"You ought to be able to handle your own boat better than any one else can. You have sailed her more than any other person, and a boat is something like a horse, and does better in the hands of one who is used to her." "I bought the Silver Moon last year, and got a man to show me how to manage her. I was out in her every day last summer, but I never went out when it blew very hard. Folks say it is dangerous sailing on Lake Champlain, there are so many currents and flaws from the hills." "There is no doubt about the flaws and currents, but I look upon them as bugbears. A skipper must keep his craft in hand all the time, and then he is ready for flaws and squalls." "One of the girls has taken your place at the stroke oar, Dory," said Paul, who was watching the barges as they began to move over the savage waves. "So I see," replied Dory. "Dick is coaching her, and I have no doubt she will make good my absence." "It is Susy Wellington; and she knows how to row better than most of the men," added Paul. At this moment, the acting skipper went in stays, and though he had given her a good full, he had some doubts about her; but she came up to the wind handsomely, and went on the port tack as promptly as the Goldwing could have done it. As she filled away, she heeled over till her washboard was almost buried; but she righted a little in a moment, and dashed off on her course like a racehorse. She rose and fell on the waves, with her gunwale under all the time, but with eight inches of washboard above the water. The wind was rather flawy, and, of course, the boat heeled over more when the puffs struck her, so that most of the washboard was sometimes under water. But the sloop, in her altered trim, was as steady as an old horse on a smooth road. As the Silver Moon was close-hauled, she struck the seas constantly; and the waves broke with no little noise against her bows, tossing the spray from stem to stern. Bissell watched the lee washboard all the time, and seemed to be very nervous. He did not heed the singing in the barges, which greatly interested the acting skipper. The owner evidently expected the sloop would ship a sea every moment, which would fill her half full of water as she had been before. But she tore along on her course without taking in a drop of water over her lee side, unless when a wave broke there, and spit the spray over the washboard. "You will put the Silver Moon on the bottom before you get her over to Westport," said Bissell, when he could hold in no longer, and his mental excitement had become intense. "I certainly shall not do it after we get to Westport," replied Dory, with a smile. "But if you wish to take the helm, of course you can do so. I suppose you can swim, Paul?" "I could swim in Sandy Bay, but I don't think I could in these waves," answered Paul.