"Eh? _You_--a girl?" grunted the doctor, "Well, why not? I've got nothing--as I said before--against his daughter. It's the man himself who has no business at this end of the lake. I sent him word so a month and more ago. I ought to have him arrested." Win thought it would be less cruel to do so, and have the matter thrashed out in the courts. Mr. Jarley was stooping from the wharf, whispering with Polly. "I can help her," Wyn cried, turning to the abused boatman. "Let me--do!" "You are very kind, Miss Mallory," said Jarley. The captain of the Go-Ahead Club leaped lightly down into the _Coquette_. "What's our number--sixteen?" she cried. "Pay off the sheet, Polly. We're off." Then she added, in a low tone, to the weeping girl in the stern: "Don't you mind the doctor, Polly--mean old thing! We'll win the prize in spite of him--you see if we don't." CHAPTER XIX UNDER WHITE WINGS Already the catboats were getting off from the starting line, in rotation of numbers and about two minutes apart. The course was ten miles (or thereabout) straightaway to the stake-boat, set far out in the lake--quite out of sight from the decks of the boats about the starting point--and turning that, to beat back. The wind was free, but not too strong. The out-and-return course would prove the boats themselves and the seamanship of their crews. Being a free-for-all race, there had been brought together some pretty odd-looking craft beside the smart, new boats belonging to dwellers in Braisely Park. But the Jarleys' boat was by no means the worst-looking. However, it attracted considerable attention because it was the only catboat "manned" by girls. Wynifred Mallory had done this on impulse, and it was not usual for her to act in such a way. But her parents had gone home and she had nobody to ask permission of but Mrs. Havel--and she did not really know where the Go-Aheads' chaperone was. Beside, there wasn't time to ask. The catboats were already getting under way. The _Coquette_ was almost the last to start. Wyn was not at all afraid of the task before her, for she had helped Dave sail his cousin's catboat on the Wintinooski many times. She knew how to 'tend sheet. The Go-Aheads and Busters recognized Wyn, and began to cheer her and Polly before the _Coquette_ came to the line. Other onlookers caught sight of the two girls, and whether they knew the crew of the _Coquette_ or not, gave them a good "send-off." Polly had accepted Wyn's help quietly, but with a look that Wyn was not likely to forget. It meant much to the Jarleys if the _Coquette_ won the twenty-five dollars. They needed every dollar they could honestly earn. The boatman's daughter did not stop then to thank her friend. Instead she gave her brief, but plain, instructions as to what she was to do, and Wyn went about her work in a practical manner.