"If it had, the real result would have been in doubt." "Your crew won, Prescott!" called Bob Hart well in a husky voice.
"Congratulations!" "Thank you," returned Dick.

"You're surely a generous enemy." "Rivals, this afternoon, but enemies never!" protested young Hartwell.
Now a blast from the whistle of the launch recalled the two canoes.
Standing in the bow of the launch, Referee Tyndall announced so that those on shore might hear plainly: "Gridley wins by a length and a half!" From the shore came a wild cheer.

There was also a frenzied waving of handkerchiefs and of parasols.

Though the Gridley boosters might be few in number, they were great in enthusiasm.
As the "Pathfinder" started in for the landing float a crowd made a rush to meet the canoes.

It was not, however, the Preston craft, that the crowd wanted, for this was a Gridley crowd.
Noting the fact with his keen eyes, Dick gave the word for easy paddling.