CHAPTER XXIX.

ALL OF DORY'S CLASS BECOME SKIPPERS.

"Ready about!" shouted Dory, with more vim than he usually put into his orders.

But there was nothing to do, for any one except Ash at the wheel; for the skipper had not stationed the crew for tacking. He had not had time to do so. The lower block of the main-sheet ran on a traveller, which is an iron rod set a couple of inches above the taffrail, or piece across the top of the stern. The ring under the block plays freely, or travels on it, from one side to the other. As the wind carries the sail and boom over, the sheet-block follows it. Of course, the sheet is trimmed so the boom may be at the right angle with the keel, on whichever tack the boat may be.

Dory explained the working of the sheet, and gave the names of the parts of the rigging used. He took hold of the jib-sheets himself, and gave the order to put the helm to port. As the sails began to shake, he cast off the lee-sheet, and passed over to the other side of the standing-room.

"Hard a-lee!" he continued, which meant that the helm was to be put down as far as it would go.

The Goldwing came about handsomely, as she always did under fair treatment: the boom went over to the starboard. The skipper then hauled in the port, which had become the lee, sheet, as the sail went over. The breeze was lively, and the boat worked quickly.

"Meet her, Ash," said Dory; and the helmsman threw the wheel over till he could feel the pressure of the water on the rudder as the sails filled.

"What do you mean by 'meet her'?" asked Archie.

"The helm was hard down when I gave that order," replied the skipper. "If it had remained in that position, it would have been hard up after the sails filled, and the sloop would have continued to swing around till she was before the wind; and it would take time to get her back to her proper course. As soon as the boat begins to catch the wind on the new tack, the helm must be shifted to meet her. When the boat was on the starboard-tack, all the pressure of the water was on the weather-side of the rudder, as the Goldwing carries a weather-helm. As soon as the boat begins to swing, this pressure is removed. There is none to speak of on either side. But as soon as she begins to fill on the port-tack, the pressure comes on that side."

"And you feel it the instant it begins to bear on the rudder," added Ash.

"You want the sails to fill on the new tack, and she should be met with the helm before she has fallen off much beyond her proper course. In a light wind, when the boat moves sluggishly, she may fall off somewhat before she feels the pressure on the rudder."

"She isn't on any thing, and I don't see how she can fall off," said Archie, the critic.

"Yes, she is on something: she is on the wind, and she falls off when she goes to leeward. As Ash says, he can feel the pressure as soon as the sails fill; and we sail a boat quite as much by the feeling as by the use of the eyes. Mr. Herschoff, who built the Sylph, is one of the best boatmen in the country, and he is totally blind. Of course, he has to work the boat entirely by the feeling; and those who have good eyes do it largely in the same way. Practice alone can give you this skill."

"Thad said the keel and the rudder balanced the sails, and kept up a sort of equilibrium," added Syl.

"That was quite right. When you see a fellow on a tight-rope in the circus, with a long pole in his hands, you may observe that he keeps lifting one end or the other. He throws the weight of the pole, the ends of which are loaded with lead, to one side or the other to preserve his balance. You shift the helm for the same reason. You can tell what the boat is doing with your eyes shut after you get used to her. When a flaw of wind comes, it throws a boat with a weather-helm up into the wind; and if you were blindfolded, the tiller or the wheel would tell you all about it."

"What do you do when the flaw comes?" asked Archie.

"Meet it with the helm if it is not too stiff for her."

"Suppose it is strong enough to capsize her if she keeps her course?" Hop inquired.

"Let her come up into the wind a little more than the course requires. If you let her up far enough, of course you will spill the sail, and the flaw can do her no harm. This is what sailors would call 'touching her up,' and that is just what we do when the wind comes too strong for the boat. You could keep her balanced, even in a hurricane, for a moment or two with the sails drawing just enough to give her steerage-way. Generally, flaws don't last more than a moment, and you fill away as soon as they pass. You may have to work sharp to keep her from filling on the other tack."

"A fellow has got to do it before he will know how," added Hop.

"Now, Con, I will station you at the port jib-sheet, and you, Hop, at the starboard," said the skipper.

"Why don't you say the weather and lee sheet?" asked Archie.

"Because they would have to change places every time we tack. The lee-sheet is sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other, as you may see for yourself," answered the skipper. "Ready about! That is simply the order for those who have any thing to do in tacking to be ready to do it; just as the military officer gives a warning 'Attention--company!' 'Shoulder--arms!' Not a soldier moves till the last word is uttered. Ready about!"

The two sheet-hands took hold of the ropes, and the helmsman was ready to move the wheel. At the command, "Starboard the helm," Ash put it down a little, and the head of the boat crawled gradually up into the wind.

"Hard a-lee!" said Dory. "Cast off all but one turn on the lee-sheet, Hop. Let go the lee-sheet!" added the skipper a moment later, when the jib shook in the wind. "Haul in on your port-sheet! Trim it down! Meet her with the helm!"

The change from one tack to the other was quickly made. The sloop worked to perfection, and the students had mastered the lesson in tacking. As they had to beat through a part of the narrow channel to the river, they had plenty of practice in a very short time.

"There is no need of all these orders after you have learned your duty. There is a sort of buncombe in using them in a small craft, or in any craft except a man-of-war. 'Ready about' should always be used. After that, on board of a ship, 'Let go and haul' is about all that is necessary, and it will do here. Let go the lee-sheet, and haul on the weather, supplies the ellipsis," said Dory, as the Goldwing came out into the river where she had more sea-room.

"I think I understand it now," added Archie.

"I think you do, all but the practice," replied the skipper. "I shall resign my office now as captain, and ask Ash to fill my place for a while. You may take the wheel, Ben Sinker; and I shall not say a word, unless you are likely to upset the boat."

Ben went to the wheel, and Ash assumed the position of skipper.

"Where shall we go?" asked the new captain.

"After you get out of the river, go up the lake, and that will be a dead beat to windward," answered Dory.

"The wind has almost died out," said Hop, as he looked about him.

"Not much!" replied Ash.

"When you are running in a boat before the wind, there seems to be little or no breeze," said Dory, who did not abandon his function as instructor. "When you ride in a carriage in a hot day, with the wind, you feel the heat. So in a boat. I have been nearly roasted on the lake in this boat when I was going before the wind, while it would be comfortably cool on the wind. The motion of the boat kills the breeze. Some boatmen make Hop's blunder, and put on more sail than they can bear; and then it is a dangerous error."

"Haul in on the main-sheet! A pull on the lee jib-sheet!" said Ash, when the Goldwing came to a bend in the river, which made it necessary to brace up the boat a little more.

After the change of course, the breeze came fresher; and Hop realized his mistake, by experience. The sloop went rapidly down the river with the wind about on the beam, or across the width of the boat, and out into the lake. The waves were lively there; and they were short and choppy, giving the boat a jerky motion.

"I suppose you know where the bottom is, out here, Ash," said Dory.

"I think I do; and it is pretty near the top of the water for a mile. I shall hold her on her present course till we have made about that distance from the mouth of the river."

"About half a mile from the point will cover it, but it is best to be on the safe side. When Diamond Island shuts in Split Rock Light, you are all right for any course except south," added Dory.

"I suppose nobody but Ash is expected to understand that remark," said Archie. "Shuts it in!"

"In other words, when you can see Split Rock Light over Diamond Island, you are far enough from the shore to avoid the shoals off Field's Bay," Dory explained.

"I can understand that," added Archie.

"If the light were not more than two feet above the water, we could not see it all when we come to the position described, for it would be shut in. I have about two hundred ranges written down in a book at home, and this is one of them. Sometimes they put two lighthouses on a shore. If one shut out the other, you could tell, in one case, how far north you had gone. When I am going into the river with the Sylph, I don't run in till I have brought the tip of the point in range with the white chimney on Paucett's house. The more of these ranges you learn, the better you will be qualified to sail a boat on Lake Champlain."

It was nearly dark when the Goldwing returned to the school; but every member of the class had taken his turn in sailing the boat, and each thought he knew as much as Dory about it.