Wyn's Camping Days; Or, The Outing of the Go-Ahead Club

by Amy Bell Marlowe

  CHAPTER XIX

  UNDER WHITE WINGS

  Already the catboats were getting off from the starting line, inrotation of numbers and about two minutes apart. The course was tenmiles (or thereabout) straightaway to the stake-boat, set far out in thelake--quite out of sight from the decks of the boats about the startingpoint--and turning that, to beat back. The wind was free, but not toostrong. The out-and-return course would prove the boats themselves andthe seamanship of their crews.

  Being a free-for-all race, there had been brought together some prettyodd-looking craft beside the smart, new boats belonging to dwellers inBraisely Park. But the Jarleys' boat was by no means the worst-looking.

  However, it attracted considerable attention because it was the onlycatboat "manned" by girls.

  Wynifred Mallory had done this on impulse, and it was not usual for herto act in such a way. But her parents had gone home and she had nobodyto ask permission of but Mrs. Havel--and she did not really know wherethe Go-Aheads' chaperone was.

  Beside, there wasn't time to ask. The catboats were already gettingunder way. The _Coquette_ was almost the last to start. Wyn was notat all afraid of the task before her, for she had helped Dave sail hiscousin's catboat on the Wintinooski many times. She knew how to 'tendsheet.

  The Go-Aheads and Busters recognized Wyn, and began to cheer her andPolly before the _Coquette_ came to the line. Other onlookerscaught sight of the two girls, and whether they knew the crew of the_Coquette_ or not, gave them a good "send-off."

  Polly had accepted Wyn's help quietly, but with a look that Wyn was notlikely to forget. It meant much to the Jarleys if the _Coquette_won the twenty-five dollars. They needed every dollar they couldhonestly earn.

  The boatman's daughter did not stop then to thank her friend. Insteadshe gave her brief, but plain, instructions as to what she was to do,and Wyn went about her work in a practical manner.

  The catboat was sixteen feet over all, with its mast stepped wellforward, of course, carrying a large fore-and-aft sail with gaff andboom. A single person _can_ sail a cat all right; but to get speedout of one, and manoeuver quickly, it takes a sheet-tender as well asa steersman.

  "Sixteen!" shouted the starter's assistant through his megaphone, andPolly brought the _Coquette_ about and shot towards the starter'sboat.

  The boatman's girl had held off some distance from the line. NumberFifteen had just crossed and was now swooping away on her first tacktoward the distant stake-boat. The momentum the _Coquette_ obtainedracing down to the line was what Polly wanted.

  "Go!" shouted the starter, looking at his watch and comparing it withthe timekeeper's.

  The _Coquette_ flashed past the line of motor-boats and smallercraft that lined the course for some distance. The course was not verywell policed and one of the small steamers, with a party ofexcursionists aboard, got right in the way of the racing boats.

  "Look out, Wynnie!" shouted Polly. "I'm going to tack to pass thoseboats."

  Wyn fell flat on the decked-over portion of the _Coquette_, and theboom swung across. With gathering speed the catboat flew on and on.Although her sail was patched, and she was shabby-looking in theextreme, the _Coquette_ showed her heels that day to many handsomercraft.

  The various boats raced with each other--first one ahead, and thenanother. There were not many important changes in the positions of thecontesting boats, however, until the stake-boat was reached.

  But Number Sixteen passed Thirteen, Fifteen, and Twelve for good andall, before five miles of the course were sailed. The _Coquette_,when once she had dropped an opponent behind, never was caught by it.

  Wyn was on the _qui vive_ every moment. She sprang to obey CaptainPolly's commands, and the latter certainly knew how to sail a catboat.She never let an advantage slip. She tacked at just the right time. Yetshe sailed very little off the straight course.

  The motor boats and steamboats came hooting after the racing catboatsthat their passengers might have a good view of the contest. Theseoutside boats were a deal of a nuisance, and two of the tail-enders inthe race dropped out entirely because of the closeness of the pleasureboats' pursuit.

  THE _COQUETTE_ SHOT OVER THE COURSE, LIKE A GREATSWOOPING BIRD. _Page 212._]"But they couldn't win anyway," Polly confided to Wynifred. "Get abucket of water, dear. Dip it right up. That's right! Now throw it onthe sail. Another! Another! It will hold the wind better if it is wet."

  "What a scheme!" cried Wyn. "Oh, Polly! I wish you lived in Denton andwent to our school and belonged to the Go-Ahead Club."

  But Polly only shook her head. That was beyond the reach of possibilityfor her, she believed. But she thanked Wyn for suggesting it.

  Neither girl let her attention to the present business fail, however.They were on their mettle, being the only girls in the race.

  Some of the other crews had jollied them at the start; but the old_Coquette_ passed first one and then another of the competingboats, and none of the other craft passed her.

  Because of the fact that the boats had started about two minutes apartit was rather difficult to tell which was really winning. The leadingboats were still far ahead when the _Coquette_ rounded thestake-boat.

  Polly took the turn as shortly as any craft in the race--and as cleanly.The _Coquette_ made a long leg of her first tack, then a short one.Whereas it seemed as though at first the other craft were crowding Pollyand Wyn close, in a little while the _Coquette_ was shown to beamong the flock of leading craft!

  "Only Numbers One, Three, Four, Seven, and Nine ahead of us, PollyJolly!" reported Wynifred. "And we're Sixteen! Why, it's wonderful! Weare sailing two lengths to one of some of them, I verily believe!"

  "But Conningsby's _Elf_, and the _Pretty Sue_ are goodsailers--I've watched 'em," said Polly. "And the _Waking Up_ issplendidly manned. If our sail would only hold the wind! It's a regularold sieve."

  Wyn splashed bucket after bucket of water into the bellying sail. On thelong tacks the _Coquette_ shot over the course like a great,swooping bird. When she passed near one of the excursion boats thespectators cheered the two girls vociferously.

  Half-way back to the starting boat the _Happy Day_, into which theGo-Aheads and all the Busters had piled, shot alongside the racingcatboat manned by the two girls, and from that point on their friends"rooted" for the _Coquette_.

  The _Coquette_ passed Numbers Seven and Nine; It did seem as thoughshe must have sailed the course fast enough to bring her well up amongthe leaders, so many higher numbers than her own had been passed.

  But Wyn and Polly were not sure, when they crossed the line, how theystood in the race.