'Though she is a bit of a heart-breaker to handle,' said the men for'ard. 'But for that she be a daisy. And to think that the bally Battle-Axe goes about like a racing yacht.'
It made them sore to think of it. But it also made the men on board their rival sore to think how comfortable the Star of the South was in all other respects.
'The "old man" 'ere makes up for any ease wiv w'ich we ploughs the briny seas,' declared Bill Gribbs, who was a Cockney of the purest water, with a turn for reciting poetry and playing the concertina. 'For two pins I'd desert. I'm too merry for old Watchett. I'll make a new chanty for 'im speshul, exteree speshul, same as I did for the cook comin' out.'
'And it took the "doctor" the best part of a month to get over it and do the 'ash 'alf proper agin,' said the rest of the crowd sadly. 'Poetry and music will be your undoin', Gribbs. It don't pay us for'ard to guy them as is aft.'
'And didn't the "old man" stop my playin' my concertina on Sundays?' asked Gribbs. 'And all because I don't know no 'ymn tunes. As they says out 'ere, it tires me to think of it. I'll be gettin' even wiv 'im some day. I'll commit susancide and 'aunt 'im. 'Owsever, wot's the odds, for "it's 'ome, deary, 'ome; it's 'ome I wish to be," and we're sailin' in the mawnin'!'
Owing to the fact that the Battle-Axe's crowd was sulky, the Star of the South got her anchor out of the ground and stood to the north-west to round Point Angelos a good ten minutes before Watchett's vessel was under way.
'That's good,' said Connie Ryder. 'I know they're a sulky lot by now in the Battle-Axe. And our men work like dears.'
It was with difficulty she kept from tailing on to the braces as they jammed the Star close up to weather the Point. For the wind was drawing down the coast from the nor'ard, and Valparaiso harbour faces due north. She was glad when they rounded the Point and squared away, for if there was any real difference in the sailing qualities of the rival barques, the Star was best with the wind free and the Battle-Axe when she was on a bowline.
'And with any real luck,' said Mrs. Ryder, 'we may have a good, fair wind all the way till we cross the Line.'
It was so far ahead to consider the North-East Trades, which meant such mighty long stretches on a wind that she declined to think of them.