“What do I care what happens to him?” Jawn asked. “The more time he takes the better we’ll like it. We’re going to win.”
“How do you know?”
“Well,” said Jawn, “I’ve timed the Sago-ye-wat-ha and she gets over ground better than the best records they have here. We did the whole course the other day in sixteen seconds less than the old Tecumseh, which holds the record. And besides I spent my good money on white sailor hats with blue bands on ’em. Wait till you see the blue bands with ‘Sago-ye-wat-ha’ printed in gold! Yum! We’ll look like regulars off a battleship. Walter’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when I presented him with his.”
Richard began to show interest.
“The boy has changed wonderfully, don’t you think?”
Jawn dropped his bantering tone. Into his face came the serious gleam of the specialist; his holiday carelessness disappeared.
“You’re quite right,” he said. “The boy’s got stuff in him. We’ve been chumming around a bit this past week. I thought he was a plain ‘moron,’ at first—not an idiot, but slightly off the normal, you know—but I’ve changed completely on that. I’ve been giving him all sorts of tests on the quiet. You were absolutely right in your first diagnosis. Drink is not his ‘primary,’ it’s this yacht business. In some ways he’s a fool, but not on board the Sago-ye-wat-ha! That’s his, his very own. It’s the first sensation of genuine ownership he’s ever had, and it fills him so full of pride and self-glorification that his small brain hasn’t room for anything else. The only thing I fear is that he won’t be able to stand a loss to-day. I’ve tried to prepare him for it, but he won’t think of losing. I’m afraid we’ve got to win this race, if we have to make a short cut across one of the buoys and trust that the judges aren’t looking.”
Tyler, the skipper of the Cohlosa, came up at this juncture. The men had met before.
“My friend, the enemy!” cried Jawn, shaking hands vigorously. “Old Sago-ye-wat-ha is after your scalp to-day, Tyler. The Cohlosa had better hold on tight to her hair-ribbons and stand ready to yell police any minute.”
“The Cohlosa is easily frightened,” said Tyler genially. “We have run away from a number of fierce boats.”