"I believe the fellow means to go off on the lake," added Sam.
"Not a bit of it! He couldn't get her down the river if he tried a week. No; he couldn't even get her through the outlet, for at the turn he will have the wind dead ahead," chuckled Ash.
Tom Topover at the helm looked as though he were supremely contented with his position. He had got the hang of the wheel so far as to be able to steer the sloop when there were no complications. By trial he found that when he pulled the spokes towards him, sitting on the weather side, it caused the bow to swing in the same direction. If he turned the wheel too much, it felt as though the boat would tip over. Turning it too much the other way, made the wind shake the sail as it was "spilled." This was the extent of the skipper's present skill in sailing a boat.
The Goldwing moved rapidly even in a light wind, and she was soon near the outlet. It looked as though Tom meant to go through, for he made no attempt to check the further progress of the sloop in this direction. Sam protested that he must not go any farther: the navigation of the outlet was difficult, and it required all Dory Dornwood's skill to carry her through with a west wind.
"Why don't you say something to him, Ash?" asked Sam, beginning to be anxious about the result of the venture.
"He is the skipper, and I don't want to interfere with him," replied Ash very decidedly.
"But he means to run away with the boat, and we don't agree to that," remonstrated Sam. "He don't know what to do, even if he don't intend to take a cruise on the lake; and you ought to tell him, for you are the only fellow on board that knows any thing about a sailboat. He will get us all into a scrape that we did not bargain for."
"I tell you he can't get through the outlet," replied Ash impatiently. "When he gets her aground, as you may be sure he will, all we have to do is to jump ashore and go home."
"We had no business to come down here in the boat, and I want to get out of the muddle before it gets any hotter," persisted Sam.
"You have a tongue in your head, and you know how to use it. Why don't you talk to Tom yourself?" inquired Ash.