358 Hans Brinker

Twenty girls are formed in.a line. The music has ceased.

A man, whom we shall call the crier, stands between the
columns and the first judges’ stand. He reads the rules in a
loud voice : —

“THE GIRLS AND BOYS ARE TO RACE IN TURN, UNTIL ONE
GIRL AND ONE BOY HAVE BEATEN TWICE. ‘THEY ARE TO
START IN A LINE FROM THE UNITED COLUMNS, SKATE TO
THE FLAGSTAFF LINE, TURN, AND THEN COME BACK TO THE
STARTING-POINT } THUS MAKING A MILE AT EACH RUN.”

A flag is waved from the judges’ stand. Madame van Gleck
rises in her pavilion. She leans forward with a white handker-
chief in her hand. When she drops it, a bugler is to give the
signal for them to start.

The handkerchief is fluttering to the ground. Hark!

They are off!

No. Back again. Their line was not true in passing the
Judges’ stand.

The signal is repeated.

Offagain. No mistake this time. Whew! how fast they go!

The multitude is quiet for an instant, absorbed in eager,
breathless watching.

Cheers spring up along the line of spectators. Huzza! five
girls are ahead. Who comes flying back from the boundary-
mark? Wecannot tell. Something red, that is all. There is
a blue spot flitting near it, anda dash of yellow nearer still.
Spectators at this end of the line strain their eyes, and wish
they had taken their post nearer the flagstaff.

The wave of cheers is coming back again. Now we can see.
Katrinka is ahead!

She passes the Van Holp pavilion. The next is Madame
van Gleck’s. That leaning figure gazing from it is a magnet.