Henry C. Rowland

“ Should the wind fail, or still be ahead upon their return, he could secure a launch through the Club, of which he had lately become a member, or at least obtain a man to sail them back again.
"If I did not feel that I was competent to sail my boat across the Sound——" he began with dignity, when Miss Vaugn interrupted him.
"Have I not already told you that I would trust you?" she asked, with a ravishing smile. "Let us go aboard. It is much nicer, anyway, just to have ourselves. Come on; let's go out. Oh, what a duck of a little boat!" ”

“ Smalley, with deep feeling.
"Jove, but you're the boy to carry sail, Smalley!" cried the "Vice." "We were all watching you from the Club-house. You surely had your nerve with you to jibe around that buoy; but she took it like a steeple-chaser. How she did come!"
"I was afraid that we might be too late for the start," explained Mr. Smalley modestly.
"You're a good sport! But I say, why didn't you trim in your sheet when you jibed?"
"She came over a little quicker than I expected," answered Mr. Smalley frankly. "You see, she's a new boat and I haven't quite learned her tricks as yet." ”

“ Smalley described a graceful parabola, landing with more force than elegance against the after end of the house, where he furnished an admirable fender for Miss Vaugn, who had closely followed him. The General, scenting danger like the old war-horse that he was, had clung desperately to the rail and sustained his strong strategic position, while the wails proceeding from the cabin were both heart-rending and alarming. ”

“ As the boat was lying head to wind with the main sheet hauled aft and belayed, the hoisting of the jib caused the bow to swing off sufficiently to fill the main-sail, whereupon the craft began to slowly forge ahead. Mr. Smalley, seeing that they had already started, although a little sooner than he had anticipated, quickly let go the buoyed mooring-line and they were off.
"Why, we're going the wrong way!" exclaimed Miss Vaugn in surprise. ”

“ He'll fix you up all right. Come aboard—I'll have your boat taken in charge. You and your guests are just in time to come aboard with me and see the race."
"How jolly!" cried Miss Vaugn.
"Capital! capital!" cried the General heartily. "It's a shame, my boy," he went on, turning to Mr. Smalley, "that this handsome boat should have got dismasted this way, especially through no fault of yours. By George, sir!" he continued to the "Vice," "I never had such a magnificent sail in my life. Smalley, here, is certainly a master hand at a boat. ”

“ In the brilliantly lighted ballroom pretty summer girls, whose sun-tanned faces and round, athletic arms seemed strangely dusky as seen against their snowy gowns, swung in and out to the rollicking strains of the band, while gallant cavaliers in yachting ducks and the statelier evening clothes of the formal city, led them this way and that, or innocently discovered sheltered nooks upon the broad verandas. ”

“ Smalley with deep conviction. "What a fool I was—" he began thoughtlessly.
"Why?" she asked innocently. "I thought you were splendid."
"I mean for dashing into that mud-puddle without knowing how much water there was," he replied in haste. "But it taught me a lesson, Felicia. No matter how much a man may know about a boat, or how good a sailor he may be—or," he thought to himself, "how much of an ass"—"he has no right to take any chances where there is a lady concerned. ”

“ That's the way I like to sail!"
Mr. Smafley listened to this peroration with an admiration not unmixed with envy. Although he had carefully perused "Every Man His Own Skipper," and "The Small Boat Sailer," according to the text of which there appeared to be some discrepancy in running free on the starboard tack, he was nevertheless impressed with the fact that the General's words possessed the true nautical swing, and decided that at some time in the elder gentleman's career he must have had much to do with affairs maritime. ”

“ Mr. Smalley bowed gracefully and murmured a few felicitations, glancing, however, somewhat darkly at the Rev. Mr. Wynges, whose name a garrulous society was beginning to whisper in connection with that of the lady. Miss Felicia Vaugn, the beautiful daughter of General Horatius Vaugn, Retired, of the Army.
"We are so disappointed," said Miss Vaugn plaintively. "It is Regatta Day over at the Sachem Harbor Yacht Club—across the Sound, you know—and we had planned to charter a launch and run across; but we find that everything is taken except this nasty little sail-boat!" ”

“ Wynges anxiously.
"What do you want of a sailing-master?" demanded Jack, with the ill-timed insistence of youth.
"I like to carry a man to pull and haul," said Mr. Smalley. "Besides, I have not yet become very well acquainted with these waters, and with a deep-draught boat one must have a good local knowledge of rocks and shoals." ”

“ By no means. That was one of the microscopic elements of truth about the whole business. He was entirely out of commission, and when I asked you to go in spite of that, I reckoned on Jack's helping me out. When he balked, I could see no way out of it with honor, and I wasn't man enough to own up to being a duffer. ”