"He is the swiftest runner of them all!" cried Carrie Odell. "Look how the men are dropping off! They cannot stand it. Seven, eight, nine, ten, have given up. Oh-h-h!" "Another! And another!" cried her sister, Consuelo, and so it kept on till when they reached the finish they had only two men to open the hydrant, and screw on the pipe--a simple operation it would seem to a novice, but it is just here that the race is won or lost. Under the moment's excitement the couplers will likely find their nerves unsteady after the long run. But these two men made no false moves. They put on the pipe with indescribable speed, then ran on the remaining hundred yards to the judge's stand, Harry Hawthorne coming out ahead amid the deafening cheers of his admirers. The judges took the time at the very instant that the pipe touched the ground, and after examining the coupling they found it all right, and announced the time as forty-six and one-fourth seconds. The victors retired amid tumultuous applause, and another team prepared to run, Hawthorne returning very soon to Geraldine's side to sun himself in her admiring eyes. "You were splendid, and I was proud of you!" she cried, innocently, unconscious of the tenderness her words implied. "Thank you. I am proud that I pleased you; but I was sorry they made me run. I was trying to keep rested and fresh to dance with you at the ball to-night," he answered, lightly. "And now you will be too tired--I am sorry for that." How frankly she could talk to him, and yet they had been strangers only this morning; yet it seemed as if they had known each other years and years. "No, I shall not be too weary to dance with you," he answered, tenderly. Then others of the party claimed his attention, and Geraldine sat in a happy dream, thinking how heavenly it would be dancing with him to-night. Presently the games were over, and the weary, happy throng departed--the Odells and their guests to make ready for the grand fireman's ball they were going to attend that night. "Oh, I wonder what Cissy will say when I don't come back to-night? She will be uneasy about me; perhaps angry. But she will forgive me when I tell her how it happened, and what a lovely time I had," thought Geraldine. But again she did not even think of Clifford Standish, or even wonder what had become of him. She was full of the dear, delightful present. How delightful it was to be dressing for a grand ball, in white slippers and a fairy-like gown of white silk, and with white roses for her breast and hair. Geraldine felt like a Cinderella going to the ball with a prince, for Harry Hawthorne was coming to be her escort, and to her he was the handsomest man on earth, a veritable Prince Charming. She looked at her reflection in the long mirror, with artless delight at her own beauty. "How pretty I look! I hope he will think so, too, but perhaps he knows some one more beautiful," she murmured, uneasily. CHAPTER V. RIVALS AND FOES.