and
you and your daughters will be much needed."

"I am glad you have such a good opinion of us," murmured the veteran
actor.

"Where are we going from here?" asked Alice.

"That's a secret," laughed the manager. "I haven't it all worked out
myself, as yet."

The boats sped on, the rival skippers striving to gain the lead. The men
in charge of the motors, too, did everything in their power, in the way
of changing the gasoline mixture, or by means of copious oiling, to get
one more revolution out of their engines. But the boats seemed very
evenly matched. A big wave was thrown up on either bow of each boat.

Russ, after getting pictures of the start, had gone with his camera, by a
short cut, to a little promontory on shore, where he got other views of
the boats racing through the water. Then he went farther on and, getting
into another motor boat, took his place near the finish line, to film the
end of the race.

"Oh, I do hope we win!" exclaimed Alice, to her captain.

"I'm going to do my best," he answered, grimly, as he glanced across to
where the other boat was forging through the water.

And in her boat Ruth was saying the same thing.

Each skipper had been holding something in reserve in the way of power,
and now the mechanicians were signalled to use this.

The boats were nearing the finish line now, for the race, for the purpose
of the moving pictures, was only a short one.

But, as it happened, the captain of the boat Alice was in, got his signal
a little ahead of his rival, so that he shot forward, and thus gained an
advantage the other motor boat could not cut down.

"Oh, we're going to win!" cried Alice in delight, clapping her hands as
she saw Russ, in his boat at the finish line, operating his camera.
"We're going to win!"

Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon, who, with Ruth, were in the other boat,
looked glum. As for Ruth she was of that gentle nature which is willing
to lose, that others may enjoy even a brief pleasure, and she rejoiced in
the delight of her sister.

"Well, I guess he's got me!" regretfully admitted the captain of the
losing boat. "He was a little too quick for me."

And so it proved, for the boat containing Alice shot across the line a
winner.

"I knew we'd do it!" she cried.

"Good for you!" shouted Russ.

"It's time for you to fall overboard now, Mr. Sneed," directed the
manager. "Make a good fall, and put plenty of splash into it."

"Oh dear!" groaned the actor.