"All ready, sir," added Nevers, confidently.
Both parties were impatient for the contest to begin, and both were almost certain of winning the victory. Even the boats seemed to share in the spirit of their crews, and anxious to have the fetters removed that they might bound away upon the errand of conquest. Each had appropriate flags at the bow and stern, and one with a taste for boats would have been delighted by the appearance of the trim craft.
"Ready for the signal!" shouted the colonel again.
"Down with that flag in the bow, Carter," said Richard to the bowman, as he took down the color in the stern.
"What's that for?" asked one of the crew of the Emma.
"They hold the wind, and keep us back a little. We will be on the safe side. Now, ready, fellows, and mind what I have said to you. Don't look at the other boat till you can see her over our stern."
Nevers disdained to follow the example of his rival in removing his flags, saying that he could beat him with his colors flying. Nevers prided himself upon his skill in handling a boat, and he felt that the opportunity had come which would enable him to triumph over the hated usurper, as he considered Richard. He knew how much glory and honor would be awarded to the conqueror in this race, and that if he could beat his rival, scores of those fair-weather friends, who always attach themselves to a rising man, would leave him.
The signal gun was on shore, and at a gesture from the colonel, it was discharged. The report seemed to unloose the bonds which chained the boats to their stations, and they bounded away. The crew of the Alice bent to their oars with the most tremendous energy, while that of the Emma seemed to be inspired by the cool and steady nerve of her coxswain. They had been fully and thoroughly instructed in their duty.
The crowd of boys on the shore were silent and breathless with the interest they felt in the exciting race; and when, before the boats had gone a quarter of a mile, they discovered the Alice more than half a length ahead of her companion, the jaws of Richard's friends dropped, and their faces were as long as though a ten pound weight had been fastened to the chin of each, while a smile of triumphant satisfaction lighted up the faces of Nevers's well-wishers.
"Nevers has it!" exclaimed one of his intimates, as, when she rounded Green Island, the Alice was found to be more than a length ahead of the Emma.