Just then the cry arose that the launch was coming, and the non-combatants crowded to the door. Through one of the wide arches of the bridge, its parapet topped for a hundred yards by a dense row of heads, the slender _Veritas_ was speeding down upon the boat-house. “Second crew out!” commanded Talbot. McDowell and his men fetched their oars from the corner and laid them side by side at the edge of the float; then they brought out their boat, and, dropping it into the water, fitted their oars into the locks and took their places. When toe straps were well adjusted and the slides fully tested, friendly hands laid hold of the blades of the port oars at Mac’s signal, and shoved the boat forth. “Attention!” called Mike. “Ready!—Row!” The four oars took the water with a hard clean catch. Backward swung the blue, white-lettered jerseys in perfect unison; forward they came again, their slides returning easily with the motion of the boat, and again the blades snatched at the water and drove it back in one steady, prolonged push. The lads in the untippable old quinquereme mounted their benches and yelled the school cheers in a fierce burst of loyalty. A knot of old Westcottites on the bank echoed the cheer. “What a stroke that kid sets!” said Talbot. “If he were only six inches taller and twenty pounds heavier—” “I shouldn’t be on the first crew,” offered Roger, as Pete hesitated. “Some of us wouldn’t, that’s a sure thing,” returned Talbot. “We’ll watch the launch off, and then go back and lie down.” The _Veritas_ took on board the officials and the newspaper men, and headed up river after the crews. President John had elected to go with the launch. He posted himself beside the steersman in the bow, standing proudly erect to be seen and admired of all men, and cast a long glance backward at the common herd that thronged the float. “Doesn’t he make you sick?” growled Talbot, as they watched the _Veritas_ plough her way upstream. “I suppose Newbury isn’t responsible for him, but I’d give my allowance for all summer to be sure of getting ahead of him. I’d row till I dropped dead rather than let that goat see us beaten.” “He won’t see our second beaten, to-day,” said Eaton. “We’ve got the best thing in seconds on the river.” “But he’ll see _us_ beaten,” returned the captain. “I hate to give him so much rope, but second place is good enough for us to-day. On Friday we’ll have a real try at ’em.” They lay down again in their old corner, telling Rust to call them out when there was anything to see. “This is the worst part of it,” said Pete. “There’s nothing so hard as waiting. How goes it, Roger?” Roger shook his head with a melancholy little smile that barely lifted the corners of his tight-closed lips. Pete threw at him an uneasy look. “You don’t feel sick again, do you?” he asked quickly. This time Roger’s lips parted to a full grin, “No,” he answered with emphasis. “I’m nervous, that’s all. I want to be doing something.”