“He is mistaken.”

“I am not mistaken.  That is why I shoved him away, Mr. Strong.”

“Is your foot hurt?”

“I don’t think it is.  But it didn’t do it any good to have it stepped on.”

“Probably not.  Do you still wish to jump?”

“Yes, sir.  If I don’t, some of the crowd will say I am afraid,” said Dick.

“In the future, Flapp, be more careful,” said George Strong significantly.

“By Jinks! but the Flapp crowd are dandies!” whispered Tom.  “First Jackson tried to change the hammers and now Flapp himself tries to disable you.  We must be on our guard after this.”

“That’s true,” replied his elder brother, and Sam nodded.

Because of Dick’s hurt foot it was decided that Gus Pender should jump first.  Pender did his best, clearing the stick by two inches better than before.

“Put it up an inch higher,” cried Dick, and made the jump, despite a pain in the instep that was by no means pleasant.  Then Pender tried again, but failed, and Dick was declared the winner.

“This is the day for the Rovers!” cried one cadet, and a cheer for Tom and Dick followed, while the Staton girls waved their handkerchiefs wildly.

After this came several other contests, in each of which the crowd pitted against the Flapp faction won.  This made Lew Flapp, Rockley, Pender, Jackson and a number of others feel very sore.

“We must win something,” cried Pender fiercely.  “If we don’t we’ll be the laughing stock of the whole academy.”

At last came the half mile race for which Sam had entered.  Now, though Lew Flapp was much larger than most of the others, he was in the same class as Sam, and he had also entered this race, which boasted of ten contestants, including William Philander Tubbs.

“You have got to win this, Lew,” said Rockley.  “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.  The first to reach this mark on the return wins the race.  Do you understand?”