"It ought to be easy for you, with such long legs." "I mean to win and leave that Rover boy so far behind he'll feel sick," answered Flapp.
Sam had but little to say.

But he knew that both Tom and Dick expected him to win, and he resolved to "do or die" as the saying goes.
"Even if I lose they shan't say I didn't try," the youngest Rover told himself.
Out on the field William Philander Tubbs was strutting around boastfully.
"I can't help but win, don't you know," he drawled.

"Running is exactly in my line." "Oh, what a whopper!" was Fred Garrison's comment.

"Tubbs is about as lazy as they make 'em." Soon all of the contestants were ready, and George Strong explained the conditions of the race.
"You are to run along the shore to the big rock where Lieutenant Merrick is stationed," he said.

"You are to round the rock by running to the right, and you must keep to the right of the path on returning, so that you won't run into anybody.