The _Ripple_, with Judge Carter’s two sons in command, was the leader; and when her sail filled and showed above the shore, a cheer from the Chadwick’s dock was carried to the ears of the pirate crew who sat perched on the rail as she started on her first long tack. In a moment, two of the Atlantic House heroes tumbled into the _Osprey_, a dozen over-hasty hands had cast off her painter, had shoved her head into the stream, and the great race was begun. The wind was down the river, or toward the island, so that while the _Osprey_ was sailing before the wind, the _Ripple_ had her sail close-hauled and was tacking. “They’re after us!” said Charley Carter, excitedly. “It’s the _Osprey_; but I can’t make out who’s handling her. From the way they are pointing, I think they expect to reach us on this tack as we go about.” The crew of the _Osprey_ evidently thought so too, for her bow was pointed at a spot on the shore, near which the _Ripple_ must turn if she continued much longer on the same tack. “Do you see that?” gasped Charley, who was acting as lookout. “They’re letting her drift in the wind so as not to get there before us. I tell you what it is, Gus, they know what they’re doing, and I think we’d better go about now.” “Do you?” inquired the younger brother, who had a lofty contempt for the other’s judgment as a sailor. “Well, I don’t. My plan is simply this: I am going to run as near the shore as I can, then go about sharp, and let them drift by us by a boat’s length. A boat’s length is as good as a mile, and then, when we are both heading the same way, I would like to see them touch us!” “What’s the use of taking such risks?” demanded the elder brother. “I tell you, we can’t afford to let them get so near as that.” “At the same time,” replied the man at the helm, “that is what we are going to do. I am commanding this boat, please to remember, and if I take the risks I am willing to take the blame.” “You’ll be doing well, if you get off with nothing but blame,” growled the elder brother. “If you let those kids catch us, I’ll throw you overboard!” “I’ll put you in irons for threatening a superior officer if you don’t keep quiet,” answered the younger Carter, with a grin, and the mutiny ended. It certainly would have been great sport to have run almost into the arms of the revenue officers, and then to have turned and led them a race to the goal, but the humor of young Carter’s plan was not so apparent to the anxious throng of sympathizers on Chadwick’s dock. “What’s the matter with the boys? Why don’t they go about?” asked Captain Chadwick, excitedly. “One would think they were trying to be caught.” As he spoke, the sail of the _Ripple_ fluttered in the wind, her head went about sharply, and, as her crew scrambled up on the windward rail, she bent and bowed gracefully on the homeward tack.