Oliver Optic

“ Then, as you near the anchorage, you would come to, or throw her up into the wind, thus spilling the mainsail. When the boat had lost her headway, or most of it, you would let go the anchor. If you kept the sail drawing, you would drag the anchor, get aground, or run into some other craft."
"Suppose you are caught in a sudden squall?" asked Ash.
"You should not allow yourself to be caught in a sudden squall. A boatman should be always on the lookout for such things. Squalls don't come out of a blue sky; and when the weather is threatening, the skipper should get ready for it." ”

“ Dory resumed his march with the prisoner. He began to feel as though he was getting out of the woods. In a few minutes more he saw the engineer and the carpenter hurrying towards him. Angy could not help seeing them also; and he breathed a sigh, which was perhaps the knell of his hopes, if he had had any hopes.
"What have you got there, Dory?" called Mr. Brookbine, as soon as he discovered the prisoner and his custodian.
"One of them," replied Dory.
"Where is the other one?" asked Mr. Jepson.
"The other four are off on the lake, on board of that schooner which came into the river yesterday. ”

“ Get on board of the schooner, and then you will be out of trouble."
"It is useless for me to attempt to do an impossible thing," replied Dory. "The bulwarks of the vessel are three feet above the boat, and I can't step that distance. The only way to get on board is to take hold with the hands, and climb up. I think you can see that for yourself. I am willing to go on board, and I would do so if I could. It is impossible to stand up in the boat." ”

“ Our safety requires that every fellow should do his duty, and there is no shirking it."
"But why don't you take in sail, Dory?" asked Archie nervously.
"Because there is no need of it yet, and we may not have to take in sail at all. Why don't you take medicine before you get sick? You need not be nervous, Archie. We are all right; and I feel as much at home on board of the Goldwing, as I should in my room at Beech Hill." ”

“ 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. ”

“ You have her almost before the wind; and it won't do to let her go any farther round, for the sail will bang over to the other side," interposed the skipper, giving the wheel a turn. "You will send us all to the bottom at that rate."
"I told you I didn't believe I could do it," replied Ben, not a little mortified at his ill success.
"But I know you can do it: only you have made the same mistake as all new hands," added Thad, as he brought the boat to her course. "Now you are all right again. It won't do to fool with a boat when the wind is as fresh as it is now. ”

“ He knew that Captain Gildrock never encouraged any thing like knight-errantry in the students. He liked manly boys, but he did not believe that they should be any older than their years would allow.
The sails of the schooner were lowered; and the Sylph went ahead, towing her up the river. The principal spoke very kindly to Dory, but the smile still played upon his face. He hardly looked at the prisoners on deck, and seated himself on the rail. At his request, Dory gave a minute account of every thing that happened since he heard the explosion early in the morning. ”

“ The students and others had been awakened by some extraordinary disturbance, or most of them would have slept till the morning-bell roused them from their slumbers.
As nearly at three o'clock as the hour could afterwards be fixed, a tremendous explosion, with a sound which equalled the report of one of the yacht-guns on board of the Sylph, shook the buildings of the school, and made the windows of the dormitory rattle as though a hurricane had struck them. The very earth seemed to tremble under the effects of the convulsion. ”

“ But what are you going to do, Dory?" asked the instructor, to whom Dory had not yet explained his intentions, if he had any.
"I don't know yet: that will depend upon what those fellows do. I should like to get possession of that schooner and the four fellows that belong to the gang; and I shall be willing to go without my breakfast for the sake of doing it," replied Dory. "I should like to sail the La Motte into Beechwater with these four fellows under the hatches." ”

“ As indicated in the sub-title, "Sailing the Boat" is one of the principal features of the book. This is an art that cannot be mastered by simply learning the theory. Nothing but abundant practice can make a competent boatman. Fifty years ago, the writer, however, would have deemed it very fortunate if he could have obtained from a book, even such instruction as he has endeavored to impart. He has by no means exhausted the subject, though whatever more is to be learned will almost come of itself with experience. The author has learned in fifty years that there is always something more to learn ”

“ Jepson!" called the principal.
"See, the other conquering hero comes!" shouted Dory, as the machinist came into the presence of the captain.
"What is the matter, Dory?" asked the instructor.
"They are making game of me all around, and I want you to help me out with it."
"I am entirely sincere in all I have said," added Captain Gildrock. "You deserve all the praise you have received, and all you are likely to receive in the future, for your bravery and skill; though I wish you had not exposed yourself." ”

“ No end of questions which he could not answer flashed through Dory's mind after his match had burned out, and he had established to his own satisfaction the professional character of the operators. They were somewhere within a half a mile of him; and he wanted to know whether they intended to take a boat at Kingsland Bay, or escape by the road, which would take them to Burlington if they followed it long enough. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The stem of the craft is the upright timber, placed farthest forward, and forming a continuation of the keel. The iron eye to which the lower end of the bobstay is made fast, is bolted into the stem in the strongest manner. Now you can see how both the mast and the bowsprit are held in their place, and how each is made to support the other. The topmast is, or may be, supported in precisely the same way. One or more ropes leading down to the side of the boat from the topmast would be called the backstays, as in a ship. There are none in the picture. ”

“ But, even in this miserable club, there are two classes of members; for one-half are reckless and worse than indifferent in the matter of right living, while the other half are led to the very verge of the precipice of crime by their unfortunate associations. The reform of the latter interests the principal of the Beech Hill Industrial School, who does his duty, as always, in the premises, with a very happy result. ”

“ I have already explained the throat and peak halyards, so that you know what and where they are."
"Archie knows," said Ash.
"The main-sheet is the rope by which the position of the main-boom is controlled; in other words, by which the sail is trimmed. Dory has double blocks on his sheet, so that he handles it more easily than if it were done with a single block on the boom; though he has to handle twice as much rope in doing it. I do not think of any thing more to be said in regard to the standing or running rigging of a sloop. If any thing comes up, you will learn it while we are sailing. ”

“ If the wind blows hard, you need a long rode, which means a long cable. In a blow, there is a heavy sea, and the motion of the boat causes a constant jerking on the anchor. With a short rode, it may lift it so that the flukes are detached from the bottom, especially if it be rocky. The longer the cable, the less the slant of the rope. In Lake Champlain, the water is four hundred feet deep in some places."
"Where, Dory?" asked Ash. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As soon as the revolver missed fire, Dory decided not to wait for a dryer cartridge to explode. The boat was jumping on the waves at a furious rate, and was in the act of falling off into the trough of the sea when Angy made his demonstration with the pistol. To prevent this, he had attempted to use his oars. Dory made a long spring, and threw himself on the chief of the burglars. ”

“ I am seated on the weather-side of the wheel."
"Must the helmsman always be on the weather-side?" asked Ash.
"There is no law about it; but for some reasons, it is the better side for him. He can see ahead better; and when the boat is on the wind, and she heels over, he has the higher side. Being on the weather-side of the helm, if I pull the spokes on the big wheel towards me, it turns the small wheel, which is part of the big one, in the same direction. By the action of the cogs, the round side of the quadrant is moved in the opposite direction. The quadrant is really the tiller. ”

“ As a general rule, you must run into some bay for the purpose."
"But a fellow may be caught out in the middle of the lake when the bad weather comes," suggested Ash.
"Then he must take his chances; but he need not be caught if he looks out in season. If it looks like bad weather, get under a lee if you can. Don't anchor off a lee-shore if it can be avoided. Look out in season. That will do for anchoring till we get caught in a tight place. Now we will get under way. Take the stops off the mainsail."
"What is a gasket, Dory?" asked Ash. ”

“ If the helmsman doesn't mind what he is about, he keeps the boat yawing and staggering, like a man who has taken too much whiskey. I don't like to see a boat going that way. If she is kept steady, she not only makes her course better, but she gets along faster."
"I am running for the point," said Ash.
"Then, you may make too much northing. You 242should always take an object to windward of the point you want to reach, for the boat will always get in more or less leeway; though it don't make much difference when you have a free wind. ”

“ The setting of the sail was a decided success; and with less system, the whole affair might easily have been snarled up, as it often is.
The anchor was weighed, the jib was hoisted, and the Goldwing remained just where she had been at her moorings. There was no wind at all in the lower regions; but the gaff-topsail soon filled, and the boat began to move, though it could hardly be seen. Then Dory ordered the crew to set the jib-topsail. This sail was fitted with snap-hanks, by which it could be set upon the main-topmast-stay. ”

“ We take things as we find them, and we are not inventing a system. We speak of a weather and a lee helm. As you may see by the position of the wheel, this boat carries a weather-helm; and it only means that the trim of the craft inclines her to stick her head up into the wind, and we have to carry the helm a little to the weather-side in order to make her go straight ahead. ”

“ As he had no clew to the marauders, he could only consider probabilities. What direction would the burglars take to make their escape? If they had come in a boat, they could embark anywhere between the bridge above the quarries and Beaver River.
By land they could pass through the grounds of the estate, and reach the street; or they could follow the cart-path through the quarries, pass over the bridge, and reach Lake Champlain at Porter's Bay, or any point below it, or strike a road which would lead them to the north. ”

“ The boat fell off into the trough of the sea, and the water poured in upon them. Dory saw, that, if the affair was not finished very quickly, the conclusion of it would have to be reached in the water, with no boat under him. But no human being could stand the amount of choking inflicted upon Angy, and he soon weakened under the punishment. With a sudden movement, Dory turned him over on his face, and crowded his head down into the water in the bottom of the boat. ”

“ When a squall approaches, you can always see its action on the water before it reaches you, unless you happen to be under a weather-shore, which will shelter you to some extent. But you must look out for your boat before you see the squall on the water. The clouds will let you know that it is time to take in all kites."
325In the river they got more wind, and the boat soon reached Lake Champlain. By that time, it was blowing moderately from the west. With her extra sails set, the Goldwing rushed rapidly through the water, with the breeze on the beam. ”

“ But the Goldwing was safely sheltered, and the students enjoyed the wild commotion of the water. Later in the day, the wind went around to the north-west; and the sloop, under a reefed mainsail only, made her way to Beech Hill.
These instructions were continued all summer in the two sail-boats; and long before the end of the season, even Archie Pinkler was allowed to go out as skipper of the Goldwing. All the members of the classes became competent boatmen; and then they were as much at home on the lake, whatever the weather, as Dory himself. ”

“ I cast on the starboard because it gives us the longest tack in this pond. When any boat or vessel is at anchor, she points her nose directly into the wind. Then it is as easy to cast on one tack as the other."
"But after the mainsail is set, the boat keeps flopping one way and the other," said Con.
"If you make fast the main-sheet, it will. In that case, you are to take advantage of the right moment to trip the anchor and set the jib. It is sometimes necessary to sway off the boom to get her in position."
By this time the Goldwing was nearing the shore on the west side. ”