CHAPTER XXV.
JOE’S TRIP TO BOSTON.
The summer holidays were now at hand and Joe took again to his wheel, in company with Dick Burns.
“Baseball is all well enough,” he said. “But wheeling is the better sport of the two after all.”
“I am with you on that,” replied Dick. “I would rather ride than eat.”
“That is, if you weren’t too hungry,” laughed Joe. “By the way, I wonder what has become of Lemuel Akers,” he went on.
“I wonder, too. I rather fancy he will never return to Lockport,” said Dick.
On the day after this talk Joe was hoeing corn in his father’s field, when Dick came over, accompanied by a tall and handsome young man.
“Let me introduce my friend, Wilbur Rand, Joe,” he said.
Joe instantly dropped the hoe and shook hands. Then he invited the pair to a bench under an apple tree.
“I am glad to know you,” said Wilbur Rand. “I heard all about your bicycle victory at Elmwood.”
Our hero saw Dick and his friend had come up on bicycles, and he asked Wilbur Rand how he liked to ride.
Dick burst out laughing.
“Wilbur is a professional rider, Joe,” he explained.
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yes, that is how I make my living,” replied Wilbur Rand. “And, by the way, Dick tells me you are more of a rider than most folks think.”
“I can ride some,” replied Joe modestly.
That evening the three went out together.
Wilbur Rand had for several years been connected with the League of American Wheelmen, but during the last six months had become an out-and-out professional rider.
He had traveled through the West and made a fair sum of money. He was now training for a race in Boston, and after that intended to go to Europe.
Rand knew all the great riders personally, and Joe listened with breathless interest as he told of many races and how they were lost or won.
“How I would like to have been in some of them!” murmured Joe, as his eyes glistened with anticipation.
“You’ll get there,” said the professional rider.
Wilbur Rand remained at Lockport for over a week.
At the end of that time he paid a special visit to our hero’s home.
“I want to get Joe to go to Boston with me,” he said to Mr. Johnson. “I will pay all of his expenses if you will let him go.”
“What for?”
“I want him to help me train. He is just the right kind of a companion. Dick Burns will go with us.”
The matter was talked over for several hours, and then Mr. Johnson and his wife gave their consent.
It was a bright, clear day when our hero left home. His friends came to the train to see him off.
Joe enjoyed the trip very much, but he was still more pleased when the great Eastern city was reached.
He took many rides around when not pacing Wilbur Rand. He went over to the Bunker Hill Monument and to a dozen other places of interest.
At last came the time for the great race, and it found Wilbur Rand in prime condition.
The races were held on the regular cycling field, and a very large crowd attended.
Joe was deeply interested. He did all he could for Rand, and so did Dick Burns.
When the race was finished Wilbur Rand was the winner of first place.
Joe and Dick shouted themselves hoarse.
Wilbur was much elated, and then and there he made Joe a present of fifty dollars for his services as a pacer and otherwise.
Joe would not at first accept the gift, but Wilbur Rand insisted.
“Take your wheel and the money, and get the best bicycle you can,” said Rand. “You yourself are cut out for a professional and a winner. Mark my words, we shall meet again, and on the track.”
Dick and Joe saw Wilbur Rand off on the steamer bound for Europe, and then returned to Lockport.