The race was to be over at five o'clock. At half-past three, or four
hours and a half after the start, Jack found, by the help of the
rangefinder, that the Rhinds boat led by a mile and an eighth.

"Keep the wheel, Eph!" called the Young commander. "Steer as straight
as you can. I'll be up soon."

Then Jack Benson darted below, though his legs trembled a bit under him.

"All ready, Hal!" shouted the youthful commander. "Play our one trump
card, and play it as hard as you can! Though I'm afraid Rhinds has just
such a card in his own pack."

Then up to the platform deck hastened Jack Benson. He moved quietly to
the wheel, taking it from Eph. The young captain did not propose to
leave again until the race was over.

Soon after this something happened that must have made those aboard the
Rhinds boat feel uneasy. The "Benson" began to crawl up on the "Zelda."

"What are you doing now, Jack?" called Jacob Farnum sharply, as he and
Pollard moved forward to stand by the young captain.

"I'll tell you, in a few minutes, if our move seems to be any good, sir,"
Jack answered.

By four o'clock half the space between the Rhinds boat and the Pollard
craft had been covered. By this time two men were observed aft on the
"Zelda," their gaze turned steadily on the "Benson."

"Take the wheel for two or three minutes, Eph," begged the young captain,
on whom the strain was beginning to tell.

Then, turning to his employers, Jack went on:

"The way Hal and I figured it out, sir, the 'Benson' is really the
faster boat. But the Rhinds people may have been overheating their
engines--slightly, systematically, and using a lot of water to cool
the metal. Now, if that is the case, they may be doing their best at
forced speed. Hal and I determined, if we didn't lose more than a
quarter of a mile an hour, we'd rather let the 'Zelda' keep the lead,
and go on slowly overheating her engines. But now, in the last hour and
a half of the race, Hal is up to the same trick. If that has been the
case with the 'Zelda,' and they now, at this late hour, go to any
greater lengths in overheating, they're likely to blow the engines out
of their hull. But we can stand the present speed, with its gradual
overheating, up to the finish time for the race. If both boats keep
going at the speed they're using now, and neither has an accident, we
stand to come in half a mile in the lead."

"Good strategy, that, Jack!" cried Jacob Farnum, his eye