by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XIV.
EARLY IN THE MORNING.
The skipper of the Goldwing had an excellent appetite, and the othermembers of the club had regained theirs by this time.
Fortunately they had plenty of provisions, for there was nothing forthem to do but eat during the rest of the day. It continued to blow asfresh as it had since the middle of the forenoon till dark.
Dory thought it would abate at night, but there were no signs of achange. The party were pretty thoroughly tired out after the labor andthe excitement of the day. The boys gaped until they had nearly throwntheir jaws out of joint.
There was room enough in the cabin for four of the club,--two in theberths, and two on the floor between them. Dory decided to sleep in thestanding-room, where he was most likely to be waked by any change in theposition of the schooner. By eight o'clock all hands were fast asleep.Half of them had nothing better than "the soft side of a board" to sleepon, but they were too tired to need beds of down.
The skipper was the most wakeful sleeper in the party, but he slept forseveral hours without waking. When he did wake, he sprang to his feet asif conscious that he had neglected his duty as a faithful skipper. Hehad no idea of what time it was when he sprang to his feet. All wasstill around him, and the Goldwing appeared to be in precisely theposition he had left her when he turned in.
He could no longer hear the roar of the big waves as they dashed againstthe south side of the island. The violent wind had subsided, and thelake seemed to be as calm as the dream of an infant.
He looked all about him in the darkness, but there was nothing to demandhis attention. His companions were all sleeping, and some of them weresnoring, on their hard beds. Dory began to gape when there proved to beno grounds for excitement. He concluded that he could not do any betterthan finish his night's rest. Taking the most comfortable position hecould find in the standing-room, he turned in again, and was soon fastasleep.
When he woke in the morning, it was after sunrise. The rest of the clubwere still fast asleep. The skipper felt like a new man after his longrest. A gentle breeze was rippling the surface of the lake. It came fromthe westward, and the promise was that the day would be fine. Withoutcalling his companions, he loosed the sails, and turned out the reefsfrom the fore and main sails. He laced on the bonnet of the jib, andshipped the short tiller, instead of the long one he had used the daybefore.
So far he had not seen how the sails set when all spread, and he wasinterested in his present operation. He hoisted the mainsail. It was notso large but that he could handle the throat and peak halyards at thesame time. He was entirely satisfied with the set of this sail. The setof the foresail pleased him equally well.
The anchor-rope was rove through a block made fast near the heel of thebowsprit, so that the anchor could be weighed without any difficulty. Hesucceeded in getting it up without waking his shipmates, though he tookno especial pains to avoid arousing them. They had got up at fouro'clock the morning before, and probably had not slept much lest theyshould oversleep themselves, and lose the excursion to Plattsburgh.
Dory hoisted the jib. He was delighted with the appearance of theGoldwing with all sail set. There was hardly a puff of air behind theisland, and it was some time before he got fairly under way. But heenjoyed the sight of the boat so much, that he was in no haste to gethome. So far as he knew, his mother supposed that he was still waitingon the table in the cabin of the steamer; and she could not be anxiousabout him. He had not heard of the loss of the Au Sable, and he had nosuspicion that his father was not still piloting her up and down thelake.
After a while he succeeded in getting to the southward of ProvidenceIsland, so that he could catch the breeze from across the lake. He gotjust enough to fill the sails; and this afforded him the opportunity totest the working of the boat after he had shifted the ballast, andchanged the position of the foremast. There was hardly wind enough fora fair test, but he was delighted to find that the boat carried aweather helm.
As he went farther out from the land, he got more breeze; and the resultwas entirely satisfactory. Indeed, he had been practically sure that hecould remedy the defect in the working of the Goldwing before he boughther. If he failed to do so, he had thrown his money away; for partieswould not employ him if he had an unsafe boat. He intended to invite twoor three prominent boatmen to sail with him when he had put the boat infirst-rate condition, and get their opinion as to her safety and hersailing qualities.
Dory was so much absorbed in the beautiful appearance of the Goldwing,that he neglected to do what an old sailor is continually doing whenafloat. He had not looked about him to see what beside the Goldwing wasafloat on the lake. He had headed the boat to the south, so as to passto the west of Stave Island. He was looking ahead, and dreaming of thefuture.
In the quiet of the still morning he heard a puffing sound at adistance. He turned to see what it was, and discovered a small steamerabout a mile to the westward of him. He had seen a boat in thatdirection when he came out from behind the island, but he took no noticeof her. He had forgotten all about the Missisquoi: he had not eventhought to look and see if she was still aground on the Garden Islandshoal.
The sight of the little steamer, like a dozen others on the lake,reminded him of his pursuer of the day before. He looked with interestin the direction of Garden Island. The Missisquoi was not there. She hadgot out of that scrape. Then he noticed that the little steamer in themiddle of the lake was headed directly for the Goldwing. She looked justlike his late pursuer.
Dory was rather excited at the thought of a continuance of the chase;for with the light breeze he had no chance at all, and he did not liketo come in collision with Pearl Hawlinshed. He looked the boat over verycarefully. He had often sailed in her, and steered her; but she was toofar off for him to be entirely sure in regard to her identity. But hewas confident that it was the Missisquoi.
Certainly Pearl Hawlinshed had some very strong motive for continuingthe chase a second day. What could he want of him? Dory concluded thathe either expected to recover the Goldwing, or that he connected him insome manner with his father. Whatever his motive, Dory did not want tosee him.
He was confident that the steamer he saw was the Missisquoi, and thatPearl was still in pursuit of him. He had led the steamer into a trapthe day before, and possibly he might do it again. He could at least runinto shoal-water, where the Missisquoi could not follow him. He wasfamiliar with the soundings in all parts of the lake, for his father hadinstructed him in the navigation.
Dory was assured that the wind would freshen as the sun rose higher; butit would make little difference to him how much wind there was by andby, if the steamer overhauled him before it came. He thought he wasmaking about four miles an hour, but the steamer was good for at leastsix. She had a mile to gain, and that would take her ten minutes.Following out the calculation, Dory thought the steamer would overhaulhim in fifteen minutes. In that time he could make a mile.
"Hallo, Dory! You are up and dressed," exclaimed Thad Glovering,thrusting his head out at the cabin-door.
"Dry up, Thad! I am busy now," replied Dory impatiently; for he was inthe midst of his calculation of what he should do to avoid theMissisquoi.
"You don't seem to be doing any thing, Dory," added Thad, as his bodyfollowed his head out at the door.
"Don't disturb me, please, but call the fellows. I want them in thestanding-room, so as to trim the boat, and make her sail better,"answered the skipper, as he went on with his calculation.
He had time to make only a mile before the steamer would be down uponhim. He was about abreast of Stave Island now. Less than a mile south ofit were two ledges, on which the water was not more than six feet deep.Going to the southward, vessels must keep Juniper Light open to thewestward of Colchester Reef Light, in order to avoid these reefs. Therewere no buoys on them, for they lay outside of any usual course ofvessels bound up and down the lake.
The experience of the Missisquoi in getting aground the day before w
ouldrender her pilot wary about following the Goldwing. The two reefs werehalf a mile apart; and the pursuer must either keep away from them, orrun the risk of getting aground on one of them. The Goldwing could goover either of them in perfect safety, for she drew only three feet withher board up.
Dory was satisfied with his calculation, and he was reasonably confidentthat the Missisquoi would not get within a quarter of a mile of theGoldwing; but, if this expedient failed, he had another to which heintended to resort.
The other members of the club had come out into the standing-room, andseated themselves as they had been required to do the day before. Theywere all wide awake; but they had been cautioned by Thad not to disturbthe skipper, and they were silent till he spoke to them.
"You have come to life again, fellows," said he when he had fullyarranged his plan.
"So have you, Dory," replied Corny. "Thad said we were not to speak toyou, or we should bust your calculations. We all thought you had theblues."
"I suppose you know the steamer that is following the Goldwing," repliedDory. "It is the Missisquoi, and she is after us again to-day. I havebeen thinking how we should keep out of her way."
"How are you going to do it?" asked Corny. "We may enjoy the fun if weknow something about it."
The skipper explained his plan in full, and his companions were quiteinterested in it. There was no chance for a race while only a four-knotbreeze favored the Goldwing. With a good stiff breeze the skipperbelieved he could beat the steamer; but, in the absence of such a wind,he must resort to strategy. But strategy was quite as exciting to hiscompanions as a race. It afforded the opportunity for one craft to comeout better than the other.
The wind was sensibly freshening, but the Goldwing did not need any morewind just then. She was almost up with Stave Island Ledge, and herskipper was disposed to wait and see what his pursuer would do. As heapproached the dangerous reef,--dangerous to any craft drawing more thanfive feet,--he started his sheets, and stood to the eastward of therocks.
The Missisquoi was within an eighth of a mile of the Goldwing, and theskipper saw that Captain Vesey was at the wheel. He seemed to know aboutthe reef, and sheered off. Probably he had discovered by this time thatPearl Hawlinshed knew even less than he did about the difficulties ofnavigation in Lake Champlain.