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Neale had told her plainly what to do ordinarily, and had instructed her to look to him for orders in any emergency. It looked to be very simple, this working out an ice-scooter that had in it the possibility of sailing at any speed up to a hundred miles an hour!
Somebody had started the creaking boat with the purchase of a pike pole at the rear. The peavy bit into the ice, and the scooter rocked out from the wharf. The big sail was already spread. They had wabbled out of the confinement of the dock slowly and sedately enough.
Suddenly the wind puffed into the sail and bellied it. The stick bent and groaned. It seemed as though the runners stuck to the surface of the 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 away from the shore. She swooped like a gull across the ice. The whining of steel on ice rose to a painful shriek in Agnes ears.
She was scared. Oh, yes, she was scared! But she would not admit it not for worlds! Faster and faster the scooter moved. The girl looked 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, blinking the water out of her eyes.
They had headed up Long Lake as they left the shore, and they could travel on the wind, and without tacking, for a long way. They overhauled 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 fast before in all her life.
The scooter struck a hummock in the ice. It was not six inches above the general level of the crystal surface of the lake. But the impetus it gave the ice-boat sent that seemingly fragile craft up into the air! She left the ice for a long, breathtaking, humming jump. It seemed to Agnes as though they were going right up into the air, very much as an aeroplane soars from the earth.
Indeed, had the ice-boat a movable tail like an aeroplane, surely it would 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 a peg beside her, Agnes would surely have lost the bight of it.
But Neale had told her certain things to do, and she would not fail him. Through half-blinded eyes she cast another glance at him over her shoulder. The boy showed no evidence of panic, and Agnes was ashamed to display her own inner feelings.
When Neale said, Youre a regular little sport, Aggie! it was the finest tribute to
character that Agnes Kenway knew anything about. She was determined to win his approval now, if never before.
Ruth saw them coming, but had no idea at first that the careening ice-racer was the small boat that Neale and her sister had engaged for the run up the lake. The schooner came on like, and with, the wind!
See that boat, Cecile! cried the oldest Corner House girl. How reckless it is to ride so fast. Suppose the mast should snap or a skate should break? My!
But look how they fly! agreed her friend.
Hey! exclaimed Luke. Thats Neale ONeil steering that thing.
Oh! Mercy! Agnes! shrieked Ruth, her eyes suddenly opened to the identity 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 be mistaken.
Stop them! Stop them! moaned Ruth, really alarmed.
It seemed to her that the boat she was riding in was going much too fast for safety; but the scooter flew up the lake at a pace that made the big boats seem to stand still.
Neale plainly knew how to handle the racer. He passed the two barges and then tacked, aiming to cross the bows of the bigger craft.
Instantly, as the boom swung around, Agnes end of the crossbeam went into the air! They saw her sail upward, the flashing steel runners at least four feet above the ice!
The girls wind-whipped face was still smiling. Indeed, that smile seemed frozen on. As the racer rushed by Agnes looked down upon her sisters and other friends and waved one hand to them.
Then, like a huge kite, the big-bellied sail raced off across the lake, taking the reckless pair almost instantly out of earshot.
CHAPTER VIII THE VILLAGE ON THE ICE
They are in no danger, he urged. Take it easy, Ruth.
Why, they must be in peril! Did you see her Agnes up in the air?
Well, shes down again all right now, Ruthie, said Cecile Shepard soothingly.
Oh, if I had only known!
Known what? asked Luke, inclined to grin if the truth was told.
That the small boat would sail like that. Why, it is worse than a racing automobile!
Faster, I guess. Almost as fast as a motorcycle, Luke agreed. But Neales managed one of those things before. He told me all about it.
But why didnt somebody tell me about it? demanded Ruth rather stormily.