The right shore above the structure, belonging to Westport, slopes to the right, and something like a half mile above, this course is at right angles to the stream. It is really a peninsula, there being an inlet more than a mile long which divides it from the rest of Westport. This little bay is spanned by a bridge which forms a part of the highway that passes over the longer structure already referred to.
When Mike found the Water Witch had vanished, he pretended to be vastly relieved. He had dropped into his chair and now straightened up.
“But ain’t we lucky?”
“Why so?” asked Calvert.
“If we hadn’t been stopped at the bridge the ither boat might have broke down and we’d come up wid the same, and those chaps would have give us all a good spanking.”
“I am glad you are becoming so prudent,” said Calvert, with an approving nod. “We must take Michael with us whenever we are likely to run into danger. Captain, if you don’t mind, you might tune up your boat a bit.”
“Better wait,” suggested Mike, “fur ye might gain on t’other one.”
Alvin now put on the highest speed of which the Deerfoot was capable. The bow rose, the stern settled down in the water, and the spray was flung high and splashed against the wind-shield. The exhaust deepened to a steady roar, and the broadening wake was churned into a mass of tumbling soapy foam. The whole boat shivered with the vibration of the powerful engine. She was going more than twenty miles an hour—in fact, must have approached her limit, which was four miles faster. Alvin had attained such a tremendous pace only a few times in his practice and did not like it. Though his instructor had assured him that the launch was capable of holding it indefinitely without injury, he feared a breakdown or the unnecessary wear upon many parts of the engine.
He kept up the furious speed until they curved around the upper part of the peninsula and saw the expansion above, all the way to Long Ledge, where Back River begins. He had been confident of catching sight of the Water Witch, but she was nowhere in sight.
The natural conclusion was that the launch had taken on a higher burst of speed—probably the limit—and gone so far that by still keeping near the shore she had placed several miles behind her—enough to carry her out of the field of vision.