"The wind has almost died out," said Hop, as he looked about him.
"Not much!" replied Ash.
"When you are running in a boat before the wind, there seems to be little or no breeze," said Dory, who did not abandon his function as instructor. "When you ride in a carriage in a hot day, with the wind, you feel the heat. So in a boat. I have been nearly roasted on the lake in this boat when I was going before the wind, while it would be comfortably cool on the wind. The motion of the boat kills the breeze. Some boatmen make Hop's blunder, and put on more sail than they can bear; and then it is a dangerous error."
"Haul in on the main-sheet! A pull on the lee jib-sheet!" said Ash, when the Goldwing came to a bend in the river, which made it necessary to brace up the boat a little more.
After the change of course, the breeze came fresher; and Hop realized his mistake, by experience. The sloop went rapidly down the river with the wind about on the beam, or across the width of the boat, and out into the lake. The waves were lively there; and they were short and choppy, giving the boat a jerky motion.
"I suppose you know where the bottom is, out here, Ash," said Dory.
"I think I do; and it is pretty near the top of the water for a mile. I shall hold her on her present course till we have made about that distance from the mouth of the river."
"About half a mile from the point will cover it, but it is best to be on the safe side. When Diamond Island shuts in Split Rock Light, you are all right for any course except south," added Dory.
"I suppose nobody but Ash is expected to understand that remark," said Archie. "Shuts it in!"
"In other words, when you can see Split Rock Light over Diamond Island, you are far enough from the shore to avoid the shoals off Field's Bay," Dory explained.