"The agony is over at last," said Tom, after Joe Wayring and his inseparable companions Arthur and Roy, who came over in the Young Republic the next morning to announce the result of the ballot, had gone home again. "Bear in mind, now, that we are to stick to our original programme and win if we can. If we find that we have no show, and that the prizes must go to Wayring and his friends, or to Prime and his followers, we'll stand by Wayring every time. We'll teach that drug-store crowd that the next time they make up a slate they had better put our names on it if they expect us to help them."
It never occurred to Tom and his cousins that possibly Joe Wayring, and all the other boys who believed that friendly trials of strength and skill, like those that were to come off during the canoe meet, should be fairly conducted, would not thank them for their interference. Joe had warned all his friends that there were boys in the club who had been "booked" to win by fair means or foul (of course he did not tell them where he got his information), and they made some pretty shrewd guesses as to
