"You're all wrong, Harry will beat!" exclaimed a third boy, and so it
proved. Harry soon passed Bert and Tom, and reached the farther bank
first. Then Tom came next, while poor Bert was last.
"Too bad you couldn't win," said Harry kindly.
"Oh, you two are better swimmers than I am," said Bert. "I don't mind
being beaten that way. I guess I need more practice."
"That's it," his cousin said. "I have had more chances to swim than
you do, so of course I ought to be better."
"You can beat me, and I swim as much as you do," said Tom, who had
lived in the country all his life, and near the little river. "I used
to beat Harry every time," said Tom to Bert, "but now he goes ahead of
me."
"Well, maybe you'll beat him next time," remarked Bert, with a laugh.
After the little race the boys swam about as they pleased, now jumping
in, or diving head first from the bank near the deeper part of the
pool, sometimes swimming under water, and then jumping out to lie in
the warm sand, or on the green grass.
"Oh, this is great fun!" exclaimed Bert, as he sat on the edge of the
bank, swinging his bare feet to and fro.
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