Quick to take advantage of the start, she was fully three yards in advance of him when his paddle struck the water. His long arms gave him a decided advantage, but what his contestant lacked in reach she seemed to supply in quickness, and her dexterity was simply marvellous.
In his eagerness not to be outdone, Ben drove his paddle so far down into the water, that his canoe was almost upset, and when he tried to right it Bessie had increased her lead and called mockingly to him that ‘she could tow him around the island.’ But he soon had gained his balance, and his long sweeping strokes began to tell. Nearer and nearer he came to the canoe in front of him, and, do what she could, she could not increase the distance between them, and when they turned the point and were hidden from the sight of the girls on the dock, she was only a length in advance.
Almost together they then swept on, and when at last they turned the other point and came in on the home stretch, they were side by side.
Suddenly their ears were saluted by calls and shouts and the shrill whistle of the yacht which was now approaching with the boys on board. Ben did not mean to win now, but he did want to come in even, and was doing his utmost to hold his own.
He was paddling in a course parallel to that which Miss Bessie had taken and about three rods distant, when suddenly he found himself in the wash of the little steamer, and before he was aware of what had befallen him, was struggling in the water.
Ben’s disappearance was greeted with shrieks of laughter, but when several minutes had passed and he did not come to the surface, the laughter suddenly ceased and the onlookers were gazing into one another’s faces with consternation and fear. In a moment Jock and Bert leaped into a skiff and with swift strokes rowed out to the place where Ben had capsized.
CHAPTER XIX.
A MOONLIGHT SAIL.
The alarm of the boys was in nowise decreased when they were unable to discover a trace of the missing Ben. The clear water enabled them to look far down into the depths, but only the rocks upon the bottom of the river could be seen. Their alarm had become consternation now, and they glanced into each other’s faces with an expression of fear, which was increased by the shouts of the girls on the dock and the calls of those who were still on the yacht.