"What do you say?" replied Harry.
"We've got too much sail on," yelled Charley.
"Of course we'll sail on. This is perfectly gorgeous," was Harry's answer.
"He don't hear," said Charley. "I say, Joe, you'd better take in your mainsail, and set the dandy in its place. You'll spill yourself presently."
"The dandy's stowed down, below, where I can't get at it. I guess I can hold her up till we get across."
Tom was by this time far out of hailing distance, and was apparently getting on very well. Charley did not doubt that he could manage his own canoe well enough, but he was very uneasy about Harry and Joe, who did not seem to realize that they were carrying sail altogether too recklessly. The fleet was nearly two miles from the shore, and a capsize in the heavy sea that was running would have been no joke.
Charley turned part-way around in his canoe to see if his life-belt was in handy reach. As he did so he saw that the water a quarter of a mile to windward was black with a fierce squall that was approaching. He instantly brought his canoe up to the wind, so that the squall would strike him on the port bow, and called out to Harry and Joe to follow his example. Harry did not hear him, and Joe, instead of promptly following Charley's advice, stopped to wonder what he was trying to do. The squall explained the matter almost immediately. It struck the Sunshine and the Dawn, and instantly capsized them, and then rushed on to overtake Tom, and to convince him that Lake Memphremagog is not a good place for inexperienced canoeists who want to carry sail recklessly in squally weather.