CHAPTER XV. THE SKIPPER USES A NAUTICAL LASSO.
"What's that?" called George Duane, while Dory was still busy on the forward deck.
This question was called forth by what sounded like a volley of cheers from the New York side of the lake; but nothing could be seen to indicate the source from which the noise came.
"There it is again," added John Brattle, as three distinct cheers came over the waves. "There is some sort of a party up that little cove."
There was an inlet just to the south of the barges, from which it was now evident that the sounds came. But parties from the surrounding country frequently had frolics on the shores of the lake, and the students concluded that the cheers came from one of these gatherings.
The Topovers continued on their course, and seemed to be laboring to increase their speed, which was certainly moderate enough. They pulled but six oars in each barge, and against the wind and the heavy sea they could make but little progress. The Goldwing was making three miles to their one, and the moment for action was near.
Though the Goldwing was close-hauled, she leaped over the waves like a bird, and Matt was running directly for the barges, one of which was following the other, the Winooski being ahead. The skipper finished arranging the lines on the forward deck. Getting on his feet he made a careful survey of the situation.
"Matt, can you go to windward of the barges?" he called to the helmsman.
"I might, possibly, but it would be a close squeeze," replied Matt.
"Then we must work more to windward: tack, if you please," added Dory; and it was evident that he had prepared his plan of attack.
Matt came about and headed the Goldwing to the north. Dory kept his eye on the barges, but he gave no hint of his method of operations. Probably Matt thought he was entitled to be informed in regard to the plan, but the accident in the river for which he was responsible had humbled him, and he asked no questions.
When the schooner had made about a quarter of a mile of northing, the skipper gave the order to tack again. Matt was directed to steer for a certain point on the shore, which would carry the yacht a little distance to windward of the barges, allowing for the headway they would make before she could reach them. In that lively breeze even the width of the lake at Beaver River was only a run of a few minutes for the Goldwing, and she was very soon abreast of the Gildrock. The Winooski was about a hundred fathoms ahead of her.
"Now, Matt, we have some sharp work to do, and every thing must be done on the instant," said Dory, when the Goldwing had passed the Gildrock and was up with the Winooski.
"Perhaps you had better take the helm, then?" suggested the coxswain of the Gildrock.
"I can't, for I have a job to do here on the forward deck. We shall go about, and run for the Gildrock in a moment," replied Dory. "I want you to make for her stem just as though you meant to run her down."
"All right, Dory; I will obey orders to the letter," returned the helmsman.
"I would rather you would obey them in spirit; so if I make a blunder, and get knocked out, I want you to correct it," added Dory lightly.
"I don't know what you are going to do, and I can only obey orders to the letter," said Matt.
"I could not settle on any plan until I had seen how the barges lay; and it is too late to explain now. Ready about!"
Matt promptly obeyed the orders given him, and the schooner came entirely around. It would have been a shorter way to jibe her, but the skipper never ventured upon this manœuvre when the wind was at all fresh; for he was not one of those venturesome boatmen who think they are not smart unless they incur needless risks.
Dory saw that Matt was carrying out his orders to the letter, and it was clear that Nim Splugger, the acting coxswain of the Gildrock, was getting nervous as he saw the Goldwing dashing down upon his craft.
"What are you about? You will run over us!" yelled Nim, when he saw the schooner within twenty feet of him.
The oarsmen were inclined to desert their posts, and kept looking behind them at the Goldwing. But both barges had been in the trough of the sea, and those in charge of them had found by actual trial that the only way they could go was directly across the lake, against the wind. This was the reason why the barges were nearly over to the New York shore, and not because they were following a plan of their own.
"Keep to your oars, fellers!" shouted Nim Splugger, when he saw several of his crew cease rowing. "Never mind that boat! She won't run into us."
But Nim had his doubts on this point, for the Goldwing did not budge an inch from her course. Dory had looked over his lines, and was watching the course of the schooner and the position of the Gildrock. When the schooner was within ten feet of the barge, Nim gave a frantic yell, and all the rowers gave up in despair.
"Keep her away a little, Matt!" called Dory, who was now on his feet with a line in each hand.
The Topovers in the Gildrock gave a desperate yell, satisfied that they should be floundering in the angry waters the next instant. The Goldwing fell off a trifle at this moment, in obedience to the helm. Dory had fixed the line in his left hand on the spur of the light boathook, which he extended as far as he could reach. As he did so, one of the covers from the cook-stove, which he had secured to the bight between his hands, dropped into the water.
Thus arranged, the line formed a snare in the shape of a triangle, the stove-cover sinking the lower angle a couple of feet under water. As the skipper held the snare, the Gildrock ran her bow directly into it. The bight of the line was a slip-noose, and as the schooner drove ahead, it tightened up.
As the Goldwing went ahead, Dory paid out the line rapidly, for a single jerk would have upset the barge. The Topovers in the boat were so terrified that they did not comprehend what Dory was about.
"Hard down your helm, Matt!" shouted Dory, with tremendous energy, when half his line had run out, and the bow of the schooner was abreast of the stern of the Gildrock.
Oscar Chester had been stationed at the mainsheet, and the instant Matt put the helm down he hauled in the sheet with all his might. The effect of these orders, as they were sharply executed, was to cause the Goldwing to circle around the stern of the barge, and come up close-hauled on her starboard side.
"Now we are all right! It's a success!" cried Dory, with all the enthusiasm of a person who has won a great victory.
But even his own crew did not understand what he was about, and had not the least idea of the working of his plan. All that had been done had been accomplished in a few seconds, and the rapid working of the schooner absorbed all their attention.
When the Goldwing came about under the stern of the barge, Dory rushed aft with the end of his line in his hand, and made it fast to a cleat. The rope had sunk in the water, and passed under the keel of the Gildrock.
"Touch her up, Matt! Lively, if you please!" said Dory, as he secured the line in his hand.
But the schooner had not yet got under full speed since she came about, and when the mainsail shook she had lost about all her headway. But she was not permitted to come to. Dory took the helm now, which Matt was very willing to have him do.
"Go aft, every one of you!" shouted Dory to the Topovers in the barge. "If you don't you will be overboard in a moment!"
The six oarsmen had been stationed in the middle of the boat, leaving the vacant places forward and aft. Without waiting for orders from Nim Splugger, the rowers all hurried aft as fast as the uneasy motion of the craft would permit. This change in her burden caused the bow of the Gildrock to be lifted out of the water, which was precisely what Dory desired. Putting the helm of Goldwing up he allowed the yacht to gather headway by slow degrees. He had lassoed the barge, but he was not certain of the effect when he should attempt to tow her. The slip-noose had come home so that the knot was nearly in line with the stem.
"I see now what you are about," said Matt, while Dory was experimenting with the process of towing the barge. "But those fellows will cut the line as soon as they get a little used to the movement of the boat and understand what you are doing."
"If any one of them attempts to go forward, we can pitch him into the lake as quick as we can shift the helm of the Goldwing," replied Dory confidently.
"I see!" exclaimed Matt, laughing. "A pull sideways would heel the barge over so that the water would go over her gunwale."
"The two four-oar boats are coming!" shouted Dick Short, "Mr. Jepson is in one of them."
"Good! We may want some of those fellows before we get through with this business," replied the skipper.
"But what are you going to do with your game now that you have snared it, Dory?" asked Matt.
"I am going to put the Topovers ashore over here, and send the Gildrock home at once," answered Dory. "I should have told you about my plan, Matt, but I didn't believe in it myself until the last minute. I was sure you would laugh at it; and if I did not succeed in carrying it out I did not want you to have to bear any of the responsibility of its failure."
"I think I should have laughed at it; and I can't help doing so now," added Matt, suiting the action to the words.
With the whole length of the line out, the Gildrock towed better than Dory had expected she would. But the barge both pitched and rolled as it was dragged at an angle over the waves, and the Topovers in her had to hold on with both hands. With only half her usual crew, and these all in the stern sheets, the tow-line did not force her bow under, and she kept very nearly in her proper trim.
Finding that she went along very well, Dory headed the Goldwing for the little cove from which the cheers had come. By this time the Winooski had got into the smooth water, comparatively, under the lee of the shore. If Commodore Tom Topover wanted to do anything to assist his companions in the other boat, he was as fearful of coming about as he had been in the middle of the lake. As soon as he was under the shelter of the shore, he headed his craft to the south. But he might as well have chased the lightning as the Goldwing.
As the schooner approached the mouth of the cove she was saluted by a volley of noisy cheers. At the same time the bows of two boats came in sight.
"The Chesterfields! We are in for it now!" shouted Ben Ludlow.