VII. The Sailboat Race
When the people in Central Park learned that one of the
toy sailboats was being steered2 by a mouse in a sailor suit, they all came running. Soon the shores of the pond were so crowded that a policeman was sent from headquarters to announce that everybody would have to stop pushing, but nobody did. People in New York like to push each other. The most excited person of all was the boy who owned the Lillian B. Womrath. He was a fat, sulky boy of twelve, named LeRoy. He wore a blue serge suit and a white necktie stained with orange juice.
“Come back here!” he called to Stuart. “Come back here and get on my boat. I want you to steer1 my boat. I will pay you five dollars a week and you can have every Thursday afternoon off and a radio in your room.”
“I thank you for your kind offer,” replied Stuart, “but I am happy aboard the Wasp3— happier than I have ever been before in all my life.” And with that he spun4 the wheel over smartly and headed his schooner5 down toward the starting line, where LeRoy was turning his boat around by poking6 it with a long stick, ready for the start of the race.
“Is the Lillian B. Womrath ready?” asked the referee.
“Sure, I’m ready,” said LeRoy.
“To the north end of the pond and back again!” shouted the referee. “On your mark, get set, GO!” “Go!” cried the people along the shore. “Go!” cried the owner of the Wasp. “Go!” yelled the policeman.
And away went the two boats for the north end of the pond, while the seagulls wheeled and cried overhead and the taxicabs tooted and honked9 from Seventy-second Street and the west wind (which had come halfway10 across America to get to Central Park) sang and whistled in the rigging and blew spray across the decks, stinging Stuart’s cheeks with tiny fragments of flying peanut shell tossed up from the foamy11 deep. “This is the life for me!” Stuart murmured to himself. “What a ship! What a day! What a race!”
Before the two boats had gone many feet, however, an accident happened on shore. The people were pushing each other harder and harder in their eagerness to see the sport, and although they really didn’t mean to, they pushed the policeman so hard they pushed him right off the concrete wall and into the pond. He hit the water in a sitting position, and got wet clear up to the third button of his jacket. He was soaked.
This particular policeman was not only a big, heavy man, but he had just eaten a big, heavy meal, and the wave he made went curling outward, cresting12 and billowing, upsetting all manner of small craft and causing every owner of a boat on the pond to scream with delight and consternation13.
When Stuart saw the great wave approaching he jumped for the rigging, but he was too late. Towering above the Wasp like a mountain, the wave came crashing and piling along the deck, caught Stuart up and swept him over the side and into the water, where everybody supposed he would drown. Stuart had no intention of drowning. He kicked hard with his feet, and thrashed hard with his tail, and in a minute or two he climbed back aboard the schooner, cold and wet but quite unharmed. As he took his place at the helm, he could hear people cheering for him and calling, “Atta mouse, Stuart! Atta mouse!” He looked over and saw that the wave had capsized the Lillian B. Womrath but that she had righted herself and was sailing on her course, close by. And she stayed close alongside till both boats reached the north end of the pond. Here Stuart put the Wasp about and LeRoy turned the Lillian around with his stick, and away the two boats went for the finish line.
“This race isn’t over yet,” thought Stuart.
The first warning he had that there was trouble ahead came when he glanced into the Wasp’s cabin and observed that the barometer14 had fallen sharply. That can mean only one thing at sea—dirty weather. Suddenly a dark cloud swept across the sun, blotting15 it out and leaving the earth in shadow. Stuart shivered in his wet clothes. He turned up his sailor blouse closer around his neck, and when he spied the Wasp’s owner among the crowd on shore he waved his hat and called out:
“Dirty weather ahead, sir! Wind backing into the south-west, seas confused, glass falling.”
“Never mind the weather!” cried the owner.
“Watch out for flotsam dead ahead!”
Stuart peered ahead into the gathering16 storm, but saw nothing except gray waves with white crests17. The world seemed cold and ominous18. Stuart glanced behind him. There came the sloop19, boiling along fast, rolling up a bow wave and gaining steadily20.
“Look out, Stuart! Look out where you’re going!”
Stuart strained his eyes, and suddenly, dead ahead, right in the path of the Wasp, he saw an enormous paper bag looming21 up on the surface of the pond. The bag was empty and riding high, its open end gaping22 wide like the mouth of a cave.
Stuart spun the wheel over but it was too late: the Wasp drove her bowsprit straight into the bag andwitha fearful whooosh the schooner slowed down and came up into the wind with all sails flapping. Just at this moment Stuart heard a splintering crash, saw the bow of the Lillian plow23 through his rigging, and felt the whole ship tremble from stem to stern with the force of the collision.
“A collision!” shouted the crowd on shore.
In a jiffy the two boats were in a terrible tangle24. Little boys on shore screamed and danced up and down. Meanwhile the paper bag sprang a leak and began to fill.
The Wasp couldn’t move because of the bag. The Lillian B. Womrath couldn’t move because her nose was stuck in the Wasp’s rigging.
Waving his arms, Stuart ran forward and fired off his gun. Then he heard, above the other voices on shore, the voice of the owner of the Wasp yelling directions and telling him what to do.
“Stuart! Stuart! Down jib! Down staysail!”
“Cut away all paper bags!” roared the owner.
Stuart whipped out his pocketknife and slashed26 away bravely at the soggy bag until he had the deck cleared.
“Now back your foresail and give her a full!” screamed the owner of the Wasp.
Stuart grabbed the foresail boom and pulled with all his might. Slowly the schooner paid off and began to gather headway. And as she heeled over to the breeze she rolled her rail out from under the Lillian’s nose, shook herself free, and stood away to the southard. A loud cheer went up from the bank. Stuart sprang to the wheel and answered it. Then he looked back, and to his great joy he perceived that the Lillian had gone off in a wild direction and was yawing all over the pond.
Straight and true sailed the Wasp, with Stuart at the helm. After she had crossed the finish line, Stuart brought her alongside the wall, and was taken ashore27 and highly praised for his fine seamanship and daring. The owner was delighted and said it was the happiest day of his life. He introduced himself to Stuart, said that in private life he was Dr. Paul Carey, a surgeon-dentist. He said model boats were his hobby and that he would be delighted to have Stuart take command of his vessel28 at any time. Everybody shook hands with Stuart—everybody, that is, except the policeman, who was too wet and mad to shake hands with a mouse.
When Stuart got home that night, his brother George asked him where he had been all day.
“Oh, knocking around town,” replied Stuart.
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1
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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wasp
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| n.黄蜂，蚂蜂 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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6
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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7
referee
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| n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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honked
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| v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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foamy
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| adj.全是泡沫的，泡沫的，起泡沫的 | |
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cresting
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| n.顶饰v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的现在分词 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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barometer
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| n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标 | |
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15
blotting
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| 吸墨水纸 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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plow
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| n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough | |
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tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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27
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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