But it seemed this was not wholly possible.
The Viking was standing up to clear a buoy a short distance ahead, which marked the channel, and would just barely fetch by it if she was not headed off any. It became apparent soon, however, that the skipper of the pinkey was heading so that, if one or the other did not give way, there would be a collision.
“Better give him the horn,” suggested Tom, as the boys watched the oncoming boat.
“No, I don’t think we need to,” said Henry Burns. “They see us. Look, there they are pointing. Old Martel knows what he is doing. It’s just a case of bullying. We’ve got the right of way over a boat running free, and he knows it.”
“That’s right, Henry,” exclaimed Harvey. “We might as well show him we know our rights. Keep her on her course, and don’t give way an inch.”
There was plenty of water on the pinkey’s starboard hand, and the course was free there; but for the Viking to head off the wind meant failure to clear the buoy, and another tack, with loss of time. It was all a mere trifle, of course, but they knew the skipper of the pinkey was trying to crowd them; and they were bound to stand on their rights.
The pinkey came up perilously close; then, just barely in time, sheered off so that its boom almost came aboard the Viking. Henry Burns, unmoved, had held the Viking close into the wind, without giving way an inch even when it had looked as though the two boats must come together.
“We might as well fight it out right now with old Martel,” he said, quietly. “Perhaps he will let us alone if he finds we’re not afraid of him.”
THE CREW OF THE VIKING MEET SKIPPER MARTEL.