The Yacht Club Part 44

"To be sure. We will sail around Matinicus Rock and back."

The terms of the race were agreed upon, and the interest of the whole club was excited. The party went on board the fleet, and the two yachts were moored in line. At the firing of the gun on board the Sea Foam, they ran up their jibs and got a good start. The wind was west, a lively breeze, but not heavy. Each yacht carried her large gaff-topsail and the balloon-jib. The course was about forty miles, the return from the rock being a beat dead to windward. Robert and Donald each did his best, and the Maud came in twelve minutes ahead of the Skylark.

"I am satisfied now," said Robert, when they met after the race.

"I was satisfied before," laughed Donald. "I was confident the Maud was faster than the Skylark or the Sea Foam."

"I agree with you now; and I have more respect for myself than I had before, for I thought it was you, and not the Maud, which had beaten me," added Robert. "I have also a very high respect for the firm of Ramsay & Son."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MAUD WINNING THE RACE. Page 338.]

The members of the club enjoyed the excursion exceedingly; and on their return it was decided to repeat it the next year, if not before. The club-house on Turtle Head was finished when the fleet arrived at Belfast; and during the rest of the vacation, the yachts remained in the bay. They had chowders and fries at the Head, to which the ladies were invited; and Donald made himself as agreeable as possible to Miss Nellie on these occasions. Possibly her father and mother had some objections to this continued and increasing intimacy; if they had, they did not mention them. They were compelled to acknowledge, when they talked the matter over between themselves, that Donald Ramsay was an honest, intelligent, n.o.ble young man, with high aims and pure principles, and that these qualifications were infinitely preferable to wealth without them; and they tacitly permitted the affair to take its natural course, as I have no doubt it will. Certainly the young people were very devoted to each other; and though they are too young to think of anything but friendship, it will end in a wedding.

In the autumn, after the frame of the Alice was all set up, Barbara obtained a situation as a teacher in one of the public schools, and added her salary to the income of the boat-builder. The family lived well, and were happy in each other. After the boating season closed, the yacht club hired apartments, in which a library and reading-room were fitted up; and the members not only enjoyed the meetings every week, but they profited by their reading and their study. Donald is still an honored and useful member, and people say that, by and by, when the country regains her mercantile marine, he will be a ship-builder, and not, as now, THE YOUNG BOAT-BUILDER.