Tom Corwin's head appeared over the cabin roof, he took a look at the rival craft and popped from sight again.

The _Follow Me_ stopped going back and hung with her nose abreast the _Adventurer's_ stern.

Phil, who had been writing a letter in the cabin, emerged and joined the group outside.
"How fast is she going, Steve ?" he asked.
"About seventeen, I think.

Still, Harry said the _Follow Me's_ best was eighteen, and she isn't losing any, and so we may be doing eighteen, too.

Guess we might as well settle the matter right now, though." With which he pulled the throttle to the limit, and the white cruiser, quivering from stem to stern, forged ahead.