Adventure stories; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Sailing -- Juvenile fiction; Ship captains -- Juvenile fiction
The members of the Goldwing Club settled down in the most comfortable
places they could find. A couple of them took possession of the berths
in the cuddy, and two others stretched themselves on the seats in the
standing-room. They were not so wild as Captain Vesey had reported them
to be on the passage from Burlington. They were faint and hungry; for it
was now nearly noon, and the voyagers in the Missisquoi had fasted the
greater part of twenty-four hours.
The Goldwing was under the lee of the land, where there was no sea; but
the wind came in very sharp puffs, as the openings in the shore exposed
the boat to the unsteady blast. But she carried so little sail that she
went along very easily, and showed no more tendency to upset than any
well-built boat would in such puffy weather. The party on board saw
nothing in her behavior to warrant the bad reputation she had
established.
Three miles brought the boat to Bluff Point; and the shore was so
elevated here, that the skipper stood farther out into the lake so that
he might not lose the wind. The Goldwing behaved so well, that Dory was
beginning to have a great deal of confidence in her, so that he did not
hesitate to venture farther from the shore.
The schooner appeared to be making about six miles an hour. Passing
between Valcour's Island and the main land, the Goldwing arrived at
Port Jackson inside of an hour; but, before the boat entered the little
bay on which the port is situated, the boys had another sensation. Dory
had hardly thought of looking astern in the run of the Goldwing down
from Plattsburgh.
"There's a steamer coming down the same way we did," said Dick Short, as
he rose from his place on the seat, just as the schooner was going into
the port. "It looks just like the Missisquoi."
"It is the Missisquoi," added Thad, after he had surveyed the boat.
"It certainly looks like her," said Dory, who was trying to make out
what this appearance meant.
His companions had told him the destination of the Missisquoi; and he
was satisfied that she could have no business in this part of the lake,
as she was to be used in towing lumber in the north. He had seen the
little steamer go up to the wharf where the Goldwing lay. He could not
get rid of the idea that her present trip to the southward was in some
way connected with him, and that Pearl Hawlinshed was on board of her.
But he could not disappoint the hungry clubbists again, and he ran the
schooner into the bay. He immediately informed his passengers that he
could remain at the port but a few minutes. He was going up to the store
to obtain provisions for the boat, and would give them something to eat
as soon as she was under way again. Then it appeared that only one of
them had any money,--Corny Minkfield, whose mother had given him
permission to make the trip over to Plattsburgh,--and he had only half a
dollar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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