THE REGATTA
The late July morning that broke upon the scene of the last preparations
for Honotonka regatta promised as fine a day as heart could wish.
There was a good breeze from early morning. This was fine for the
catboat races and for the sailing canoes. Yet the breeze was not too
strong, and there was not much "sea." This latter fact made the paddling
less difficult.
The camps on Gannet Island and at Green Knoll were deserted soon after
breakfast. The Busters took their canoes aboard the _Happy Day_,
while Mr. Lavine's launch, the _Sissy Radcliffe_, carried the
girls' canoes as well as the girls themselves.
They were two merry boatloads, and the boats themselves were strung with
banners and pennants. As they shot up the sunlit lake they sighted many
other craft headed toward Braisely Park, for some contestants had come
from as far away as the Forge, at the head of the Wintinooski.
Suddenly Wyn, looking through the camp spyglass, recognized the patched
sail of the _Coquette_, the little catboat in which Polly Jarley
had come to the rescue of the two members of the Go-Ahead Club on that
memorable day.
"Polly is aboard," she told Frank Cameron, passing the glass to her
friend. "But who is the boy with her?"
"That's no boy!" declared the sharp-eyed Frankie. "Why! he's got a
mustache."
"It's never Mr. Jarley himself?" exclaimed Wyn, in surprise.
"That's exactly who it is."
"I didn't think they'd both leave the landing at the same time. Do you
suppose they have entered the _Coquette_ in the free-for-all
catboat race?"
"I shouldn't wonder. She's a fast boat if she _is_ old and
lubberly-looking. And Dr. Shelton has offered twenty-five dollars for
the winning boat."
"It takes two to work a catboat properly, too. That is the
understanding," said Wyn, thoughtfully: "a crew of two."
"Hope they win the race!" declared Frank, generously.
"So do I. And they've got Polly's birch canoe aboard. She will enter for
the girls' canoe race, I am sure."
"All right," said Frank. "If you don't win the prize in _that_, my
dear, then I hope Polly does."
"Why, I haven't a chance beside Bess, I am sure."
"That's all right. Bess is too erratic. One day she paddles well and the
next she is 'way behind. It's her temperament. She's not a steady old
warhorse like yourself, Wynnie."
"Thanks," laughed Wyn. "How about Polly? What do you call _her_?"
"I don't know. I admire her vastly," said Frank. "But Polly puzzles me.
And I haven't seen her working at the paddle much. I only know that in a
skiff she can out row any of the Busters."
"I fancy she can paddle some, too. And her canoe is as light as a
feather. All those birchbarks are."
"The judges may handicap her, then. But, hullo! what's that Dave Shepard
up to?"
Wyn turned to look at her next-door neighbor. Dave was writing upon a
slip of paper. Once he looked across at Frank and Wyn and saw that the
two girls were watching him.
He seemed confused, started as though to tear the paper up, and then hid
it under a coil of rope at his feet. But he was very particular to hide
every particle of the paper.
"What you doing there, Dave?" demanded Frank, with plain curiosity.
"Oh, nothing," responded the youth, and rose up, stretching his arms and
yawning. It was plain that he did not wish to be questioned.
"What was that paper?" pursued Frank.
"Oh--that--er----It's of no consequence," declared Dave, and walked aft
so as not to be further questioned.
"Now, he can't fool me!" cried Frank, under her breath. "It _was_
something of consequence. I--I'm going to see."
"I wouldn't," said Wyn.
"Why not?"
"Well--whatever it is, it isn't ours."
"Pooh!"
"And he evidently didn't want us to see it."
"For that very reason I am going to look," declared Frankie. And the
moment Dave was out of sight she sprang across the deck and lifted up
the rope enough to pull out the paper.
The moment she scanned it, Wyn saw Frankie's face turn very red. She
looked angry, and stamped her foot. Then she burst into a giggle, and
slid the paper back out of sight again.
She came back to her friend with a mixture of emotions expressed on her
countenance. "What do you suppose?" she demanded.
"Suppose about what?" asked Wyn.
"What do you suppose Dave wrote on that paper?"
"I give it up. Something that didn't concern us, as I told you."
"You're wrong," cried Frank, divided between wrath and amusement. "And
it's just the very _meanest_ thing!"
"Why, you excite my curiosity," admitted Wyn.
"That's what he did it for," declared Frankie.
"_What_ did he write?" cried Wyn. "Out with it."
"He wrote: 'I bet an ice-cream treat all around that your curiosity will
not permit you to leave this alone.' Now! could anything be meaner?"
"Ha, ha!" chuckled Wyn.
"Don't you see? We can't claim the treat without giving ourselves away?
I believe I'll join forces with Bess. There _is_ nothing meaner
than a boy."
"Never mind," said Wyn. "I'll find some way of making Master Dave pay
for the ice-cream treat, just the same. You see if I don't."
Soon after this the launches were sent to one side so as to leave the
course clear, and the races began. The men's and boys' canoe races were
very interesting, and Dave Shepard won a sweater, while one of the other
Busters got the second prize of a dollar for quickness in overturning
and righting a canoe.
Some "funny stunts" followed in the water, and then came a girls'
swimming race. Here the Go-Ahead girls excelled, although there were
more than a score of entries. Wyn Mallory won a two-hundred-yard,
straightaway dash, while Frank was second and Grace Hedges third in the
same race. The people who had come up from Denton cheered the girls
enthusiastically. When the parents who had been so afraid for their
daughters' safety saw how well able the girls were to take care of
themselves, their anxiety was allayed.
After these swimming contests there was an interval of two hours for
refreshments. A caterer had prepared tables of sandwiches and cold
drinks, as well as ice cream and cake, on one of the bigger docks
belonging to Braisely Park. In fact, it was Dr. Shelton's dock.
The catboat races were to follow the intermission and Wyn found that the
Jarley _Coquette_ had been entered. She ran over to the dock from
which the "cats" were to start for the line, and as she approached the
spot she heard loud voices and saw a little crowd of excited people.
The _Coquette_ was almost the only catboat left. Dr. Shelton had
backed Mr. Jarley up against a post on the wharf and, in a loud and
angry voice, was telling the unfortunate boatman what he thought of him.
"_You_ have the cheek to be in this race, John Jarley?" cried the
angry man. "I don't mind your daughter--I pity her. But I'm hanged if
I'll let a thief take part in this race--and me offering the prize. Get
out of here!"
"Hold on, Shelton!" exclaimed one of his friends. "You're going too far
when you call Jarley a thief."
"Or else you are not going far enough," chimed in another. "If you
believe Jarley stole those images--and the boat--why don't you go about
it right? Report it to the county prosecutor and have the man arrested."
"Or, if Jarley is _not_ guilty," added another, "I advise him, as a
lawyer, to sue you for damages."
"Let him sue and be hanged to him!" cried Dr. Shelton, who was a great,
rough man, twice the size of the boatman, and with all the confidence of
his great wealth, as well as his great muscle, behind him. "But he
sha'n't sail in this race."
"We'll go back home, Father----Oh, let's go back!" cried Polly, from the
cockpit of the dancing _Coquette_.
But Wyn Mallory knew that the Jarleys must have hoped to win the
twenty-five dollar prize. The _Coquette_ was being mentioned as a
possible winner among the knowing ones about the course.
"Dr. Shelton!" she cried, tugging at the angry man's arm. "Do you mind
if Polly and I sail the boat instead?"
"Eh? _You_--a girl?" grunted the doctor, "Well, why not? I've got
nothing--as I said before--against his daughter. It's the man himself
who has no business at this end of the lake. I sent him word so a month
and more ago. I ought to have him arrested."
Win thought it would be less cruel to do so, and have the matter
thrashed out in the courts. Mr. Jarley was stooping from the wharf,
whispering with Polly.
"I can help her," Wyn cried, turning to the abused boatman. "Let
me--do!"
"You are very kind, Miss Mallory," said Jarley.
The captain of the Go-Ahead Club leaped lightly down into the
_Coquette_.
"What's our number--sixteen?" she cried. "Pay off the sheet, Polly.
We're off." Then she added, in a low tone, to the weeping girl in the
stern: "Don't you mind the doctor, Polly--mean old thing! We'll win the
prize in spite of him--you see if we don't."