CHAPTER VI
GETTING INTO TRIM
Ready as the Speedwell boys were in most emergencies, here was an occasion in which it seemed that disaster could not be averted. That is the principal peril of iceboating; it is impossible to stop a craft, once she is under fast way, within a reasonable distance.
It was too late to drop the sail and hope to bring the Fly-up-the-Creek to a halt before her nose was in the open water. For the instant Dan Speedwell’s heart seemed to stand still.
There flashed across his mind the remembrance of how that other iceboat—the White Albatross—had gone into the open river. Had he and Billy not been on the spot, as they were, Money Stevens and Barrington Spink would doubtless have been drowned.
And here was another such accident. The iceboat flew right down to the wide channel where the moonbeams glanced upon the ripples——
But she kept right on in her flight, and to Dan’s amazement the runners rumbled over the apparently open water with an increasing roar!
“Crickey!” shrieked Billy, turning a grin upon his brother, “didn’t you think that was open water, Dan? I thought we were done for—I really did! And it was only the moonlight glistening upon a rough piece of ice.”
Dan’s heart resumed its regular beat; but he knew that—had it been daylight instead of moonlight—his brother would have observed how pale he was. Seldom had his coolness been put to a keener test than at that moment.
“I tell you what it is,” Dan said, discussing the incident with his brother afterward, “iceboating is a job where a fellow has to have his head about him all the time. And we’ve got to be especially careful if we take the girls riding on this thing.”
“If we do!” grunted Billy. “Why, if we don’t, Mildred and Lettie will give us no peace—you know that, Dan.”
“Just the same, we’ll not take ’em with us when there’s any sign of a gale on the river. It means too much. There are too many chances in iceboating.”
During this week some of the other Riverdale boys had been busy. Monroe Stevens’s Redbird arrived and made a pretty show on the river near town. Money maneuvered it about the cove and up and down the stretch of river near the Boat Club very nicely.
Barrington Spink had saved the mast and sail from the wreck of his old boat and local mechanics had built for him another White Albatross. As he had plenty of money he easily obtained what he wanted, including a mate to help handle the iceboat. But, as a whole, the boys and girls of Riverdale did not quite “cotton” to the new boy.
Came Saturday, however, and there were more than a few of the Outing Club down by the river to watch the maneuvers of the iceboats. Although the skating was excellent, it was neglected while the young folk watched Money Stevens get under way and shoot out of the cove in his Redbird.
The White Albatross was a larger boat than Money’s and it was rigged up quite handsomely. There were cushions in the box-body, and neat hand-rails. Money had taken out his sister Ella and Maybell Turner; so now Barry wanted to inveigle some of the girls into his craft.
Mildred and Lettie were waiting for the appearance of the Speedwells, but not altogether sure that they would come. The girls hadn’t had a chance to speak to Dan and Billy for several days.
“Do you suppose they have finished the boat they were building?” Lettie asked the doctor’s daughter.
“When Dan promises a thing——”
“I know,” Lettie broke in, hastily. “But he isn’t infallible. And I do want to try iceboating. That Barry Spink hinted that he’d take me out if I wanted to go. Here he comes now.”
Spink came forward, all smiles and costume—and the latter was really a wonderful get-up for Riverdale. Most of the boys of the Outing Club were content to wear caps lettered “R. O. C.” and call it square. That is as near to a uniform as many of them got.
But Barry Spink was dressed for the occasion. His outfit was something between a Canadian tobogganing costume and a hockey suit. He wore white wool knickerbockers, gray stockings, high-laced boots, a crimson sweater and a white “night-cap” arrangement on his head—one of those floppy, pointed caps with a tassel.
Lettie couldn’t help giggling when he approached; nevertheless she managed to greet him with some show of calm.
“This is my friend, Miss Kent, Mr. Spink,” said Lettie. “How nice your boat looks, Mr. Spink!”
“Ya-as,” drawled Barry. “I think she’s the goods, all right. I’m just going to hoist the sail. Wouldn’t you ladies like to take a little trip?”
“In the White Albatross? Oh! I don’t know that we really could,” said Lettie, her eyes dancing.
“You needn’t be afraid,” returned Barry, airily. “I have managed iceboats since I was a child—re’lly!”
“Let’s go!” whispered Lettie to her friend.
“No,” said Mildred, firmly. “I am obliged to you, Mr. Spink; but we have promised to go out with Dan and Billy Speedwell in their boat—if they come down the river. And I would not care to disappoint them.”
“Oh, pshaw!” laughed Spink. “I heard they were trying to build an iceboat. But, of course, having no experience, they’ll never be able to do it. Money bought his boat all ready to put together, and it is a fairly good one; but it takes experience to build—as well as to handle—an ice racer.”
“What’s that coming?” cried Lettie, suddenly.
They stood where they could get a view of several miles of the upper reaches of the Colasha. The Redbird was just swooping around to return to the Cove; but beyond Money’s boat there had suddenly appeared another sail.
It was a huge sail and it flew over the ice at a terrific pace. Everybody about the Boat Club landing saw it, and the interest became general.
“There’s another iceboat, Mr. Spink,” exclaimed Lettie. “And see it fly! I guess there are others besides you and Money who know how to sail such craft.”
“I declare!” said Spink, in surprise. “It’s re’lly coming finely. Must be, Miss Parker, that you have some professionals here after all.”
“It’s Dan and Billy, of course,” declared Mildred.
Spink laughed at that statement. “Hardly,” he said. “I have seen the professional racers on the Hudson, and that is the way they manage their craft. See it! what a swoop. See that fellow standing up on that out-runner, and hanging on just by his teeth, as you might say! That’s some sailing—believe me!”
“It is Billy Speedwell!” cried Lettie, suddenly becoming anxious. “He’ll be killed! The reckless boy!”
“And it’s Dan at the helm,” added the doctor’s daughter.
“Never!” exclaimed Barry. “It can’t be those milkmen.”
But nobody paid any attention to the new boy just then. The crowd all ran to watch the fast-flying ice yacht speed down the river. Monroe Stevens’s Redbird was nowhere. The strange craft flew fully two lengths to its one, and was very quickly at the entrance to the Boat Club Cove.
They beheld Billy Speedwell hanging to the wire cable that helped steady the mast, and swinging far out from the out-runner, so as to help keep that steel on the ice as the boat swung into the cove.
Dan let go the sheet at just the right moment, and the sail rattled down into the standing-room. Billy dived for it, and kept the canvas from slatting, or getting overboard under the runners. Thus, under the momentum she had gained, the craft ran in to the landing amid the cheers of the Speedwells’ school fellows.
“Great work?”
“I’ve got something to tell you right now, Billy Speedwell!” shouted Jim Stetson, above the confusion.
“Shoot, Jim! let’s have it,” returned the younger Speedwell.
“You needn’t think you’re going to have it all your own way in this iceboat game—so now, Billy!”
“We don’t want it all our own way,” growled Billy. “But I reckon we’ll show you fellows some class, just the same.”
“Wait!” yelled Jim.
“What for?” demanded Billy.
“Wait till you see what Biff Hardy and I have got. We’ll have the Snow Wraith on the ice next week and then we’ll show you some sailing,” declared Jim, confidently.
“Bully!” cried Billy. “The more the merrier. I can see right now that if we have an iceboat regatta here at Riverdale, it will be some occasion.”
Indeed, the enthusiasm for the new sport increased hourly. The sight of the Speedwells’ boat sweeping in to the landing had made the heart of every spectator beat quicker. And, of course, every fellow who was building an iceboat believed that his was the better craft!
The girls had run down to the ice to see the Speedwells’ boat at closer range.
“What under the sun do you call it?” gasped Lettie Parker. “That’s a name for you! ‘Fly-up-the-Creek!’ Whoever heard of such a thing?”
“It’s the blue heron; isn’t it?” asked Mildred, laughing.
“That’s what some folks say; but, anyhow,” explained Dan, “the fly-up-the-creek flies so fast that few people have ever seen one in full flight.”
“My goodness! aren’t you smart?” quoth Lettie. “But why not select a pretty name for it?”
“Goodness! not if you are going to sail with us,” cried Billy. “We couldn’t afford such a superabundance of beauty. A pretty name for the boat as well as a couple of howling beauties like you and Mildred——”
But Billy had to dodge Lettie’s vigorous palm then, and for the next few moments he kept well out of her reach.
He and Dan swung the craft around, raised the sail again, tucked the two girls in under the rugs with which they had furnished her, and then shoved the Fly-up-the-Creek out from the land.
“We’re off!” yelled Billy, as he leaped aboard the outrigger. “Bid us a fond farewell, and you can reach us by wire at Lake Karnac.”
Meanwhile Barry Spink and his helper had got the White Albatross under way. She was already running for the mouth of the cove.
“You won’t be so lonely as you think, Billy,” said Miss Parker, pointing a red mitten at Spink’s craft. “Mr. Spink is going to show you boys how an iceboat ought to be handled.”
“Crickey!” ejaculated Billy. “What a get-up!”
“Yes! isn’t he gay?” asked Mildred, smiling.
“Just the same,” Dan observed, quietly, “I reckon that fellow can handle his boat all right. He’s been living where they know all about iceboating.”
“Huh!” exclaimed his brother. “The only time I ever saw him handle one he ran it into the water. We ought to be able to do as well.”
“Oh!” cried Mildred. “Don’t you dare! I wouldn’t have come if I thought there was any danger of that.”