not a very big craft for such a
journey as that."

"How long will the water tanks hold out?"

"That is where the pinch will come in, sir. I reckon that at
ordinary times we might make shift to go on for three weeks without
filling up, but, you see, we have twenty hands instead of ten, and
that will make all the difference.. I did get ten good-sized casks
yesterday morning, and got them filled as well as the tanks. They
are stowed away forward, but they won't improve her speed. They
have brought her head down over two inches, but, of course, we
shall use the water in them first."

"You had better bring them amidships, captain, and stow them round
the saloon skylight. Appearances are of no consequence whatever,
and the great thing is to get her in her best sailing trim. If bad
weather comes on, we must put half in the bow and half in the
stern, where we can wedge them in tightly together. It would not do
to risk having them rolling about the decks.

"Well, then," he went on, seeing that the captain did not like the
thought of having weight at each end of the yacht, "if the weather
gets bad we will take the saloon skylight off, and lower them down
into it. I can eat my meals on deck or in my stateroom, but the
water we must keep. If we get a spell of head winds or calms, we
may be three weeks getting to Gib."

"That would be a very good plan, sir, if you can do without the
saloon, and don't mind its being littered up."

"Well, I hope we shan't get any bad weather until we get well
across the bay, Hawkins. I don't mind the discomfort, but it would
stop her speed. We want a wind that will just let us carry all our
canvas. We can travel a deal faster so than we can in heavy
weather, when we might be obliged to get down the greater part of
our canvas and perhaps to lie to.

"It looks like a strong crew, doesn't it?" he went on, as he
glanced forward.

"That it does, sir. A craft of this size can do well with more when
she is racing, but for a crew it is more than one wants, a good
deal; and people would stare if we went into an English port.
Still, I don't say that it is not an advantage to be strong-handed
if we get heavy weather, and it makes light work of getting up sail
or shifting it, and one wants to shift pretty often when he is
trying to get high speed out of a craft."

The wind continued fitful, and, in spite of having her racing
sails, the Osprey's run to the Start was a long one. It was not
until thir