CHAPTER XXIII
A CLOSE BATTLE
Miss Talley, in a boat by herself, with the four competing boats lined up on either side of her, gave the signal for the start.
They had drawn lots for position, and to Jo and Sadie had fallen the poorest of all. They were on the outside—the boat nearest the shore. Consequently they would be on the outer rim of the fleet as it rounded the island.
This did not worry them so much as the fact that Carol and Ruth had drawn best position. Jo and Sadie felt fairly confident that they could beat the other entrants, but they were not so sure about Ruth and Carol. They had watched these girls work and knew they were good. Now, with the added advantage of a good position, it looked as though their rivals would win.
Then came the wild burst of cheering from shore. Nan's words came clearly to her chums. So did the cry of Lottie Sparks!
The two girls whose boat held the worst position in the line-up, stiffened.
"We'll beat them, Jo!" cried Sadie.
"Do or die!" returned Jo.
"Now, girls!" called Miss Talley. "Ready!"
In her hand was the string attached to the toy cannon that was to give them their signal to start. There was a loudboomand eight pairs of oars struck the water at the same instant.
The watchers on shore drew a quick breath. They leaned forward eagerly. Lottie's eye caught Jessie's. She made a gesture toward the lake and grinned meaningly. Jessie frowned and pointedly turned her back.
"They're off!" Nan gripped her arm. "Oh, look, Jessie, our girls are falling behind!"
"They'll make it up," Jessie countered stoutly. "There's good stuff in those girls. There they go! Watch 'em!"
For Sadie, acting as stroke—the girls of Laurel Hall liked to make their boat races as much like a college shell race as possible—had increased the steady motion of the oars. Left behind at the start, Sadie and Jo were catching up, slowly, it is true, but seemingly surely.
"They'll never make it, though!" Excited as she was, Nan kept her voice low so as not to reach the unfriendly ears of Kate's crowd. "They have the outside, you see, and going around the island they will lose more than they can possibly gain later."
"If they're wise they can cut in," Doris spoke quickly, pointing toward the island.
"That's right!" cried Gladys Holt. "There's one place where they can cross over——"
"If some one doesn't guess their intention and beat them to it," said Jessie, between set teeth. "My, but that's good work! Watch 'em go!"
Nan said nothing. Her heart was beating fast. She knew that spot where the girls "if they were smart" could cut across and come home on the inside of the course.
But she knew also the danger of such a strategic move. Close to the island the waters of the lake were shallow. There was the danger of being upset or of grounding the boat—either of which mishaps would mean the loss of the race and the ridicule of their enemies.
"Oh, if they can only do it! If they can only do it!" Nan said over and over to herself as she beat her hands one upon the other and stared after the racing boats. "I wish Jo were stroke. She'd manage the trick some way."
But in this she did Sadie an injustice. Sadie might not be as good as either of her chums on the tennis courts. But in a boat, with the oars in her hand, she was a different person.
They had reached the island. Ruth and Carol were in the lead, with two of the other boats trailing close behind. Sadie and Jo brought up the rear. A poor chance for victory, it would seem, with Jo and Sadie apparently quite out of the race.
But this was far from the fact. Sadie had deliberately allowed her boat to fall behind so that she would be able to seize the desired opening when it came.
It came!
"All ready, Jo?" called Sadie softly.
"Ready!" returned Jo.
They had reached that portion of the lake where the water off shore was deepest. A gap showed between the third boat and the island. It was through this gap that Sadie and Jo must force their boat if they hoped to make the inside of the course.
Having conserved their strength, they had it for use now. Swiftly their oars flashed in the water. Rapidly the gap closed up between them and the leading boat. They worked as they had never worked before, bending their backs to the task.
Carol and Ruth guessed their intention—but too late.
They tried to close in that gap between them and the island, but before they succeeded, Sadie had nosed her boat in and, with flashing oars, dared them to come closer.
They did not dare take the challenge. To cut across the path of Sadie's boat at that moment would mean a collision, one which they themselves would precipitate. This, according to Miss Talley's rules, would automatically put them out of the race.
In triumph, Jo and Sadie closed up the distance between them and their rivals. Now they were neck and neck. Now they were a little ahead!
"Hooray for the last stretch!" thought Jo to herself, and her muscles responded joyfully to the task she set them.
Sadie's back bent and unbent rhythmically to the long sweep of the oars. Her lips were set and her eyes blazed with determination.
The girls on shore saw them coming as they rounded the bend of the island. At first it was impossible to tell who was in the lead. One boat stood out from the others, a full half-length ahead.
Whose boat was it?
It was evident that Kate and Lottie thought their friends were in the winning craft.
"It's Ruth and Carol!" cried Kate, tossing her head. "We might have known they'd win."
"Come on, Ruth! Come on, Carol!" cried Lottie.
A few scattered voices took up the cry. But for the most part the girls were silent, intent upon the small fleet of boats as it swept down the lake.
It was evident, even from that distance, that only two of the boats had a chance to win—the one on the inside of the course and that next to it. The other two trailed behind, hopelessly out of the running.
Suddenly Nan started up with a joyful shout.
"That's Jo and Sadie in the leading boat!" she cried. "Hurrah for Sade! Hurrah for Jo! They cut in. They're going to win! They're going to win!They're going to win!!!"
"Don't be so sure of that!" cried Lottie Sparks, her eyes snapping. "The race isn't won yet!"
But her last words were lost in a great shout of excitement.
The two boats were half way between the island and the boathouse now, Sadie and Jo still holding the lead.
But the second boat was creeping up, up, gradually but steadily closing the distance between them.
"Why doesn't Sade increase the stroke?" thought Jo desperately. "It would be awful to let them win after all!"
Up, up, crept the rival boat. Sadie gritted her teeth, but kept to the even, regular stroke.
"Not yet! Not yet!" she said to herself, resisting the impulse to dash madly ahead, outdistancing her rival. "We'll win, but I've got to use my head. If I can hold Jo down, we'll be all right. If she loses the stroke, we're lost!"
Neck and neck now! Carol's boat was nosing out ahead! Only fifty feet from the line represented by Miss Talley's boat! To those on shore it looked as if only one finish were possible. Kate and her cronies were openly triumphant; Nan and her friends still fiercely defiant, but losing hope.
"Come on, Sadie. Come on, Jo!" begged Nan wildly. "You can do it yet! You can beat 'em!"
"Let's see them do it!" cried Lottie Sparks, above the uproar.
"Here they come! Here they come!" Jessie gripped Nan's arm and whirled her around, pointing toward the water. "Sadie! Jo! Hooray!"
The sound of frantic cheering rose and swelled to a roar as Sadie and Jo, in a beautiful burst of speed, overtook their rivals, oars flashing in the sun, outdistanced them, flashed past Miss Talley's boat!
The roar of the little cannon again, reverberating over the still water, echoing from shore to shore.
Victory was theirs! Jo and Sadie had won!
As the second boat flashed across the line the school chant reached the ears of the victors.
"Laurel Hall! Laurel Hall!Laurel Hall for aye!Jo and Sadie! Jo and Sadie!They have won the day!Jo and Sadie! Jo and Sadie!Ray! Ray! Ray!"
"Laurel Hall! Laurel Hall!Laurel Hall for aye!Jo and Sadie! Jo and Sadie!They have won the day!Jo and Sadie! Jo and Sadie!Ray! Ray! Ray!"
"Laurel Hall! Laurel Hall!Laurel Hall for aye!Jo and Sadie! Jo and Sadie!They have won the day!Jo and Sadie! Jo and Sadie!Ray! Ray! Ray!"
"Laurel Hall! Laurel Hall!
Laurel Hall for aye!
Jo and Sadie! Jo and Sadie!
They have won the day!
Jo and Sadie! Jo and Sadie!
Ray! Ray! Ray!"
It was a great day for these two girls of Woodford. They had distinguished themselves on the lake as Nan had distinguished herself on the tennis courts. They felt that Laurel Hall was proud of them and they were supremely happy.
It was only at night as they undressed slowly, still talking over the exciting event of the day, that Nan struck a discordant note.
"Kate and Lottie are more furious with us than ever," she said. "After you had won I saw them go off together, whispering. I saw them look in our direction several times, and I know that they were plotting something. We'll have to watch out for those girls more than ever now!"
About three days after the boat races the girls were again out on the lake when they met Frank Gibbs, Fred Fielding, and Dodd Martyn, the boys who had figured in their adventure on Huckleberry Island.
The young fellows were vastly excited.
"Our camp has been visited by thieves and practically cleaned out," said Dodd Martyn. "We had to go down to Laurelton and lay in a new stock of five-and-ten-cent store things."
"The funny thing was that they never took anything of value," Fred added. "Most of our belongings were tin——"
"Except our bathing suits, of course," broke in Frank, with a grin. "But even they were sort of moth-eaten and uninviting. Nothing to tempt a thief, you'd say!"
After they returned to the Hall the girls thought a great deal about this new turn of events.
"Stealing bathing suits and things," Jo repeated dreamily. "Sounds sort of familiar, doesn't it? Like the theft of gym and bathing suits from the gym and the boathouse?"
"You mean it looks as though the same thief robbed both places?" Sadie asked, and Jo nodded.
That was in the afternoon.
About twelve o'clock that same night Nan woke up. She got up to get a drink of water. It was bright moonlight and, chancing to look from the window, Nan's glance fell upon something that instantly chained her attention.
A motor boat was stealing up to the dock!
There was a slight sound behind her, and she started and turned swiftly.
"It's only Jo and me," came Sadie's voice. "We heard you, and thought maybe you were sick. Are you?"
"No. But come here and look at this!"
She pointed from the window to the motor boat, which was clearly visible upon the moonlit water. As the other girls peered curiously over Nan's shoulder, two men jumped up on the dock. One of them disappeared about the corner of the boathouse, the other made hurriedly for the gymnasium.
"The thieves!" cried Jo. "We've seen them at last!"
The three girls hurried out into the corridor to get a better view from a window there than any of their own afforded.
"Wait a minute! Look!" Sadie was shaking with excitement. "That man has come out of the gym and he's heading for the garage! He is opening the door!"
"Miss Jane's sedan! He's stealing Miss Jane's car!" cried Nan. "Come on, girls, quick! We've got to give the alarm!"
But Jo caught her arm.
"Look over there! That light from the gym!" she gasped. "Girls, the gym is on fire!"