odd  candidates  who  presented  themselves  on  the
decisive  day.  The  honorable  gentleman  himself
was  present,  and  expressed  his  pleasure  as  he  looked
into  the  faces  of  the  boys,  who  were  mostly  alert
and  fullv  alive  to  the  task  before  them.
•/

To  his  eye  James  Decker  was  the  brightest  and
must  promising  of  all.  Looking  down  from  the  plat-
form, he  caught  his  eye  and  smiled  encouragingly.
James  was  tall,  handsome,  and  manly.  His  frame
had  expanded  and  hardened  a  good  deal  in  the  in-
tervening years,  for  he  was  one  of  those  boys  who
possessed  a  healthy  mind  in  a  healthy  body.
He  was  the  captain  of  the  leading  baseball  club
and  its  best  player.  He  had  become  that  which  his
teacher  dreaded,  full  back  on  a  football  eleven,  but
he  never  indulged  in  "  slugging,"  or  received  any
serious  injury.  He  was  a  good  runner  and  swimmer,
and,  when  Buck  Kennon  looked  at  him,  he  thought
that  he  would  as  soon  tackle  a  full-grown  grizzly
bear  as  engage  him  in  a  test  of  physical  ability.
Conditions  had  greatly  changed  in  the  few  years
since  that  first  collision  of  the  lads.
"  Of  course,"  remarked  Mr.  Willard  to  Teacher
Bryton,  "  I  wish  this  to  be  a  competitive  examina-
tion and,  therefore,  to  be  perfectly  impartial,  but —
that  is — I  am  very  hopeful  that — or — James  may
be  successful."

"  He  has  every  chance  in  his  favor,"  replied  the
examiner,  with  a  quiet  smile  at  the  earnestness  of
the  gentleman.
