Life — July 2, 1925 — page 17: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

one’s astonishment, the tape stretched under his weight, then rebounded like rubber and sent him flying backwards down the track in the opposite direction past Lew Flapp, who crawled under the finish line—a winner! “Some one must have substituted an clastic band!” exclaimed Dick, who had been examining the tape closely. “I suspect there is some foul plot afoot,” he boded, as the contestants lined up for the pole-vault. “Snicker,” grinned Lew Flapp to his aforesaid toady, Ben Garter. “I have covered the crossbar with barbed wire. Sam Rover will come out behind in this race!” While the spectators held their breath, the unsuspecting Sam rose high in the air, All at once he was seen to hesi- tate in mid-air and then dangle upside down from the bar. “Now, we'll see tke end of Sam,” leered Flapp; when, youngest Rover tore off a couple of of time, and landed on his stomach in the sawdust amidst the congratulations of the cadets. “Hurray!” shouted Tom. n wins in six feet flat!” “Three cheers for the Rover Boys!” shouted the spectators wildly. In the meantime Lew Flapp had cap- tured the hurdles by cleverly conceal- ing them under his sweat-shirt, and consequently walking away with the event. Now he sped down the track like an arrow out of a gun, and as he reached the stand Captain Putnam glanced at his watch amid a breathless silence. “Lew Flapp has run the 100- yard dash in exactly one minute,” he admitted with a low whistle. “Cock-a-doodle-doo!" crowed the bully, smiling cunningly to himself while Dick lined up and ran the course at white heat. As the eldest Rover “GOIN THERE AND WIN, TOM,” WHISPERED NELLIE, drew alongside the stand, Captain Put- nam stared at his stop-watch in amaze- ment. “Dick Rover seems to have run the 100-yard dash in exactly one hour and one minute,” he announced. “Lew Flapp wins by an hour.” “Hurrah for Lew Flapp,” cried Lew Flapp. “I wonder where I lost that hour?” mused poor Dick, and the Rover Boys all bit their lips except Sam, who had heen promised that gold watch if he didn’t bite his lip until he was twenty- one. “T have an idea!” winked Tom merrily “Let's celebrate the Fourth of Jul he shouted loudly, handing out a num- her of torpedo-bombs to the assembled cadets and, while nobody was looking, slyly dropping one down Lew Flapp's throat, who thought nothing of it at the time. Then the fun-loving Rover sud- denly lifted the bully on his shoulders. “You've just swallowed a torpedo,” he whispered in Flapp’s ear. you, you'll explode!” “The winner of the race must be tossed in a blanket!” shouted Sam, who was “in” on the prank; and at once the cager cadets took up the ery. Stop! Dick Rover won this race! confessed the frightened bully. “I set the stop-watch back for Daylight Sav- ing Time! “But in Daylight Saving Time you in an hour!" cried Tom merrily. “Consequently Dick ran the race in 59 minutes less than no time!” “Bah, those Rovers make me sick,” muttered Lew Flapp, swallowing a spoonful of ipecac; and then Tom couldn't help but smile, because the “torpedo” had only been made of choco- late in the first place. Then while red fire and sparklers lit up the festive scene and twenty Roman Candles spelled out “The Rover Boys’ (Continued on page 31) “If I drop CAPTAIN PUTNAM DESCENDED IN A PARACHUTE comicbooks.com