Two minutes later and Paul gave vent to a cry.
“Look yonder!” he exclaimed. “A mile ahead the Cranberry flows into the Conoque; and unless my eyes deceive me there’s an iceboat coming whooping down that smaller stream. Yep, that’s the _Glider_, as sure as anything. I ought to know her build; and Harry, get ready now to show them _a streak of greased lightning_!”
“So that’s Elmer’s boat, is it?” remarked Harry, as he managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of the tall mast of a rapidly moving craft, that was sweeping down the ice covered tributary of the Conoque, now partly hidden behind a clump of trees, and again passing a fairly open spot.
“Head in so as to be ready to follow after him, whichever way he turns,” advised Paul, his voice betraying signs of excitement; for he had been looking forward to this same meeting for many weeks, and anticipating the pleasures of turning the tables on his boasting rival of long standing.
But Harry seemed as cool as though there were nothing at stake. He had schooled himself to repress his feelings when a great emergency arose, calling for calm judgment, as well as quick action.
“I think I’ve got the course we want,” he remarked, quietly, as the _Lightning_ bore well in toward the shore, just below the junction of the two rivers. “I don’t dare pass too far in, because you see that high bank, and the bunch of trees, interfere with the wind, and we’d get blanketed. There they come, Paul!”
Shooting out from the Cranberry like a thing of life, the rival iceboat made a graceful sweep and continued up the river.
“They did that on purpose!” cried Paul, as though a bit disgusted at the turn affairs had taken. “Let him say what he will, I believe Elmer is afraid of this boat. He came and examined her the day I rigged her up; and although he pretended to laugh, I could just see that he was chewing the rag. Yes, look at Pud waving his hand at us; and he’s shouting something too.”
“All right,” said Harry, without the least show of worry; “we’ve got our work cut out for us, that’s all. You know something about the river above; can we run any distance with the boats?”
“Sure!” answered the other member of the crew; “it’s the most obliging old river you ever heard tell of. Miles and miles it stretches away, sometimes narrow, and again broad; but if this wind only holds out, we can spin along like fun for more’n an hour. Hit her up, Harry, let’s see just what the bully contraption carries up her sleeve. After ’em with a hot stick now!”