"No, we're not! Sit still!" cried Bert, grasping the tiller, which Harry was not holding just right. By turning the ice-boat to one side the wind did not strike it so hard, and the craft settled down on the level again.
"There! That's better!" exclaimed Dorothy, who had grabbed hold of Nan.
"Oh, that's nothing," said Nan. "Bert and I are used to that."
But as the ice-boat proceeded it was evident that those on her were not going to have an easy time to get to the Bobbsey dock. The wind blew harder and harder, and the sail seemed ready to rip apart. It took both Bert and Harry to hold the rudder steady, and even then the tiller was almost torn from their grasp.
Even Nan began to look a little frightened, and she did not laugh when Dorothy stretched out flat and held on to the side of the boat with all her strength.
"I don't want to be blown away if I can help it," said Dorothy.
Harder and harder blew the wind, sending the ice-boat along at great speed. In a few minutes more it would be at the dock, where Bert kept it tied.
"If it blows this way to-morrow we won't be long getting to Snow Lodge," cried Bert in Harry's ear. He had to shout to be heard above the howling of the wind.
"That's right," agreed the country boy. "The girls can never skate along as fast as this."
"We'll have to use less sail," went on Bert, "and then we won't go so fast."