Part 15

All over and lost in twenty minutes, the work and self-denial of seven months! The big Freshman has dropped his head on his knees and is sobbing like a baby; of course it must be all his fault. Bill Bender is still grimly gripping his oar and looking straight before him; that back is bent now, but the jaw is still set, the eyes flashing, and through his teeth he registers a vow to come back to the Law School and get at 'em again. Varnum, the coxswain, is as pale as the rest; he has rowed every stroke of that race without the savage comfort of the physical torture; he has seen what the others could not--the Blue coxswain going farther and farther ahead, and he powerless to help his straining men. They all hold on to something or clasp their knees tightly--to faint or fall over would be a grand-stand play.

Nevertheless that was what Charles Rivers did. He swayed for a moment, grasped blindly at the side of the shell, and fell back unconscious in the lap of the man behind him. And then, for the first time, No. 3 saw that the bottom of the boat was red with blood. _Rivers had broken his sliding-seat before the two mile flag was reached, and had rowed the last half of the race sliding back and forth on the sharp steel tracks that cut into him at every stroke._[2]

[Footnote 2: There is no fiction about this. It was done by a Harvard oarsman.]

Before the observation-train had fairly stopped Holworthy leaped from it and dashed for the river bank followed by Rattleton. As they passed one of the cars they both recognized a girl with a blue flag. Holworthy said something that Jack did not hear; the former did not notice that the girl's face was deadly pale and the blue flag motionless in her hand, but the latter did.

"There is no use in our following them," said Burleigh. "They won't be allowed to talk to the crew even if they get out to the float." Therein he was quite right; before the two could get a boat to go out to the Harvard float at the finish, they saw the men helped out of the shell and onto the University launch. They saw Rivers carried aboard. Then the launch steamed quickly up the river, towing the empty shell.

"Hullo, there is my uncle's boat," exclaimed Rattleton, pointing to a big schooner. "I am going aboard her. You go back to New London and get a trap, and I'll meet you at the ferry."

Holworthy ran back towards the town. On the way he met the others, who stopped him to hear what was up.

"I don't know," he replied. "He is completely gone. I am going up to the quarters. You fellows mustn't come. They won't allow a crowd there."

"Where is Jack?"

"Gone aboard his uncle's yacht. Rather think he has gone to ask for an invitation for Charlie. Hope so."

"Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Not a thing. Don't try to see him, please; you probably won't have a chance to, anyway."

"You won't dine with us then?"

"Can't possibly."

"Well then, good-bye, old man. We'll all come back together next year and see them win."

"Good-bye. Write to a fellow once in a while and let me know how you are all getting on in the world."

"Good-bye." "Good-bye." "Good luck to you." "Thank heaven we have all been at Harvard anyway." This last for the benefit of a knot of radiant men who pushed by, with violets in their button-holes, and who looked back and laughed good-naturedly.

So "the gang" separated, and so separate constantly, after this battle, not knowing when they will ever meet again, men who have lived together four years and have become the closest friends that live.

Half an hour later Holworthy and Rattleton in a buggy were on their way to Red Top. All sorts of rumors had already spread about No. 4 in the Harvard boat, and they were really relieved to find, on arriving at the quarters, that Rivers was nowhere near death's door, not even permanently injured. But the great, stalwart, glorious man was weak and limp as an invalid girl. As soon as possible they got him away from the gloomy group at the quarters, and took him aboard the cruiser of Rattleton's uncle for perfect rest and sparkling blue water.

There they kept him prisoner for two weeks, though before he had fairly got back his strength, he began chafing to get to work. When at last they let him go, he buckled down to his desk, as he had to his oar, and kept at it until, at the end of the summer, a short vacation was forced on him.

* * * * *

The following cablegram, received by "Herr Holz Holvordy," at St. Moritz, explains itself:

NEWPORT, Sept. 5.

She is mine. Hurrah. Be my best man.

RIVERS.

At the wedding every one remarked what a handsome couple they were, and how well suited to each other. Holworthy of course was best man. The ushers were Messrs. Bender, Burleigh, Gray, Hudson, Randolph, and Stoughton. Jack Rattleton happened to be abroad at the time.

THE END.

THE NEWEST FICTION.

DR. IZARD.

By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN, author of "The Leavenworth Case," "The Doctor, His Wife, and the Clock," etc., etc. With frontispiece.

MASTER WILBERFORCE.

The Study of a boy. By "RITA," author of "A Gender in Satin," etc.

SENTIMENTAL STUDIES and a Set of Village Tales.

By HUBERT CRACKANTHORPE, author of "Wreckage."

CAUSE AND EFFECT.

By ELLINOR MEIRION. Uniform with "A Literary Courtship."

GOD FORSAKEN.

A novel by FREDERIC BRETON, author of "A Heroine in Homespun," etc.

CHERRYFIELD HALL.

An episode in the career of an adventuress. By FREDERIC HENRY BALFOUR (ROSS GEORGE DERING), author of "Dr. Mirabel's Theory," "Giraldi," etc., etc.

THE HONOUR OF THE FLAG.

By W. CLARK RUSSELL, author of "The Wreck of the Grosvenor," etc. No. 4 in the Autonym Library.

THE HEART OF LIFE.

By W. H. MALLOCK, author of "A Romance of the Nineteenth Century," etc., etc.

ELIZABETH'S PRETENDERS.

By HAMILTON AIDE, author of "Poet and Peer," etc.

WATER TRAMPS or the Cruise of "The Sea Bird."

By GEORGE HERBERT BARTLETT. Uniform with "A Literary Courtship." Frontispiece.

YALE YARNS.

By JOHN SEYMOUR WOOD. Uniform with "Harvard Stories." Illustrated.

AN ISLAND PRINCESS.

A Story of Six Weeks and Afterwards. By Theodore Gift, author of "Pretty Miss Bellew Dishonored," etc.

BY ANNA KATHARINE GREEN

THE LEAVENWORTH CASE. A Lawyer's Story.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.

THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES. A Story of New York Life.

CYNTHIA WAKEHAM'S MONEY. With Frontispiece.

X. Y. Z.; A Detective Story.

HAND AND RING.

A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE.

THE MILL MYSTERY.

THE OLD STONE HOUSE, AND OTHER STORIES.

7 to 12. A Detective Story.

MARKED "PERSONAL."

MISS HURD; An Enigma.

THE DOCTOR, HIS WIFE, AND THE CLOCK.

DR. IZARD. With Frontispiece.

THE DEFENCE OF THE BRIDE, AND OTHER POEMS.

RISIFI'S DAUGHTER. A DRAMA.

End of Project Gutenberg's Harvard Stories, by Waldron Kintzing Post