frank myself to run easy inthis first heat even if he only came in third place. Third would havebeen just as good as where he finished."

  Then came the second trial of the hundred immediately on the heelsof the first. This was well run, but slower, and it was won by thebandy-legged Herring. A Freshman named King was second, and Wilson, aSophomore, third.

  The mile followed and showed nothing promising, no Freshmen gettingnearer than fifth place.

  "Didn't expect anything, anyway," said Patsy. "A fellow has tolearn to run the mile." But in the hurdle trials Tommy Brown, theskinny spindle-shanks, surprised everybody by galloping off withfirst place, beating out Morris, the Junior hurdler. In the finals,however, Morris got back at him and won, but the Freshman made himstretch himself to the limit. Patsy was as happy as a lark at findingsuch youngsters.

  "This Freshman class has some good stuff in it," he said, "the bestthat has come to Queen's for many moons. Armstrong and Brown aregoing to be corkers, you mark my words. Just watch Armstrong in thehundred. For a kid who has had no experience he is a wonder."

  "All out for the finals of the hundred," cried Patsy's assistant, whowas helping to run off the events. The summons brought out the sixwho had been successful in the trials--Collins, Herring, Armstrong,King, Wilson, and a Junior named Howard. The latter two were notexpected to figure very heavily in the race.

  "Collins and Herring will run scratch in this race," said Patsy, whowas getting the six ready up at the start. "You two Freshmen go tothat six-foot handicap mark; Howard and Wilson, you take an extrayard."

  The boys went to their places, and there was a false start, but onthe next attempt they got away splendidly. The first spring tookFrank ahead of King, and he never saw him again until the race wasover, but Collins, who had got a magnificent start, had made up mostof the distance in the first thirty yards. Frank felt him at hiselbow, and determined not to let him pass that point. On they flew.The spectators were crowding out on the track and craning theirnecks. Collins was running desperately for his reputation as the bestsprinter in the school was at stake. He had come up on Frank inch byinch, but every inch was hard won. The crowd was close above them nowand shouting:

  "Collins!"

  "Armstrong!"

  "The Freshman's winning!"

  "Gee, what a race!"

  Inch by inch Collins gained till he was even with Frank, but past himhe could not get. Frank was running with every ounce of power in hisbody, and still held on. He could see the little red line across hispath at the finish now, and in another instant he felt the touch ofit on his breast. But at the same instant Collins touched it, too.

  "A dead heat, a dead heat," shouted the crowd. The boys had crossedthe line exactly together.

  "Good, Freshman!"

  "That's the boy, Armstrong."

  And half a score of his own class surrounded Frank and patted him onthe back. The effort had been so great that he could hardly stand,and he was glad enough when Jimmy and Lewis took him by the shouldersand let him rest some of his weight on them, but he soon recovereda bit. Herring, who was third, and Collins came up and gave him akindly word, and Patsy said when Frank had started for the gym,"There is a game kid, I tell you. When he knows how to run, as I meanhe shall, you will all take off your hats to him. I guess we willhave something to send down to the Interscholastics in New Haven nextspring after all."