"Good! I'll do it."
"You will do your best in the Maud—won't you?"
"Certainly; and you will do the same in the Skylark."
"To be sure. We will sail around Matinicus Rock and back."
The terms of the race were agreed upon, and the interest of the whole club was excited. The party went on board the fleet, and the two yachts were moored in line. At the firing of the gun on board the Sea Foam, they ran up their jibs and got a good start. The wind was west, a lively breeze, but not heavy. Each yacht carried her large gaff-topsail and the balloon-jib. The course was about forty miles, the return from the rock being a beat dead to windward. Robert and Donald each did his best, and the Maud came in twelve minutes ahead of the Skylark.
"I am satisfied now," said Robert, when they met after the race.
"I was satisfied before," laughed Donald. "I was confident the Maud was faster than the Skylark or the Sea Foam."
"I agree with you now; and I have more respect for myself than I had before, for I thought it was you, and not the Maud, which had beaten me," added Robert. "I have also a very high respect for the firm of Ramsay & Son."
The Maud winning the Race. [Page 338].