Bronson laughed.
"Easier to go through the air than the water," he said. "That's why we made your boat plane. It takes a lot of power to put her on her 'high horse.' But once she's there, she makes her speed on a minimum of horse-power. That's why we bank on the Richard to beat the Fuor d'Italia. Your boat is heavier than Mascola's, closer ribbed, but you have more power. We're backing this one against his in any weather and the rougher it is the better it will suit us."
Gregory glowed with satisfaction. The Richard was all boat. He noticed that she did not tremble like Mascola's boat, but did her work in a businesslike way with no ostentation. He admired people like that, and as Dickie Lang had said and he was beginning to find out, boats were very much like people.
For some time Bronson instructed him in the
proper operation of the craft. Then he slowed down and threw up the hood, disclosing two complete multi-cylindered motors.
"Everything's double," he explained. "You can cut it all in or halve it as you please. And if anything goes wrong with one motor you're never hung up. You can always limp in at least."
As they settled down to a good running speed, the talk gradually drifted to Mascola.
"The way things are going now," Bronson observed, "it won't be long before we're building a new boat for Mascola."
"What do you mean by that? Has he seen this one?"
The boatman shook his head.