amateur, no matter how good he may be. A feller thet makes a livin' out
of a thing is likely to do it better than the sport thet does it fer fun,
leastwise, thet's the way I figger it out."

"Thet's all right," spoke up Reddy, "but ef yuh can remember that far
back, you'll rec-lect that his pals told us he held a world's record fer
five miles. Waal, now, they must 'a' been lots o' professionals runnin'
thet distance, and in spite of everythin' they never did no better'n
thet. What've yuh got to say t' that, eh?"

Thus the discussion raged, and the cowboys stayed up much later than
usual that night arguing every phase of the forthcoming race pro and
con. As is usually the case in such discussions, they reached no
decision, beyond unanimously agreeing that the best man would win,
a proposition that few people would care to argue.

In the meantime the three comrades had met at Mr. Melton's hospitable
board, and Dick and Tom recounted with great mirth the surprise of
the cowboys on hearing of Bert's athletic prowess.

"It was better than a circus," laughed Dick. "I never saw two more
surprised faces in my life."

"I either," said Tom. "I guess they must have thought Bert was champion
of some hick village before they consulted us."

"I could see that was their idea when I offered to run," grinned Bert;
"that's why I referred them to you."

"The boys place a lot of importance on the foot race," said Mr. Melton;