"If you are not afraid, I ought not to be," added the owner of the craft, evidently laboring to stimulate his courage. "I guess I will risk it, as those barges will be near enough to pick us up if anything happens."
"All right," answered Dory, as he hauled down the sheet, and let the boat go ahead. "Why did you come out in such a blow, if you don't think it is safe?"
"The girls hadn't anything to do to-day, and wanted to go down to Port Henry. We started at six o'clock this morning, and got there at eight. It began to blow pretty hard by nine, and we started back, though we intended to stay at the Port all day. I got along very well, though the girls were scared, till we got down to Barber's Point; and after that it blew like tophet."
"You had the full rake of the wind across North West Bay then," added Dory.
"Yes; and I had to beat all the way home right against it," continued the skipper. "I thought we should tip over every minute. If I let her off enough to make her go ahead, she tipped so that the girls all screamed. When I was half way over to Button Island I tacked, but the boat would not come about. She lay there with her sail banging. Then the wind caught the sail again, and tipped her so she took in some hogsheads of water. She got in between the waves, and began to roll like a chip. I thought it was time to haul down the sail, and I went forward to do so. Then the main sheet run out, and I couldn't get it again."
"It was a bad situation," added Dory, as Bissell paused and looked at him, apparently as if to ascertain what he thought of the skipper's management; but Dory expressed no opinion.
"I let go the peak halyard, and did the best I could to get the boom in, but I couldn't do a thing with it. The boat kept rolling in the water all the time, and I had to take the bucket and bale with all my might. I was afraid to haul the sail down then, for it would have gone into the water, and helped drag her over on one side."
Dory, as an expert, had a very decided opinion in regard to the skipper's management; but he did not feel called upon to express it, for Bissell was an obstinate man, and he did not care to dispute with him. The Silver Moon was running out close-hauled from the lee of Button Island, which carried her to windward of the fleet of barges. Dory had taken the helm when she got under way; and as long as the skipper did not object, he retained it.
"The boat don't work very well without the jib, and that was what made all the trouble," continued the skipper. "But it blowed so like all possessed, that I couldn't carry it."