A half length of clear water showed between them, then a length, then--and now the line was but a stone-throw away--two fair lengths separated the contestants.

And amid the deafening, frenzied shrieks of their schoolmates, their crimson-clad backs rising and falling like clock-work, all signs of raggedness gone, the eight heroes swept over the line winners by two and a half lengths from the St.
Eustace crew, and disappeared under the bridge to emerge on the other side with trailing oars and wearied limbs.
And as they went from sight, Joel, stooping, yelling, over the railing, saw, with the piercing shriek of the launch's whistle in his ears, the upraised face of Green, the coxswain, smiling placidly up at him..