“But won’t they pass us if we don’t take the reef out?” demanded George.
“I don’t know. We’ve got to take a chance either way.”
“And no matter what we do,” added George, “we’re bound to lose.”
“Cheer up, Pop,” urged Grant. “The wind hasn’t gone down very much and they haven’t passed us yet.”
“Can’t we take the reef out while we’re going like this?” demanded George.
“Oh, we can,” said Fred. “It would be awfully hard, though, and dangerous, too; besides that, we might tear the sail.”
“Let me try it,” begged George. “We mustn’t lose this race and that’s all there is about it.”
Working under Fred’s guidance, and taking desperate chances George finally succeeded in shaking the reef out of the sail. The halyards were tightened and once again the Balsam moved along under her full spread of canvas.
“Now I feel better,” sighed George, as he settled back in the cockpit once more. “That short sail worried me.”
“We certainly lost a lot of time fooling around there,” observed Fred. “It was all my fault, too.”