'Do you mean it?' Daisy cried. 'Oh, you good old Steve! I will run home and ask Mother this minute.'
'Right you are, Miss Daisy! and I will just go down and put the Mary Jane ship-shape.'
Daisy soon came flying back, having gained the desired permission.
Soon the little boat was dancing over the waves. The breeze filled the sail, and they made such speed that the houses on the shore fast dwindled behind them. Old Steve showed Daisy how to manage the sail and then gave her a lesson in steering. At first the sail slackened and the boat wobbled a little, but his pupil soon grew clever at keeping the head to the wind and steering a straight course.
'Oh, I am enjoying myself!' she cried. 'This is ever so much better than going with the boys, because they always want to manage the sail and the steering, and I never have a chance of learning anything.'
'Well, Missy, you shall come out sailing with me a few times, and I will soon teach you all there is to know about a boat.'
'And then they will not be able to refuse to take me because I am no good, will they?'
'No fear, Missy! You will soon know as much as the young gentlemen—and I do believe that is their boat just ahead.'
'So it is,' cried Daisy, in great excitement. 'Now we will race them, Steve, and give them a surprise.'
'Ship ahoy!' called Daisy as they flew past, and her brothers were indeed astonished to see their sister steering the boat like any old salt. After that they never said that a girl was 'a bit in the way.'