Part 40 (1/2)
”Cameron, you are my man! Do you want to save your country, and perhaps my life, certainly my reputation? Get out of those frills,” touching his kilt, ”and I'll get a suit from one of the jumpers for you. Go! Bless your soul, anything you want that's mine you can have! Only hustle for dear life's sake! Go! Go! Go! Take him away, Mack. We'll get something else on!”
Fatty actually pushed Cameron clear away from the platform and after him big Mack.
”There seems to be no help for it,” said Cameron, as they went to the tent together.
”It's awful good of you,” replied Mack, ”but you can see how hard Fatty takes it, though it is not a bit fair to you.”
”Oh, n.o.body knows me here,” said Cameron, ”and I don't mind being a victim.”
But as Mack saw him get into his jersey and shorts he began to wonder a bit.
”Man, it would be great if you should beat yon Frenchman!” he exclaimed.
”Frenchman?”
”Yes! La Belle. He is that stuck on himself; he thinks he is a winner before he starts.”
”It's a good way to think, Mack. Now let us get down into the woods and have a bit of a practise in the 'get away.' How do they start here? With a pistol?”
”No,” replied Mack. ”We are not so swell. The starter gives the word this way, 'All set? Go!'”
”All right, Mack, you give me the word sharp. I am out of practise and I must get the idea into my head.”
”You are great on the idea, I see,” replied Mack.
”Right you are, and it is just the same with the hammer, Mack.”
”Aye, I have found that out.”
For twenty minutes or so Cameron practised his start and at every attempt Mack's confidence grew, so that when he brought his man back to the platform he announced to a group of the girls standing near, ”Don't say anything, but I have the winner right here for you.”
”Why, Mr. Cameron,” cried Isa, ”what a wonder you are! What else can you do? You are a piper, a dancer, a hammer-thrower, and now a runner.”
”Jack-of-all-trades,” laughed Perkins, who, with Mandy, was standing near.
”Yes, but you can't say 'Master of none,'” replied Isa sharply.
”Better wait,” said Cameron. ”I have entered this race only to save Mr.
Freeman from collapse.”
”Collapse? Fatty? He couldn't,” said Isa with emphasis.
”La.s.s, I do not know,” said Mack gravely. ”He looked more hollow than ever I have seen him before.”
”Well, we'll all cheer for you, Mr. Cameron, anyway,” cried Isa. ”Won't we, girls? Oh, if wishes were wings!”
”Wings?” said Mandy, with a puzzled air. ”What for? This is a RACE.”
”Didn't you never see a hen run, Mandy?” laughed Perkins.
”Yes, I have, but I tell you Mr. Cameron ain't no hen,” replied Mandy angrily. ”And more! He's going to win.”