Part 15 (1/2)
”It wasn't half so bad as it is now,” protested Corny. ”It didn't begin to blow very hard until we got to Valcour's Island.”
”Did the Missisquoi make better weather of it than the Goldwing?” asked Dory.
”The lake didn't begin to be as rough as it was a little while ago,”
replied Corny. ”The steamer pitched tremendously, and we all had to pump after we got beyond Valcour's.”
”Do you see any thing of the Missisquoi?” asked Dory, who had been too busy to give any attention to the steamer.
”I can just see her at the south of the island. She has not got off yet,” replied Corny.
”She is under the lee of the two islands; and they can be very comfortable on board of her for the rest of the day,--a great deal more comfortable than they would be out in the lake where we have been,”
added Dory.
The Goldwing was abreast of Providence Island by this time. The waves swept furiously along the south-west sh.o.r.e of the land.
As soon as she reached the south-east point, the skipper luffed up; but the boat was not inclined to make any headway on the new course.
”Let off the centre-board, Thad,” said the skipper, as the boat began to make more leeway than headway.
Thad had got the hang of this rope; and, as the centre-board went down, the boat came up to the work. With the help of an oar and a great deal of coaxing, the skipper got her close up to the sh.o.r.e in seven feet of water. He had instructed Corny how to get the anchor overboard. The boat was entirely out of the heavy sea, though the water rose and fell under the influence of the waves which were rolling along the other side of the island.
”Here we are as safe as though we had the boat on the top of Mansfield Mountain,” said Dory, after he had secured the cable, and stowed the jib.
”I never expected to come out of it alive,” said Thad, as the skipper seated himself in the standing-room to recover from the excitement of the perilous run across the lake.
”Nor I either,” added Nat Long.
”It looked very shaky,” said Corny; ”but I didn't give it up at any time.”
”Now, really, Dory, did you expect to get out of that sc.r.a.pe?” asked Thad. ”Be honest about it, and tell us what you actually thought.”
”Of course I knew that something might break, just as I know that a horse may run away with me when I'm out riding. The wagon or the harness might break, and that would spoil the best calculation,” replied Dory.
”But, without any thing breaking, didn't you expect the boat would go to the bottom?” urged Thad.
”I didn't expect any thing of the kind. I have been out in a sailboat when it was as bad or worse than it is to-day. If nothing broke, I knew we should come out of it all right; and I never thought of such a thing as going to the bottom. It looks a good deal worse to you fellows who were never out in a sailboat when it blew hard than it really is. I didn't think there was any great danger when we started out: if I had, I shouldn't have come over,” said Dory quietly.
The members of the Goldwing Club had the idea that they had had a narrow escape, and the skipper was not inclined to allow them to make heroes of themselves. The motion of a boat in a heavy sea seems terrible to those who are not accustomed to it, and the boys were disposed to make the worst of it.
”I wouldn't try it again if you would give me the Goldwing,” said Thad with emphasis.
”After you have been through that sort of thing a few times, you will not mind it at all. It was what I call a lively time: that's all,” added Dory. ”I went down to St. John with Bill Pitts in a sailboat, and we had a rougher time than this all one day.”
Dory thought he should like the rest of his dinner by this time.
CHAPTER XIV.
EARLY IN THE MORNING.