of its deceased
owner. He had looked the craft over, and asked a great many questions
about her. Though she was twenty-five feet long, and was handsomely
fitted up, the knowing ones said she would not bring a hundred dollars
at auction.

She could not have cost less than five or six hundred, but she had a bad
name. Her late owner had been drowned in consequence of her upsetting.
People said it was the fault of the boat. She carried a lee helm, and
upset when there was no excuse for her doing so. She had been known to
tip over three times, and she was sure to drown whoever bought her.

Dory looked her over very carefully. He had been about all sorts of
boats ever since he was a small boy. In fact, he was a natural
water-bird, almost as much so as a duck. He was a born mechanic, and his
taste not less than his associations had led him to apply his mechanical
genius to boats and boating.

The name of the boat was the Goldwing. Dory had examined her the day
before, and he "took no stock" in her bad name. He was very sure that
any boat would behave badly if rigged and ballasted as the Goldwing was.
He wished he owned her, or that he could obtain the use of her for the
season. He was confident that he could redeem her reputation.

In connection with this boat had bubbled up his brilliant scheme. If he
had her at Burlington, or at several other points on the lake, he could
make five dollars a day, if not six or eight, by taking out parties.
Such a business was more to his taste, and afforded a better field for
his talents, than tending table in the cabin of a steamer.

But it was no use to think of the Goldwing. If five dollars would have
bought her, he had not the money to invest in the enterprise. He had no
friend upon whom he could call for aid in such a speculation. He might
as well think of buying and running one of the large steamers on the
lake.

But since dark that evening the whole aspect of his fortunes had
changed. He had over a hundred dollars in his pocket, and the Goldwing
was to be sold the next day. He did not wish to put all his little
fortune into a boat; but he was determined to have the boat, if she was
knocked down for a sum within his means.

The Goldwing lay at the wharf. Dory surveyed her as well as he could in
the darkness, and then he stepped on board of her. She had been built
on purpose for her late owner, on a model somewhat different from her
class of boats on the lake; and this created a