The Test of Strength



If taken unawares, Jack North did not allow his enemy to get very much the
advantage of him. As the other rushed forward, expecting to overpower him
by sheer force, he met him squarely in a hand-to-hand struggle for the
mastery.

Mr. Henshaw seemed delighted, and he cried out:

"Limber up, lads, limber up! A job to him that comes out on top! Hi,
there!"

Sundry other exclamations came from the excited foreman at every change of
the situation, while several spectators, attracted to the place by the
out-cries, gathered about the young contestants, lending their voices to
the confusing sounds of the scene.

While Fret Offut was taller and larger than Jack North, he lacked the
latter's firm-set muscles, and what was of even greater account, his
unflinching determination to win. Our hero never knew what it was to
possess a faint heart, and that is more than half the battle every time.

Thus when young Offut crowded him back against the wall of the building,
and every one present felt sure he must be overpowered, Jack set his lips
more firmly together and renewed his resistance with redoubled effort.

Then, as he struck his foot against a piece of scrap iron and reeled
backward in spite of all he could, his friends groaned, while Fret Offut