“But why didn’t somebody tell me about it?” demanded Ruth rather stormily.
“Tell you about what?” asked Cecile.
“About how fast that reckless thing would sail? Why! I’d never have allowed Aggie to ride on it in this world.”
In the other big ice-boat there was much anxiety as well. Mr. Howbridge and Mrs. MacCall would have stopped the reckless ones could they have done so, and Tom Jonah was barking his head off. He, too, had recognized Agnes and Neale and believed that all was not right with them.
The scooter, however, was clear across the lake again; they saw it tack once more, and this time, because of the favoring breeze, Neale headed her directly up the lake. Every minute he and Agnes on their racer were leaving the rest of the party behind.
These scooters cannot be sailed at a slow pace. The skeleton craft is so light, and the sail so big, that the least puff of breeze drives it ahead at railroad speed.
Now with a pretty steady breeze behind them, the scooter was bound to “show off.” Nor did the young people realize just how fast they sailed, or how perilous their course looked to their friends.
“We’re running away from them!” Agnes managed to throw back over her shoulder at Neale.
“Can’t help it!” he cried in return. “This old scooter has taken the bit in its teeth.”
Agnes had begun to enjoy the speed to the full now. Why! this was better than motoring over the finest kind of oiled road. And the young girl did like to travel fast.