PREFACE.

"Ready About" is the sixth and last volume of "The Boat-Builder Series," which was begun six years ago. The only new characters presented in this story are the members of "The Nautifelers Club," who are introduced to exhibit the contrast between young men of high aims and correct principles, and those who are inclined to live too fast, and have no fixed ideas of duty to sustain and advance them in the battle of life. But, even in this miserable club, there are two classes of members; for one-half are reckless and worse than indifferent in the matter of right living, while the other half are led to the very verge of the precipice of crime by their unfortunate associations. The reform of the latter interests the principal of the Beech Hill Industrial School, who does his duty, as always, in the premises, with a very happy result.

More than its predecessors in the series since the first volume, this book is a story of adventure. In this portion, its tendency is to inculcate courage without 9rashness, and to show that a young man of high principles is not necessarily a coward and a milksop.

As indicated in the sub-title, "Sailing the Boat" is one of the principal features of the book. This is an art that cannot be mastered by simply learning the theory. Nothing but abundant practice can make a competent boatman. Fifty years ago, the writer, however, would have deemed it very fortunate if he could have obtained from a book, even such instruction as he has endeavored to impart. He has by no means exhausted the subject, though whatever more is to be learned will almost come of itself with experience. The author has learned in fifty years that there is always something more to learn; and the handling of a yacht has come to be almost "high art" in the amount of time, study, and enthusiasm bestowed upon the subject in recent years.

As the writer closes his twelfth series of books for young people, he cannot help thanking his numerous constituency in all parts of the country for the abundant and generous favor received from them. Thirty-three years have elapsed from the date of "The Boat Club," his first juvenile; and the kindness of his friends has never failed him in this period of a generation of the human race.

Minneapolis, Minn., July 15, 1887.

CHAPTER I. MR. SPICKLES FROM THE METROPOLIS.

"I can't go on board now, Spickles," said Matt Randolph, in a very decided tone, and with an expression on his manly face which indicated that he did not wish to go, even if he could.

"What's the reason you can't?" demanded Spickles, evidently very much dissatisfied with the decision of the other.

"Because I have something else to do," added Matt. "I have to attend to my duties as closely here as though I were an officer in the navy, on sea-duty."

14"What's the use of being tied up as though you were a prisoner at Sing Sing?" asked Spickles, his disgust apparent on his rather brutal face. "Your father is as rich as mud, and there is no need of your being kept in a strait-jacket."

"I am not kept in a strait-jacket," protested Matt, very warmly.

"I think you are," returned Spickles, with a curling sneer on his thick lips. "When I saw you in New York a year ago, you told me what a big thing Lake Champlain was."

"I still think it is the finest sheet of water in the world, and the region around it is a perfect paradise."

"Paradise!" exclaimed the visitor from the metropolis. "You said there was lots of fun to be had here."

"I find plenty of amusement for all the spare hours I have."

"After what you said, I kept thinking of this place; and five of our fellows have come up here, and chartered a schooner for the summer. She is anchored out in the river; and now that we are here, you will not even go on board of her," continued Spickles, becoming more and more disgusted 15with the refusal of the captain of the Lily; for such he was, and his "class in sailing" were about ready to go on board of the schooner.

"I am the skipper of that schooner you see out in the lake, and I have to go out in her in a short time," Matt explained.

"Put it off; let the party wait till you come back," insisted the visitor.

"We don't do things in that way here," added Matt, with a smile.

"Tell them you are sick, and can't go," suggested Spickles.

"But I am not sick."

"You were not always above stretching the truth a little in an emergency."

"I am now." Matt did not blush in saying it, either.

"We are going to stay on the lake all summer, if we don't get tired of it," continued Spickles. "I depended upon having you with us, Matt; for we don't know much about the navigation in these waters, though we have the government charts."

"I don't see how you could depend upon me, for I told you that I was under strict discipline in 16the Beech Hill Industrial School," argued Matt. "I can't come and go when I will."

"Confound the Beech Hill Industrial School! Run away from it, and join our party for the summer."

"I certainly shall not run away from it, for I am perfectly contented and happy here," replied Matt.

"At least you will come on board of the La Motte?"

"What's the La Motte?"

"She's the schooner we chartered for the summer, though she's nothing but a lumber-vessel fixed up for our use. She sails very well, and is large enough for a party of ten. We found her at Rouse's Point. Now, come on board of her. We have just opened a keg of beer in view of your expected visit," said Spickles, in the most persuasive tones he could command.

"I don't drink beer," answered the student of the school.

"You don't drink beer!" exclaimed the visitor, stepping back in his apparent astonishment. "How long has that been?"

"I haven't tasted beer, or any thing of the kind, 17since I came to this school, about two years ago," replied the captain of the Lily.

"Then, it was only because you couldn't get any beer."

"Perhaps that is one reason, though I haven't tried to get any. I had it all about me while I was at home in New York, but I had decided not to take any under any circumstances."

"Then, it is time for you to begin again. Come along, Matt."

"No beer for me, and I cannot go with you," added Matt resolutely. "I made up my mind a year ago not to drink any thing that fuddles, and to keep out of bad company."

"Bad company!" exclaimed Spickles, looking earnestly into the face of his former associate in the city.

"That is what I said; and I advise you to do the same thing, Spickles. It is best to keep on the safe side of the evils of this world."

"You are a regular built parson!"

This conversation was continued for some time longer, but the captain of the Lily remained as firm as the rocks in the quarry above Beechwater. The visitor was not only disgusted with his want 18of success in enticing his former companion to the schooner in the river, but he was offended at what he considered the stiffness of Matt. When the latter spoke of keeping out of bad company, he put the coat on, whether he saw that it fitted him or not.

"You are an out-and-out spooney now, Matt Randolph; and I did not think that of you," said Spickles, as the crew of the Lily began to gather on the wharf, where the conversation had taken place.

"Just as you please, Spickles," replied Matt, with a smile; and he seemed to feel that the interview had come to a desirable point, and that his former associate would drop him from the roll of his friends.

"But I want to look about this place a little before I leave it forever," added the visitor. "I suppose I can do so?"

"Certainly, upon application to the principal, Captain Gildrock. He will show you all over the establishment," replied Matt. "There he comes, and I will introduce you."

"All right. Chuckworth! Mackwith!" answered Spickles, calling to his two companions in the boat.

19The three young men appeared to be about eighteen or twenty years old. They were dressed in yachting costume, and a person of experience in the ways of the world would at once have set them down as fast young men. They were of the reckless order, swaggering, defiant, boisterous. If a lady had seen them together, she would have taken the other side of the street.

Captain Gildrock was coming down the wharf, to look after the embarkation of the sailing-class. Matt Randolph presented Spickles to the principal, and left the chief of the party to introduce his companions.

"You are the boss of this concern, I take it, Captain Gilthead," said Spickles, suddenly putting on his usual style, and in a sort of patronizing tone, as if the principal had been a country schoolmaster, who ought to consider himself honored by being noticed by a young gentleman from the metropolis.

In fact, Captain Spickles, as his companions on board of the La Motte called him, was determined to "take him down" a little. The visitor, after what Matt had said to him about the discipline of the institution, regarded him with a sort of instinctive 20hatred. He did not like any one who disciplined young men. Principals, professors, schoolmasters, were monsters, ogres, tyrants, whose only mission in the world was to tease, torture, and torment young fellows like himself.

Captain Gildrock looked at him with a puzzled expression on his dignified face; though the usual smile when he was in repose, played about his mouth. He read the young man almost at the first glance; and if he had considered the popinjay worthy of his steel, he would have prepared for a skirmish of words with him.

"I said 'Captain Gildrock,'" interposed Matt, with emphasis enough to clear himself; for he saw that the fellow had purposely miscalled the name.

"Excuse me, Captain Goldblock."

"Certainly, Mr. Spittle," added the principal blandly.

"Mr. Spickles, if you please," interposed the visitor, who did not at all relish being paid off in his own coin.

"Precisely so, Mr. Spiddles," laughed the principal; while Matt had to turn away to hide his choking laugh.

"My name is Spickles, Captain Goldblock."

21"Ah, indeed, Mr. Skiggles! Permit me to add that mine is Gildrock."

"Well, Captain Gildrock"—

"Well, Mr. Spickles"—

"I suppose you are the boss of this concern. Will you show it up?"

"I am the principal of this institution."

"Possibly I shall be able to entertain these visitors alone, Randolph, and you may go on board with your ship's company," said Captain Gildrock, a little later, while he was waiting for the young gentleman from New York to study up his next question.

Matt had twelve students to instruct in the art of sailing a boat, and he directed them to take their places in the two boats that were waiting for them.

"Well, boss, we are ready to see what you have got to show," said Spickles.

"Well, my young cub, I don't know that things here will interest you, but I will show you all you may wish to see," continued the captain, as he conducted the strangers to the office, under the schoolroom. "We register all students here when they come. If they have any money, we keep it for them in that steel safe."

22"Is that a steel safe?" asked Mr. Spickles. "Upon my word, I thought it was a wooden one."

"You thought it was made of the same material as your head; but I assure you it is not. Nothing so soft would answer the purpose," answered the principal, who did not always stand on his dignity, though he had plenty of it.

Messrs. Chuckworth and Mackwith turned away, and indulged in audible smiles. Associated with Mr. Spickles, they were often the victims of his peculiar humor, and they were not at all sorry to have him put under the harrow. They enjoyed the remarks of the principal more than Spickles did.

"Then, it is really a steel safe; and I suppose you are afraid the students will steal your money, or you wouldn't have a steel safe," continued Mr. Spickles, chuckling as though he thought he had made a pun.

"Well, no; we hardly expect the students to rob the safe, for they are taught not to steal; but some of these visitors might have a taste for that sort of thing. I sometimes have a thousand dollars in that safe, besides small sums belonging to the students. In fact, I believe I 23have two thousand dollars in it at this moment: that is the reason why I prefer a steel safe to a wooden one."

The principal showed the visitors over the premises, though they took very little interest in the institution. Spickles indulged in impudent remarks, which the captain parried in his own way, so that he soon got tired of making them; for every time he did so, his friends had a chance to laugh at him, and enjoy the retort.

If Spickles disliked the principal in the first of it, he hated him in the end. A sharp answer made him mad when they had finished the survey, and he was so saucy that Captain Gildrock ordered him to leave. He did not take the hint; and the principal took him by the collar, dragged him to the wharf, and tumbled him into the boat. The leader of the summer party vowed vengeance to his companions.

CHAPTER II. THE NAUTIFELERS CLUB ON THE LAKE.

Captain Gildrock hardly thought of the self-sufficient visitor after he had seen the boat which contained him pull away from the wharf. He only wondered how Matt Randolph had ever made the acquaintance of such a fellow, for he was a gentleman himself.

The Beech Hill Industrial School had nearly completed its third year of existence; and in the opinion of the principal, and also of a great many other people, it was a decided success. It had certainly reformed quite a number of young men who might otherwise have become useless, if not dangerous, members of the community. It had given useful trades to a considerable number of young men who would not have taken them up on their own account.

Its moral influence had been even more marked 25than its industrial power, and it had assuredly done something to make manual labor more respectable than it had been considered to be before. There were already those who were not only earning a living, but were supporting their parents, by the aid of the knowledge and skill they had acquired in the institution; and if it had done nothing more than this, it would have done a great deal.

Cold critics said it ought to be a success, for the founder of it had a purse long enough to make any reasonable undertaking a success; but the idea was not a practical one, because it was not susceptible of universal application. The State could not afford to support such schools for all who might be willing to use them. It certainly could not provide for an expenditure as liberal as that of Captain Gildrock, but it could do a great deal more than it has yet done in this direction.

After the principal had disposed of his impertinent visitor,—for there was really only one of this type, as Chuckworth and Mackwith hardly spoke a word,—he could not help thinking that it was a great pity Spickles could not be brought 26under such discipline as that of the Beech Hill School. He was a young man of decided ability, and all he needed was a kind of discipline that would give him something to live for. He needed something to think about and work for.

When Matt Randolph returned from his trip with his class in sailing, he reported to the principal, who happened to be in the office. He informed the captain where he had been, and the nature of the operations he had conducted on board of the Lily. He commended his crew for good discipline, and close application to their duty. A critic might have laughed at this last part of the report as entirely superfluous; for, as a matter of course, any party of human boys would be interested, and do their whole duty, in sailing a boat.

"By the way, Randolph, is Mr. Spickles a friend of yours?" asked the principal, after he had listened attentively to the report.

"No, sir!" replied Matt, very decidedly. "I was acquainted with him at home, and he was on board of the yacht a number of times; but after he stole a thousand dollars from his father, and ran away, I had nothing more to do with him."

27"Was he as bad as that? He seemed to be more like one of the puppy order than one of the criminal kind. He was very saucy to me after I had shown his party over the school; and I had to take him by the collar, and put him into his boat."

"I am glad you did, sir," added Matt. "I was inclined to lay hands on him after his impudence at the beginning."

"He came to see you, I suppose?"

"Yes, sir. He is with a party, and there are five of them. They have chartered a schooner, and intend to spend the summer on the lake. Spickles invited me on board of the vessel, and insisted that I should go with him. I refused."

"The less you have to do with such a fellow as that, the better it will be for you, though it may be all the worse for him," added the principal.

"Spickles told me they had just tapped a keg of beer."

"Of course! the fellow has made considerable progress in the downward road."

After supper the students embarked in the barges for a row, and for practice with the oars. As during the last season, there were three of 28these boats, the Gildrock and the Winooski, each of twelve oars, and the Marian of eight oars. The crews had been re-organized; and the two larger boats were preparing for a race, each against the other.

Matt Randolph was the coxswain of the Winooski, and Dory Dornwood of the Gildrock; for the crew of each had selected the most skilful boatman in the school to get them in condition for this race. For the last year the students had been on tolerably peaceable terms with the members of the Chesterfield Collegiate Institute, on the other side of the lake; and it was possible that a race would be arranged with them for the Fourth of July.

The two barges were careful to keep away from each other during their practice. The two coxswains, though on the most friendly terms, never talked about the coming race. If either had any points, he wanted to keep them to himself. Each of them had a system of his own in the method of rowing, and each kept his own counsel.

Matt Randolph, for these reasons, did not immediately follow the Gildrock when she left the boat-house, but went up to the head of Beechwater. 29As soon as the rival craft had passed out of the little lake, the Winooski followed her. The coxswain saw that the party on board of the La Motte, which lay just below the entrance of the creek into the river, hailed the Gildrock when she went by her. But Dory took no notice of them; and Matt concluded that he had not been addressed in civil tones, or he would have replied.

"I wonder what that schooner is that lies in the river," said Ash Burton, who pulled the stroke-oar in the Winooski. "She has been there all the afternoon, and a boat from her went up into Beechwater a while ago."

"That is the schooner La Motte; and she has a party of young fellows on board of her who are going to spend the summer on the lake," replied the coxswain, loud enough for all in the barge to hear him.

"They are hoisting the mainsail," added the stroke-oarsman. "That looks as though they were going out of the river."

"If they are going to leave these parts, I am glad of it," said Matt in a lower tone.

"Why are you glad of it, Matt?" asked Ash curiously.

30"They are not the sort of fellows I like to have very near me; for they are on a lark, and they have plenty of beer on board," replied the coxswain.

The boat passed out of the creek into the river. The La Motte had set her mainsail, and was now hoisting the foresail. Matt gave the schooner as wide a berth as he could, but he could not get more than a hundred feet from her.

"Is that you, Matt Randolph?" shouted Spickles.

"I believe so," replied the coxswain.

"Come on board, will you, Matt?" continue the captain of the La Motte, beckoning with his hand.

"You must excuse me, Spickles. I have the charge of this barge, and I can't leave her," replied Matt, very civilly, but not less decisively. "I have to attend to my duty."

"But I want to see you about the navigation of this river; for I got aground coming in, and I don't want to do it again," added the captain of the La Motte.