"Oars!" said the coxswain, sharply. "Hold water!"
The progress of the barge was checked when she was within ten feet of the Racer. Then Dory ordered his crew to give way again. The stem of the Winooski struck the bow of the Chesterfield barge.
CHAPTER VII. AN UNSATISFACTORY CONFERENCE ON THE WAVES.
There was no crash when the Winooski struck the Dasher, and Dory had intended there should be none, or at least nothing more than a smart rap. His crew anticipated something more than followed the contact of the two boats.
"Hold on, you Tinkers!" yelled Wash Barker, rising in his seat in the stern-sheets of his boat. "You are running into us. You will smash our boat all to pieces!"
But the collision did not realize his fears, though his conduct caused his crew to cease rowing. The Dasher was a couple of lengths astern of the commodore's barge, and the instant the mighty official yelled they all stopped pulling and looked behind them. The Winooskis felt the jar of the stroke, but not one of them turned his head, as they might have been excused for doing.
"Give way, fellows!" called Dory, in an energetic command, to the astonishment of his own crew, and to the dismay of the coxswain of the Dasher.
But the crew of the Winooski obeyed the order, as they had promised to do, whatever broke. The command was given at the instant the two boats came together. The headway of the Dasher was checked, and the force with which the Beech Hill boat advanced carried her head around.