"Steady, Hazel!" cautioned Cora. Straight as an arrow she directed
the wheel.
Then there was a splash from a nearby motor boat. A shout and
screams!
"Overboard!" yelled the frantic onlookers. "A child overboard!"
It was just at the side of the Petrel!
"Hazel! The engine! Bess, the wheel!" shouted Cora, and before any
one knew what she was about, she had jumped into the water and was
making for the spot were the child had gone under.
The boys in the Mischief did not stop. Hazel took the engine and
Bess the wheel, realizing that Cora meant for them to finish.
Presently she came up with the child in her arms!
"Go it, girls!" she called, "Win! Win!"
The Mischief was close alongside. Cora was clinging to the side of
the boat from which the child had dropped, while the almost fainting
mother was recovering her little one. The others assisted Cora in,
and forgot all about her race.
But Cora stood spellbound in the cockpit, dripping wet. She stood
there ignoring the thanks poured out on her.
"Steady, Hazel!" she called. "Win--win for me!"
That was enough. The motor girls, those in the Petrel, realizing
that their leader was safe, now determined to "win for her."
The Mischief had gained in the time that Cora swung overboard, and
now was just abreast of the Petrel. The slight change of course
also told in the last few yards, but now Hazel and Bess forgot
everything but the call of Cora to win, and their boat, like a
flash, sprang up to its opponent and passed it by the closest record
made in any of the races.
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