a
given direction, and had an indistinct idea of beating and tacking; but
she was very far from being competent to manage a sailboat.

The stops were removed from the sails, under the direction of the
adventurous Fanny, and the foresail hoisted. It was a more difficult
matter to cast off the moorings, but their united strength accomplished
the feat, and the Greyhound, released from the bonds which held her,
immediately drifted to the shore, for her unskilful skipper had not
trimmed the foresail so that it would draw.

"I thought you knew how to manage a boat," said Kate, contemptuously.

"So I do," replied Fanny, as she gathered up the fore-sheet, and
trimmed the sail.

"What are you doing in here, then?"

"I only came in here to get a fair start," added the skipper, not at
all disconcerted by the mishap.

"Folks don't generally run the boat ashore before they start," sneered
Kate, who certainly had no confidence in the seamanship of the feminine
skipper.

"That's the way they do it!" exclaimed Fanny, triumphantly, as the sail
began to draw, and the boat moved off from the shore. "Now, we are all
right. That's just the way I meant to make her go."

The wind came from the Woodville side of the river, but it was very
light, and the Greyhound moved but slowly. Fanny was entirely satisfied
with herself now, and was confident that she could manage any boat that
ever floated. It was a very easy thing, she thought, and she did not
see why folks made such a "fuss" about sailing a boat; anybody could do
it, if they only thought they could. But the Greyhound did not move
fast enough for her impatient temperament, and, against the
remonstrances of her more prudent companion, she insisted upon setting
the mainsail.

"Mr. Long may be after us soon, and we must get along as fast as we
can," said she, as she took the throat halliard, and gave the peak to
Kate. "Now, hoist away. We are as good sailors as any one need be."

The mainsail was set, and the Greyhound began to travel through the
water pretty rapidly, much to the delight of Fanny. She had been
deceived in regard to the force of the wind; under the lee of the
shore, where it was obstructed by the bank, by the trees, and by the
buildings, the breeze was very light: out in the middle of the river
the wind was quite strong; but the boat had not yet begun to feel its
full force.

"Now she goes beautifully!" exclaimed Fanny, as she observed the effect
by the added sa