Not that Parrett's had fallen off.

On the contrary, they still remained what they had been all along, the smartest and strongest crew that Willoughby had ever put upon the river.

But the schoolhouse boat had made wonderful strides.

It was long since it had ceased to be the laughingstock of the hostile juniors, and it was some time since its appearance and work had begun to cause a shade of uneasiness in the minds of a few of the rival house.
Fairbairn, far from Bloomfield's match in physique or style, had yet displayed an amount of steady, determined work which had astonished most fellows, and inspired with confidence not only his partisans on the bank, but the three oarsmen at his back.

By dint of patient, untiring practice he had worked his crew up to a pitch of training scarcely hoped for, and every day the schoolhouse boat had gained in style and speed.
Had the race been a fortnight or three weeks later few boys would have cared to prophesy definitely as to the result.