"How much fin have we down, d.i.c.k?" asked the skipper.

The mate of the Maud rushed to the cabin, where the line attached to the centre-board was made fast, and reported on its condition.

"Haul up a little more," continued Donald. "Steady! Not the whole of it, but nearly all."

"It is down about six inches now."

"That will do."

For a few moments all hands were still, watching with intense interest the progress of the race. The commodore, in the Skylark, was evidently doing his level best, for he was running away from the Sea Foam and the Phantom.

"Bravo, Don John!" exclaimed the excited Mr. Norwood. "You are a full length ahead! I am willing to sign the contract with Ramsay & Son to build the yacht for me."

"Don't be too fast, sir. We are not out of the woods yet, and shall not be for some time."

"I am satisfied we are going to beat the Skylark."

"Beat her all to pieces!" added Frank Norwood. "She is doing it as easily as though she were used to it."

"I give you the order to build the yacht," said Mr. Norwood.

"Thank you, sir; but I would rather wait till this race is finished before I take the job. We may be beaten yet--badly beaten, too. There are a dozen things that may use us up. The tide is not up, so that I can't play off the dodge I did in the Sea Foam; and if I could, Bob Montague is up to it."

"There is no need of any dodge of any sort," replied Mr. Norwood. "We are beating the Skylark without manoeuvring; and that is the fairest way in the world to do it."

"This is plain sailing, sir; and the Skylark's best point is on the wind. For aught I know, the Maud may do the best with a free wind," said Donald; and he had well nigh shuddered when he thought of the difference in yachts in this respect.

"It may be so; but we are at least two lengths ahead of her now."

"Over three," said Kennedy.

"So much the better," laughed Mr. Norwood. "The more we gain with the wind free, the less we shall have to make on the wind."

"But really, sir, this running down here almost before the wind is nothing," protested Donald, who felt that his pa.s.senger was indulging in strong expectations, which might not be realized. "The tug of war will come when we go about. We have to beat almost dead to windward; and it may be the Maud has given us her best point off the wind."

"You don't expect her to fail on the wind--do you, Don John."

"No, sir; I don't expect her to fail, for she did first rate yesterday, when we tried her. She looked the breeze almost square in the face: but I can't tell how she will do in comparison with the Skylark. Of course I don't expect the Maud to be beaten; but I don't want you to get your hopes up so high, that you can't bear a disappointment."

"We will try to bear it; but Frank don't want a yacht that is sure to be beaten," added Mr. Norwood.

"Then perhaps it is fortunate I didn't take the job, when you offered to give it to me."

"But I think the Maud will win the race," persisted the confident gentleman.

"So do I; but it is always best to have an anchor out to windward."

"Bully for you, Don John!" shouted Kennedy, after the yacht had crossed the channel where the sea was very rough and choppy. "You made a good bit in the last quarter of an hour, and we are a dozen lengths ahead of her."

"Surely she can never gain that distance upon us!" exclaimed Mr.

Norwood.

"It is quite possible, sir. I have known a boat to get a full mile ahead of another before the wind, and then be beaten by losing it all, and more too, going to windward. I expect better things than that of the Maud; but she may disappoint me. She is only making her reputation now."

Donald watched his "sight" ahead all the time, and had not seen the Skylark for half an hour. The party was silent again for a while, but the Maud dashed furiously on her course, now and then burying her rail, while the water shot up through the lee scupper-holes into the standing-room. But d.i.c.k Adams, who was a natural mechanic, was making a pair of plugs to abate this nuisance.

"Turtle Head!" exclaimed Rodman, who, though he had said but little, watched the movements of the yacht with the most intense delight and excitement.

"We are a square quarter of a mile ahead of the Skylark," said Kennedy.

"Business will be good with us, Don John, after this."

"Give her a little more main-sheet, Kennedy," was the skipper's reply, as the yacht pa.s.sed the Head, and he kept her away a little.

"Eleven thirty," mused Mr. Norwood, who had taken out his gold watch, and noted the moment when the Maud pa.s.sed the headland.

"Now, mind your eye, all hands!" shouted Donald, as the Maud approached the north-east point of Long Island, where he had to change her course from south-east to south, which involved the necessity, with the wind north-west, of gybing, or coming about head to the wind.

It would take a small fraction of a minute to execute the latter manoeuvre; and as the sails were now partially sheltered under the lee of the land, the bold skipper determined to gybe. Kennedy had early notice of his intention, and had laid the spare sheet where it would not foul anybody's legs. He hauled in all he could with the help of the mate and others.

"Now, over with it," said Donald, as he put the helm down.

The huge mainsail fluttered and thrashed for an instant, and then flew over. Kennedy, who had been careful to catch a turn in the rope, held fast when the sail "fetched up" on the other tack, and then the yacht rolled her rail under on the port side.

"Let off the sheet, lively!" cried Donald.

"That's what I'm doing," replied the stout ship carpenter, paying off the sheet very rapidly, so as to break the shock.

"Steady! belay! Now draw jib there."

As d.i.c.k Adams cast off the weather sheet in the new position, Mr.

Norwood hauled in the lee. For a short distance the Maud had the wind on her starboard quarter; then the sheets were hauled in, and she took it on the beam, till she was up with the buoy on Stubbs Point Ledge, which she was to round, leaving it on the port. The ledge was not far from the land, on which was a considerable bluff, so that the wind had not more than half its force. In rounding the buoy, it was necessary to gybe again; and it was done without shaking up the yacht half so much as at the north-east point.

"Now comes the pull," said Donald, as the Maud rounded the buoy. "Stand by your sheets! Now brace her up! Give her the whole of the board, d.i.c.k."

Donald put the helm down; the jib and mainsail were trimmed as flat as it was judicious to have them; and the Maud was close-hauled, standing up to the northward. The skipper was careful not to cramp her by laying too close to the wind. He was an experienced boatman, and he governed himself more by the feeling of the craft under him than by his sight. He could shut his eyes, and tell by the pressure of the tiller in his hand whether she was cramped, or was going along through the water.

"Did you get the time when the Skylark pa.s.sed the Head, Mr. Norwood?"

asked Donald.

"No; you made things so lively, I hadn't time to look," replied the gentleman. "I should like to know just how many minutes we are ahead of her."

"I think I can tell you, sir," added the skipper, with a smile.

"How many?"

"How many do you think, sir?"

"Five or six."