“What harm does it do?”

“A great deal.”

“Get out!  It doesn’t make a dit of bifference.”

“That’s what you think, but I know better.  At Fardale I had a chum who smoked cigarettes by the stack.  He was a natural-born athlete, but he never seemed quite able to take the lead in anything.  It was his wind.  I talked to him, but he thought I didn’t know.  Finally I induced him to leave off smoking entirely.  He did it, though it was like taking his teeth.  It was not long before he showed an improvement in his work.  The improvement continued and he went up to the very top.  He acknowledged that he could not have accomplished it if he had kept on with his cigarettes.

“Now, old man,” continued Frank, coming over and putting a hand on Harry’s shoulder in a friendly way, “I am interested in you and I want to see you stay on our crew.  You must know that I am giving it to you straight.”

Harry was silent, gazing down at the floor, while his cigarette was going out, still held between his fingers.

“I am going to tell you something that you do not know,” Frank went on.  “Old Put has been asking me to give Gordon more of a show.  He thinks Gordon is a better man than you, but I know better.  If you will leave cigarettes alone you are the man for the place.  Gordon has a beautiful back and splendid shoulders, but he lacks heart, or I am much mistaken.  It takes nerve to pull an oar in a race.  A man has got to keep at it for all there is in him till he drops—­and he mustn’t drop till the race is over.  That’s why I want you.  I am confident that you will pull your arms out before you give up.  But you won’t have the wind for the race unless you quit cigarettes, and quit them immediately.”

Harry was still silent, but his head was lower and he was biting his lips.  The cigarette in his fingers had quite gone out.

“Come now, Harry,” came earnestly from Frank.  “Just cut clear from the things.  They never did any man any good, and they have taken the wind and nerve out of hundreds.  You don’t want me to keep you on the crew and lose the race by doing so.  You don’t want it said that I have been partial to you because you are my roommate and particular friend.  That’s what will be said if things go wrong.  The fellows will declare I was prejudiced against Gordon, and they will not be to blame unless you can prove yourself the best man.  I have nothing against Gordon, and I am bound to use him as white as I can.  I have explained why I don’t want him on the crew, and I have tried to make it clear why I’ll have to let him come on at once, unless you drop cigarettes.  How is it, my boy?  What do you say?”

Harry got up and went into the bedroom.  A moment later he came out with a big package of cigarettes in his hands.  He opened the window and flung them as far as possible.

“There!” he cried.  “By the mumping Joses—­I mean the jumping Moses!  I’m done with ’em.  I’m not going to smoke them any more!”