UNDER WHITE WINGS
Already the catboats were getting off from the starting line, in
rotation of numbers and about two minutes apart. The course was ten
miles (or thereabout) straightaway to the stake-boat, set far out in the
lake--quite out of sight from the decks of the boats about the starting
point--and turning that, to beat back. The wind was free, but not too
strong. The out-and-return course would prove the boats themselves and
the seamanship of their crews.
Being a free-for-all race, there had been brought together some pretty
odd-looking craft beside the smart, new boats belonging to dwellers in
Braisely Park. But the Jarleys' boat was by no means the worst-looking.
However, it attracted considerable attention because it was the only
catboat "manned" by girls.
Wynifred Mallory had done this on impulse, and it was not usual for her
to act in such a way. But her parents had gone home and she had nobody
to ask permission of but Mrs. Havel--and she did not really know where
the Go-Aheads' chaperone was.
Beside, there wasn't time to ask. The catboats were already getting
under way. The _Coquette_ was almost the last to start. Wyn was not
at all afraid of the task before her, for she had helped Dave sail his
cousin's catboat on the Wintinooski many times. She knew how to 'tend
sheet.
The Go-Aheads and Busters recognized Wyn, and began to cheer her and
Polly before the _Coquette_ came to the line. Other onlookers
caught 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 not
likely to forget. It meant much to the Jarleys if the _Coquette_
won the twenty-five dollars. They needed every dollar they could
honestly earn.
The boatman's daughter did not stop then to thank her friend. Instead
she 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 well
forward, of course, carrying a large fore-and-aft sail with gaff and
boom. A single person _can_ sail a cat all right; but to get speed
out of one, and manoeuver quickly, it takes a sheet-tender as well as
a steersman.
"Sixteen!" shouted the starter's assistant through his megaphone, and
Polly brought the _Coquette_ about and shot towards the starter's
boat.
The boatman's girl had held off some distance from the line. Number
Fifteen had just crossed and was now swooping away on her first tack
toward the distant stake-boat. The momentum the _Coquette_ obtained
racing down to the line was what Polly wanted.
"Go!" shouted the starter, looking at his watch and comparing it with
the timekeeper's.
The _Coquette_ flashed past the line of motor-boats and smaller
craft that lined the course for some distance. The course was not very
well policed and one of the small steamers, with a party of
excursionists aboard, got right in the way of the racing boats.
"Look out, Wynnie!" shouted Polly. "I'm going to tack to pass those
boats."
Wyn fell flat on the decked-over portion of the _Coquette_, and the
boom swung across. With gathering speed the catboat flew on and on.
Although her sail was patched, and she was shabby-looking in the
extreme, the _Coquette_ showed her heels that day to many handsomer
craft.
The various boats raced with each other--first one ahead, and then
another. There were not many important changes in the positions of the
contesting boats, however, until the stake-boat was reached.
But Number Sixteen passed Thirteen, Fifteen, and Twelve for good and
all, 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 Captain
Polly'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. Yet
she sailed very little off the straight course.
The motor boats and steamboats came hooting after the racing catboats
that their passengers might have a good view of the contest. These
outside boats were a deal of a nuisance, and two of the tail-enders in
the race dropped out entirely because of the closeness of the pleasure
boats' pursuit.
[Illustration: THE _COQUETTE_ SHOT OVER THE COURSE, LIKE A GREAT
SWOOPING BIRD. _Page 212._]
"But they couldn't win anyway," Polly confided to Wynifred. "Get a
bucket of water, dear. Dip it right up. That's right! Now throw it on
the 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 and
went to our school and belonged to the Go-Ahead Club."
But Polly only shook her head. That was beyond the reach of possibility
for 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 competing
boats, and none of the other craft passed her.
Because of the fact that the boats had started about two minutes apart
it was rather difficult to tell which was really winning. The leading
boats were still far ahead when the _Coquette_ rounded the
stake-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 Polly
and Wyn close, in a little while the _Coquette_ was shown to be
among the flock of leading craft!
"Only Numbers One, Three, Four, Seven, and Nine ahead of us, Polly
Jolly!" reported Wynifred. "And we're Sixteen! Why, it's wonderful! We
are sailing two lengths to one of some of them, I verily believe!"
"But Conningsby's _Elf_, and the _Pretty Sue_ are good
sailers--I've watched 'em," said Polly. "And the _Waking Up_ is
splendidly manned. If our sail would only hold the wind! It's a regular
old sieve."
Wyn splashed bucket after bucket of water into the bellying sail. On the
long tacks the _Coquette_ shot over the course like a great,
swooping bird. When she passed near one of the excursion boats the
spectators cheered the two girls vociferously.
Half-way back to the starting boat the _Happy Day_, into which the
Go-Aheads and all the Busters had piled, shot alongside the racing
catboat 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 though
she must have sailed the course fast enough to bring her well up among
the leaders, so many higher numbers than her own had been passed.
But Wyn and Polly were not sure, when they crossed the line, how they
stood in the race.