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Front matter

XPath, XLink, XPointer, and XML: A Practical Guide to Web Hyperlinking and
Transclusion
By Erik Wilde, David Lowe

Publisher: Addison Wesley

Pub Date: July 23, 2002
Table of ISBN: 0-201-70344-0
•
Contents Pages: 304

The combination of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and its related interlinking standards bring a
range of exciting possibilities to the realm of Internet content management. This practical reference
book documents these critical standards, shifting theory into practice for today's developers who are
creating tomorrow's useful, efficient, and information-rich applications and Web sites.

Blending advanced reference material with practical guidelines, this authoritative guide presents a
historical overview, current developments, and future perspectives in three detailed sections. Part I
provides a conceptual framework highlighting current and emerging linking technologies, hypermedia
concepts, and the rationale behind the "open" Web of tomorrow. Part II covers the specifics behind the
emerging core standards, and then Part III examines how these technologies can be applied and how
the concepts can be put to efficient use within the world of Web site management and Web publishing.

Both detailed and authoritative, this book presents the most thorough documentation of XML's linking
standards available, and it examines how today's enabling technologies are likely to change the Web of
tomorrow.

Topics covered in-depth include:

● Hypermedia concepts and alternatives to the Web

● XML Namespaces, XML Base, XInclude, XML Information Set, XHTML, and XSLT
● XPath, XLink, and XPointer concepts, strengths, and limitations
● Emerging tools, applications, and environments
● Migration strategies, from conventional models to more sophisticated linking techniques
● Future perspectives on the XPath, XLink, and XPointer standards

777
Copyright

List of Figures

List of Tables

Foreword

Preface
Purpose of the Book
The Book's Audience
The Book's Content
Acknowledgments
About the Authors

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Front matter

Introduction
Information Linking
The Web
XML
Conclusions

The Web We Want

Chapter 1. Current Technology

1.1 The Internet Environment
1.2 The World Wide Web
1.3 Information Linking in the WWW
1.4 Conclusions

Chapter 2. Hypermedia Concepts and Alternatives to the Web

2.1 What is Hypermedia?
2.2 Hypermedia Concepts
2.3 Usage Scenarios: Hypermedia Support for Information Utilization
2.4 Conclusions

Chapter 3. Conceptual Viewpoint

3.1 References Versus Links
3.2 Resource Identification: URL, URI, and URN
3.3 Persistence of Identifiers and References
3.4 Third-Party Links and Linkbases
3.5 Multi-Ended Links
3.6 Generic Links
3.7 Typed Links
3.8 Conclusions

The Web's New Look

Chapter 4. Related Technologies

HTML as Common Content Format
HTTP as Protocol
URL as Resource Identification
4.1 XML Core Standards
4.2 XML Namespaces
4.3 XML Base
4.4 XML Inclusions
4.5 XML Information Set
4.6 Extensible Hypertext Markup Language
4.7 Extensible Stylesheet Language
4.8 Resource Description Framework
4.9 Conclusions

Chapter 5. XML Path Language

5.1 General Model
5.2 Location Paths
5.3 Expressions
5.4 Functions

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 Front matter

5.5 Examples
5.6 Future Developments
5.7 Conclusions

Chapter 6. XML Pointer Language

6.1 General Model
6.2 XPointer Forms
6.3 Functions
6.4 Using XPointers
6.5 Future Developments
6.6 Conclusions

Chapter 7. XML Linking Language

7.1 Embedding Links into XML Documents
7.2 Link Types and Element Types
7.3 Attributes
7.4 Interpretation of XLinks
7.5 Usage
7.6 The Future of XLink
7.7 Conclusions

Weaving the Web We Want

Chapter 8. Authoring Aspects

8.1 Practical Issues
8.2 Emerging Support for XLink and XPointer
8.3 Development Tools
8.4 Authoring Approaches
8.5 Conclusions

Chapter 9. Transitioning to a New Model

9.1 Alternative Approaches
9.2 Example Strategies
9.3 Content Negotiation
9.4 Migration of Content
9.5 Building New Sites
9.6 Conclusions

References

Copyright
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where
those designations appear in this book, and Addison-Wesley was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been
printed with initial capital letters or in all capitals.

The authors and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book, but make no expressed or implied warranty of
any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential
damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained herein.

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 Front matter

The publisher offers discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases and special sales. For more
information, please contact:

U.S. Corporate and Government Sales

(800) 382-3419

[email protected]

For sales outside of the U.S., please contact:

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Visit Addison-Wesley on the Web: www.awprofessional.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wilde, Erik

XPath, XLink, XPointer, and XML : a practical guide to web hyperlinking and transclusion / Erik Wilde, David Lowe.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

(alk. paper)

1. Web site development. 2. Hypertext systems. 3. XML (Document markup language) 4. World Wide Web. I. Lowe,
David. II. Title

TK5105.88.W546 2002

005.2'70--dc21 200206566

Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form,
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America. Published simultaneously in Canada.

For information on obtaining permission for use of material from this work, please submit a written request to:

Pearson Education, Inc.

Rights and Contracts Department

75 Arlington Street, Suite 300

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 Front matter

Boston, MA 02116

Fax: (617) 848-7047

Text printed on recycled paper

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10—CRS—0605040302

First printing, July 2002

List of Figures
1.1 Basic linking components

1.2 Implementing a multiple-source link in HTML

2.1 Simple Web link

2.2 Dynamic Web link

2.3 Generic link (using a simplification of the Webcosm server)

2.4 Message passing in the Microcosm link service architecture

2.5 Structural links (using a simplification of Hyperwave)

2.6 Example Hyperwave Web page containing structural links

2.7 Spatial hypertext

2.8 VIKI screen dump

4.1 Example XML Infoset tree

5.1 Document order of XPath nodes

5.2 Example XPath node tree

5.3 XPath axes ancestor, ancestor-or-self, child, and descendant

5.4 XPath axes descendant-or-self, following, following-sibling, and parent

5.5 XPath axes preceding, preceding-sibling, and self

6.1 Snapshot of W3C's technical reports page

6.2 Container nodes, node points, and character points

7.1 Inline extended link

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7.2 Inline extended link with arcs

7.3 Out-of-line extended link

7.4 Out-of-line extended link with arcs

7.5 XLink and linkbases

List of Tables
4.1 XML Infoset Information Items

5.1 Overview of XPath Axes

5.2 XPath Abbreviations

5.3 Overview of XPath Operators and Their Priorities

5.4 Overview of XPath Functions

6.1 Overview of XPointer Functions

6.2 XPointer Character Escaping (Example 1)

6.3 XPointer Character Escaping (Example 2)

7.1 Relation Between XLink Link and Element Types

7.2 XLink Element Type Relationships

7.3 Attribute Use Patterns for XLink Element Types

Foreword
It gives me great pleasure to write a foreword to this book, which explains how to bring some of the rich results of years of
hypermedia research to the World Wide Web, now the most important hypermedia publishing platform on the planet. It is
wonderful to see XLink, XPointer, and XPath outside of the charmed circle of standards development and to see their
purpose and application to hypertext clearly explained by authors and researchers who really understand them. You may
have already read the intentionally terse language of some of the many standards defining the Web and wondered, "Why
does the standard say to do things this way?" If this has been your experience, relax and prepare to take a painless tour
with skillful guides who will lead you through possibilities that are new to the Web, who will show you how they can be
applied, and who will alert you to some of the problems that remain.

In a sense, this book celebrates the "marriage" of hypertext research, which has sometimes been remote from the workaday
world, and the World Wide Web, which has become an integral part of commerce and entertainment. Before you start to
enjoy the wedding feast on offer, I, like the Ancient Mariner, would hold you with a glittering eye for a while and talk
about history before sending you on to the feast to learn the latest thing.

History comes to mind for a few reasons, one of which is that the title of this book contains the word "transclusion." This
word is newer than "hypertext"; it is less well known and still clearly bears the maker's stamp of Ted Nelson, neologist

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extraordinary to the trade. Vannevar Bush's article about the Memex first sketched a clear vision of technologically
assisted reading, writing, and thinking; but Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart moved those concepts into the world of
digital computers, their natural home where they now thrive. In its invocation of Nelson, the title of this book harks back
to the origins of hypertext in the text-processing experimentation of the sixties, when the idea of "wasting" computer
power on documents and not using it for mathematical problems was revolutionary and somewhat subversive.

Those earliest systems provided a completeness of function that is unusual today. Partly, this reflected an ambition to
provide an all-encompassing solution; partly, it reflected the way systems were constructed in those days; but above all, it
was a practical necessity. In this new area of computer applications, the researcher must have some solution to all the
subproblems simultaneously (such as display, printing, data management, authoring, and composition support) in order to
have a system at all. Later research systems produced more in-depth knowledge of particular issues but were also more
narrowly targeted at exploring specific concepts and were, often, unwieldy to deploy at other sites or to integrate with
other systems.

The Web bravely ignored many of the hard problems framed by researchers and it did so by building a simple structure
that would be useful immediately, integrate with as many systems as possible, and spread easily. The history of the Web
over the last decade is deeply "intertwingled" with many research concepts; with diverse social communities, from
physical scientists to humanists; and with the complex influences on the systems that inspired its creators. But the Web has
grown so fast that some connections have been obscured, and some opportunities that are no longer hard problems have
been delayed. This book explains some of these connections, including why they are important and how they will change
things in the years to come.

The marriage is on. Come learn about new ways to link and to navigate that are now ready for "worldwide" application,
and enjoy the cake!

David G. Durand

Preface
The Web has been growing and evolving at a phenomenal rate since its emergence in the early 1990s. Part of this
evolution has been the development of increasingly sophisticated technologies and their utilization in developing complex
applications. While the technical foundations have remained relatively unchanged—URLs and HTTP have remained
stable for some time, and only HTML has changed frequently—the emergence of XML as a new format for the
representation of content, along with a sequence of related developments such as XLink, has heralded a substantial change
in the way content can be managed. The most significant of these changes is with respect to the hypermedia functionality
that is enabled by these new technologies, particularly the richer linking and navigation models.

The title of this book includes the word "transclusion." This word— from Ted Nelson's work on the Xanadu system
[Nelson 95]—describes an approach to including content via references that retain the original context. "Transclusion" and
"transcopyright" are the two basic features of the Xanadu system, and the Web will definitely become more Xanadu-like
in the coming years. Furthermore, the Web's new hypermedia functionality will make its structure more complex but also
richer, more usable, and more informative. We believe this book will provide an effective guide to this development in the
coming years.

Purpose of the Book

Our purpose in writing this book has been to explore and illustrate the possible hypermedia functionality introduced into
the Web's architecture by XML and the accompanying XLink and XPointer standards. Today's focus in the use of XML is
its application-specific, data-structuring capabilities. However, we believe that by effective use of XLink and XPointer, in
conjunction with XML, hypermedia-rich applications, which will be more usable and effective than the current content-
based HTML hypermedia model, can be created.

The book describes the new hypermedia features of the XLink- and XPointer-enabled Web from both a conceptual point

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of view and a practical perspective. A conceptual view allows us to understand the types of advanced changes enabled by
these technologies, and the implications of these changes for creating effective, maintainable, and usable applications. A
practical perspective allows us to understand how these technologies are ac tually applied by developers, as well as to
examine issues related to current tools, environments, and standardization processes.

The Book's Audience

We believe that XML, XLink, and XPointer and, in particular, the new hypermedia functionality enabled by these
technologies will fundamentally change the Web. This book focuses on understanding and leveraging these changes and
should therefore be interesting and useful for many people.

Web authors, developers, and project managers. So far, this group has been limited by HTML's primitive linking
mechanism; and for many applications, an understanding of this new hypermedia functionality will be beneficial. It will
enable them to produce more sophisticated applications, both in terms of the way the content that underpins their site is
managed, as well as in terms of the functionality that can be created in the application front-end. This book provides an
overview of the technology and presents concrete implementation strategies. To assist Web authors, developers, and
project managers in being backwards-compatible, the book also provides transition strategies.

Web users. In many cases, Web users are very interested in what the future of Web technology can bring them. In
particular, updated features are often the main motivation for upgrading to a newer version of a browser or other software,
so Web users should be well informed about the improvements available with the most recent software.

Students. In courses as diverse as information studies, software engineering, information systems, and library studies,
students will benefit from understanding how the Web is likely to evolve in the future—particularly with respect to the
way information is represented, managed, accessed, and used.

The Book's Content

In this preface, we discuss the changes in the Web and the role that emerging standards can play in developing a richer and
more usable Web. In the introduction, we elaborate on this idea by exploring the emerging standards and, in particular,
consider what we mean by information-linking and the role it plays within the Web. The introduction provides a context
for the broad focus of the book.

The rest of the book is divided into three main parts. Part I focuses on a conceptual framework. It explores the Web we
might wish to develop and the emerging linking technologies that may go some way toward providing it. We start in
chapter 1 with a consideration of current technology. We focus on the limitations inherent in this technology, particularly
with respect to linking and the implications for information handling, navigation, and retrieval. Chapter 2 provides
information about the motivation for the types of changes we are promoting. We start by exploring linking issues in much
more detail, looking at hypermedia concepts and some of the historical hypermedia developments, which provides useful
insights into how information might be better managed. We also provide relevant definitions that clarify much of the
terminology used in the rest of the book. This chapter concludes with a typical scenario that illustrates the types of Web
changes that might be desirable currently. Chapter 3 begins the process of considering the new and emerging technologies
that enable the vision we have begun to establish in the first two chapters. Rather than describing the technologies from the
syntactic level (where their applicability may be difficult to put into the context of the discussions in the previous chapter),
we first consider standards such as XPath, XPointer, and XLink from a conceptual viewpoint, looking at the types of
support they provide for sophisticated linking and content management. This discussion is supported by XML fragment
examples as a way of introducing these concepts through a process of illustration.

Then, Part II of the book gets down to the specific details of the new technologies and considers the emerging core
standards in some detail. Chapter 4 begins by considering a range of foundation technologies, which provide a supporting
infrastructure, if not the core technologies. For example, we look at XML, XML Namespaces, XML Base, XInclude,
XML Infoset, XHTML, XSL, XSLT, XSL-FO, and RDF. Readers with a background in the newer Web technologies may
wish to skip this chapter and continue with the discussion in the following chapters; however, readers familiar only with

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the more "traditional" Web technologies, such as HTML and HTTP, should first read this chapter.

In chapters 5, 6, and 7, we look in detail at three of the key technologies that enable our vision: XPath, XPointer, and
XLink. In each case, rather than simply presenting the standard, we explain the concepts and, wherever appropriate, the
strengths, limitations, and ambiguities of the standard. As such, it is important that these chapters be read in conjunction
with the relevant standards. This, in turn, raises an important point: The XPointer and XLink standards have been evolving
continually during the writing of this book and are likely to continue to evolve. This means that you will need to be careful
in interpreting some of the comments here. In particular, at the time of this writing, the current status and version of the
most relevant standards are as follows:

● XML Path Language (XPath): W3C Recommendation (16 November 1999) [Clark & DeRose 99]
● XML Pointer Language (XPointer): W3C Candidate Recommendation (11 September 2001) [DeRose+ 01b]
● XML Linking Language (XLink): W3C Recommendation (27 June 2001) [DeRose+ 01a]

This means that the standards as they are today are not going to change; but since adoption has been slow so far, actual
implementations may differ from these standards, and the standards may have to be reworked.[1] Currently, there is no
sign that this going to happen, but readers should regularly check the W3C Web site at http://www.w3.org—in particular,
the technical reports page at http://www.w3.org/TR/—to look at the latest versions of the standards. We will also track
standard development on the book's Web site—http://transcluding.com.

Finally, in Part III, we look at how these technologies can be applied in order to move toward the vision we established in
Part I. These discussions are in the context of current practical limitations imposed by available infrastructure,
environments, and tools (or lack of tools). In chapter 8, we investigate the authoring of applications to take advantage of
XLink and XPointer. Specifically, we look at some general issues affecting how we author and use XLink, then investigate
the tools, applications, and environments that are beginning to emerge. In chapter 9, we consider some of the issues that
need to be addressed in migrating from a conventional model of Web content to a model that uses the more sophisticated
techniques discussed so far in this book. Finally, in chapter 10, everything is drawn together, and we make some final
comments, particularly with regard to our own perspectives on the future of XLink and XPointer.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of a number of people in the preparation of this book. Obviously,
the W3C in general and the developers of the XPointer and XLink standards in particular deserve special mention.
Specifically, we wish to acknowledge the efforts of Steve DeRose, Eve Maler, David Orchard, and Ron Daniel in
developing and promoting these key standards.

We would also like to acknowledge the original ground-breaking work of Theodor Holm Nelson on early hypertext
systems. Many of the concepts that are only now being woven into the framework of the Web were originally proposed by
Ted 30 or more years ago. His contribution to the field is without parallel, and his vision for hypermedia is one that we are
still trying to appreciate and live up to.

The assistance and support of the Addison-Wesley editorial staff has been excellent. In particular, we would like to
acknowledge the assistance of Mary O'Brien and Marilyn Rash, who never gave up on us, even when we were missing
deadline after deadline. Thanks!

And on a personal note, the support of Catherine Lowe and Jacqueline Schwerzmann has been beyond value.

About the Authors

Dr. Erik Wilde is lecturer and senior researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH Zürich),
Switzerland. To find out more about Erik and his activities, visit his Web site at http://dret.net.

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Dr. David Lowe is an associate professor and associate dean (teaching and learning) in the faculty of engineering at the
University of Technology, Sydney. He has active research interests in the areas of Web development and technologies,
hypermedia, and software engineering. In particular, he focuses on Web development processes, Web project specification
and scoping, and information contextualization. He has published widely in these areas, including a text focusing on Web
development (Lowe and Hall, Hypermedia and the Web: An Engineering Approach, Wiley, 1999). In the last seven years,
he has published more than 50 refereed papers and attracted more than Au$1,300,000 in funding. He is on numerous Web
conference committees and is the information management theme editor for the Journal of Digital Information. David has
undertaken numerous consultancies related to software evaluation, Web development (especially project planning and
evaluation), and Web technologies. He can be reached at The University of Technology, Sydney, P.O. Box 123,
Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia, or mailto:[email protected].

Introduction
The World Wide Web has undergone astounding growth since its emergence in the early 1990s. There is a plethora of
statistics that attest to this expansion—the number of users, the number of pages that are available, business expenditure
on Web technologies, consumer expenditure through e-commerce sites, and so forth. [2] These statistics usually focus on
technical growth and tend not to capture the more fundamental and unprecedented changes in business, the world
economy, and, perhaps most significantly, social structures.

And these changes will accelerate, as we continue to head toward an ever richer online environment. Commercial
interactions and support for business processes will become more complex and, at the same time, more central to both
business and government activity. We will see progressively more pervasive, sophisticated, and diverse user experiences
as we move toward the emerging vision of a semantic Web (i.e., a Web that supports automated retrieval, analysis, and
management of resources).

Of importance in this rapidly evolving environment is the convergence of a substantial number of emerging technologies
and standards. These technologies (or maybe acronyms would be a better name!) include, for example, RDF, SMIL, WAP,
WebML, DOM, CSS, PICS, PNG, SVG, WAI, and many more. A quick look through the World Wide Web Consortium's
(W3C's) list of technical recommendations, proposed recommendations, and working drafts (see http://www.w3.org/TR/)
illustrates the breadth of work being considered.

One of the most fundamental, widely discussed, and far-reaching technologies is the Extensible Markup Language (XML).
Viewed simplistically, XML provides a mechanism for representing in a powerful way the data that underpins the Web.
But a representation of the data is not sufficient to enable systems and users to interact with, utilize, and communicate with
that data—a representation of the ways in which different data items are interrelated is also required. Effectively, some
form of linking model is necessary. For this model to be useful for the Web, it needs to integrate with XML.

This book is intended to help Web developers understand the evolving standards supporting linking within XML and the
implications of these standards for managing information and constructing sophisticated applications. In particular, we
consider the ways in which these standards will lead to a fundamentally richer Web environment and user experience.

Information Linking
Linking is a fundamental concept that forms an important part of the theoretical foundations of the Web. Without linking,
the Web is just an extremely large collection of (albeit very sophisticated) distributed information and applications. With
linking, the Web becomes a single complex system.

Linking allows us to associate semantically related items of information so that we can support sophisticated techniques
for locating those items. But it goes way beyond that. We can link information to tools for manipulating that information.
We can link the various steps in processes (such as the steps in buying a book online). But we can also do more
sophisticated linking, such as implementing dynamic links that change depending on the context (time, user, history, etc.)
or constructing new documents by merging content or applications from diverse (but linked) locations. Linking effectively
allows us to create a complexly structured network of distributed resources—a "Web."

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The concept of linking information resources has been around for a considerable period of time, predating the Web by at
least 45 years. The concept of associations between items of information (at least as a technically supported aid to
information management) was originally introduced by Vannevar Bush [1945] in the 1940s. The concept essentially
remained an obscure idea until the 1960s when it was revived by farsighted researchers such as Ted Nelson [1993] and
Doug Engelbart [1988]. Indeed, it was Ted Nelson who coined the terms "hypertext" and "transclusion." His Xanadu
system encapsulates many of the sophisticated information structuring and management concepts now being investigated
for the Web. Engelbart's work envisaged the user and the computer in a dynamic symbiosis, which resulted in augmented
human capabilities.

This work then spawned a growing body of research and development of a number of systems within the hypertext
community. These systems evolved during the 1970s and 1980s and gradually came to include very diverse and
sophisticated concepts: set-based association, multiple source and destination links, dynamically adapted links, generic
links that are sourced from all content satisfying certain criteria, spatial representations of the link associations, and so
forth. This richness in linking concepts reflected the maturing ideas of how information can be managed and, in particular,
how we interact with this information.

The Web
Then, in the 1980s, Tim Berners-Lee started experimenting with these concepts. In 1990, he developed (at CERN, the
European Organization for Nuclear Research) a relatively simple implementation that was initially intended to allow him
and his colleagues within the high-energy physics community to collaborate through rapid information sharing [Berners-
Lee 92]. In the next decade, Berners-Lee's ideas became the catalyst, along with various related convergent technologies,
for a frenzy of business and consumer activity that has completely transformed the world economy and is fundamentally
changing our social structure.

The model originally proposed by Berners-Lee—that of a simple communication protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or
HTTP) that allows documents to be requested from remote servers, coupled with a document format (Hypertext Markup
Language, or HTML) that supports references to related documents—ignored almost all of the sophisticated linking
concepts that had evolved during the previous 30 years.

The linking model adopted by Berners-Lee was very simple: single-source, single-destination links embedded into the
source document. This, however, is not a criticism of the choice to adopt this model. Indeed it was almost certainly partly
this choice of a simple model that led to the success of the Web.

We should explain what we mean by this. A distributed system such as the Web relies for its success partly on the fact that
there is a sufficient body—or critical mass—of information available to make its use attractive. As the number of users
increases, the amount of information increases, and the likelihood of additional users (and providers of information)
increases. The simplicity of the original model adopted by Berners-Lee made it very easy for people to provide content
and set up servers and clients. This in turn rapidly led to a critical mass and the subsequent rapid adoption and evolution of
the Web. A more complex model incorporating some of the sophisticated information linking and management
functionalities found in other hypertext systems would have slowed the adoption, possibly to the point where the critical
mass was not reached.

It is worth pointing out that, apart from the Web, the only commercially successful hypertext systems have been applied to
particular niche markets. Hence, there has been a much stronger justification for the effort required to create sufficient
content. Hypercard and Storyspace are two good examples of the systems that have managed to develop small but active
niche markets. But even these have been tiny efforts in comparison with the Web.

However—and here is a key point—while the simplicity of the original Web model may have led to its initial success (and
what a success it was!), it also meant that much of the richness that had been developed in previous hypertext and
information management systems was lost. This was not originally a great problem; but as the Web matured and evolved,
these limitations began to place constraints on the ways in which the Web could be used. As just one simple example, the
lack of any form of state (i.e., memory about the history of interaction between a server and a client) originally led to

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concepts such as cookies and server session variables, then complicated the issues of secure transactions and ultimately
made systems that adapted to users' specific needs unnecessarily complex. Much of the technical evolution and innovation
over the last few years has been a consequence of trying to circumvent or remove limitations such as these. In some cases,
this has included the integration of richer hypermedia systems into the Web architecture, for example, the development of
systems such as Webcosm [Hall+ 96] and Hyperwave [Maurer 96] (both to be discussed later in the book). This has,
however, been an uneasy alliance that has struggled to support the true richness of the underlying system.

More recently, various other Web developments have gained attention as ways to circumvent the Web's original
limitations. One of the most significant of these has been XML.

XML
XML was originally developed by the W3C to serve as a simpler variant of the relatively complex Standard Generalized
Markup Language (SGML), as a means to make user-defined document types available on the Web. The W3C then
realized that it would also be ideally suited to overcoming many of the limitations inherent in HTML. Essentially, XML
replaces the fixed element set of HTML with an application-specific set of elements. This allows application designers to
define their own vocabulary and grammar for documents—the allowable elements and their valid usage. Essentially, the
result is that XML documents support (or at least support much better than HTML documents) aspects such as data
exchange, automated processing of content, and customized views of the content.

Accompanying XML and supporting it in various ways is a series of related standards and technologies. For example, the
Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is composed of several components: XSL Transformations (XSLT) supports the
conversion of XML documents into other (possibly XML) documents, and XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) support
turning the results of a transformation into a form that can be rendered. Extensible HTML (XHTML) is the reformulation
of HTML as an application of XML, thereby supporting the transition from HTML to XML. XML Schema is a schema
language for XML documents, which in the future will probably replace XML's built-in mechanism for defining schemas.
[3] Other examples include XML Information Set, XML Query, and XForms.

In effect, the XML family of standards provides an opportunity to introduce into the Web environment some of the
richness that was missing from the original Web architecture. An enormous amount has been written about how XML can
support improvements in aspects such as information management, business processes, and the user experience—
especially when combined with related technologies such as Resource Description Framework (RDF), Cascading Style
Sheets (CSS), and Document Object Model (DOM). However, one aspect that has been overlooked to a certain extent is
linking. A key piece of the maturing XML jigsaw is the linking model within XML—as provided by the emerging W3C
recommendations on XLink and XPointer. This linking model provides a much more sophisticated approach to linking
than the original Web model. Indeed, it comes close to the sophistication of the various hypertext models that pre-dated
the Web—but within the context of the distributed diversity offered by the evolving Web.

The linking model that underpins XML is being developed by the W3C XML Linking Working Group. As stated by the
W3C, "the objective of the XML Linking Working Group is to design advanced, scalable, and maintainable hyperlinking
and addressing functionality for XML." The model that has been developed is composed of several components. The first
of these is the XML Pointer Language (XPointer). XPointer builds on the XML Path Language (XPath) to provide a
mechanism for addressing XML-based Web resources by defining a powerful way to address fragments of an XML
document. These fragments may be single XML elements or a collection of elements, text strings, attributes, and so forth
that have been merged into one composite.

The second component is the XML Linking Language (XLink). XLink is used to describe complex associations between
information resources identified using URIs, possibly with added XPointers. These associations can be simple directional
embedded links between two resources (as with HTML), or much more complex associations. Examples include
multidirectional links, multiple-destination links, and inlining of content from one source to another, as well as
automatically merged fragments sourced from multiple disparate documents.

Conclusions

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 Front matter

In this book we look at the richer linking enabled by the emerging XLink and XPointer standards (as well as XPath, which
is the foundation of XPointer). Overall, our goal is to provide a resource that helps you to utilize the emerging XML
linking technologies and (in some respects, even more important) to understand the types of support for information access
and management available.

Ultimately, we see this book as a motivation for integrating hypermedia concepts into Web-related projects. These
concepts may not necessarily always or only map to XLink constructs (though this mapping is the focus of much of this
book). At present many of them can be supported using DHTML (Dynamic HTML), tomorrow they will be supportable
by XLink, and in five years time they may be supported by some new technology. The key point is that these concepts
should be captured somehow, so that they can be made available in whatever form is supported by the current "publishing
system." We don't intend to try to sell XLink as the hypermedia technology to end all other hypermedia technologies, but
as one step in the evolution of the Web and a good reason to start thinking about the Web as a hypermedia system.

[1] This is not the way standards are supposed to develop, but it may happen. For example, HTML standards for
some time more or less simply tracked what the two major browser providers had already implemented.

[2] At the time of writing, several good sources of Web statistics are the Open Market Internet Index (http://new-
website.openmarket.com/intindex/index.cfm), the Webreference.com list (http://www.webreference.com/internet/
statistics.html), and NetFactual (http://www.netfactual.com).

[3] This is the Document Type Definition (DTD) mechanism built directly into the XML standard.

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Part I

Part I: The Web We Want

Current Technology

Hypermedia Concepts and Alternatives to the Web

Conceptual Viewpoint

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1. Current Technology

● 1.1 The Internet Environment
● 1.2 The World Wide Web
● 1.3 Information Linking in the WWW
● 1.4 Conclusions

In this chapter, we consider the current technologies and concepts that underpin the Internet and the World Wide Web
(WWW). In particular, we move from a consideration of the Internet environment in the first section to looking at how the
Web provides a logical layer on top of the physical Internet in section 1.2, "The World Wide 1.2." We then finish by
discussing the Web's current linking model and its limitations in section 1.3, "Information Linking in the 1.3."

1.1 The Internet Environment

One of the main results of the Web's success was to bring the Internet into the conciousness of the general public. Before the
advent of the Web, the Internet was mainly used by academic institutions for research purposes. Within ten years, however,
the Internet has become the backbone of the information society, propelled mainly by the success of the Web and electronic
mail. The public often confuses the Internet and the Web because much too often the terms are used interchangeably.
However, there is a clear difference between them, defined as follows:

Internet— The entirety of all computers that are interconnected (using various physical networking technologies) and that
employ the Internet protocol suite on top of their networking systems. The Internet protocol suite implements a wide-area,
packet-switched network that interconnects networks using different protocols and connection characteristics.

World Wide Web— A distributed hypermedia system built on top of some of the services provided by the Internet, the most
important being the naming service provided by the Domain Name System (DNS), and the reliable connection-oriented
transport service provided by the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

This section provides only a very short introduction to the Internet environment on which the Web is built. For more
information, a nontechnical introductory book [Comer 00] describes the Internet's architecture in greater detail. More
technically oriented general introductions into computer networks (with an emphasis on the Internet) have been published
[Halsall 96, Peterson & Davie 99, Stallings 99, Tanenbaum 96]. Additionally, Internet RFC 2235 [Zakon 97] [1] gives a time
line of the Internet, including numbers of hosts, domains, and Web servers. It is a very good introduction and will help you to
get a feeling for the development of the Internet. For answers to the most frequently asked questions, a good resource is
Internet RFC 2664 [Plzak+ 99], which also contains many source references for more detailed documentation.

The two main issues related to the technology of the Internet and of interest in this book are how to connect to the Internet,
which is described in the next subsection, and what happens after connecting to the Internet, described in section 1.1.2.

1.1.1 Connecting to the Internet

Most computers today are connected to a computer network in one form or another. On the other hand, most individual home
computers are not running constantly, or if they are, they are not permanently connected to a computer network, mainly for
economic reasons (because connection costs are often based on connection time). It is therefore possible to differentiate
between two different connection modes:

● Dial-up connections. This kind of connection is opened on demand, for example, if a user wants to view Web content
or send or receive e-mails. In most cases, the initial connection between the user and the user's Internet service
provider (ISP) is established over a phone line using a modem. The basic modem connection establishes a data path
between the user and the ISP, which is then used to send Internet data packets back and forth, often using the Point to

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Point Protocol (PPP) as standardized in Internet RFC 1661 [Simpson 94]. After the user has finished working on the
Internet, the connection is closed, and consequently the user's computer is disconnected from the Internet.
● Permanent connection. For many applications (such as servers, which must be available all the time), a permanent
connection to the Internet is required or desirable. One popular technology allowing home users to achieve this is a
cable modem, which works over a cable television network. Another technology is asymmetric digital subscriber line
(ADSL), standardized in ITU-T G.992.2 [ITU 99], which works over phone lines. For corporate users, ISPs often offer
leased lines, which have much greater capacities than modem connections. For internal distribution inside a company,
local area networks (LANs) are used to interconnect all computers to form a so-called intranet.

The decision about whether to connect a particular computer permanently to the Internet is dictated by a number of issues,
such as the purpose of the computer, the remotely accessed services running on the computer, and available ISPs and their
connection costs. While today many home computers still are using dial-up connections, this will change with the expansion
of existing services and the introduction of new offerings, such as cheap wireless services, ADSL, cable modems, satellite
connections, and new buildings providing Internet connectivity as a basic service in the same way water, electricity, and
phone lines are provided today.

1.1.2 How the Internet Works

Once a connection to the Internet is established, the connected computers can start to send data to and receive data from all
other computers connected to the Internet. But what does it actually mean to be "connected to the Internet"? The technical
requirements are defined in Internet RFCs 1122 [Braden 89b] and 1123 [Braden 89a], which basically define which network
services a computer has to provide in order to behave correctly as an Internet host. The most basic requirement is that Internet
hosts must be able to send and receive data packets (called datagrams) defined by the Internet Protocol (IP), which is
standardized in Internet RFC 791 [Postel 81a]. IP provides the functions necessary to deliver a package of bits (an Internet
datagram) from a source to a destination over an interconnected system of networks. And herein lies the strength of the
Internet, it does not depend on a specific underlying physical network; it can be used on top of virtually any networking
technology.

In the context of Web technologies, the most important protocol is the Transmission Control Protocol, which is standardized
in RFC 793 [Postel 81b]. TCP is layered on top of IP to provide a reliable, connection-oriented, flow-controlled transport
service for applications. IP is capable of sending datagrams but does not guarantee that these datagrams will be delivered. IP
datagrams can get lost, they can be duplicated, or they can arrive at the receiver side in a different order from the one in which
they had been sent. TCP deals with all these possibilities and provides applications with a transport service that, for many
application scenarios, is better suited than IP's service. TCP does so by assigning sequence numbers to individual packets and
employing a number of elaborate mechanisms to make sure that the underlying network is not overloaded. Many Internet
application protocols use TCP as the transport protocol, the most relevant being the Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP) and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which is used for the exchange of electronic mail.

Apart from providing applications with transport protocols, the Internet environment also includes services. By far the most
important service is the Domain Name System, which is standardized in RFCs 1034 and 1035 [Mockapetris 87a, 87b]. DNS
implements a globally distributed database, which is used to map domain names to IP addresses. On the protocol level (IP or
TCP), Internet hosts are addressed by IP addresses, which are 32-bit numbers, often written in the so-called dotted decimal
notation. In this notation, IP addresses have four decimal numbers, such as 129.132.66.9, the IP address of the Web
server of this book's Web site. However, since such a number is hard to remember, [2] a naming system has been introduced
that makes it possible to use hierarchically structured names for Internet hosts. The DNS name for this book's Web site is
transcluding.com; and whenever a browser is trying to download pages from this server, it first has to resolve the domain
name to the IP address using a DNS request. Therefore, most Web browser interactions with the Internet involve two steps:
first resolving the domain name by requesting its IP address from a DNS server, [3] and then connecting to this address and
requesting a Web page.

1.2 The World Wide Web

In the previous section, we briefly describe how the Internet is used to support applications that use computer communications
in general and how the Internet supports the Web in particular. Apart from the underlying supporting infrastructure provided

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by ISPs, what are the most fundamental components of the Web? As described in the very first paper published about the Web
[Berners-Lee 92], the basic components of the Web are as follows:

● HTML for the content format of hypertext documents

● The concept of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for the globally unique identification of resources
● HTTP for the communication between a server and a client

Today, these basic technologies are still the same—even though the concept of the URL has been extended to the Universal
Resource Identifier (URI). However, many technologies have been introduced to supplement this basic architecture. The most
important technologies for the topic of this book are described in chapter 4. The basic idea of the Web is very simple: a
browser requests a document (or some other resource) from a server using the HTTP protocol, which then provides an
appropriate response, also using the HTTP protocol. The response may or may not contain the requested document. The
requested document will typically be written using an appropriate language (such as HTML) and sections of the document's
information (known as anchors) will contain references (known as links) to other documents. The user reads the document
and can then, if desired, select one of the anchors. The browser then interprets the reference by extracting the URI of the
referenced document (part of which is the name of the server on which the document resides), contacting the server (again
using HTTP), and retrieving the new document. In today's Web, this basic pattern has not changed much; and by far most
innovations on the Web are new content formats, which in most cases can be used for an improved user experience.

However, this diversity of new content formats has also led to many incompatibilities. The interpretation of a specific content
format must be implemented in the user's browser, and if there are dozens of content formats all requiring special plug-ins or
external viewers, then the Web becomes less universal than it was designed to be. After a period of uncontrolled competition
between Netscape and Microsoft in the mid-1990s, during which both companies continually improved HTML and the Web
architecture with new inventions incompatible with the contender's products, the situation has greatly improved. The World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an industry consortium headed by the Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, now strives to define
common standards; and the major players are all part of the standardization efforts.

The idea of the semantic Web, as described by Berners-Lee in 1999, is a Web in which all of the information available is not
only machine-readable (as it is now) but also machine-understandable. To achieve this goal, the basic standards underlying
many Web technologies must be able to carry as much semantic information as possible. Put simply, this means that the
meaning of the content needs to be somehow encapsulated in the representation of that information.

Essentially, the two most important issues when trying to develop technologies for a semantically richer Web are how to
attach meaning to Web content, as can by the done by using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) described in chapter
4, and how to develop a linking model that supports a more diverse range of linking possibilities than the one currently
supported by the Web. This book focuses on the second issue, and chapters 2 and 3 explore why Web linking should be
improved and how it can be improved.

1.3 Information Linking in the WWW

In this section we look at the linking model currently dominant in the Web. This model is quite simplistic when compared
with the much richer models developed in a diverse range of hypertext systems over the last 30 years. It has, however, been
sufficient for the initial development and adoption of the Web. At the end of this section and in the next chapter, we discuss
the limitations that this model imposes and the need for a richer model if the Web is to continue to grow and evolve.

1.3.1 The Web's Linking Model

One of the key factors in the Web's growth in the last decade has been the way in which it enables users to move about and
explore an enormous information space. Several key characteristics have contributed to this ability. The first is the distributed
nature of the Web—the HTTP protocol supports access to information from remote sources in a seamless fashion. The second
is the way in which the information is interlinked—it is supported through several mechanisms, but most notably the linking
mechanisms associated with HTML and URIs.

At its simplest, a link between items of information requires three components: a source, a destination, and the connection
between these two (shown in Figure 1.1). Although these might be quite obvious, it is worth dissecting them a little. The

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mechanism for representing link sources (and possible destinations) is HTML's <a> element. Effectively everything between
the start and end tags of this element forms a marked section of text, also called an anchor. For example, consider the
following HTML fragments:

Figure 1.1. Basic linking components

Example 1.1 doc1.html

Textual data has been widely used to construct and manipulate information. We
can define
<a href="doc2.html#example">anchors</a> within this text, which are used as
the basis for
link sources and destinations.

Example 1.2 doc2.html

<p>Links in the Web contain a number of elements:

<ul>
<li>Nodes: Blocks of information
<li><a name="example">Anchors: Regions used as the end points
for links</a>
<li>Links: Connections between anchors
</ul>

In the second fragment of HTML, the text Anchors has been marked as an anchor—in this case the source anchor for a link
in the first HTML fragment. The locator itself is represented as the href attribute of the source anchor. The destination of
the link is a URI. The destination can be either an entire document or a location within a document, indicated by a fragment
identifier (marked by the <a name="example"> tag in the second HTML fragment).

This representation of link sources has several implications. One of the most significant is that the anchors and links are
embedded directly into the document being viewed. This means that if we wish to include a link source in a document, then
we need to modify that document. Similarly, although we can link to an entire document without modifying the document, if
we wish to link to anchors inside a document, then we need to be able to either modify the destination document as well or
utilize anchors that have already been placed in the document.

A second implication is that this representation is used for all types of links. If we look at most Web sites, we see that the
links are used for various purposes. Typically, there may be structural links, such as links occurring in hierarchical menus to
provide information further down (or up) the tree. There will also often be semantic links to related information (such as in the
example just given). The representation of links in the Web does not allow differentiation between these different types of
links.

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1.3.2 A Broader View of Linking in the Web

But is this the only model of linking that the Web supports? It is, if we consider only explicit user-supported navigation. But if
we think of links as connections between resources, then the Web also supports some additional forms of linking. For
example, consider the following fragment of an HTML document:

<html>
<head>
<meta name="title" content="Transcluding the Web">
<meta name="keywords" content="Linking XML XLink">
<meta name="authors" content="Erik Wilde and David Lowe">
<title>Transcluding the Web</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="trans.css" type="text/css">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#EEEEEE">
<img src="header.gif" alt="Linking Example">
...
</body>
</html>

This example illustrates three other forms of linking. The first is where a document is associated with another one—in this
case, a stylesheet. The association is not one based on the content of the document, but rather on the way in which the
document is to be presented. This type of relationship is not one that would be explicitly used by (or even be apparent to) a
user. Rather, it is used by the software manipulating the document— most likely a browser. [4] Nevertheless, the association
between the document and its stylesheet could provide useful information to tools that facilitate access to information
(especially where the stylesheet contains named styles). For example, a search engine could use this type of association to
allow a user to retrieve all Web pages that contain text paragraphs formatted as margin-note.

The second case of linking in the example just given is a little more subtle. We have several meta tags containing name-
content pairs, providing metadata about the document—information that describes the document rather than being part of
the document itself. This metadata is typically not displayed by a browser but is used in analyzing or searching the document.
In effect, we have information that has been explicitly associated with the document content. This can be viewed as a
degenerate case of linking and is usually not even considered to be linking.

The third case is where an image has been embedded into a document. This is similar to the first case just mentioned. Both
represent an association between two different files. The difference, however, is in the implied semantics of the association.
With the image, the semantics are (usually) interpreted as "when showing this document, show the image embedded into it at
this location." The semantics of the association to the stylesheet are that the stylesheet is used to format elements of the
document. In other words, the various mechanisms for creating associations in HTML have very different implied semantics.

1.3.3 Shortcomings of the Web Linking Model

The primary linking model for the Web has a number of quite significant shortcomings that will limit its usefulness as the
Web matures and becomes more sophisticated. We should again emphasize that this is not a criticism of the model that was
adopted—the simplicity of this model is one of the key reasons the Web was originally so successful. A richer, more flexible,
but consequently more complex approach to linking would have made Web technologies and concepts more difficult to
understand and manage and hence have hindered the early development of the Web. Nevertheless, this simplicity now needs
to be addressed as part of the ongoing evolution and maturing of the Web.

So what are these limitations? We shall list some of the more significant constraints and then discuss each of them in turn:

● Embedded anchors limit the ability to link from or into read-only material.
● Embedded unidirectional links make backtracking extremely difficult.
● The lack of overlapping anchors creates problems.

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● Links lack any form of inherent contextualization.

● Single-source, single-destination links inhibit the representation of certain types of associations.
● Untyped links inhibit intelligent browsing and navigation.
● Embedded and untyped links restrict effective content management and flexible information structuring schemes.

Inability to Link from or into Read-Only Material

One of the most significant problems is the difficulty associated with linking either from or to content that is either read-only
or beyond the control of the link author. This is particularly problematic when content is being reused or is stored in a read-
only format (for example, on a CD-ROM). Consider the following scenarios:

● Joe Linker is creating an educational site devoted to XML linking. As part of the educational experience, he would like
users to undertake some background reading. This involves reading a specific sequence of material collected from
different Web sites. Ideally, he would create a trail though this existing material, either by adding a link to the end of
each section, which links to the next, or by creating a new composite page (or node) that contains the relevant extracts
(but without "cutting-and-pasting" the material—and hence infringing on the original author's rights). [5] In both cases,
the existing HTML model of linking (and document composition) does not allow this.

● Users may often wish to annotate Web pages belonging to someone else with their own comments and observations.
For example, Joe Linker is searching for information on XML linking to include in his educational site. He locates a
page on a remote server containing relevant information, but finds a small section within the main document with
which he disagrees. He would like to add a link (that only he or others using his link set will see) from the section in
question to a critique that he has written and is stored on his own server. The Web, however, provides no mechanism
to add anchors into content maintained by others.
● Joe Linker finds some additional information on XLink that would be good to provide as a resource, but unfortunately
the material is in the middle of a very long Web page containing predominantly unrelated information. The
information on XLink is not tagged with a named anchor that can be used as a link destination, so Joe has no way of
linking to the information other than to link to the overall page— a rather unsatisfactory solution.

In each case, the scenario described is common but cannot be implemented using the current linking model supported by
HTML. There are, of course, ways around these problems (i.e., technical "kludges" such as the use of frames to present
related material), but they are invariably cumbersome, often ineffective, and expensive to maintain.

Difficulty in Backtracking through Links

The links supported by HTML are unidirectional and are embedded into the source document. These two factors make it very
difficult to locate all documents that link to a given target. We can easily determine all the targets to which a given document
is linked by searching the document for <a> elements and extracting the relevant URIs. Achieving the reverse is extremely
difficult. Identifying all of the documents that link to a specific target would require retrieving and checking every single page
on the Web to determine whether or not it contained a reference to the target—something that may be theoretically possible
but which is rather impractical.

At present a number of search engines maintain linking indexes, so that it is possible to query a search engine for all indexed
pages that contain a reference to a certain URI. For example, try submitting +ml:transcluding.com to Lycos (http://
lycospro.lycos.com) or link:transcluding.com to Google (http://www.google.com). This will return only those
pages that reference http://transcluding.com and that happen to be indexed by the respective search engines. The
list will be anything but comprehensive. Even the most comprehensive search engines are estimated to have only around 25
percent of the Web indexed (see http://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/sizes.html for more details).

One of the major consequences of this problem concerns maintainability of the Web. If an author changes (or deletes) a page,
it is very difficult for him to know which other pages may be affected, as it is almost impossible to know which pages may be
linked to the one that has been changed. A result of this is that some links are broken and some point to content that is no
longer relevant.

Problems with the Lack of Overlapping Anchors

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The Hypertext Markup Language has a significant problem with regard to overlapping anchors. Strictly speaking, HTML
supports nested anchors, though they are not handled well. For example, consider the following simple Web page:

<html>
<body>
<h1>A test of overlapping anchors</h1>
<p><a href="link1">Main anchor<br>
<a href="link2">Nested anchor</a><br>
Main anchor again</a>
</body>
</html>

If this is viewed in almost all Web browsers and the nested anchor is selected, then the browser will interpret this as a link to
link2 and not both link1 and link2. This case of overlapping anchors may be considered a restriction of the browsers
and not HTML itself. However, the inability to represent the following pseudo-HTML fragment (note that it is not valid
HTML), where the anchors overlap, is a constraint of HTML itself. This is not a particular flaw in HTML's design but rather
something that is a consequence of limitations in the SGML family of languages to which HTML belongs (and which also
therefore applies to XML).

<pseduo-html>
<body>
<h1>A test of overlapping anchors</h1>
<p><a1 href="link1">Connect to item 1
<a2 href="link2">Connect to both</a1>
Connect to item 2</a2>
</body>
</pseduo-html>

This limitation of HTML creates difficulties with both overlapping source anchors (where we might have a section of text that
can be linked to several places) and overlapping destination anchors (where we have overlapping material that may be the
destination of different links). For example, we may have a document test.htm that contains three sections (A, B, and C),
and we want one link that has a destination of sections A and B (test.htm#AandB) and other link that has sections B and
C as a destination (test.htm#BandC). This cannot be achieved in HTML.

Link Destination Unpredictability

A significant issue in the use of the Web is the way in which users navigate through the information space. Given a certain
page that is being viewed, users must make a decision about which link (or links) are worth following. In order to make a
productive decision, they should be able to predict where the link is likely to lead. Links, as represented by HTML, lack any
form of inherent contextualization. In other words, the only mechanism that users have for understanding the likely
destination of a link is the anchor text (and possibly the context in which the anchor text has appeared). There is an inherent
conflict here in that the anchor text is typically part of some broader information and hence is governed by this information
and may not be able to be changed to reflect the link destination. This is exactly why it is unclear which form of linking may
be more suitable, as illustrated in the following passages:

An effective way to achieve better linking is through the use of XLink. This would allow the creation of much
richer links that do not ...

or

An effective way to achieve better linking is through the use of XLink (case studies on the use of XLink are
available). This would allow the creation of much richer links that do not ...

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 Chapter 1

These issues can always be addressed in HTML by modifying both the content and the anchor appropriately, though this can
be somewhat cumbersome. A more effective mechanism is to provide a link title, for example:

<a href="..." title="XLink Case Studies">XLink</a>

The title appears when the link is selected (for example, by moving the mouse pointer over it) but has not yet been activated.
This title can therefore be used to provide a brief indication of the link target—a substantial improvement but still confined to
a simple (and short) textual description.

Problems Related to Single-Source, Single-Destination Links

HTML links have a single-source anchor and a single-destination anchor. This means that it is not possible to create links with
multiple destinations. Consider the following scenario: A user navigates to a Web page that contains a description of a
research project. The information includes a link to the project researchers, which when followed opens two separate
documents containing, respectively, details about the two main researchers. This is not possible to represent using the linking
model in HTML (though it is possible to simulate this behavior using other technologies such as scripting languages).

Similarly the lack of multiple-source links can be problematic. Often content is the target of numerous links. Ideally we would
like to be able to create a single link (with a single destination) but with multiple sources. From a user's perspective this would
not be any different from multiple single-source links (except that we could no longer query to find out the other sources of
the link). The major benefit of a multiple-source link is in terms of the link's maintenance. Consider an example where we
have numerous links from different places in a site to a single page containing details of the main sales contact person. If this
changes to a different person, then we would need to change the destination of all the links; whereas if we have implemented
a multiple-source, single-destination link, then we only need to modify a single link.

Again, there are ways to circumvent this problem. For example, we could have all of the single-source, single-destination
links point to a single URI and have the content of this URI modified instead of modifying the target anchor. This is
somewhat cumbersome. An alternative would be to again have many single-source, single-destination links all pointing to a
single URI but have this URI contain a page that immediately redirects the user to the correct destination. In effect, the
intermediate page becomes the multiple-source, single-destination link. This is illustrated in Figure 1.2. Again, this solution is
somewhat cumbersome.

Figure 1.2. Implementing a multiple-source link in HTML

Inhibiting of Intelligent Browsing and Navigation by Untyped Links

HTML has no mechanism for the typing of links. Indeed it is not possible to add attributes of any sort (other than a name, a
title, and an ID) to links. In other words, it is not possible to define different categories of links within an HTML document
and then have these categories managed in different ways. This would be particularly useful in supporting more effective
browsing and navigation. In many cases it would be useful to be able to show different types of links using different forms of
highlighting, as a way of providing additional information to users. For example, a site might contain structural links that
relate to the inherent organization of the content, elaborative links that connect to more detailed information on a particular
topic, and definition links that provide connections into a glossary. Each type of link could be shown differently (different
fonts, colors, and so forth).

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 Chapter 1

As another example, if a link could be supplemented with the name of the link author, then it would be possible for users to
selectively view only links created by certain authors. Thus numerous different authors could add links to a given set of Web
pages, but a given user could opt to see only those links created by one particular author who creates links that suit that user.

As a final example, different links in a set of educational pages could relate to different levels of learning; and as users learned
more, they could switch on certain links and switch off others. In each case, a fundamental requirement would be that the
links could be typed in some form—typically by adding certain additional information to the links and then providing support
for interpretation of these link attributes in the browser.

Related to the issue of untyped links is the issue of link semantics. The semantics of links in HTML are very restrictive.
Essentially it is assumed that the link defines an association between a source anchor and a destination anchor and that the
link primarily exists to be traversed. The only additional semantics that can be specified is the target frame into which the
destination of the link should be loaded. This is specified using the target attribute of the source anchor. This effectively
provides control over whether the target document should replace the existing document or be placed in a different existing
frame (or in a new frame altogether).

As an alternative to this restrictive model, consider the following scenario: A user is browsing a Web page that contains
multiple components organized into a complex interface and shown on the same page: a map of a local national park, a list of
walking trails in the park, a brief history of the park, and a photo showing a waterfall within the park. There is also a sound
track of local birdlife playing in the background. If the user selects a link to a trail, then the question is, what aspects of the
presentation should be kept, paused, discarded, changed, and so forth? In this situation, the list of walks should be kept, the
history should be replaced by a description of the specified walk, the photo should be replaced by a video of the trail, and the
sound track should continue unchanged.

Achieving functionality such as this requires sophisticated link semantics, whereby the link includes information on impacts
on the media components currently forming the interface. This can be partially simulated in the Web through the use of
frames and a scripting language; but as with many of the examples in this section, the techniques are cumbersome and
difficult to implement. A good example of a link model that addresses this is the Amsterdam Hypermedia Model (AHM)
[Hardman+ 93]. AHM manages this idea by specifying the context for each anchor associated with a link. This context
defines the part of the presentation that will be affected when the link is followed. Many of the ideas in AHM have
subsequently been included in the Synchronized Multimedia Interchange Language (SMIL) [Hoschka 98] standard.

Restrictive Content Structuring and Management

Links in HTML are used not only to create associations that support users' navigation but also as the primary mechanism for
providing structure to the content on a site. The creation of associative links for supporting navigation is largely a local issue;
the global issue of overall information structure is just as important.

Content structuring is typically carried out by organizing the content in a site into a hierarchy (though other structures, such as
a matrix, are also used). This organization uses the same HTML linking mechanism as other forms of linking (i.e., the <a>
element). As such, it is very difficult to effectively maintain the content structures. For example, having the structural links
embedded into the documents themselves means that making changes to the structure and browsing the structures that exist
are rather difficult. (In chapter 3, we discuss a system called Hyperwave, which stores the structure separately from the
content, thereby at least partly resolving this problem.)

1.3.4 Current Solutions

Here are a few ways in which the problems discussed in this chapter are currently being addressed in the Web. As has been
discussed, the current linking model supported by HTML creates problems and places restrictions on what can be achieved.
Despite this, the need for innovative solutions has led to some creativity. The solutions largely revolve around scripting
languages, browser enhancements and plug-ins, and server extensions or enhancements.

Scripting Languages

Scripting languages, such as JavaScript, can be used to support a richer linking functionality than the basic model. The

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simplest way of achieving this is to associate certain linking events with appropriate scripting code. For example, consider the
following HTML fragment:

<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
function linker(linkname) {
if (linkname == 'authors') {
window.open("http://www.eng.uts.edu.au/~dbl/");
window.open("http://dret.net/netdret");
return false;
}
if (linkname == 'xmlinfo') {
window.location = "http://www.w3c.org/xml/";
return false;
}
}
// -->
</script>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Sophisticated linking using JavaScripting</h1>

<p><a href="" onclick="return linker('authors')">Authors:</a> Erik Wilde

and David
Lowe

<p>This is a very simple example of using JavaScript to create multiple

source,
multiple destination links. In this case there are two links - one to the <a
href=""
onclick="return linker('authors')">authors</a> of this page, and the other
to information
on <a href="" onclick="return linker('xmlinfo')">XML</a>.
</body>
</html>

In this example, all source anchors have been associated with the onclick event. This event is triggered whenever the
anchor is activated. In this case, the event calls a JavaScript function and passes the name of the link to be followed to the
function. This means that multiple-source anchors are able to pass the same link name as an argument—hence we have a
mechanism for supporting multiple-source anchors. In the example just given, both anchors related to authors use the same
link.

The JavaScript function that handles the link activation event accepts the link name and then triggers the appropriate action.
With the xmlinfo link, the event handler simply replaces the current document with a new document—effectively
achieving the same behavior as a normal HTML link. [6] The authors link, however, results in two new windows being
opened, each with a different destination document. As such, we have implemented a simple multiple-destination link.

Additional JavaScript code could be added to make this approach much more sophisticated. For example, attributes could be
added that allowed the linker function to change the navigation behavior based on user configuration or other
characteristics.

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Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 CHAPTER XXXI
AT THE GAMES

It was a day to be proud of—a day when nature was at her best.
The sun shone, the sky was cloudless, the grass was green, and
there was just enough wind to make it cool, without endangering
any such delicate operation as putting a fifty-six pound weight, or
interfere with an athlete hurling himself over the crossbar in the pole
vault.
“Say, things couldn’t be better!” cried Tom, as he jumped out of
bed, and stood at the open window, breathing in the balmy air. “It’s
a good thing Randall’s luck postponed the games a week.”
“Feeling fit?” asked Frank.
“As a fiddle. Say, old man, I wish you were with us,” and Tom put
his arm around the Big Californian.
“Oh, well, you’ll win without me, and maybe I’ll be with you—next
time,” replied Frank, with the semblance of a laugh. None but
himself knew the bitterness of his heart, and how much of a strain it
had been for him to step aside, “for the honor of Randall,” when he
was sure, in his own mind, that he was in the right, and that not a
blot of professionalism stained his record.
“Come on, Sid,” urged Tom, as he pulled the blankets off his still
slumbering chum. “As the old school readers used to say: ‘The sun is
up, and we are up, too.’ Tumble out, and get your lungs full of good
air. Then we’ll have a bit of breakfast and do some practice.”
“Um!” grunted Sid, and he rolled out.
All was astir at Randall, and so, too, in the other colleges. For,
though the games did not take place until afternoon, there was
much yet to do, many final arrangements to make, and the
candidates, nervous as young colts, wanted a last try-out.
Running and jumping shoes had to be looked after, tights and
shirts in which were rents, or from which buttons were missing,
were being repaired by the rough and ready surgery of the college
lads.
“This is the time when I wish we were at Fairview,” remarked Tom,
as he gingerly handled a needle, repairing a tear in his shirt.
“Why?” demanded Sid.
“So I could ask some of the girls to fix these rips. I never can get
used to a thimble.”
“Same here,” agreed Phil. “I shove it through with a nail file.”
“Threading a needle gets my goat,” confessed Sid. “Some
authorities say to hold the thread still, and shove the needle at it.
Other text books claim that the only proper way is to stick the
needle upright in your knee and, after shutting your eyes, keep
poking the thread at it until you make a hit. Then knot it and
proceed as directed.”
“I never can get the right kind of a point on the thread,” admitted
Frank. “It’s always too long, and then it curls up, and shoots around
the needle like a drop curve, or else it’s too short, and blunt, and
breaks the eye out of the needle.”
“There’s some kind of a thimble, that you stick your needle in, and
it has a funnel so you can sort of drop your thread through it, and
get it in the hole sooner or later,” remarked Tom. “Guess I’ll get one.”
“I had one of ’em,” said Sid. “The trouble is that after you get the
needle in the thimble you can’t get it out again, and you have to
break it off. Then you have to hunt up a new needle.”
“It’s a wonder some fellow doesn’t invent a kind of court plaster
that you could stick over a tear, and mend it that way, as we do a
cut,” suggested Phil. “I think I’ll work on that, instead of my
perpetual motion machine after the games.”
Thus the jolly talk went on, until the lads, being excused from
chapel for that day, had gotten their athletic suits into some sort of
shape, and had gone out on the field for a final practice.
“Well, I trust the eleven will give a good account of itself to-day,”
mildly remarked Dr. Churchill, as he met Holly and Kindlings with a
squad of candidates. The doctor knew rather less about athletics
than some girls do of baseball.
“It isn’t football, to-day, Doctor,” said Holly gently.
“Oh, of course. I ought to know that. Football comes in the Fall.
The nine plays for the championship to-day, does it not? Ah, yes, I
hope you win both halves.”
“It’s the track team that’s going to compete—for the all-around
championship,” whispered Dr. Marshall, with a wink at the young
trainers. “The track team, Dr. Churchill.”
“Ah, yes. I should have remembered. Well, I’m sure they will win,”
and, with this cheering remark, the head of Randall passed on,
thinking of a new book on the history of Sanskrit that he
contemplated writing.
Out from their rooms, or the gymnasium, poured the athletes,
eager as young colts, and as confident as all young lads are. Tom
Parsons was fully himself again, Dr. Marshall’s treatment having put
him on his feet. All efforts to learn more about the “doped” bottle of
medicine had been dropped, and very few in the college even knew
about it.
Sid, too, was trained to the minute, and the others, on whom
Randall based her hopes, gave every promise of making good. Yet
there was always the chance of a “fluke,” and Holly and Kindlings
were desperately nervous as they checked record after record, cast
up table after table of points, trying to figure out a more sure
system for Randall to win.
 The last of the practice was over. The boys had done all that was
humanly possible to warrant their success. Now it all depended on
the final outcome.
The athletes were to go to Tonoka Lake Park in autos, which had
been supplied by some of the wealthier students of Randall. The
rank and file would go in trolley cars, or any other way that suited
them.
“Well, we can’t do any more,” remarked Holly to Kindlings, as they
stood together, ready to start for the field. “We’ve done our best,
and the rest lies with our lads.”
“Oh, they’ll make good, all right; don’t worry,” spoke Kindlings
confidently. “Bean Perkins has a lot of new songs to cheer ’em with,
and then with the band playing, our colors flying, the crowd yelling,
and the girls looking pretty, why, we can’t lose.”
“Cross your fingers,” murmured Holly superstitiously, with a short
laugh. “Cross your fingers, Dan, old man.”
“All up!” sung out Dutch Housenlager, as the autos came rolling up
to the gymnasium. “All up, fellows. It’s do or die, now.”
“All ready!” yelled Bean Perkins. “A last cheer before we meet ’em
at the grounds, fellows.”
The cheer came with resounding energy, and when it had died
away, some one called for “Aut Vincere, Aut Mori!” “Either We
Conquer, or we Die!”
The sweetly solemn strains of the Latin song rang out over the
campus, as the competing team rolled away in the autos, waving
their hands at their fellows.
“Hang it all, it seems like a funeral!” murmured Sid.
“Cut that out, you heathen!” ordered Phil, thumping his chum on
the back.
“Feeling nervous?” asked Frank of Tom, to whom he sat next in
the big car, for, though the Big Californian was not to compete, he
rode with his chums.
“Just a little. I’m always thinking that I’ll slip, or—something——”
“Let the other fellow do the worrying,” suggested Frank, and it
was good advice.
It was not a long ride to Tonoka Park, and when the autos
containing the athletes came in sight of it, the lads saw the grounds
gay in colors, while a big throng was already on hand. The strains of
a band could be heard, and there were cheers and songs, for the
crowds from Boxer Hall and Fairview were already in evidence.
“My! There’s a mob!” remarked Tom, as they swung up to the part
of the field set apart for them.
“And look at the girls!” added Phil, as he waved his hand toward a
section of the grandstand where the maids of Fairview were
gathered.
“Will we have time to see ’em before we dress?” asked Sid.
“Oh, you’ll make it, whether you have or not,” retorted Frank.
“You’re getting it bad.”
“Dry up!” ordered Sid sententiously.
They left their suit cases in the dressing rooms assigned to them,
and started across the field toward the stand where they hoped to
see Ruth Clinton and her chums.
As they walked along Tom started, and stared toward a section of
the crowd.
“What’s up?” asked Phil.
“I—I thought I saw Shambler,” spoke Tom in a low voice.
“Nonsense! He wouldn’t dare show his face here,” said Phil.
“I guess not,” agreed Tom, and he dismissed the matter.
“Here we are!” cried Ruth, as she spied her brother and his
friends. “And we haven’t got your colors, either.”
 She shook a flag of Fairview in his face.
“Pooh!” replied Phil. “Enough other girls have ’em,” and he waved
his hand toward a part of the stand where the young lady cohorts of
Randall sported the yellow and maroon.
Tom greeted Madge Tyler, and, as he stood beside her, he caught
a glimpse of something yellow beneath the lapel of her light cloak.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Don’t tell,” she whispered, “or I’d be tried for treason, but—I just
couldn’t help it,” and, with a cautious glance around, she showed
him a tiny bow of Randall’s colors, under those of her own college. “I
—I just hope you’ll win!” she whispered, and Tom pressed her hand
as he murmured his thanks.
 CHAPTER XXXII
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

“Here comes the Exter bunch!” was a sudden cry.

There was the shrill, staccato tooting of a “yard of tin,” on the big
tally-ho coach that carried the athletes, their manager and trainers.
Gaily bedecked in ribbons it was, and behind came several other
vehicles, autos and coaches mingling, carrying the crowd of Exter
collegians, who sent cheer after cheer ringing across the grounds of
the park.
“They’re coming in style,” remarked Miss Harrison.
“Wait until you see them go away,” murmured Phil. “They won’t
cheer then.”
“Don’t be too certain,” cautioned Miss Newton.
“That’s all right,” went on Phil. “We’re going to win. I feel it in my
bones.”
“Look at those boys!” interrupted Miss Tyler. “Those Exter chaps I
mean. They’re waving right at us, girls! And we haven’t met any of
them. The audacity!”
“Can’t blame them much, for picking out the prettiest crowd of
girls here,” ventured Tom.
“Oh, thank you!” chorused the four.
“Humph! Those Exterites have their nerve with them all right,”
commented Phil. “I hope we take ’em down a peg.”
“Say, if you fellows are going to take part in the games to-day, get
a move on!” cried Holly Cross, running up at that juncture. “You
want to warm up before the events. Come on! the girls will manage
to live without you for a while, I guess, and you can come back later
with colors flying.”
He bowed and smiled at the pretty quartette, and then Tom and
his chums, once more predicting that they were going to carry the
colors of Randall to the fore, hurried away.
The Exter crowd, after cheering for their three opponents, who, in
turn, cheered the latest arrivals, took their place in the grandstand
reserved for them. The contestants hurried in to get on their togs,
which example was followed by our friends.
“Look well to your shoe lacings,” advised Holly to his crowd of
athletes. “Don’t have anything slipping at the last minute. Has
everybody got everything he needs?”
At once there were cries for various things, from bottles of
liniment, or witch hazel, to strips of adhesive plaster, or wrist straps.
“Say! I never saw such a bunch of babies!” complained Kindlings.
“You’d forget your heads if they weren’t fast.”
He hurried here and there, looking after the lads as if they were
children, unable to do anything for themselves. And, with all this,
Kindlings himself expected to take part in several events, and he had
grimly made up his mind to win some of them, at least.
“There goes the Boxer Hall crowd,” commented Tom, looking from
a window of the dressing room, that gave a view of the field.
“They’re out for practice.”
“See anything of Langridge?” asked Sid.
“Yes, he’s there, and Gerhart, too. I’ve got to run against him—
Langridge I mean.”
“And Gerhart is in the broad jump, I hear,” added Sid. “Well, don’t
let that worry you.”
“I’m not,” replied Tom, as he completed his preparations.
 “Come on, fellows, get a move on,” pleaded Holly, and soon those
who were going to fight for the honor of Randall tumbled out of the
dressing rooms, and trotted across the track and field.
“There they are, boys! There they are!” yelled Bean Perkins, wildly
waving a much-beribboned cane at his crowd of shouters. “All
together now! Give ’em, ‘We’re going to beat the three of you, and
take your warlocks home!’”
The song was given with a will, and from then on there was a
pandemonium of sound, as the shouting contingents of the various
colleges sought to put heart and courage into their representatives.
There was a final consultation of the arrangement committee, the
starters, timers, judges were given their instructions, and the
contestants were told to get in readiness. There had been some
warm-up practice, and scores of eager lads were but awaiting the
crack of the pistol.
“Remember boys,” Holly impressed on the Randallites. “We can’t
expect to win every event, but we’ve just got to get five out of the
eight to clinch the championship. We’ve already lost the hurdle race,
but if we get the mile run, the broad jump, the pole vault, a hammer
throw and one other we can win, for they count the most. Get more
if you can, but remember, we need the five.”
Wallace, the Exter manager, passed by, nodding to Holly and the
others.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
“Sure,” answered Holly heartily.
“No bad feelings, I hope, on account of our protest?”
“Not a bit. We’re going to win anyhow; so what’s the difference?”
“Nothing like feeling confident,” commented Wallace, with a laugh.
“Sorry I can’t wish you luck, but we need this championship
ourselves.”
 “Come on now,” ordered Kindlings, bustling up. “The fifty-six
pound weight throwing comes first. On the job, Dutch. I hope you
beat me, and the same to you Barth.” George Barth had been
substituted, some time back, for Bean Perkins, who said he would be
of more service to Randall cheering for her, than competing in the
weight-throwing contest.
“Oh, we’ll win all right,” asserted Dutch Housenlager, with an air of
easy confidence, at which Kindlings shook his head.
There was a silence while the announcer made the statement
about the opening event, and then, as the various contestants came
forward, there were cheers for the representatives of each college.
“Everybody ready?” asked the judge, as he glanced at the twelve
contestants lined up before him, for each college had entered three
in the fifty-six event.
There were nods of assent, and then a coin was flipped to
determine the order of succession. It fell to the lot of Fairview to go
first, with Boxer Hall following, then Exter and finally Randall.
Kindlings was glad of this, for he regarded it as an advantage for his
lads to try to beat the records previously made by their opponents.
The Fairview lads stepped forward. They were husky, clean-cut
young fellows, and as the first one took his place in the white,
seven-foot circle there was a little murmur of applause.
He grasped the weight confidently, and soon had it swinging well.
He let go with a puff of exertion, and watched anxiously as the
distance was measured.
“Eighteen feet four inches,” was the announcement.
“We’re safe so far,” murmured Kindlings for he knew what Dutch
could do. In quick succession the others of Fairview heaved the big
ball with its triangular handle. The record of the first lad was
somewhat bettered, but it was soon seen that Fairview could not
hope to win, for the distances the other contestants had done in
practice were fairly well known.
 Boxer Hall bettered Fairview in this contest, her best man’s
distance being twenty-one feet, five and a half inches.
“We’ve got to go some to beat that,” murmured Dutch.
“Oh, you can do it,” declared Kindlings, hoping to put heart into
the big lad.
Now came Exter’s turn, and with confidence her first contestant
took his place. He equalled but did not beat Boxer Hall, and the
second man fell below. Then came the third.
The lad on whom the hopes of Exter now depended was a
magnificent specimen. Tall and fair, a very picture of an athlete, he
stooped over and grasped the handle of the weight. There was a
smile on his lips, and he seemed to look at Dutch as though
challenging him individually.
“Go as far as you like, old man,” murmured the Randall
representative. “I’ll catch you.”
There was a gasp of astonishment as the weight sailed away—
astonishment and admiration mingled for, it was easily seen that this
throw was, so far, the record-breaker.
“Wow!” gasped Kindlings as the weight landed. “Look out for
yourself, Dutch.”
“Twenty-eight feet, eight inches!” sung out the score keeper. It
was a good throw, not equaling the best of the amateur records by a
foot, but still very fair.
“Now, Dutch, it’s up to us,” said Kindlings in a low voice. “I’ll go
first, Barth will follow, and you hold yourself for the last. Remember
we’ve got to win!”
“Um!” grunted Dutch, as Kindlings stepped into the circle.
He did not beat the Exter player’s throw, in fact being three feet
behind it, and Barth was but little better.
 “Come on, Dutch!” ordered Kindlings, and then from the
grandstand came one of Randall’s songs chorused by Bean Perkins
and his throng.
There was a hush as Dutch took up the weight, and as the
muscles of his legs swelled out during the preliminary swinging of it,
it seemed as if he might win, for he was in perfect trim.
Over his head sailed the weight, to fall with a thud on the turf—a
thud that seemed loud amid the hush that followed.
There were anxious faces watching the scorer as he and his
assistants measured the distance, for everything now depended on
this record Dutch had made.
“Twenty-eight feet,” sung out the official, and Dutch felt his heart
sink. “And five inches,” added the scorer. “The weight throwing
contest goes to Exter by three inches, with Randall second.”
There was a riot of cheers from the Exter grandstand, and gloom
and silence on the part of Randall. She had lost the first event.
“He beat me by three inches—three inches,” murmured Dutch, as
if he could not understand it.
“Never mind,” consoled Kindlings. “You did ten inches better than
you ever did in practice, Dutch. It was a great throw, and—Oh, well,
we’ve got a chance yet.”
The preparations for the throwing of the sixteen pound hammer
were now underway. The Jersey twins, Pete Backus, and Holly were
entered in this, and as they had all done well in practice the hopes
of Randall ran high.
“Beat ’em, boys, beat ’em!” called Tom Parsons, as the quartette
went forward to meet their opponents. At that moment Wallops,
who, with some of the other Randall messengers, was on the ground
approached Tom.
“Your father is looking for you, Mr. Parsons,” he said.
“My—my father?” gasped Tom. “What do you mean? Is he here?”
 “Yes, he just arrived. He’s over talking to Dr. Churchill, and the
doctor sent me to find you. Your father wants to see you.”
“Wants to see me,” faltered Tom. There could be but one meaning
to the unexpected visit, he thought. He must leave Randall.
 CHAPTER XXXIII
TOM’S RUN

“All right, Wallops, tell him I’ll be right over,” said Tom. “I’ll tell
Kindlings where I’m going, so he won’t be looking for me. But I’ve
got plenty of time before it’s my turn.”
He slipped on a heavy bathrobe, for, in his abbreviated running
costume, he was not exactly in shape to go to the grandstand.
“The lawsuit must have gone against dad, or else he’s come to
have me go back and testify,” reasoned Tom. “If he’s lost the case,
it’s good-bye to Randall for me. But if he wants me to go to court,
I’m going to ask him to wait until after the run. I’m not going to
desert now. The case will have to wait. But I wonder why dad came,
instead of telegraphing? It must be important. I hope nothing else
can have happened.”
Anxious thoughts came to Tom, as he made his way through the
press of people. His mother or sister might be ill. It was an
inopportune time to receive bad news—almost on the instant of
entering a race that meant so much to Randall. But Tom made up
his mind to do his best under any circumstances.
“What’s up?” asked Frank, whom Tom passed on his way to see
his father.
“My dad’s here,” was the reply. “He came unexpectedly. I don’t
know what it means.”
Frank looked grave, for he knew on how slender a thread hung
Tom’s chances. A moment later our hero saw his father waving his
hand to him from his place beside the president of Randall. Dr.
Churchill, and several members of the faculty, had come to the
games, though Professor Emerson Tines refused to attend.
“Tom!” cried Mr. Parsons as he came down an aisle to meet his
son. “I’m glad to see you, boy. You didn’t expect to find me here; did
you?”
“No, dad. Is anything—anything wrong?” Tom could hardly frame
the question. But a look at his father’s face told him that he need
have nothing to fear—at least for the present.
“It’s all right, Tom!” was the hearty answer. “I have good news for
you, and I thought I’d come and tell you myself, instead of wiring.
The lawsuit is ended.”
“And you win?”
“I do. The other fellows simply backed down, and decided not to
contest the case further. They hadn’t a leg to stand on, and they
knew it. I won everything, got back all my money, with interest, and
——”
“Then I can stay on at Randall?” interrupted Tom, eagerly.
“You sure can. And look here, Tom. I hear your team lost the first
event.”
“Yes, dad. They out-threw us.”
“Have you competed yet?”
“No. I’m in the mile run. It’s next to the last event.”
“Well, look here, Tom, my boy,” and Mr. Parsons leaned forward
and whispered. “If you don’t win that I’ll never speak to you again,
and I don’t think you’re too big even yet, for me to take over my
knee, as I did once in a while, years ago. So you want to win that
race!” and he laughed and clapped his son on the back.
“Dad, I’m going to win!” was Tom’s answer, given with shining
eyes. “This good news will give me second wind.”
 “I rather hoped it would,” said Mr. Parsons. “That’s why I came
here on the first train I could get. Go on now, and—win!”
Tom nodded, and started from the grandstand, while his father
again took his seat near Dr. Churchill. The throwing of the sixteen
pound hammer had already started, with Exter leading off. Her
entrants did well, and so did those of Boxer Hall, and then came the
turn of Randall.
“Go to it, Joe! Go to it!” yelled Bean Perkins, as one of the Jersey
twins stepped into the circle. “Come on now, boys, give ’em the
‘hammer and tongs,’ song.”
It rolled out splendidly as Joe Jackson threw. Perhaps it added to
his strength and skill, for certainly his heave was not beaten that
day. It stands as a record yet in the Tonoka Lake League—one
hundred and twenty-two feet and ten inches—but a short distance
less than some of the best amateur records.
“Randall wins!” came the announcement at the close of this
contest, and Kindlings remarked:
“One of the five!”
The putting of the sixteen pound shot contest was closer than
either of the two previous events. It was a matter of inches to
decide the winner, and there was a claim of a foul on the part of
Exter against one of the Boxer Hall contestants which caused a
delay.
“Say, those fellows seem to do nothing but find fault,” remarked
Tom to Phil.
“Yes, they’re afraid they won’t get all that’s coming to ’em, I
guess.”
“They will if I have anything to say about it,” commented Tom
grimly. “But maybe they won’t like it.”
The dispute was finally settled and the throwing went on. To Dan’s
chagrin, and the despair of Holly Cross, Randall lost this event by the
narrow margin of one inch. It went to Exter, and there was a riot of
cheers from her supporters.
But the pole vault turned the tables, and Phil hurled himself over
the bar in magnificent style, clearing ten feet seven inches, and
winning the contest. And, as if that was not enough, Ned Warren,
another Randall lad, was but an inch below this, he too beating the
best performance of either of the other three colleges.
“We win twice in this event,” said Holly, who had tied the best man
of Exter in the vault. “If they’d only let us count it twice we’d be all
right.”
“But we’re coming on,” declared Kindlings, and, when the hundred
yard dash also went to the wearers of the maroon and yellow, Bean
Perkins could not contain himself.
“Cut loose, boys! Cut loose!” he ordered, and the “Automobile
chorus” was fairly howled by the delighted cheerers.
“Three out of five events we need,” remarked Holly, as he and Dan
were busy figuring up the points scored. “We may get the high
jump, but if we don’t, and Tom and Sid make good, we’ll win the
championship.”
“I hope we win the high,” said Dan. “Berry Foster is in fine trim,
and I don’t like cutting it so fine as to leave the last two events to
clinch things. No telling what may happen to Sid or Tom, though
they’re both feeling fit as fiddles they say. Oh, if we can only get the
high!”
“Don’t want everything,” suggested Holly with a laugh. “There
they go for it. Come on over and watch.”
Randall’s lads made a gallant attempt to bring home the high
jump, but it was not to be, and Boxer Hall carried off the coveted
trophy, while her sons sang and cheered themselves hoarse.
There were but two more events on the program—the mile run
and the running broad jump. Randall needed both of these to win,
for, should Exter annex one, and either of the other colleges the
other it would mean that the championship would be lost to the
wearers of the maroon and yellow.
“Now Tom, it’s up to you,” said Dan in a low voice as the runners
came out on their marks. “Are you all right—feel nervous or
anything?”
“No, I’m not nervous. I want to win, Dan, but if I don’t——”
“It won’t be from lack of trying,” was the reply. “Go on Tom,
they’re waiting for you.”
But, in spite of the fact that Tom had said he was not nervous
there was an unusual thumping of his heart. He tried to calm
himself, but, the more he did so, the worse he seemed to get.
“Oh, hang it! This won’t do!” he mused. “If Frank was running this
race, he wouldn’t be like this. I must think that I’m doing this for
him. Brace up! Even Shambler wouldn’t flunk.”
Tom felt better after that little lecture to himself by himself, and
when he glanced across toward the grandstands, and saw a slim
girlish figure suddenly spring up, and wave his colors at him, he felt
a surge of elation and delight.
“That’s Madge!” whispered Tom to himself. “I’m going to win! I’m
going to win! For Randall and—her!”
The runners were in their places. The starter had raised his pistol.
Tom, for the first time, noticed that on his left was Langridge—his
old enemy. Langridge had seen Miss Tyler’s action, and he smiled
mockingly at our hero.
“I’m going to win!” Tom told himself over and over again.
“On your marks!” cried the starter.
“They’re going to run!” said Ruth Clinton to Madge, who sat next
to her.
“I know it—I know it!” replied Madge nervously. “Oh, I do hope he
wins!”
 “Who, Roger Barns?” asked Ruth. “Evidently not though, since you
waved the yellow and maroon.”
“Of course not—you know who I mean,” and Madge blushed.
Crack went the starter’s pistol, and the runners were away on
their course.
“They’re off!” yelled Bean Perkins. “Now boys, the ‘Conquer or
Die,’ song, and sing it as you never sang it before. We want Tom to
win, and our other lads to get second and third.”
Our hero, running with all his might, heard the sweet strains
wafted to him across the track, and he shut his lips grimly, and
looked at Langridge out of the corners of his eyes.
The track was a half mile one, two laps being necessary to make
the distance. As it was a big wide one, enabling all the contestants
to start at once, there was no necessity for heats in this event. It
could thus be decided more quickly.
On and on raced Tom. He felt a responsibility he had never
experienced before, and it seemed as if he carried the whole weight
of Randall on his shoulders, though Jerry and Joe Jackson were in
the event. Tom was running well, and he knew he had a reserve of
wind and strength for the final spurt. The last few days of practice
had done much for him, and even his unfortunate illness had not
pulled him down.
It was evident, soon after the start of the race, that it lay between
Tom Parsons, Langridge of Boxer Hall and Sam Wendell of Exter.
That was unless some of those who were strung out behind them
should develop unexpected speed. And this was not likely.
A mile run is a matter of only seven minutes, or thereabouts, at
the worst, for any performance slower than seven minutes and
thirty-eight seconds scores nothing under the A. A. U. rules. And so
the decision of the contest could not be long in doubt.
At the conclusion of the half mile Tom and Langridge were on
even terms. The foremost Exter lad had fallen back a few feet, and
Tom’s only fear was lest this contestant might be saving himself for a
winning spurt.
“But I can spurt too!” thought our hero. “I’m going to win! I’m
going to win!”
On and on they raced. Nearer and nearer to the goal they came.
Breaths were coming faster and faster. It became harder and harder
to get air into the laboring lungs. The weary muscles needed more
and more urging to make them do their work.
“Can I do it? Can I do it?” Tom asked himself.
And the grim answer came.
“I’ve got to! I’ve got to!”
There was a mist before his eyes, and yet through it he seemed to
see a fair, girlish figure waving a maroon and yellow flag at him. But
the colors were blurred.
A singing came into Tom’s ears. It sounded like the beating of the
waves of the sea. His heart was a pump, working at double speed.
His legs were like the pistons of some engine, darting back and
forth. They did not seem to belong to him, but to be separate from
his body.
Once or twice he thought of looking down, to make sure that they
were fast to his trunk, but he knew he must keep his eyes ahead of
him, and his head well up. Now and then he glanced across to
where Langridge was running. The Boxer Hall lad was still in his
place, even with Tom. The foremost Exter runner was still lagging
behind.
“I’ve got to shake him off—shake Langridge,” thought Tom, and it
seemed as if he was someone else saying this.
The finish tape loomed in sight. The eager judges and
timekeepers crowded to the course. Now was the time to spurt if
ever.
 “Come on, Tom! Come on!” yelled scores of encouraging voices,
and once more Bean Perkins and his cohorts sang a song of victory.
“Langridge! Langridge!” cried his mates, and the Exter lad’s
fellows shouted to him to win.
On and on raced Tom. It seemed as if he could not keep it up. His
legs were senseless—his feet like lead—his breath was all but gone.
“But I must do it! I must—for the honor of Randall!” he seemed to
shout, yet no sound came from between his lips.
“Now!” yelled Holly Cross, who was watching Tom. “Come!”
It was the signal to spurt, and Tom put out his last ounce of
strength in the leap forward. He breasted the tape, and, as he
crossed the line he shot a hasty glance to either side.
He was alone! Langridge had faltered at the last. The Exter man
was a poor third.
Tom had won the mile run!
 CHAPTER XXXIV
SID’S GREAT JUMP

“Oh Tom!”
“Good old boy!”
“You did it! You did it!”
“I knew you would! Oh Tom!”
Everyone seemed to be calling to him at once. A score of arms
sought to clasp Tom Parsons, a double score of hands were shot out
to pat him on the back.
“Good old Tom!” cried Holly Cross, as he ran up to help support
the half-exhausted runner.
“You’ve done your share,” complimented Kindlings.
A figure burst through the throng surrounding the winner.
“Oh Tom!” a voice cried. “I knew you could do it!” Frank Simpson
clasped his chum in his arms. There was not a trace of envy—only
the best of good fellowship.
“Well, I thought of you,” said Tom, when his breathing was less
labored. “I—I ran for you, Frank. I pretended it was your contest,
and I played it as well as I could.”
“Couldn’t have been better,” declared the Big Californian. “Now
come on—the girls want to see you,” for Frank had been sitting near
Miss Tyler and her friends.
“Oh, wait until I wash up,” protested Tom, but Frank would not
take “no” for an answer, and, slipping a big robe around his chum he
led him away to receive the congratulations that awaited him.
 Tom’s father came down from the grandstand to meet him.
“Oh boy!” he cried. “You did it! I’m going to telegraph your
mother!” And then, with a hand clasp, he pressed his son to him,
and hurried on to wire the good news.
“The girls are waiting for you!” he called back as he laughed, and
Tom blushed.
“Congratulations!” exclaimed Madge Tyler, as Tom climbed his way
to her and the others. He was being greeted on all sides by those on
the grandstand, but he had eyes for only one.
“I guess you were the mascot,” he whispered, as he sat down in a
place Miss Tyler made for him. Tom clasped her hand.
“And our poor college isn’t in it,” said Ruth Clinton sadly.
“There’s a chance yet,” declared Mabel Harrison.
“Not with Sid Henderson to do the broad jump,” asserted Tom
confidently.
Madge Tyler hastily made a bow of yellow and maroon and pinned
it on one lapel of her jacket, to balance the colors of her own
college.
“You’re a traitor!” exclaimed Helen Newton.
“I am not. I’m only paying respect to the victor,” said Madge with
a laugh.
“We need the jump points; don’t we, Tom?” asked Frank, as he
managed to find a place near the runner, who was the hero of the
hour.
“We sure do. But I guess we can depend on Sid.”
Preparations for the final event were going forward. The games
were almost over. But, so close had been the contests, and so well
distributed were the points that even with all the hard work on the
part of her representatives, Randall could not win unless she got the
last event. Otherwise there might be a tie between Boxer Hall and
Exter, that would have to be played off later, if either got another
first place.
The jumping contestants were out on the field. They were
receiving their last instructions, and drawing for places. Sid got fifth
chance.
There was a lull in the proceedings. The band had rendered
several airs, and the cheer leaders and their cohorts were getting
their voices in shape for the final songs.
“All ready!” called the starter. “Come on now, finish things up.”
“How about you, Sid?” asked Holly, as he stood beside the lad on
whom, as it had on Tom, so much depended.
“I’m all right,” was the confident answer. “I don’t know what these
other fellows are going to do, but I’ll do my best.”
“We know that, Sid.”
Then the take-off was cleared, and the jumping began.
There was not the sensationalism about the running broad jump
that there had been about the mile run, but to a lover of games
there was much of interest in it. There were some good, clean
jumpers, too, and Randall’s lads were not a whit behind their
opponents.
In turn the representatives of Fairview and Boxer Hall made their
trials. There were two of each, and Sid came fifth, the first one to
try for Randall.
“You’ve got to beat nineteen feet, eight inches,” said Kindlings to
his chum. “Can you do it?”
“I’ve done nineteen, seven—that’s the best,” was the low answer,
“but I’ll try.”
Sid gathered himself for the run, and took-off beautifully. He came
down a good two inches beyond the best previous mark, and there
was a shout of delight as this was noted.
 “I claim a foul!” was the sudden remark of an Exter player.
“Henderson overstepped the take-off mark.”
At once there was a storm of protest, and some acquiescing
voices. Holly and Kindlings insisted that Sid had not fouled, and,
after some delay, and not a little disputing, in which hard words
were passed, it was agreed that Sid might try again, after the last
contestant.
The cheers that had sprung up when it was rumored that Sid had
won, were hushed, and in tense silence the Randallites awaited the
final outcome.
An Exter lad had covered an even twenty feet, and this was by far
the best record for that event in the league. Already Exter was
cheering in anticipation of victory. But Sid had another chance.
“Can you do it?” asked Holly.
“I don’t know. It’s a big jump to beat, but I’m just mad enough to
do it. Of all the unfair protests——”
“That’s right. Get good and mad,” suggested Holly. “They deserve
to be beaten, and I believe they will be. Jump as you never jumped
before, Sid!” and he clapped him on the back.
The course was cleared, and, amid a hush that was almost
unnatural Sid made his preparations.
On he came with a rush, rising beautifully into the air as he
reached the take off. This time there was no question but what he
had leaped “cleanly.”
Forward he hurled himself, straight through the air, like some
animal, until he came down with a thud. And, as he did so, he knew,
in his own heart, that he had jumped better than he had ever
jumped before.
A moment later came the confirmation.
“Twenty feet—two inches!” yelled the announcer. “Sid Henderson
wins—Randall wins the championship—Randall wins!”
 CHAPTER XXXV
RANDALL’S HONOR CLEARED

“Come on boys! One last song!” begged Bean Perkins of his well-
nigh exhausted lads. “One last song to celebrate the victory!”
They gave it with a will, followed by cheer after cheer,—for the
team, for the college, for the colors, for their rivals, for the girls—
anything and everything was cheered.
Exter, Boxer Hall and Fairview nobly did their share, too. They paid
full tribute to their successful rivals.
“And we win! We win! We win!” cried Kindlings, as he capered
about the group of tired but happy athletes.
“As if there ever was a doubt,” said Holly Cross.
“Oh, you get out!” protested Kindlings. “It was all in the air until
the last minute. Tom and Sid pulled us out of the fire.”
The field was being overrun with spectators, who sought to
congratulate victors, or commiserate with the losers. Randall’s colors
were seen on every side, for, as is always the case in college games,
the winning hues always appear mysteriously at the end of the
contest.
“Come on, the girls are waiting for us,” said Phil, who had changed
into his ordinary garments. “They want to congratulate you, Sid.”
“Then they’ll have to wait,” was the seeming ungracious answer.
“I’m all dust, and I’m going to have a shower first. I’ll be with you in
five minutes.”
He raced away to the dressing rooms, and Tom, Phil and Frank,
who were “presentable” now, went to talk to Madge and her chums.
 “Well, how about it?” asked Tom, as he approached them.
“We haven’t a word to say,” replied Miss Tyler. “You won fairly and
squarely, and—well——”
“You helped,” said Tom boldly. “You waved our colors at the right
time.”
“Yes, just as if she belonged to Randall, instead of Fairview,” said
Miss Harrison.
“She does, I guess,” said Ruth, with a glance at Tom.
There was laughter, talking, quips and jibes, but over all there was
the spirit of gaiety.
“Your mother wired her congratulations,” said Mr. Parsons, making
his way to Tom. “I’m going back home again now.”
“No, you’re not, dad,” insisted the winner of the mile run. “You’re
going to stay here to-night.”
“You’ll have the time of your life,” added Sid. “Better stay.”
“Well, I guess I will,” agreed Mr. Parsons. “I begin to feel like a
boy again.”
Tom and his chums said farewell to their girl friends, promising to
call on them later. Then, while still the cheers of Bean Perkins and
his lads were ringing over the field, faint but full of spirit, the
winning team started for Randall. Mr. Parsons went with them.
And such a night as it was that followed.
Proctor Zane threw up his hands early in the evening, and retired
to his quarters. Dr. Churchill said it was the best thing to do under
the circumstances. For the spirit of fun, of jollity, and of victory was
abroad in the land, and Randall celebrated as she had never
celebrated before.
Mr. Parsons was an honored guest, and he proved himself to be
imbued with the immortal spirit of youth, for he was like a lad again,
capering about.
 Bonfires were built, spreads innumerable were held, professors
were serenaded, and forced to make congratulatory speeches. Even
“Pitchfork,” had to come out to speak to the team, though he did not
show very good grace. But dear old Dr. Churchill struck the right
note, and was roundly cheered as he gracefully spoke of the victory
of the “track eleven and the baseball racers.”
But he meant well.
And so that night at Randall passed into honored and never-to-be-
forgotten history.
They were in their room—the four inseparables. It was a few days
after the great games, and the trophies indicating the championship
of Randall had been placed in an honored place in the gymnasium.
Also the tale of the victory had gone abroad to the world.
Tom’s father had returned home, to tell the details, the law case
was a closed event. Now came talk—talk of what had been.
“It was great—couldn’t have been better,” declared Frank Simpson.
“There is only one regret.”
“What’s that?” asked Phil.
“About that charge against me. I don’t say anything about
Shambler, for he admitted his guilt. But I know I didn’t do anything
wrong.”
“We’ll forget Shambler,” suggested Tom. “I guess he’s vanished.”
“But I would like to have a ruling on my case,” went on Frank. “I
think it sort of stands as a black mark against Randall. I don’t see
why that A. A. U. committee doesn’t answer.”
There was a moment of silence. No one seemed to know what to
say. The alarm clock ticked off the seconds. Tom was sprawled out
on the sofa, with Phil crowding him. In the armchairs were Frank
and Sid. There came a knock on the door.
“Who’s there?” demanded Tom.
 “A telegram for Mr. Simpson,” announced Wallops.
The Big Californian leaped for the portal, and swung it open. In an
instant he had snatched the yellow envelope, and torn it open.
Rapidly he scanned the message:
“Wow! Hurray!” he shouted.
“What is it?” demanded Tom.
“It’s good news! This is a telegram from the protest committee of
the A. A. U. It says: ‘Your case, and others like it, ruled on some
time ago. Settled you were strictly amateurs. Letter follows. You are
eligible in all amateur contests.’ What do you think of that?” cried
Frank, capering about. “I knew I was right.”
“And so did we!” cried Phil.
The letter settled any last doubts. It came a few days later, and
stated that soon after the charity games, in which Frank, and others,
took part, that the question of professionalism, on account of the
money prizes, had come up, and had been settled in favor of the
amateurs. No hint, even, of professionalism tainted them, it was
said.
A copy of the ruling was at once sent to Exter and the other
colleges in the Tonoka League, and Wallace replied at once,
expressing his regret at having raised the point, and congratulating
Frank.
“But it’s all for the best,” declared Frank.
“Yes,” agreed Tom, “for now there’s nothing against the honor of
Randall, since Shambler has left.”
“And now there won’t be any question of your playing baseball,
football or rowing on the boat crew—if we have one,” said Phil.
“Are we going to have a boat crew?” inquired Tom.
“There’s talk of it,” was the answer.
 And what Randall’s crew did may be learned by reading the next
book of this series, to be entitled “The Eight-Oared Victors; A Story
of College Water Sports.” In that we will meet all our old friends
once more.
It was several days later. The celebrations of Randall’s track and
field victory were about over, and the diamond was beginning to
take on an unusually active appearance.
One evening, in the room of the inseparables, the four chums sat
in silence, broken only by the ticking of the clock, or the creak of the
old sofa, or easy chair.
Frank walked over to the table, and began writing.
“It’s to a girl,” said Phil, in a low voice as he heard the scratching
of his friend’s pen.
“What of it?” snapped the big Californian. “I guess you would
write too if you wanted to.”
“Guess I will,” decided Phil, and soon four pens were scratching.
“Well, for cats’ sake, what’s this?” demanded Dutch Housenlager, a
little later, as he came into the room. “Is it a new literary club that
I’ve stacked up against?”
“Something like it,” remarked Tom, as he began on his fourth
page.
“Hey, what rhymes with dove?” asked Sid dreamily.
“Love, you old moon-calf!” grunted Dutch, as he backed out. “Say,
when you fellows get over being spoony, come out and have some
fun,” he added closing the door. And the scratching of the four pens
went on.

THE END
 THE BASEBALL JOE SERIES
By LESTER CHADWICK
12mo. Illustrated. Price 50 cents per volume.
Postage 10 cents additional.

1. BASEBALL JOE OF THE SILVER STARS

or The Rivals of Riverside

2. BASEBALL JOE ON THE SCHOOL NINE

or Pitching for the Blue Banner

3. BASEBALL JOE AT YALE

or Pitching for the College Championship

4. BASEBALL JOE IN THE CENTRAL LEAGUE

or Making Good as a Professional Pitcher

5. BASEBALL JOE IN THE BIG LEAGUE

or A Young Pitcher’s Hardest Struggles

6. BASEBALL JOE ON THE GIANTS

or Making Good as a Twirler in the Metropolis

7. BASEBALL JOE IN THE WORLD SERIES

or Pitching for the Championship

8. BASEBALL JOE AROUND THE WORLD

or Pitching on a Grand Tour

9. BASEBALL JOE: HOME RUN KING

or The Greatest Pitcher and Batter on Record

10. BASEBALL JOE SAVING THE LEAGUE

or Breaking Up a Great Conspiracy
11. BASEBALL JOE CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM
or Bitter Struggles on the Diamond

12. BASEBALL JOE CHAMPION OF THE LEAGUE

or The Record that was Worth While

13. BASEBALL JOE CLUB OWNER

or Putting the Home Town on the Map

14. BASEBALL JOE PITCHING WIZARD

or Triumphs Off and On the Diamond

Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue.

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York

SEA STORIES FOR BOYS

By JOHN GABRIEL ROWE
Large 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Colored jacket.
Price per volume, $1.00 Net.

Every boy who knows the lure of exploring and

who loves to rig up huts and caves and tree-
houses to fortify himself against imaginary
enemies will enjoy these books, for they give a
vivid chronicle of the doings and inventions of a
group of boys who are shipwrecked and have to
make themselves snug and safe in tropical
islands where the dangers are too real for play.
1. CRUSOE ISLAND
Dick, Alf and Fred find themselves stranded on an unknown
island with the old seaman Josh, their ship destroyed by fire,
their friends lost.

2. THE ISLAND TREASURE

With much ingenuity these boys fit themselves into the wild
life of the island they are cast upon in storm.

3. THE MYSTERY OF THE DERELICT

Their ship and companions perished in tempest at sea, the
boys are adrift in a small open boat when they spy a ship. Such
a strange vessel!—no hand guiding it, no soul on board,—a
derelict.

4. THE LIGHTSHIP PIRATES

Modern Pirates, with the ferocity of beasts, attack a lightship
crew;—recounting the adventures that befall the survivors of
that crew,—and—“RETRIBUTION.”

5. THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN IDOL

Telling of a mutiny, and how two youngsters were unwillingly
involved in one of the weirdest of treasure hunts,—and—“THE
GOLDEN FETISH.”

Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue.

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York

THE JACK RANGER SERIES

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