CHAPTER VII
THE SCOOTER
Sammy Pinkney had desired greatly to go with Neale and Agnes on thesmaller ice-boat; but they would not hear to the proposal. He struckup an acquaintance with the "crew" of the big boat to which he wasassigned, and gave Ruth and Luke Shepard no trouble.
In the other large boat Mr. Howbridge, Mrs. MacCall and the twosmallest Corner House girls, as well as Tom Jonah, were very cozilyensconced. Dot clutched the Alice-doll very tightly and Tom Jonahbarked loudly when the barge slithered out upon the lake and began togather speed as the fresh wind filled the big sail.
Mrs. MacCall continued to have her doubts regarding the safety of thisstrange means of locomotion.
"There's one good thing about it," she chattered, as the sledge jarredover a few hummocks. "There's nae so far to fall if we do fall out."
"It's perfectly safe, they tell me," Mr. Howbridge assured her.
"Aye. It may look so," the good woman admitted. "But 'tis like TamTaggart goin' to London."
"How was that?" the lawyer asked, smiling.
"Tam was one o' these canny Highlanders, and he made up his mind aftermuckle thought to spend a week in London. He went to 'broaden hismind,' as they call it. Truly, to prove to himself that London and theEnglish were quite as bad as he'd believed all his life.
"So he goes to London, and he comes home again--very solemn like.Nobody could get a word out of him at first," pursued Mrs. MacCall."Finally the folks, they gathered around him at the post-office andone says:
"'What ails ye, Tam? Ye've no told us anything aboot Lunnon. Is it naethe fine place they'd have us believe?'
"'Oo, aye, 'tis nae so bad,' says Tam. 'But they are nae honest upthere.'
"'Whit way air they no honest, Tam?' asks his friends.
"'Weel,' says Tam, 'I aye had my doots all the time; but I made surethe day I bought me a penny-packet of needles. On the outside o' it,it said there was one thousand needles inside.'
"'Oh, aye?'
"'I coonted 'em,' says Tam, 'an'--wad ye believe it?--there was onlynine hundred and ninety-three!' And this boat-sliding may look allright," concluded the Corner House housekeeper, "but, like Tam, 'Ihave me doots!'"
As the boat gathered speed, following the one on which Ruth and hercompanions sailed out into the open lake, the little girls squealedtheir delight. Even Dot forgot her fears. And Tom Jonah "smiled" justas broadly as he could.
"Oh, Tessie!" Dot gasped. "It _is_ like flying! My breath's too bigfor my mouth--just like I was in a swing."
"I guess you must feel like poor Sandyface did when Sammy sent herwith her kittens from our house to his in the fly-a-majig. Youremember?" said Tess.
"I should say I did!" agreed Dot in her old-fashioned way. "What anawful time that was, wasn't it? And Sammy got spanked."
"Sammy's always getting spanked," Tess said coolly.
"Ye-as. He is. But I guess he's never got used to it yet," respondedthe smallest Corner House girl thoughtfully.
The wind, when they faced forward, almost took their breath. Thelittle girls cowered down under the warm robes, looking astern. Sotheir bright eyes were the first to catch sight of the scootershooting out into the lake behind them.
The wharves and dun-colored houses of Culberton were already farastern. And how fast the town was receding!
The smaller ice-boat, however, overtook the big boats almost as thoughthe latter were standing still! The others caught sight of thecareening ice-racer soon after Dot and Tess first shouted. But neitherof the little girls nor the other members of the party realized thatNeale and Agnes were aboard the craft that came, meteor-like, up thelake.
They had started sedately enough, Neale O'Neil at the stern with thetiller ropes in his mittened hands and Agnes strapped into the seat onthe outrigger, with the bight of the running sheet in her charge.
Neale had told her plainly what to do ordinarily, and had instructedher to look to him for orders in any emergency. It looked to be verysimple, this working out an ice-scooter that had in it the possibilityof sailing at any speed up to a hundred miles an hour!
Somebody had started the creaking boat with the purchase of a pikepole at the rear. The peavy bit into the ice, and the scooter rockedout from the wharf. The big sail was already spread. They had wabbledout of the confinement of the dock slowly and sedately enough.
Suddenly the wind puffed into the sail and bellied it. The stick bentand groaned. It seemed as though the runners stuck to the surface ofthe ice and the mast would be torn from the framework of the craft.
Then she really started!
The powerful on-thrust of the wind in the sail shot the scooter awayfrom the shore. She swooped like a gull across the ice. The whining ofsteel on ice rose to a painful shriek in Agnes' ears.
She was scared. Oh, yes, she was scared! But she would not admitit--not for worlds! Faster and faster the scooter moved. The girllooked back once at Neale and caught a glimpse of his confident smile.It heartened her wonderfully.
"Hold hard, Aggie!" his strong voice shouted, and she nodded, blinkingthe water out of her eyes.
They had headed up Long Lake as they left the shore, and they couldtravel on the wind, and without tacking, for a long way. Theyoverhauled the two big barges in which the rest of the party sailed,in a way that fairly made Agnes gasp. She had never traveled so fastbefore in all her life.
The scooter struck a hummock in the ice. It was not six inches abovethe general level of the crystal surface of the lake. But the impetusit gave the ice-boat sent that seemingly fragile craft up into theair! She left the ice for a long, breathtaking, humming jump. Itseemed to Agnes as though they were going right up into the air, verymuch as an aeroplane soars from the earth.
Indeed, had the ice-boat a movable tail like an aeroplane, surely itwould completely take to the air. Next to piloting an aeroplane,ice-boat racing is the greatest sport in the world.
Spang! The scooter took to the ice again and ran like a scared rabbit.The stays sang a new tune. Had the sheet not had a simple cast about apeg beside her, Agnes would surely have lost the bight of it.
But Neale had told her certain things to do, and she would not failhim. Through half-blinded eyes she cast another glance at him over hershoulder. The boy showed no evidence of panic, and Agnes was ashamedto display her own inner feelings.
When Neale said, "You're a regular little sport, Aggie!" it was thefinest tribute to character that Agnes Kenway knew anything about. Shewas determined to win his approval now, if never before.
Ruth saw them coming, but had no idea at first that the careeningice-racer was the small boat that Neale and her sister had engaged forthe run up the lake. The schooner came on like, and with, the wind!
"See that boat, Cecile!" cried the oldest Corner House girl. "Howreckless it is to ride so fast. Suppose the mast should snap or askate should break? My!"
"But look how they fly!" agreed her friend.
"Hey!" exclaimed Luke. "That's Neale O'Neil steering that thing."
"Oh! Mercy! _Agnes!_" shrieked Ruth, her eyes suddenly opened to theidentity of the two on the scooter.
"Hoorah!" yelled Luke. "What speed!"
The party on the other big boat had recognized the two on the scooter.The fur-trimmed coat and brilliant-hued hood Agnes wore could not bemistaken.
"Stop them! Stop them!" moaned Ruth, really alarmed.
It seemed to her that the boat she was riding in was going much toofast for safety; but the scooter flew up the lake at a pace that madethe big boats seem to stand still.
Neale plainly knew how to handle the racer. He passed the two bargesand then tacked, aiming to cross the bows of the bigger craft.
Instantly, as the boom swung around, Agnes' end of the crossbeam wentinto the air! They saw her sail upward, the flashing steel runners atleast four feet above the ice!
The girl's wind-whipped face was still smiling. Indeed, that smileseemed frozen on. As the racer rushed by Agnes looked down upon hersisters and other
friends and waved one hand to them.
Then, like a huge kite, the big-bellied sail raced off across thelake, taking the reckless pair almost instantly out of earshot.