ank asked the
skipper.

"All the same, sir. They all know their work well, and of course if
there is anything to be done aloft, our own men go up. I don't
think any of them will beat us in smartness."

As the time approached for the start, the racers began to gather in
the neighbourhood of the starting line; and as the five-minutes gun
fired, the topsail went up, and they began to sail backwards and
forwards near it.

As the Phantom crossed under the lee of the Osprey, the three
ladies waved their handkerchiefs to Frank, who took off his cap.

"May the best yacht win," Bertha called out, as the vessels flew
quickly apart.

"We could not want a better day, George," Frank said. "We can carry
everything comfortably, and there is not enough wind to kick up
much of a sea. As far as we are concerned, I would rather that the
wind had been either north or south, so that we could have laid our
course all round; as it is, we shall have the wind almost dead aft
till we are round the Nab, then we shall be close-hauled, with
perhaps an occasional tack along the back of the island, then free
again back. There is no doubt that the cutters have a pull
close-hauled. I fancy with this wind the schooners will be out of
it; though if it had been a reach the whole way, they would have
had a good chance.

"Four minutes are gone."

He was holding his watch in his hand, and after a short pause
called out, "Five seconds gone."

The Osprey had a good position at present; though, with the wind
aft, this was of comparatively little consequence. She was nearly
in a line with the mark boat nearest to the shore, and some hundred
and fifty yards from it.

"Haul in the main sheet," Hawkins said quietly, and the men
stationed there hauled on the rope until he said, "That will do, we
must not go too fast."

He went on, turning to Frank (who had just called out, "Twenty
seconds gone"):

"I think that we shall about do."

The latter nodded.

"A bit more, lads," the skipper said ten seconds later. "That will
do."

"Fifteen seconds more," Frank said presently.

"Slack away the sheet, slack it away handsomely. Up foresail, that
is it," shouted the skipper.

As the boom ran out, and the foresail went up, the Osprey glided on
with accelerated speed, and the end of the bowsprit was but a few
yards from the starting line when the gun fired.

"Bravo, good start," Frank said, as he looked round for the first
time.

The eight yachts were