ozen people to try his new yacht, and when they
all came swarming in, it was cheerful as a beehive.

Some cramped themselves in the cockpit, some flung themselves on the
long sofas of the cabin, some got under the sails, cosey as birds in a
tree, two and two; but I always remarked that two men and two women
somehow never got together; they were sure to split up one of each sort,
just as they are apt to do on land.

Well, the yacht spread her sails, made a graceful dive and off she went,
her canvas snapping and her colors flying. A whole squad of other
vessels set sail too, and off we went like a flock of birds.

The water of the bay was blazing like quicksilver. Some white clouds
cooled the sky a little, but everything around was sweltering with
hotness. On we went, fleet and cheerful, sending up the water in
sparkles, and flying toward the ocean, with green banks on each side of
us, and that gloriously hot sun heating up the air like a furnace.

By and by we passed a couple of great stone forts, and came out into the
ocean. Oh, what a broad blaze of sky and water--blue and silver
everywhere, blue and silver!

On these waters, far out, lay a crimson ship, settled down like a
mammoth red bird, and around that a crowd of little vessels, with their
sails spread ready for flight. Ever so many steamboats, crowded with
people, waited a little way off for the race to begin.

One of these steamboats had the President of these United States on
board, and hung out its flag that all the world might know where to find
him. We didn't try, but kept modestly down among the small craft.

By and by there was a fluttering among the yachts around the red ship;
then a gun banged off, then another, and away the whole flock went,
flying across the water in a white cloud.

After it went the steamboats, ploughing and snorting through the water,
and after them a whole storm of sailing craft, all on the wing, each
dashing up foam like fury.

Now the wind rose higher, and seemed to cool the air, while it spread
out all the sails as they flew before it. This seemed to bring in a
whole army of little waves from the great ocean, and, as true as you
live, every wave had a white hat on.

I jumped up and fairly clapped my hands when I saw these waves trooping
in, battalion after battalion, all tossing up their white hats and
dancing forward, as if the winds were singing Yankee Doodle behind them.

Then the party in our yacht gave a shout.