“I’ll have it up or break something,” cried Harvey, beside himself with anger, and again he grasped the rod with both hands and gave a furious wrench. There was a most unexpected and baffling verification of his threat, for the rod, broken off short at its connection with the centreboard, did come up, so suddenly that Harvey sprawled over backwards, still grasping the rod with both hands clenched, and rolled over on the floor of the cockpit. There was no such thing as getting the centreboard up now. It was down to stay. Harvey, white with rage, sprang to his feet and hurled the rod into the sea. Then he took his seat sullenly at the wheel again. “That settles it,” he said, as soon as he could speak for anger. “We haven’t a ghost of a chance now. I shouldn’t wonder, even, if the _Sally_ overhauled us.” And he looked back helplessly at the yacht astern. Slowly but surely the _Anna Maud_ forged ahead. The distance between her and the _Surprise_ grew ever farther and farther. “That’s queer,” said Captain Silas Tucker, looking back at Harvey’s yacht. “I thought she was going to give us a harder run home than that. I’ve heard the boat was good off the wind, but she doesn’t seem to be doing well. It’s first prize for us this trip, and easily won. Well, your Uncle Silas hasn’t sailed around these parts all his life for nothing.” Slowly but surely, too, the _Sally_ was creeping up close astern of the _Surprise_, to the wild delight of Willie Grimes and his comrades. “If I can only beat Jack Harvey,” he kept saying, “I don’t care about the other yacht’s beating us.” “If Willie Grimes beats us, I’ll run him down and sink him some day,” muttered Harvey, grinding his teeth. It was still a close race between these two as the finish-line was neared. The _Sally_ had crept up until she was almost abeam of the _Surprise_, and was gaining, ever so slowly, but surely. Harvey, dogged to the last, waited until the _Sally_ was nearly abreast of him, and then, as a last resort, tried once more to bully the race from his less experienced rival. Throwing his wheel over slightly, he tried the tactic of crowding the other off the course. But Willie Grimes was bound to win or sink this time. He kept his own boat off just enough to avoid the possibility of Harvey’s fouling him, maintaining the same relative distance between them, and all the while drawing ahead. The judges, watching the close finish through their glasses, perceived this trick of Harvey’s, and were ready to disqualify him in case of any accident. But their determination was unnecessary. Less than a dozen rods from the finish-line the _Sally_ had sailed clear of the _Surprise_, and now cut in on to the course, leaving Harvey astern, and crossed the line a rod to the good.