The weather being assured, Fatty's anxieties were mostly allayed, for he
had on the file in his office acceptance letters from the distinguished
men who were to cast the spell of their oratory over the assembled
multitude, as also from the big men in the athletic world who had
entered for the various events in the programme of sports. It was
a master stroke of diplomacy that resulted in the securing for the
hammer-throwing contest the redoubtable and famous Duncan Ross of
Zorra, who had at first disdained the bait of the Maplehill Dominion Day
picnic, but in some mysterious way had at length been hooked and landed.
For Duncan was a notable man and held the championship of the Zorras;
and indeed in all Ontario he was second only to the world-famous Rory
Maclennan of Glengarry, who had been to Braemar itself and was beaten
there only by a fluke. How he came to agree to be present at the
Maplehill picnic "Black Duncan" could not quite understand, but had he
compared notes with McGee, the champion of the London police force and
of various towns and cities of the western peninsula, he would doubtless
have received some enlightenment. To the skill of the same master hand
was due the appearance upon the racing list of the Dominion Day picnic
of such distinguished names as Cahill of London, Fullerton of Woodstock,
and especially of Eugene La Belle of nowhere in particular, who held the
provincial championship for skating and was a runner of provincial fame.
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