"Then you are going to try again?" questioned Hiram.

"Yes, Hiram. The waves aren't so choppy now, and the wind has gone
down a good deal."

"It's pretty late for much of a run," replied Hiram.

"Oh, we can make the end of the lake and back inside of an hour."

"Well, I'm always ready--with you," laughed Hiram gaily.

From the start this time Dave knew that he had a better grasp of the
mechanism than on his first trial. The Reliance behaved splendidly.
Once clear of shore obstructions and sandbars, they must have run a
stretch at nearly forty miles an hour.

Sand Point, at the rounding end of the great lake, was reached
without a mishap. Dave did not wait to try any maneuvering for a
crowd that had gathered to watch the Reliance.

"Straight home," he observed, as they made the turn.

"It's time, I'm thinking," said Hiram.

A squall had come up, and the dimness of coming eventide had already
spread over the water, but there was no rain. In fact, it had
turned too cold for that. A fine baffling mist was falling,
however, and this was condensing into a heavy fog.