It was Reddy that had got the first start and cleared the multitude, but Heady, by a careful system of jumping, was soon alongside his brother.  He made a kind-hearted effort to cut Reddy off, with the result that they wabbled together and fell in a heap.  They did not mind the fact that two or three other sack-runners were falling all over them; nor did they care what became of the race:  the desire of each was to tear off that sack and get at the wretched brother that had caused the fall.  Not being able to work their hands loose, they rolled toward each other, and began violently to bunt heads.  Finding that this banner of battle hurt the giver of the blow as much as it did the receiver of it, they rolled apart again, and began to kick at each other in a most ludicrous and undignified manner.  The Lakerimmers were finally compelled to rush in on the track and separate the loving brothers.  Strange to say, the Twins got no consolation for the loss of the race from the fact that the audience had laughed till the tears ran down its face.

[Illustration:  “TIED UP LIKE DUMMIES IN SACKS.”]

When the Running High Jump went to Troy on account of the inability of B.J. to reach even his own record, the Kingstonians began to feel anxious of results.  Troy had won six events, and they had won only four.  The points, too, had fallen in such a way that there was a bad discrepancy.

Sawed-Off appeared upon the horizon as a temporary rescuer; and while he could not put the sixteen-pound bag of shot so far as he had in better days sent the sixteen-pound solid shot, still he threw it farther than any of the Trojans could, and brought the Kingston score up to within one of the events gone to Troy.  Pretty added one more by a display of grace and skill in the fencing-match with foils, that surprised even his best friends from Lakerim, and won the unanimous vote of the three judges, themselves skilful fencers.

A wet blanket was thrown on the encouragement of the Kingstonians by their inferiority at weight-lifting.  Sawed-Off was many pounds from the power of a certain powerful Trojan, who was a smaller man with bigger muscles.

Then all the members of the Dozen had a special parlay with Jumbo, imploring him to save the day and the honor of both Kingston and Lakerim by winning the wrestling-match.

XXV

When Jumbo glanced across the floor and saw the man that was to be his opponent striding toward the mat in the center of the floor, he wished that some one else had been placed as the keystone in the Kingston arch of success.  For Jumbo knew well the man’s record as a wrestler.  But Jumbo himself, while small, was well put together; and though built, as he said, “close to the ground,” he was built for business.