But it was soon evident yellow was not destined to continue his lead, for before the half distance was accomplished, red and black, who all along had been neck and neck, were up to him and past him, and by the end of the lap the new boy had also overtaken him.
And now we became considerably more interested in the progress of this new boy, who, it suddenly occurred to us, seemed to be going very easily, which was more than could be said of red, who was dropping a little to the rear of black.

A big boy near me said, "That fellow's got the wind of a balloon," and I immediately began to think he was not far wrong.

For in this third lap, when two of the others were slacking pace, and when the third was only holding his own, the new boy freshened up remarkably.

We could watch him crawl up gradually nearer and nearer to red, till a shout proclaimed him to be second in the running.

But black was still well ahead, and in the short space left, as the big boy near me said, "He could hardly collar his man." But see! The fellow is positively beginning to tear along! He seems fresher than when he started.