Charley forced a smile. "Well, I'll let you find out a few things, yourself, while I rest."
"Is the entertainment over for the day?" queried one of the fishermen.
"No, it's just going to begin," Charley prophesied with a grin.
"Oh, I can start it all right," Walter declared, confidently. "Just watch me and I'll show you how."
He turned on the switch, rocked the fly wheel a couple of times, then threw it over with a quick jerk. The engine started with a sharp snapping like a quick fire gun.
"There, I've started her," he yelled, proudly, above the din.
"That is not the way she was built to run," shouted Charley, while a roar of laughter went up from the assembled fishermen, for, instead of going ahead, the "Dixie" had started astern full speed. Charley who was standing ready to cast off took a quick turn of the line around a cleat and stopped her in her backward career. "Stop!" he cried, "or she'll break the line."
But Walter was thoroughly bewildered and stood gazing helplessly at the popping machinery.
"Pour water on it, that's the way to stop it," jeered a fisherman.