The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-09-09

when the racers crossed the line heading
say northeast, they pointed straight into
| wing Of the fleet where steamers and
| tugs were massed four deep and actually
| overlapping each other.
| OF course there was skurrying to get
out Of the way, and neither yacht did
actually hit an excursion boat but there
| was a disgraceful condition of affairs,
and what is more the Defender, being
the weather boat got the worst of it,
| To get the excursion feet in order was
a heroulean task. But the work of the
patrols began to be effective. They Gu
open the front of the fleet and spread it
| out into d vast crescent-a crescent, say a
mile and over across the horns the horn
to southwark being thin and struggling,
| the one to the north, substantial and
overlapping, while the body of the
crescent was one great mass of vessels of
ever SORT
This done, the patrols took positions at
| intervals just within the circle of the
| frequent nubbing and footing pretty
| fair condition of order in spite of the
! tacks that were afterward made.
Having a somewhat clear field about
the yachts, the old salts turned to see
| how they were getting on. The view they
got was most discouraging. The
DEFENDER WAS HOLDING UP
WELL,
and was going, considering the wind and
the waves, at what seemed to the sharps
to be asgood speed, but the Valkyrie not
only sped through the water more swift
ly, but seemed to point higher as well.
Steadily, as every one could see, the
water opened out between her and the
Yankee rival. The amateurs who had re-
joiced when the Defender had sliced
through the others lee before the start,
looked on in astonishment, and the salty
old jingoes settled down and lighted
cigars and puffed meditatively. They
were fain to admit to themselves that the
burst of speed in the Defender had en-
couraged them somewhat also. The
Valkyrie was gaining, so far as any one
could see and yet there was no way OF
accounting for it except on the theory
that her designer had at last found a
model better for light wind than any
thing the Yankees knew OF.
And vet when the sharps looked at the
two boats CRITICALLY they noticed that the
splash the Valkyrie was making as she
plunged over each wave and into the next
was greater than the Defender made un-
der like circumstances. The Defender
might touch a wave under her bow with
the end of her bowsprit, but the Valkyrie
plunged hers clear out Of sight repeated
". The wake, too, of the Valkyrie was
bit more noticeable than the Defenders,
though neither in that air left much OF a
wake
With these points in mind, how could
it be that the Valkyrie was beating the
Yankee in such depressing way? One
after another the jingoes relapsed into
silence, and the more frank began to say
they hoped the next race would not be In
such weather as that
At few seconds before 240 O'Clock
the Defender went about. She had been
heading up say northeast, and now, be-
ing on the port tack, headed down to the
southland and out to sea. The Valkyrie
was after herin no time, and she still
continued to open out the water. And
yet the Defender was the quicker in
stays. 1t looked for all the world as did
the last race between the Vigilant and
Valkyrie H., when the Englishman
gained SO notably in the thrash out but
of wind. There was something wholly
unacoountable in all this
Then, at /. 70 O'Clock, the Valkyrie
went back to the starboard tack, heading
to the northeast, and she was followed by
the Defender, and again the Defender
turned more quickly. The sea was
coming in from the south OF east, and
in the roll of it than when plunging into
IT, And on this tack the racers drove on
and on, with the green sea widening be-
tween them, and the Valkyrie constantly
going ahead.
There was but one other change noted
in the situation, and that was soon after
the tack was made. The Valkyrie for a
to the wind in a way that made the old
salts 9roan The Defender was soon
pointing as high, but no matter, the
Valkyrie had the best of the puff, for
there was a change in the wind of per-
haps two points, and the Valkyrie got 1t
first. Moreover the breeze began to
freshen slowly from that moment grew
on Sandy Hook, and the sharps saw that
the Valkyrie's sails filed out round and
firm first. She had gotten the best Of
that, too.
And then came
A MOVE THAT THRILLED
the fleet as such crowd has not been
thrilled since the day of the first race be-
tween the Mayflower and the Galatea.
The Valkyrie's crew were plainly feeling
good. They were looking over their
shoulders at the. Yankee yacht and
talking to one another in animated
fashion. And w hile the close observers
were making note of this, the crew
jumped from their places amidships and
ran to the head sheets. Down went the
tiller and up came the nose of the
Britisher. A moment more and she was
around, heading to cross the Yankees
bow.
The moment the excursion fleet noted
this more than so, 600 good patriotic souls
turned to gaze on the scene. Never in
the history of modern International races
had the sporting people of the metropolis
seen an English sail flash across the face
of the Yankee yacht
The racers had seemed to be making
fine speed for what wind before, but now,
so great was the anxiety of the spectators,
they hardly seemed to crawl. Up and
down bowed the Valkyrie over the seas
up and down nodded the Defender. The
Yankee would hold fast and take what
ever was to be given him. Up and down,
up and down, over the waves-closer and
closer they drew until scarce a length
seemed to intervene, and then down
went the Valkyrie's helm, and there was
one wild yell from ten thousand throats.
A hundred sporting shippers paved the
air in haste to clutch their whistle strings
paved and for a time failed because
they were of the ten thousand jingos who
were yelling and thav danced as they