Apparently Elmer was taken quite by surprise by this movement on the part of his rival. His mind was not quite equal to grasping the full significance of it, and responding so rapidly that he might still have a chance of bringing about a disastrous collision.
When he swung around, Pud was also slow to do his duty with the rope governing the sail. He had been altogether wrapped up in setting himself for the anticipated shock of an upset; so that it took him several seconds to grasp the new conditions.
When they did succeed in changing their course, just before bringing up on the lee shore, it seemed as though it might be too late, for the able Lightning had improved her opportunity in a glorious manner.
Elmer was seized with a fit of blind fury. He realized that he had been beaten at his own game, and by the boy whom he had always felt that sense of unjust hatred ever since the day Harry Watson first came to the Rivertown High School, and carried off the honors of that bob-sled dash down the hill.
The one thing he wanted to do now was to smash into the Lightning, regardless of consequences. Elmer believed in the “rule or ruin” policy. If his boat was no longer to be the fastest on the Conoque, he would at least never allow another to carry off the honors.
And so the reckless boy deliberately headed for the rival craft, his aim being to come down upon the port quarter of the frail Lightning with such an impetus that the other boat must be utterly demolished.
Paul saw what was impending. His quivering words of delight ceased to flow; for again he feared that this implacable and unscrupulous foe was in a position to carry out his quickly-conceived scheme of revenge.
But Harry knew better. His quick and experienced eye judged distances better than that of his chum. True, he edged in a bit closer toward the nearby shore; but that may have been for a double purpose. It gave him a trifle longer to make the pull; and at the same time rendered the possibility of Elmer and Pud coming to grief a certainty.
Five seconds is not a very long stretch of time; and yet there may be times in the experiences of some people when it seems next door to an eternity. And Paul was now feeling something that way.
He saw the oncoming Glider rushing down at them—he could mark the strained faces of the two desperate fellows who sprawled there on the thin planking that served as a deck to the runners—and he caught his breath with a queer little click as he wondered whether after all Harry was going to carry his clever game through to a successful end; or if the new boat was destined to be smashed then and there on its first glorious cruise.