Chapter 12

THE BEGINNING OF THE CHASE.

"Goldwing, ahoy!" shouted Pearl Hawlinshed from the bow of the Missisquoi. "I want you, Dory Dornwood!"

The skipper of the Goldwing decided to take no notice of the dangerous man. The other members of the club were so deeply interested in filling their empty stomachs that they gave no attention to the call of Pearl. The provisions had been taken into the cuddy, and Corny was helping his companions. Those who were not in the cabin were sitting on the floor of the standing room, and they could not see the Missisquoi.

"Don't you hear me? I say, I want to see you, Dory Dornwood!" shouted Pearl again with all his might.

Dory could see that those in charge of the Missisquoi were not managing the chase very well. Instead of steering the steamer to a point ahead of the Goldwing, Captain Vesey had run her directly for her. If the schooner had come to when directed to do so, as the captain of her evidently expected, it would have been all right. As it was, the Goldwing had made the eighth of a mile by the blunder.

Dory had practically intimated to his pursuer, that, if he wanted him, he must come after him. He knew that the steamer could not make more than eight miles an hour at her best, and she was not likely to do as well as this in the heavy sea of the lake out from the shore. The skipper of the Goldwing did not expect to outsail the Missisquoi under his present short sail.

When Pearl saw that Dory had no intention of coming to and waiting for him to go on board of the schooner, he called to Captain Vesey to follow the Goldwing. Instead of doing so, he rang his bell to stop the engine. Dory could not hear what passed between the captain and his passenger; but he was aware that an animated discussion was in progress on board of the steamer.

The Goldwing was certainly behaving very well for a boat with such a bad reputation. Dory had been gaining confidence in her ability every moment of the time since she left the breakwater. It was evident to him that sailing on the wind was her weak point, or rather her dangerous one. But she had the wind on her port quarter at present; and Dory did not care to run her directly before the wind, as he would have been obliged to do if he had taken a direct course for Burlington.

The skipper no longer doubted the ability of the Goldwing to cross the lake, violent as the sea was at a distance from the shore. He headed her for Garden Island, nearly half a mile south of Valcour's Island, which sheltered the boat from the full force of the strong wind. From Garden Island to Providence Island, off the south-western extremity of South Hero, it was only two miles and a half. Not more than half of this distance would be through the roughest water; for Valcour's sheltered a considerable portion of the course.

Dory wondered what the discussion between the captain and the passenger of the Missisquoi was all about. He judged that the master of the steamer was not willing to follow the Goldwing any farther. He hoped they would continue the dispute for a while longer. If they did, he should be out of their reach in a short time; for he was confident the schooner was making at least six miles an hour.

But the skipper was not to be fully gratified; for the next time he looked about at the steamer, she was under way again, and with her bow pointed to the Goldwing. She was half a mile astern of the schooner, and this was a considerable distance for her to gain. But Dory began to feel the excitement of the race, for it was evident that there was to be a race.

The high land at the southern end of Valcour's Island was making it altogether too mild for the Goldwing, for the Missisquoi was evidently gaining very rapidly upon her. Dory started the sheets, and ran to the southward, where he could get more wind. The steamer promptly changed her course, and followed the schooner. It was plain that Captain Vesey or Pearl Hawlinshed, whichever was managing the steamer, had no idea of using any thing like tact or stratagem in the chase. Probably the pilot did not consider that any thing of the kind was necessary, and that the steamer ought to overhaul the sailboat simply by outsailing her.

By this time the other members of the Goldwing Club had eaten all they could, and their occupation became uninteresting. Corny put the provisions into a locker in the cabin, and there was enough left for two or three meals more. First one stood up, and then another, until all had taken a view of the Missisquoi.

"The steamer is chasing you, Dory," said Thad, as though he had made a discovery. "She is following us with all her might."

"I know it," replied Dory, looking behind him at the steamer.

"What is she chasing us for?" asked Corny.

"She wants to catch us," added Dory.

"Is it to find out whether she can beat the Goldwing?" asked Nat. "She's a steamer, and she ought to beat her every time."

"Perhaps she ought to, but I don't intend that she shall."

"You don't expect to run away from a steamer, do you, Dory?" said Dick Short.

"I don't expect to let her catch us; but it will depend upon how fast that steamer can go," added Dory.

"But what does she want to catch us for, Dory?" persisted Corny, repeating the question he had put before.

"I thought I told you about it. The man in the bow wanted to buy the Goldwing. I bid over him, and got the boat. That made him mad. This is all I know about the reason for his chasing us. He is a wicked fellow, and I think he means to do me harm. All I want to do is to keep out of his way," replied Dory. "I don't know what he wants of me, and you are just as wise as I am. We won't say any thing more about that matter."

"Of course he will catch you," added Thad. "Who ever heard of such a thing as a sailboat running away from a steamer?"

"No matter whether we ever heard of such a thing or not, we are going to try it now," replied Dory. "But I can't have you fellows flying about all over the boat any longer. Two of you sit on each side of me, and I think there will be fun in this thing before we get through with it."

"All right, Dory: you are the captain of this ship, and we will do just what you say," replied Corny.

The boys disposed of themselves as the skipper directed, and sat as still as they could, which was not saying much. But Dory was satisfied that they would keep still enough as soon as the boat got a little more to the eastward, where she would feel the full force of the strong breeze.

"She is gaining on us, Dory," said Thad; and he and his companions were watching the Missisquoi all the time. They were beginning to get excited over the race, though they seemed to be sure that it would soon come to an end by the steamer overtaking the Goldwing.

"I expect her to gain on us while we are here in still water; but I think she will roll a great deal more than the Goldwing when we get out into the lake," replied Dory.

"Creation! didn't she roll coming over from Burlington?" exclaimed Corny. "I thought she was going to roll clear over. Mr. Button the engineer said Captain Vesey did not know how to handle her."

"Don't you expect that the Goldwing will roll in the big waves?" asked Thad.

"Of course she will; but she sits lighter on the water than that steamer, and she won't dive into the waves so deep. But wait, and we shall soon see what we can do," replied Dory. "You fellows have eaten all you can, and I have not had any thing since my breakfast early this morning."

"I will steer for you, Dory, while you eat your dinner," proposed Corny.

"Did you ever steer a sailboat, Corny?" asked Dory with a smile.

"I never did; but I think I can do it," replied the volunteer.

"I would rather have you make a beginning when it don't blow quite so hard. If the Goldwing is going to upset, I want to know how it is done."

No one in the party had ever sailed a boat, and the skipper was not willing to resign the helm to any of them. At his request Corny brought him something to eat, and he disposed of it while he kept his place at the helm. By the time he had finished his first slice of ham, and a corresponding portion of bread and cheese, the Goldwing was up with Garden Island. The skipper, for his own purposes, had run to the west of it. Although he felt like disposing of another slice of ham, he was too much interested in his occupation to attend further to the question of rations just then.

Dory did not tell his companions what he had been thinking about; but he hoped to leave the Missisquoi at this point, or to get a better start of her. He preferred to explain his plan after he had carried it out if it were a success, or to keep silent if it were a failure. He watched the Missisquoi very closely, for his own movements would depend upon hers. There was plenty of water to the northward of the island, but there was a shoal to the southward.

If the captain of the steamer had been wise, if he had had his eyes open, he would have kept to the eastward; but he followed directly in the wake of the Goldwing, and was within less than a quarter of a mile of her.

"Do you know how much water the Missisquoi draws, Thad?" asked Dory, as the Goldwing came up with the island.

"I heard Captain Vesey say that she drew six feet when she had her coal in," replied Thad.

"I heard him say so when we were off Apple-Tree Shoal," added Corny. "I asked him why he didn't go close up to the buoy; and he said there was not more than six feet of water on the shoal, and the boat might touch bottom."

"I thought she didn't draw over five feet. If she draws six, so much the better," added Dory.

"Why is it so much the better, Dory?" asked Thad.

"Hold on all, and don't ask any more questions!" said Dory, laughing. "I have business on my hands just now, and I will tell you all about it in about ten minutes."

The skipper had gybed the boat under the lee of Valcour's; but the wind was too fresh where he was now to repeat the manoeuvre. It was a gale in this part of the lake, and the Goldwing worked very lively.

"Corny, I want you to handle that jib-sheet," said he when he was ready for his next move.

"But I don't know how," pleaded Corny.

"Do what I tell you, and do it in a hurry when I give the word. This is the jib-sheet, fast to this cleat. When I shift the helm, the jib will shake. Haul in upon it as fast as you can, and get all you can, and keep it when you get it. I shall do the same with the main-sheet."

The skipper put the helm down.