Swimming Contest

For the following two days, the boys practiced swimming assiduously. They spent most of their hours at the lake and perfected their strokes, their form, diving, turning, etc. They were in tip top shape and were confident of the results. Saturday morning all the boys turned out to help fix up a float, repair the diving board, lay out lanes and make everything ready for the contest at one-thirty.

Three people consented to act as judges. Swimming coach Thompson and Assistant swimming coach Grey of Stanhope High School and a man named White, who was at one time a national swimming champion.

The events that had been agreed upon were the hundred yard dash in which Paul and Nuthin’ were to participate; the two-twenty yard dash in which Ken and Bluff had been entered; the hundred and sixty yard relay, with William, Wallace, Bobolink and Jack as the team; and finally a fancy diving match, with Bobolink as his group’s representative.

A large crowd turned out to watch the spectacle. The members of the competing teams mixed together and poked fun at each other, quibbled over many nothings and thus forgot all their anxiety about the forthcoming contest. The judges were ready and everything was set when suddenly an airplane dropped out of the sky. People pointed, waved and shouted. Attached to the rear end of the plane was a floating banner. Jack nudged Wallace and asked, “Who do you think is in the plane? Can you guess?”

“A turkey to a doughnut it’s Major McCarthy.”

Several of the boys standing nearby overheard and agreed. Jack said, “That’s most likely who it is. Can you read what’s on the banner?”

“Not yet. Wait till he comes down a little lower.”

The plane descended to an altitude of about five hundred feet. Everybody began to shout the words on the banner—“GOOD LUCK.” Ted, standing with Paul, asked, “Wonder whom he is wishing good luck?”

“Both teams, of course,” answered Paul.

“He’s a very fine chap—the major is.”

“You said it,” agreed Paul. “There are not many like him.”

After circling around overhead for a short while, the pilot waved and zoomed up into the sky. Several moments later the plane was performing a “barrel roll,” followed by a “loop the loop.” The spectators waved, cheered and screamed for more stunts. So the plane stunted some more; it dived down heading straight for the water, skimmed the surface of the lake and zoomed away up into the sky again and disappeared.

At last everything was ready for the contest to begin. The judges called for the first event, the hundred yard dash. Paul and Nuthin’ stepped forward. Ted Slavin’s group was to be represented by Ted and two other boys, Joe and Mac. Nuthin’ was placed in lane one, Mac in lane two, Ted in lane three, Paul, lane four and Joe, lane five. Coach Thompson looked the boys over, then called out, “You’re all ready?”

The boys nodded and said they were. Thompson raised his gun. “Ready!” he called.

The boys crouched, each in his lane. “Get set!”

There was silence everywhere. The boys brought back their arms ready to dive. But half a second before the pistol went off, Mac, anticipating the signal, dived. The boys relaxed and waited for Mac to come out of the water and take the start over.

“Ready!” called Thompson. Pause. “Get set!” Half a second later the gun went off and five young men, their arms stretched out in front of them, flung themselves through space, cut into the water and—they were off. Ted, tall and lanky, was out front, an inch or two in the lead. Their legs kicked rhythmically, their arms moved gracefully and with precision. They skimmed the water like fish.

The length of the pool was twenty yards and each man had to swim the pool five times. At the first turn, Ted and Nuthin’ were neck and neck. Both boys were encouraged and urged on by their comrades and friends. Paul was only an inch or two behind, followed very closely by Mac and Joe. That position was maintained throughout the second lap. In the third lap Paul and Mac started creeping up steadily on the leaders while Nuthin,’ shot out into the lead, with Ted only an inch behind. At the turn, a deep sigh went up from the spectators—Nuthin’ missed his hold and lost enough time in the turn to place him behind with Joe. It seemed that the race was now to be decided between Ted and Paul. Ted, however, seemed to manage quite well in keeping his lead and Paul didn’t seem as though he were gaining any. Nuthin’, though, was in the meanwhile, gaining with every stroke. At the turn he was neck and neck with Paul.

On shore, some people had set up a chant—“Nuthin’! Nuthin’! come on Nuthin’!” They kept up the chant until the very end of the race. And Nuthin’ seemed to be responding very well to their call. He was edging up closer and closer. He was straining every muscle in his body. His arms and feet were like a well oiled, well regulated machine. Within five yards to the goal Nuthin’ was neck and neck with Ted. The latter strained very hard to reach out further. Two yards from the edge of the pool and Nuthin’ had already crept into the lead. The judges were bending over, watching very closely for the first touch. The spectators held their breaths and watched. In an instant the race was over and the judges were rising to their feet. Somebody shouted, “Ted! Ted, the winner!”

Both judges shook their heads and pointed to Nuthin’. William, at the other end of the pool, screamed, “Nuthin’! Hooray for Nuthin’!”

Somebody nudged him and remarked, “Stop shouting for nothing; shout for something.”

William laughed and roared. “Nuthin’ is something and how!”

Nuthin’ lay stretched out, with Ted at his side. Breathing hard, Ted said, “That was a swell race. Never thought you were as good as that, boy.”

Paul, squatting nearby, remarked, “Creeping up on us the way he did and winning the dash—he’s certainly good.”

“You said it,” agreed Ted.

The two hundred and twenty yard dash was an all-around disappointment. Not that it didn’t have its thrills. On the contrary, it had too many thrills, surprises and shocks, so that the contestants participated in something that was more than a swimming contest and the spectators lost interest in the event itself. When the judges called for the participants to step forth, Ken and Bluff came out as representatives for their group. For the Ted Slavin team, two boys stepped forth, one by the name of Walt and the other Cy. The edge of the wooden dock was wet and therefore slippery. As the boys lined in their respective lanes, Walt somehow lost his balance and slipped; when he had picked himself up, he began to hop around painfully. He had twisted his ankle, and that forced him out of the race. His team had no other man to take his place and that left only three contestants in the race.

Coach Thompson finally called, “Get ready!” Pause, “Get set!” The shot went off and the boys dived. For three laps everything went along well. The boys glided through the water gracefully. Cy was setting the pace, with Ken following several inches behind and Bluff bringing up the rear. On their fourth lap, at about the center of the lane, Bluff suddenly went down like a rock. People began to scream and shout. Ken, becoming aware of the commotion on shore, stopped to hear what people were screaming to him. In the meanwhile, Nuthin’ and Ted who were sitting at the edge of the float and watching the race, both jumped into the lake. Nuthin’ dived first and half a minute later came up with Bluff. Assisted by Ted, the two boys pulled Bluff in. He had suddenly gotten cramps.

The race continued with only two contestants now; Cy was in the lead with Ken fully five yards behind. Ken tried to creep up on his competitor, but as he increased his pace, so did Cy. The boys kept up the grind back and forth, back and forth across the pool. At the end of the seventh lap, Ken had managed to regain about half the distance he had lost. And he continued to creep up by inches. As the boys were ending their tenth lap and were approaching for a turn, a little boy of about six or seven, who had somehow managed to get to the edge of the pool, leaned over a little too far and tumbled in. The child fell directly in front of Ken and before many people had realized what happened the swimmer had fished the boy out, handed him over to outstretched arms and continued with the race. But by now, Ken had fallen so far behind that even by his last sprint, he could do no better than end up a full seven yards behind Cy. The race was ended and few people were aware of it.

The next event was the diving, with Bobolink and Ted as the contestants. Both were fine divers and their form was almost perfect. Each one was obliged to perform the swan dive, the jackknife and a third dive of the contestant’s own choosing. After both boys had performed and had delighted the spectators, the judges conferred but were unable to come to a decision. The two boys were told to perform any one fancy dive they chose. Again both contestants performed so equally that the judges called the contest a draw.

It was the relay, however, that again raised the spectators’ enthusiasm to high pitch and set them jumping and howling madly; it had everyone on his toes following the contest closely.

William was the lead off man for his team. Coach Thompson called, “On your mark!” The two boys crouched. “Get set!” They brought their arms back. The gun went off and William and his competitor flung themselves through space, their arms stretched out. They cut into the water and set off in a fast sprint. Each contestant had two laps to go. They glided through the water, their arms and feet moving rhythmically. Both boys turned simultaneously and were neck and neck. People shouted and screamed themselves hoarse; their comrades shouted advice and encouragement. Gradually, William moved into the lead. As he touched, he gave Wallace, who followed him, a lead of about three inches.

The next pair were off. Wallace kept his small margin of a lead with his competitor sturdily refusing to concede another inch. Wallace, however, made a poor turn, and placed both boys nose to nose. It even looked as though the other fellow would gain the lead any second but Wallace fought it out and both boys touched simultaneously. The third pair dived and each contestant fought hard for the lead but neither Bobolink nor his competitor would yield. Stroke for stroke, they glided through the water gracefully and neither one would yield an inch. At the turn, it appeared for a second that Bobolink gained an inch or two on his competitor, but the next moment they were seen gliding along side by side, nose to nose. The spectators were frantic with excitement and they encouraged, urged and cajoued, each his favorite, to hurry up and get into the lead. The two contestants, however, touched simultaneously.

Jack was the last man. By the way he dived, flinging his body through space with a certain impatient fury, it seemed that he was going to fly across the pool. His competitor, however, was right there at his side and obstinate in his refusal to be shaken. Jack plowed through the water at breakneck speed. People wondered how the other hung on and didn’t yield an inch. The spectators were going wild with enthusiasm; some of them became hysterical. A babble of voices urged both boys to get ahead, take the lead. But neither one seemed able to shake the other fellow. At the turn, however, Jack who was very flexible and fast, manoeuvered the touch and push off so quickly that he got away with a lead of several inches. The other fellow saw himself losing out and sprinted after Jack fast and furious. But the latter would not yield and steadily he kept his lead, making the final touch a full five seconds ahead of his competitor.

People jumped into the air, fell on each other’s necks and screamed with delight. Ready arms stretched out to help the two boys out of the water. Smiling, happy, Jack turned to his rival and the two shook hands. The Slavin group formed a circle and cheered Jack and then everybody else they could think of. Paul, Jack and the other boys also formed a circle and returned cheer for cheer.

The contest was over and a number of people went away. The spectacle, however, was by no means over. It had been arranged to include several items on the schedule as pure fun-provoking spectacles. The first such event was performed on the diving board. Bobolink dressed up in a pair of balloon pants, and a bonnet on his head; Ted, on the other hand, put on a bathing suit that was twice his size, his fingers hiding in his sleeves and the bottoms flopping around his legs, with a life preserver around his midsection.

Bobolink appeared first on the board. Shaky and nervous, he walked out to the edge of the board. Suddenly slipping, he bounced on his back, went up into the air and came down on his stomach; he tried to grasp the board, but in vain; up he went again and came down on his head and then catapulted into the water, swimming through the air. As he went under water, his bonnet went floating on the surface of the lake. Coming up again, he retrieved his bonnet and waited for Ted to perform.

Ted took a running slide across the board and as he came to the edge, he heeled over, trying not to slide off; clawing the air, he balanced back and forth, back and forth, appearing as though this moment he was going into the water head first and the next moment—no. Finally he did slip off and as he fell through space he managed to grasp a hold on the board. Like a see-saw, the board went up and down, with Ted trying to clamber onto the board again. He managed to put his legs around the board and his fingers slipped and there he was hanging head down. After performing all sorts of gymnastics with his hands, he fell into the water head first. And to the great enjoyment of the spectators, Ted didn’t go fully underwater but got stuck in the water, head, shoulders and as far as his midsection immersed, while his feet stuck up, kicking vigorously. Everybody laughed at the sight until tears ran down their faces. Bobolink swam over and after spinning Ted around several times, helped him to turn over. Righted again, only half of him was under water. Bobolink pushed him below the surface several times and the fellow bobbed up like a spring. It was all the result of the life preserver around his midsection.

Two canoes were placed in the water and each contained a tilting pole. The two contestants, Paul and Cy, were told to swim out and each occupy a canoe, which the boys did easily enough. However, they were not supplied with paddles and in order to approach within striking distance of each other, they were obliged to paddle with their hands. Separated by a distance of about three or four feet, the boys stood up in their canoes and poised their poles. But in the meanwhile, Paul’s canoe had drifted away and Cy called out, “I say, don’t run away. Come back and defend your honor.”

“Just you wait a minute,” replied Paul. And he immediately squatted and with his hands paddled up nearer to his foe.

The spectators cheered and laughed with glee. They were having as much fun as the contestants themselves who now crossed poles as a sign that the battle was on. They thrust at each other but only jabbed the air. Their canoes drifting apart, both had to sit down and do some paddling again. Someone on shore shouted, “Get together there, will you? Do something!”

Others echoed the cry and urged the contestants on to do something. Just as soon as they were close enough, both boys jumped up and grabbed their poles. Cy thrust out and Paul dodged it and poked back; but Cy caught it on his pole and pushed it away. Again the poles crossed. Cy’s canoe was drifting away, and he leaned forward a trifle, reaching out to strike his opponent; instead, Paul pushed his pole into Cy’s shoulder and the latter plunged into the water. Paul stood up his pole and thrust out his chest as a sign of victory. The spectators ashore applauded and cheered him. But just then Cy bobbed out of the water and tipped Paul’s canoe, throwing him into the water, which caused the spectators a great deal of amusement.

The boys were getting dressed in the boat-house. They were jabbering away a mile a minute. Ted stood up on a bench and called out, “Everybody attention, please!”

“Pull him off!” someone shouted.

“Don’t let him talk!” another added.

“Hear! Hear!” someone else shouted.

When all had finally quieted down, Ted began, “A friend of mine—”

He was interrupted by several voices. One cried, “Who’s she?”

“What’s her name?”

“How do you know she’s a friend of yours?”

“Quiet! Quiet!”

Ted continued. “As I was saying, a friend of mine has arranged a dance as a successful completion of today’s events.”

“Yea!” one of the boys cried.

“Hooray for your friend!” another shouted.

“And for Ted!” was added by another boy.

“Hooray for all of us!” cried Cy.

Quiet was restored and Ted finished his statement, declaring, “The dance will be held at eight o’clock, the place—the High School gym, and you are all not only invited but urged to come.”

He was applauded, cheered, and thanked for the information. All the boys promised to come.