"I don't think the contest is a fair one. Luke ought to have an
allowance of twenty rods, to make up for the difference in skates."
"He wouldn't accept it," said Linton Tomkins, the son of
a manufacturer in Groveton, who was an intimate friend of Luke,
and preferred to associate with him, though Randolph had made
advances toward intimacy, Linton being the only boy in the
village whom he regarded as his social equal. "I offered him my
club skates, but he said he would take the chances with his own."
Linton was the only boy who had a pair of skates equal to Randolph's.
He, too, was a contestant, but, being three years younger than
Luke and Randolph, had no expectation of rivaling them.
Randolph had his friends near him, administering the adulation
he so much enjoyed.
"I have no doubt you'll get the watch, Randolph," said Sam Noble.
"You're a better skater any day than Luke Larkin."
"Of course you are!" chimed in Tom Harper.
"The young janitor doesn't think so," said Randolph, his lips curling.
"Oh, he's conceited enough to think he can beat you, I make
no doubt," said Sam.
"On those old skates, too! They look as if Adam might have
used them when he was a boy!"
This sally of Tom's created a laugh.
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