Only four runners are starting, three of whom have already distinguished themselves in the hurdle-race.

Wyndham, the school captain, is that tall, handsome fellow with the red stripe in front of his jersey, who occupies the inside "berth" on the starting- line.

Next to him is Ashley; also wearing the school stripe; and between Ashley and the other schoolboy, Bloomfield, is Rawson, the dreaded Londoner, a practised athlete, whose whiskered face contrasts strangely with the smooth, youthful countenances of his competitors.
"Ashley's to cut out the running for Willoughby this time," says Telson, "and he'll do it too; he's fresh." So he is.

At the signal to start he rushes off as if the race was a quarter of a mile instead of a mile, and the Londoner, perplexed by his tactics, starts hard also, intending to keep him in hand.

Bloomfield and Wyndham, one on each side of the track, began rather more easily, and during the first lap allow themselves to drop twelve or fifteen yards behind.