"Did you fellows study the paddling work of the Prestons this
morning?" Prescott asked.

"I saw their paddles ahead of us all the time," Greg murmured.

"That was a good place to have their paddles, for study," Dick
laughed. "Couldn't you see, from their paddling, why they beat
us with ease?"

"No! Could you?" challenged Tom.

"Yes. The Preston fellows dip their paddles better than we do.
They dip so that the blade always cuts the breeze, instead of
meeting it. When they recover they turn their paddles so as to
slip them out of the water without throwing any back strain on
the canoe's progress. I was studying their paddling work all
the time, and I hoped that you fellows were doing the same."

"The Prestons have a lighter, swifter canoe, anyway," contended
Dave.

"I think they have some advantage over us, that way," Dick nodded.
"At the same time I am certain that we ought to beat Preston
by beating their style of paddling."

"Beating their style of paddling?" echoed Reade. "Why, according
to what you've told us we can't even equal their paddling."

"We're going to equal it," Dick answered, "and we ought to beat
it. At two o'clock, fellows, we're going out for two hours of