"Cast off the sheet, Clingman!" called the captain; and the order was obeyed in an instant.
The boat flew up to an even keel almost as though she had been hoisted up by some giant power.
"That is how I should keep her from shipping a big sea," said Scott, as he looked at his companion with a smile on his brown face.
"I give it up, Captain Scott. Of course you know what you are about every time, and I won't say a word again about the boat. But suppose you were not looking when the flaw came?"
"It is not necessary to be looking; for a skipper steers more by the feeling of the boat than by sight. Make fast the sheet, Clingman."
The Blanchita went ahead again; and by this time she was abreast of the Delhi, and gaining upon her. Captain Rayburn was on his quarter-deck.
"Don't run away from me, and I won't run away from you!" he shouted.
But he had hardly spoken before a noise like the distant report of a cannon was heard on board of the yacht.
"He has split his fore squaresail; and if his game was not up before, it is now," said Captain Scott. "The sail was old and rotten, and I don't believe he would have attempted to carry it except on an occasion like the present."
"He was a little too pronounced when he expressed his fears that the Blanchita would not be able to keep up with him, and I fancy he is sorry he said anything about it by this time," added Louis.