white-winged bat. Bill had to try it at once, even though the rest of the
sails were not finished, and a very comical spectacle he made as he
flapped his wings in his endeavors to tack. When the wind was too strong
for him he had merely to drop his arms and thus lower sail. At length he
became tired of holding his arms out at full length, and I got him a stick
to put over his shoulders and rest his arms on. But that stick was Bill's
undoing, for coming around a sudden bend in the canal he caught the full
force of the wind, which knocked him flat on his back before he could
disentangle himself from the stick and lower sail. It took us some time to
bring him back to consciousness, and a very scared lot of boys we were for
a while. However, the lesson was a good one, for after that we were very
cautious in experimenting with sails that had to be tied on, such as the
Danish rig and the lanteen rig, before Reddy invented the mast step.

It was not until the day after Christmas that the sails were all
completed, but then there was scarcely any wind blowing and we could not
attempt the expedition to the island.

[Illustration: Fig. 21. Bat Wing Sail.]



CHAPTER III.

SNOW SHOES, SKIS AND SWAMP SHOES.

The next day, Sunday, it began to snow, and we realized that our chance of
skating up to Willow Clump Island was spoiled. All the afternoon it
snowed, and the next morning we woke to find the ground covered to a depth
of eight inches and snow still falling. But who ever heard of a boy