Frank swayed his body for a few moments with great rapidity, and of course the stroke of the rowers corresponded to his motions. The Zephyr darted forward with a speed which surprised Mrs. Sedley.
"Way enough!" cried Frank, when the boat came within a few rods of the Sylph.
"Be careful, my son; you will run against her," interposed Mrs. Sedley, as she involuntarily grasped the gunwale of the boat.
The dripping oars were all extended at the same height from the water, at the command of the coxswain.
"You will certainly run against them, Frank," repeated Mrs. Sedley. "Pray don't be careless."
Indeed, the Zephyr was approaching fearfully near the Sylph, and even Uncle Ben began to feel a little uneasy.
"Port your helm, Frank!" shouted the veteran.
Frank, looking through the two rows of perpendicular oars, steered the Zephyr alongside her companion, and passed within a very few inches of her.
"Play 'Old Folks at Home,' if you please," said he, as the boat darted by the sluggish Sylph.
"That was a little too close, my son," said Mrs. Sedley.
"We are perfectly safe, mother, are we not?"
"We are; but, Frank, you should never expose yourself, and especially not others, to needless peril."
"The Zephyr is under perfect control; she feels the slightest turn of the rudder."
"Suppose Uncle Ben's boat had swerved a little from her course?"
"You do not know. If it had, we might have been drowned, many of us at least."
The boys began to pull again, and the coxswain steered so as to bring the Zephyr in a circle round the Sylph.
"Now we will keep alongside, but at a safe distance," said he, as he laid her course parallel with that of his companion.
The band was preparing to play the tune which Frank had requested. The Sylph was making very good progress through the water, and the rowers kept pulling with a very slow stroke.
"You were careless, Frank," said Uncle Ben, when the band stopped playing.
"Very careless; in the navy they would have put you in irons for it. There arn't no need of risking the lives of your crew in that way. If it had been to save the life of a feller-creter, or anything of that sort, there would have been some sense in it."
"I didn't think there was any danger," returned Frank, not a little troubled by the veteran's censure.