"Well, the same gentlemen will give a second prize of fifty dollars," continued Rodman. "But don't you expect to get the first prize, Don John?" "I do; but to expect is not always to win, you know." "You have always talked as though you felt pretty sure of coming in first," said Rodman, who did not like to see any abatement of confidence on the part of the boat-builder. "It is the easiest thing in the world to be mistaken, Sam. If the Maud loses the first prize, I may as well shut up shop, and take a situation in a grocery store, for my business would be ruined." "Not quite so bad as that, I hope," added Rodman. "Mr. Norwood is waiting to see how she sails, before he orders a yacht for Frank. Can't you invite Frank and his father to sail with us in the race?" "Certainly, if you desire it, Don John," replied Rodman. "Mr. Norwood is a big man, and he will be a capital live weight for us, if it happens to blow fresh." "I hope it will blow; if it don't, the Christabel is sure of the first prize. I want just such a day as we had when the Sea Foam cleaned out the Skylark." "That was a little too much of a good thing. You came pretty near taking the mast out of the Sea Foam that day." "Not at all; our masts don't come out so easily as that, though I think the mast of the Sea Foam would snap before she would capsize." "I like that in a boat; it is a good thing to have a craft that will stay right side up. The fellows have got another idea, Don John." "Well, ideas are good things to have. What is it now?" asked Donald. "They are going to build a club-house over on Turtle Head." "On Turtle Head! Why don't they have it down on Manhegan?" which is an island ten miles from the coast of Maine. "It will be only a shanty, where the fellows can have a good time, and get up chowders. They talk of hiring a hall in the city, and having meetings for mutual improvement during the fall and winter." "That will be a capital idea." "We can have a library of books on nautical and other subjects, take the newspapers and magazines, and hang up pictures of yachts and other vessels on the walls. I hope, when you get the Maud done, you will not be so busy, Don John, for you don't attend many of our club meetings." "I hope to be busier than ever. You see, Sam, I can't afford to run with you rich fellows. I don't wear kid gloves," laughed Donald. "No matter if you don't; you are just as good a fellow as any of them." "Everybody uses me first rate; as well as though my father had been a nabob." "Well, they ought to; for it is brains, not money, that makes the man. We want to see more of you in the club. You must go with us on our long cruise." "I am afraid I can't spare the time. Ten days is a good while; but it will depend upon whether I get the job to build Mr. Norwood's yacht."