Page:Dick Hamilton's Steam Yacht.djvu/172

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154
DICK HAMILTON'S STEAM YACHT

pictures on board, improvising a dark room from a closet.

Down the coast went the yacht, past St. Augustine, Jupiter Inlet and other places on the Florida coast, and it seemed as if the cruise would be run off without serious incident, for they were nearing Cuba. But, one day, when in sight of the Bemini Keys, a group of little islands about sixty miles off Miami, Jim Carter, the chief engineer, hurried on deck to report to Dick and Captain Barton a break in the machinery.

"Is it serious?" asked the young millionaire, fearing for his fine yacht.

"No, only it will mean a delay of a day or so. My men can repair it."

"And will we have to lie-to all that while?" Dick wanted to know.

"We can use the sails, though we'll not make much speed," put in the commander.

"Oh, well, time is no object," remarked Dick, with an air of relief, and then, to the no small delight of the boys, the steamer became a sailing yacht, and they learned many new points in seamanship.

But, as the captain had said, they did not make very good time, for the sail area was small for a boat the size of the Albatross, and at times they barely had steerageway, for the winds were light and baffling.

It was on the second day of the machinery being out of commission (for the engineers had not