And no wonder.

Their boat had suddenly dropped behind until its nose was barely lapping the rival shell.

Number Four was rowing "out of time and tune," as Joel shouted triumphantly, and although he soon steadied down, the damage was hard to repair, for Hillton, encouraged by the added lead, was rowing magnificently.
But with strokes that brought cries of admiration even from her foes St.
Eustace struggled gloriously to recover her lost water.

Little by little the nose of her boat crept up and up, until it was almost abreast with Number Three's oar, while cries of encouragement from bridge and shore urged her on.

But now Green, the Hillton coxswain, turned his head slightly, studied the position of the rival eight, glanced ahead at the judges' boat, and spoke a short, sharp command.
And instantly, ragged port oars notwithstanding, the crimson crew seemed to lift their boat from the water at every stroke, and St.Eustace, struggling gamely, heroically, to the last moment, fell farther and farther behind.