Once fairly in the road, every one looked for a sign of the other sleds. Was the Cardiff bob too late? Was their racer ahead or behind the others? These were questions that tugged anxiously at the hearts of the boys. But there was little time for Adrian to think of this, for the control of the bob, moving like a locomotive, needed all his attention, and Tom Baker's as well. There was another sharp turn to make, and it took all of the two steersmen's strength to twist the wheels. Then the sled shot into a straight incline, the last quarter mile of the course. As the Cardiff sled was speeding on there came a shout of dismay from behind it, for the Lafayette racer, and that of Onativia, on a line with it, whizzed around the curve. Well might they shout, for they were distanced, and with no chance to regain the intervening ground which Adrian had so daringly and so skilfully covered. In another minute the race was over. The Cardiff sled glided down the last declivity, and into the main street of the town, through the crowd of admiring people who had gathered. Adrian steered to a patch of ashes that had been sprinkled to retard the speed of the bobs at the end. As the Cardiff boys leaped from their still slowly moving racer, to be greeted with hearty hand clasps and shouts of victory, the Lafayette sled came along, with that of Onativia behind it. It was a clean-cut, decisive victory for Cardiff, and even the vanquished ones had to admit it. Adrian's plan had worked out exactly as he hoped, and had saved the day; and to him the credit of the race was due, as all Cardiff joyfully admitted. For a few minutes Adrian, Roger, and the other members of the crew could not break away from the admiring crowd. "Three cheers for the Cardiff boys!" called some one, and they were given with a will. "And three cheers for Adrian Kimball!" shouted Captain Smather of the Lafayette bob. The shouts rang out louder than before, and Adrian got even redder in the face than the biting wind had made him. It was a great day for Cardiff. CHAPTER XV STRANGERS IN TOWN It was several days before the people of Cardiff were done talking about the bob sled race, and it was much longer ere the boys of the crew and Roger and Adrian got beyond telling each other their feelings at the various stages of the perilous journey. Mr. Kimball was proud of his son's achievement, and Mrs. Kimball was thankful no one had been hurt. So the memorable contest passed into local history, and no doubt if you should go to Cardiff now, you would learn all about it much better than it is told here. Winter now settled down over the valley, and it was a severe season, as Roger found. Yet, though it was much colder than ever he had known it to be in New York, the lower temperature did not affect him so much as the frosty weather at home, since the atmosphere was a dry one, differing in this respect from the penetrating damp cold of the region near the Atlantic.