Joe now proceeded to arrange the conditions of the race with the
chiefs around him. It was fixed that the distance to be run should
be a mile, so that the race would be one of two miles, out and back.
Moreover, the competitors were to run without any clothes, except a
belt and a small piece of cloth round the loins. This to the Indians
was nothing, for they seldom wore more in warm weather; but Dick would
have preferred to keep on part of his dress. The laws of the course,
however, would not permit of this, so he stripped and stood forth, the
_beau-ideal_ of a well-formed, agile man. He was greatly superior in
size to his antagonist, and more muscular, the savage being slender
and extremely lithe and springy.

"Ha! I will run too," shouted Henri, bouncing forward with clumsy
energy, and throwing off his coat just as they were going to start.

The savages smiled at this unexpected burst, and made no objection,
considering the thing in the light of a joke.

The signal was given, and away they went. Oh! it would have done you
good to have seen the way in which Henri manoeuvred his limbs on this
celebrated occasion! He went over the ground with huge elephantine
bounds, runs, and jumps. He could not have been said to have one style
of running; he had a dozen styles, all of which came into play in the
course of half as many minutes. The other two ran like the wind; yet
although Henri _appeared_ to be going heavily over the ground, he kept
up with them to the turning-point. As for Dick, it became evident in
the first few minutes that he could outstrip his antagonist with ease,
and was hanging back a little all the time. He shot ahead like an
arrow when they came about half-way back, and it was clear that the
real interest of the race was to lie in the competition between Henri