The Rival Campers Part 28

"Who'll stay here and watch the camp?" asked Allan Harding.

"Well, I guess you'd better, now you speak of it," responded Harvey, quickly. "There ought to be somebody here, sure. Camps have a way of disappearing around here, you know, Allan," giving a huge wink as he spoke.

"I'd just as lieve stay, all right," returned Allan, a little out of humour, in spite of his a.s.surance. "But you can't win the race without me, you know. You always said I was lucky-and there's a good deal of luck in racing, after all."

"Well, we'll try to win without luck, that's all," said Harvey. "And, mind, we depend on you to have the camp still standing here when we get back. I shouldn't think it would be nice to get back and find one's camp gone, eh, Allan?"

"No," replied the other, shortly.

The crew lost no time in stowing their blankets and camp-kit aboard the _Surprise_, and, leaving Allan Harding sullenly on guard, they sailed away for Bellport.

"Looks as though something was missing thereabouts," chuckled Harvey, as they sailed past the spot where Tom's and Bob's camp had stood. "Doesn't it strike you there used to be something there that's gone now?"

This piece of humour on Harvey's part seemed to tickle the crew vastly, for they shouted with derision as they sailed by.

"Guess they must have got tired of camping there," roared Harvey, at which the others roared the louder.

Bellport, whither they were bound, lay about four miles down the coast of the mainland below Mayville. It was not so large a place as Southport, but was a favourite resort for yachtsmen, as the bay there was free of islands, and for ten or more miles there was a good sailing course.

The yacht _Surprise_ did not reach Bellport till late that night, but Harvey and his crew were up bright and early the next morning, as the race was to come off at ten o'clock, and they wished to have everything ready for it.

"Hulloa, Harvey!" called a voice from a sloop a few rods away, as the captain of the _Surprise_ came on deck.

"Hulloa, Jeff!" answered Harvey.

The speaker was Jeff Hackett, who ran a small sloop from the foot of Grand Island over to the mainland once a day to carry the mails.

"Are you in this race, too?" queried Jeff.

"Rather think I am," responded Harvey. "Think I've got any chance?"

"Looks to me as though you had," answered the other. "There are only eight yachts going to start. The others backed out because they didn't think the handicapping was fair. It's all right, though. You will have to give us fellows a trifle allowance, by just a rough measurement on the water-line; but you'll get the same from the _Bertha_ and the _Anna Maud_. They are the only boats that are bigger than yours. You want to get measured right away, too, or it will be too late."

Harvey had soon complied with the requirements of the regatta committee, as the committee of summer guests chosen to act as judges were pleased to style themselves, and shortly before the hour for the race the yacht _Surprise_ sailed out of the harbour at Bellport, and stood off and on before the starting-line with the others.

Harvey was in high feather, for, by his own estimate of the situation, he had a fair chance of winning. He knew most of the boats, either by reputation, or from having seen them sail, and the others he was able to judge of in a great measure by their general appearance.

The prize to be sailed for was a handsome silver cup, for which a subscription had been taken up among the summer residents of Bellport.

The _Bertha_, which conceded the greatest time allowance to Harvey's boat, was a handsome sloop, about four feet longer than the _Surprise_, and carrying heavy sail. She had never been considered a fast boat of her size, but, owing to the discrepancy in lengths, had to allow the _Surprise_ several minutes over the complete course of ten miles. This, as the _Surprise_ was really fast for her size and rig, would make it quite an even race.

The _Bertha_ was under charter by a party of young men from Benton, who had engaged a sailing-master to pilot her for them during the summer.

This made them an object of contempt in Harvey's eyes, and he wished all the more to "take the conceit out of them," as he expressed it.

The _Anna Maud_ was a big catboat, thirty-three feet long, carrying an enormous mainsail, and reputed to be one of the fastest boats of her size in the bay. She was owned and sailed by Captain Silas Tucker, a native of one of the islands at the foot of the western bay, that formed part of the main thoroughfare leading out to sea. He was generally accorded the distinction of being the best skipper on this part of the coast.

All the other boats, except one, were smaller than the _Surprise_. That one was the Sally, a sloop of exactly the same length as the _Surprise_, and apparently able to sail about on equal terms with her.

The starting-signal was to be a gunshot, the gun to be fired five minutes after a first warning shot. In the interval after the first shot the yachts could manuvre about the starting-line, ready to cross when the second shot was fired. As soon as the second shot was fired, it was allowable for a yacht to cross the line, and all yachts were to be timed one minute after the second gun, whether they had actually crossed the line or not. So that it was to the advantage of all nine craft to be as near the starting-line as possible at the signal, and under headway and also up to windward as far as possible.

Harvey's boldness stood him in good stead here. And, moreover, he certainly did know the working of his yacht to a nicety. After the warning gun had been fired, he made his calculations carefully, allowing for the tide which was running out to sea. The race was to be five miles straight out to windward, and a run home, off the wind. The ebb-tide, and the southerly breeze rolling a sea in to meet it, made an ugly chop, and the boats thrashed around, throwing the spray clear aboard.

Just before the second gun the relative positions of the four largest yachts were as follows: farthest up to windward was the _Surprise_; abeam of her, and a short distance to leeward, was the _Bertha_; then the _Anna Maud_, and then the _Sally_. The _Sally_, like the Surprise, had an amateur skipper, a youth of about Harvey's age.

The _Sally_ was a new boat, not long out of the s.h.i.+pyard, in fact. She was perhaps the prettiest craft there. Her hull was beautifully modelled, with a graceful overhang, bow and stern; her sails snow-white, and mast and spars were glistening. She steered with a wheel of ornamental mahogany and bra.s.s, and here and there about her cabin and furnis.h.i.+ngs bra.s.s and mahogany had been used, regardless of expense.

"Willie Grimes has us all beat for beauty," remarked Harvey, as they neared the line, "but that boat is too new for racing; that is, he's too scared for fear something will happen to her. Most everybody is that way.

I used to be scared of the _Surprise_ all the time for fear something would knock a bit of paint off somewhere. It takes about a year to get over that. He handles her as though he was afraid something was going to break. Just watch me take advantage of that."

Harvey had seen that the _Anna Maud_ and the _Bertha_ would cross the line a moment ahead of him, but he did not mind that so much, thinking his time allowance would give him more than a good chance for the race, anyway. He had selected the _Sally_ for his particular antagonist, and now prepared to get what advantage he could from the start.

Easing his sheet a trifle, he headed off the wind somewhat, allowing the two larger yachts to sail almost directly across his bows. Rus.h.i.+ng out just astern of them, and heading diagonally for the starting-line, under full headway, Harvey bore down on the _Sally_, as though he meant deliberately to run her down.

If young Willie Grimes had not been so taken by surprise and so alarmed at this move of Harvey's, he would have perceived that the manuvre was only done to try his nerve; he would have realized that as good a sailor as Harvey would not deliberately foul another yacht, when that must lose him the race, as well as the boat he fouled.

But Harvey had reckoned on the other's apprehension for his new boat, and the move was successful. Just at the point where a moment more would have sent his boom cras.h.i.+ng aboard the other yacht as he headed up into the wind, Harvey threw his yacht quickly about, Joe Hinman hauled in rapidly on the main-sheet, Tim Reardon trimmed in the jibs, and away went the _Surprise_ over the line, footing after the two other boats as fast as full sail would carry her.

At that same moment Willie Grimes, fearful of a collision, threw the _Sally_ completely off the wind, so that when he had recovered his nerve and realized that he had been imposed upon, he was so far below the boat that marked the limit of the starting-line that he had to make another tack to reach it. Before this, the last gun had been fired to mark the taking of the time, and the luckless _Sally_ crossed the line with one full minute counting against her.

The youth's face burned with indignation, and he had hard work to keep the tears from springing to his eyes.

"Bye-bye, Willie," sang out Harvey, looking back and waving his cap derisively. "Better courage next time. You don't want to mind a little paint, you know."

But the other had regained his spirits and paid no heed. "That's what yachtsmen call 'jockeying,' I guess," he said, quietly, to his two companions in the boat. "It's within the rules, so I suppose we cannot complain. That's like Harvey, from all I hear. He might have given us a fair show, though, as he knows this is my first summer running a boat by myself. Perhaps we won't be far astern of him at the finish, at that."

"You did that slick, Jack," said Joe Hinman, admiringly. "We stand a good chance of winning this race, I think, with the allowance we get."

"Didn't he scoot, though, when he saw us coming?" laughed Harvey.

"Thought his new boat was wrecked that time, sure. I've seen that trick played in big yacht races, but I never saw it work better than it did to-day, if I do say it."

The yachts were now strung out in line along the course, tacking back and forth, and making for a small naphtha launch anch.o.r.ed down the bay at the five-mile mark. They made a picturesque sight, laying well over under all their canvas and throwing the water high over their bows.

It was soon evident that the _Bertha_, take it all in all, was the best boat for working up to windward in rough water and a good breeze. The _Anna Maud_ was a very broad, beamy boat, and had a marvellous reputation for running free, but now she seemed to feel the waves more than the _Bertha_, pounding heavily and drenching every one aboard.

The _Bertha_ took the seas cleaner and headed up higher. She was evidently gaining slowly but steadily. Moreover, although she carried an enormous club-topsail and a mainsail of big area, she heeled over the least of any of the boats. She had been built for heavy weather, and this was exactly the breeze she sailed best in.

The _Surprise_ and _Sally_ were, however, holding their own remarkably well, and it would not be clear for some time which would come out the winner.

"h.e.l.lo!" exclaimed Jack Harvey, suddenly, in a tone of evident surprise.

"What on earth-or, rather, on water-is Cap'n Silas doing? Look where he is standing. I've been looking for the last few minutes to see him tack, but there he keeps on away off toward sh.o.r.e."

The _Anna Maud_ had, strange to say, gone way off the course, apparently heading well over to the westward.

"Why, Jack, don't you know," said Joe Hinman, "how we've noticed the tide over along that sh.o.r.e? It makes a swing in there and runs like a mill-sluice. Don't you remember one night how we tried to row against it, and what a time we had?"

"That's true," responded Jack Harvey, "and Cap'n Sile Tucker is clever enough to take advantage of it. He knows more about sailing in one minute than that captain of the _Bertha_ does in a week. But there must be something more in it than the tide alone. I'll tell you, the wind is changing. It's heading more and more from the westward, and Captain Sile will get the full benefit of the slant when he gets down about a mile further. He knows what he's doing. We'll just head over and follow him."

"Seems to me it's taking long chances to go so much off the course,"

remarked George Baker.