isfied. But now
Margery suddenly looked off on the surface of the water, and gave a glad
cry.

"Oh, fine, Dolly!" she exclaimed. "I see what you're up to--and I bet
Gladys thinks you're perfectly insane, too!"

"She'll soon know I'm not," said Dolly, grimly. "I only hope she doesn't
know enough to do the same thing. I don't see how she can miss, though,
unless she can't see in time."

Still Bessie was mystified, and she did not like to ask for an
explanation, especially since she felt certain that one would be
forthcoming anyhow in a few moments. And, sure enough, it was. For
suddenly she felt a breath of wind, and, at the same instant Dolly
brought the _Eleanor_ up before the wind again, and for the first
time Bessie understood what the little sloop's real speed was.

"You see, Bessie," said Margery, "Dolly knew that the wind was dying.
It's a puffy, uncertain sort of wind, and very often, on a day like
this, there'll be plenty of breeze in one spot, and none at all in
another."

"Oh, so we came over here to find this breeze!" said Bessie.

"Yes. It was the only chance. If we had stayed on the other course we
might have found enough breeze to carry us home, but we would have gone
at a snail's pace, just as we were doing, and there was no chance at all
to catch Gladys and the _Defiance_ that way."

"We haven't caught them yet, you know," said Dolly.

"But we're catching them," said Bessie, exultingly. "Even I can see
that. Look! They're just crawling along."

"Still, even at the rate they're going, ten minutes more will bring them
to the finish," said Margery, anxiously. "Do you think she can make it,
Dolly?"

"I don't know," said Dolly. "I've done all I can, anyhow. There isn't a
thing to do now but hold her steady and trust to this shift of the wind
to last long enough to carry us home."

Now the _Eleanor_ was catching the _Defiance_ fast, and nearing her more
and more rapidly. It was a strange and mysterious thing to Bessie to see
that of two yachts so close together--there was less than a quarter of a
mile between them now--one could have her sails filled with a good
breeze while the other seemed to have none at all. But it was so. The
_Defiance_ was barely moving; she seemed as far from the finish now as
she had been when Margery spoke.

"They're stuck--they're becalmed," said Margery, finally, when five
minutes of steady gazing hadn't shown the slightest apparent advance by
the _Defiance_. "Oh, Dol