Meantime the ship was nearing Astra, and the wisdom or foolishness of Mitsos's tactics would soon be patent. But while they were still three miles off he turned to the Capsina.
"I have made a mistake," he said. "If we go about at once we shall still make the channel. For indeed she could go as an arrow goes."
The Capsina smiled with a thrill of pleasure in her ship.
"I won a pound over you yesterday," she said; "and if Kanaris will bet again, I will stand to win another. Give your orders, little Mitsos."
Kanaris looked incredulous.
"Kranidi is a very fine place," he said; "but I take it we want to sail between Spetzas and the land."
"Will you bet?" asked the Capsina.
Kanaris paused a moment, and heard Mitsos giving the order in a voice extraordinarily confident.
"I think I will not bet," he said.
After that there was the sailing-gear of the ship to be gone through. To Mitsos, used as he was to the big schooner sail, these square canvases seemed a thought unwieldable, but the foresails, the jib, and halyards had taken his fancy at once.