The Yacht Club by Oliver Optic — Read

Donald did not sleep very well in the cabin of the Maud, not only / because his bed was very hard and uncomfortable, but because he was / troubled; and before morning he fully realized the truth of the saying, / in regard to certain persons, that "they choose darkness, because their / deeds are evil. " He wished he had not consented to keep the secret of / either Captain Shivernock or Laud Cavendish, and was afraid he had / compromised himself by his silence. When he turned out in the morning, / he believed he had hardly slept a wink all night, though he had actually / slumbered over six hours; but a person who lies awake in the darkness, / especially if his thoughts are troublesome, lengthens minutes into / hours. But Donald welcomed the morning light when he awoke, and the / bright sun which streamed through the trunk ports. He went to the shop, / and for two hours before his men arrived worked on the tender of the / Maud.

The mast of the yacht was stepped during the forenoon, and after dinner / the rigger came to do his part of the work. Samuel Rodman was now so / much interested in the progress of the labor on the new yacht, that he / spent nearly all his time on board of her. The top mast, gaff, and boom / were all ready to go into their places, and the Maud looked as though / she was nearly completed. All the members of the Yacht Club were / impatient for her to be finished, for the next regatta had been / postponed a week, so that the Maud could take part in the affair; and / the club were to go on a cruise for ten days, after the race.