"May the best yacht win," Bertha called out, as the vessels flew quickly apart.
"We could not want a better day, George," Frank said. "We can carry everything comfortably, and there is not enough wind to kick up much of a sea. As far as we are concerned, I would rather that the wind had been either north or south, so that we could have laid our course all round; as it is, we shall have the wind almost dead aft till we are round the Nab, then we shall be close-hauled, with perhaps an occasional tack along the back of the island, then free again back. There is no doubt that the cutters have a pull close-hauled. I fancy with this wind the schooners will be out of it; though if it had been a reach the whole way, they would have had a good chance.
"Four minutes are gone."
He was holding his watch in his hand, and after a short pause called out, "Five seconds gone."
The Osprey had a good position at present; though, with the wind aft, this was of comparatively little consequence. She was nearly in a line with the mark boat nearest to the shore, and some hundred and fifty yards from it.
"Haul in the main sheet," Hawkins said quietly, and the men stationed there hauled on the rope until he said, "That will do, we must not go too fast."
He went on, turning to Frank (who had just called out, "Twenty seconds gone"):
"I think that we shall about do."
The latter nodded.
"A bit more, lads," the skipper said ten seconds later. "That will do."