eady the catboats were getting off from the starting line, in
rotation of numbers and about two minutes apart. The course was ten
miles (or thereabout) straightaway to the stake-boat, set far out in the
lake--quite out of sight from the decks of the boats about the starting
point--and turning that, to beat back. The wind was free, but not too
strong. The out-and-return course would prove the boats themselves and
the seamanship of their crews.

Being a free-for-all race, there had been brought together some pretty
odd-looking craft beside the smart, new boats belonging to dwellers in
Braisely Park. But the Jarleys' boat was by no means the worst-looking.

However, it attracted considerable attention because it was the only
catboat "manned" by girls.

Wynifred Mallory had done this on impulse, and it was not usual for her
to act in such a way. But her parents had gone home and she had nobody
to ask permission of but Mrs. Havel--and she did not really know where
the Go-Aheads' chaperone was.

Beside, there wasn't time to ask. The catboats were already getting
under way. The _Coquette_ was almost the last to start. Wyn was not
at all afraid of the task before her, for she had helped Dave sail his
cousin's catboat on the Wintinooski many times. She knew how to 'tend
sheet.

The Go-Aheads and Busters recognized Wyn, and began to cheer her and
Polly before the _Coquette_ came to the line. Other onlookers
caught sight of the two girls, and whether they knew the crew of the
_Coquette_ or not, gave them a good "send-off."

Polly had accepted Wyn's help quietly, but with a look that Wyn was not
likely to forget. It meant much to the Jarleys if the _Coquette_
won the twenty-five dollars. They needed every dollar they could
honestly earn.

The boatman's daughter did not stop then to thank her friend. Instead
she gave her brief, but plain, instructions as to what she was to do,
and Wyn went about her work in a practical manner.

The catboat was sixteen feet over all, with its mast stepped well
forward, of course, carrying a large fore-and-aft sail with gaff and
boom. A single person _can_ sail a cat all right; but to get speed
out of one, and manoeuver quickly, it takes a sheet-tender as well as
a steersman.

"Sixteen!" shouted the starter's assistant through his megaphone, and
Polly brought the _Coquette_ about and shot towards the starter's
boat.

The boatman's girl had held off some distance from the line. Number
Fif