"Tell him that grandma sent him this muffler, and wants him to wrap well up, and not catch--"
"There goes the signal to get ready!" exclaimed Charlie, as he jumped on the windward runner; and they ran rapidly down to the starting-point, where a long line of boats was drawn up like white-winged birds, their sails trembling in the breeze.
"From Hook Mountain to Piermont Dock, two miles out in mid-river, then back to the Hook, three times--about thirty miles."
"There, Artie, there's the new pennant the young ladies offered as a prize last year, and Tom Hackett and Jim Burger, from Tarrytown, won it on the _Eagle_; but the boys say they didn't win it fairly, for they started ahead of the rest, and crowded one of our boats into an ice crack, and broke her runner."
"Now, boys, attention," ordered Mr. Nye, sharply. "Let her come into the wind."
"Are you ready?" came a clear voice down the wind; and a pistol report cracked on the air.
"Jib sheet--quick, Marc; more main sheet, Art; now sway down on the peak halyards, Joe; lie close, Haines. That's it--all snug;" and they were off on the race.
After our boys had attended to their duties, they had time to look about at the rest of the fleet.
Away on either side stretched a line of swiftly moving yachts, white sails flat as boards, flags fluttering, the wind humming through the rigging, while their glittering runners cut feathery flakes of glistening ice in their tracks.
"Oh, ain't it too bad!" cried Joe. "The _Eagle_ and _Icicle_ are both ahead of us."
"Never mind, boys; it's early in the race yet. Wait till we get on a wind," replied Haines. "Now watch the turning-point, sir; don't let the _Snow Squall_ get inside of us; ready, about," and the three leading boats turned the stake together.
"Phew! how we fly!" cried Art. "Isn't she a hummer?"
"I wonder why they call a boat _Jack_, and then call it 'she,' as if it were a girl?" queried Joe.
"Because they require so much rigging," promptly responded Mr. Nye.
"Oh, uncle, that's not fair," cried Joe; "you knew the answer before."
"Well, I've two daughters, and ought to," replied Mr. Nye; and they all joined in his jolly laugh.
"Look out for the crack ahead!" shouted Charlie, as they rushed by a split in the ice. "Ready, about!" away they went on the other tack; and so the exciting race went on. Now one boat would be ahead, again another would dart by and take the lead, but some had fallen so hopelessly in the rear, that only a half-dozen remained in the race, and of these it was hard to tell which was the swiftest.