"I don't know exactly, but I should say close to four hundred miles by the way the schooner will take," replied Owen.
As the weather was hot, the breeze from over the bay proved very acceptable, and the young lumbermen sat for a good part of the time near the bow of the schooner taking in the distant sights. But soon land was left behind, and all they could see was the blue sky and the smooth, greenish-blue waters of the lake, rippling in the breeze.
"What a difference between this and the Atlantic Ocean," remarked Owen. "There the water is never quiet. This looks like a big millpond in comparison."
"Aint no millpond when there is a storm on," said one of the deck hands, who stood near. "I've spent four years on boats, two years on the Atlantic and two on the Lakes, and I can tell you that a storm on the Lakes is just as bad as any on the ocean."
All day long the wind kept its pace, and soon Captain Dacker announced that they had reached the lake proper. As night came on, they could see, off the starboard quarter, the lighthouse at Point aux Barques, and just beyond the twinkling lights of Grindstone City. Then the course of the Elizabeth was changed, and they stood almost south for Port Huron.
When the young lumbermen got up the next morning, they found that the wind had died down utterly, and the schooner was lying motionless on what looked for all the world like a sea of glass. The sun was coming up in the east like a great ball of fire, throwing a streak of golden yellow toward them.
"It's going to be hot now," declared Owen, and his prediction proved true. As the sun mounted higher the thermometer rose steadily, until the young lumbermen were glad enough to keep in the shade.
The Elizabeth was doing her best to catch what air there was, but this was for the most part a failure, and ever and anon the sails would flop idly, showing there was nothing to fill them. Not a sound was stirring, and the young lumbermen thought of the big and silent forest in which they had worked so often. This silence was equally oppressive.
Noon came and went, and still the calm continued. Then a dark streak appeared to the northwestward, followed by sudden and uncertain puffs of air.
"We are going to catch a breeze now," said Captain Dacker grimly. "I only hope we don't get too much of it."