Back to page 7 Return to page 1 CHAPTER 8 How Conrad Explained his Defeat.
Picture of Conrad with his father
Conrad went home. He was a very bad loser and was very upset.
He did not want to tell his father what had happened -at least not yet. He tried to sneak up to his room quietly but his father heard him coming in.
"Well, Conrad," he said, with a smile, "did you win the race?
"No, I didn't," answered Conrad, bitterly.
"Did Victor Burns defeat you?"
"No."
"Who did win the prize?"
"Andy Grant."
Squire Carter was amazed.
"Can he row?" he ejaculated.
"Yes, a little."
"But he beat you?"
"I tell you how it was, father," said Conrad, who had decided upon his story. "I was well ahead till we got halfway back, when I got a terrible pain in my arm. I must have strained it, I think. Of course I couldn't do anything after that, and Andy, who was next to me, went in and won."
Squire Carter never thought that Conrad might be lying. He believed that Conrad was the best rower in the village. "Where did the Grant boy learn to row?" he asked.
"I heard him tell Mr. Gale that he learned at the academy."
"You don't think he is equal to you?"
"Of course he isn't. I am miles ahead of him."
"It was very unfortunate that your arm gave out. You had better speak to your mother, and she will put some arnica on it."
"I will," said Conrad cunningly. "I would rather have had any boy beat me than that upstart, Andy Grant. He will keep on boasting about it. Besides, I shall miss the money."
"Never mind, I can make it up to you. Here are two five-dollar bills."
"Thank you, father," said Conrad, as, with much satisfaction, he pocketed the bills. "It was lucky I thought of the story of straining my arm," he said to himself. "All the same, it is awful to be beaten by someone like Andy."
Picture of Andy and Victor
"What do you think Conrad says about how he lost, Andy?" said Victor the next day.
"I don't know."
"He says he strained the muscles of his arm."
Andy smiled.
"If it will make him feel any better, I have no objection to that explanation."
"His father has given him ten dollars, so he will not lose any money. But he won't get any of the boys to believe his story."
"Well I am very pleased to have the money," said Andy. "If I had lost, my father couldn't have made it up to me."
