"So there is if you only keep in it," replied Dory laughing, for he did not wish to hurt the feelings of his fellow coxswain. "I have done that same thing myself, Matt, and I did it as handsomely as you have done it."
"We have to haul her up into the wind here, and I was afraid she would go ashore on the other side," pleaded Matt. "But here we are with the centreboard up in the air, and the planks rasping the sand on the bottom."
The disaster occurred at the bend in the outlet, which Dory called the "V point." The current, which was quite strong at high water, deposited a great deal of sand at the apex of the point, while its force made a clear channel near the shore on the other side. When the wind was northwest it was necessary to hug the point as closely as possible.
The two oars and the boathook were at once brought into use, but it was impossible to move the hull in this way. Dory sent a couple of the crew ashore in the tender with a line, which they made fast to a tree near the deep water. The anchor was taken on deck, and the other end of the line passed through the block on the bowsprit. All on board manned this line, and the bow was hauled off almost in the twinkling of an eye. Matt insisted that Dory should take the helm, when the tender had returned with the line.
It was not an easy thing to get under way again in that bad place and Matt was very much mortified at the mishap. The skipper said all he could to comfort him, and gave him the helm again as soon as the schooner was in Beaver River. He arranged his lines as he had before, and by the time he had done this the Goldwing was approaching the mouth of the river. But a bend prevented them from seeing out into the lake.
"There they are!" shouted Dory at the heel of the bowsprit, where he could get the first view of the white-capped waves. "They are doing the very thing I was afraid they would do."
"What's that, Dory?" asked Matt, starting the sheets as the course of the yacht was changed.
"They are standing across the lake, and in a short time, if they make any headway, they will be in smooth water," replied the skipper.
Matt did not ask any questions, and possibly he suspected that Dory was his superior in the management of a boat. If he did, it was only because he was mortified at the accident at V Point. The Goldwing went out into the lake, and began to dance on the billows. The two barges appeared to be doing very well, in spite of the inefficient crew at the oars. Both of them were pitching smartly, and were not taking in water except in the form of spray.