She
is a very smart-looking craft, though I think it is a pity that she
is not cutter rigged."
"She would look prettier, no doubt," Frank said; "but, you see,
though she was built as a racer, and I like a race occasionally,
that was not my primary object. I wanted her for cruising, and
there is no doubt that a yawl is more handy, and you can work her
with fewer hands than you can a cutter of the same size."
They went round the vessel, and then returning on deck, sat down
and chatted while waiting for the boat's return.
"I sincerely hope that you will win, Frank, on Friday," Lady
Greendale said. "Our sympathies are rather divided, but I hope the
Osprey will win."
"Thank you, Lady Greendale, but I am by no means sanguine about it.
"I fancy, Miss Haverley, that you and Miss Greendale will see the
winning flag flying overhead when the race is over."
"Why do you think so, Major?" Lord Haverley asked. "The general
opinion is that your record is better than that of the Phantom. She
has done well in the two or three races she has sailed, but she
certainly did not beat the Lesbia or the Mermaid by as much as you
did."
"That may be," Frank agreed, "but I regard Carthew as having been
born under a lucky star; and though my own opinion is that if the
Phantom were in other hands we should beat her, I fancy his luck
will pull her through.
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