Jip

“ To just the slightest degree "Jip" trembled, but with never a break of his even flying stride. "Thank God!" was my heartfelt prayer as we reached the ruined mill at Thiacourt.
Quickly dismounting I led "Jip" deep into the rear of a building whose front was shot away.
O how I hugged and patted that brave little horse; and from the manner he pawed the ground and rubbed his nose against my side I felt he fairly thrilled with the pride of his race with death. For your sake, my brave little "Jip," I will never be unkind to a horse as long as I live. ”

“ Without paying any further attention to his companions, Jip made his way to the rear of the carpenter's shop, where he knew would be found an ample supply of light wood and shavings, and when he returned, his arms filled with the inflammable material, neither of his friends from Brooklyn could be seen. [Pg 36]
CHAPTER III. JIP'S REVENGE.
If Jip Collins had not accused the Brooklyn boys of being afraid, it is doubtful if he would have dared to set fire to the shed. ”

“ Now, so far's puttin' Jip in jail goes, I don't want anythin' to do with it."
"I can't see how that's goin' to give you a bad name," some one of the throng cried.
"I reckon it couldn't; but it might stand against Jip when he grows up, an' if I should let Sam take the case I'd be hurtin' Jip more'n he did me, so it wouldn't be fair."
"But you don't allow folks can go 'round settin' fire to houses an' tryin' to burn other people up without havin' to pay for it?"
"Course I don't, an' Jip ought'er get it hot for what he's done; but I won't be the one to send him up the river." ”

“ And he walked to the bamboo fence and took his place among the other waiting fighters.
Then we all got hold of some kind of weapon with which to help our friends, the gallant Popsipetels: I borrowed a bow and a quiver full of arrows; Jip was content to rely upon his old, but still strong teeth; Chee-Chee took a bag of rocks and climbed a palm where he could throw them down upon the enemies' heads ”

“ Jip cried in astonishment not unmixed with fear, for he failed to understand why the boy he had tried to injure should be so generous. "I counted on your thumpin' me, an' I'd stood still to let you do it——"
"If Seth Bartlett has gone crazy there's no reason why I shouldn't serve you out, Jip Collins!" and Dan advanced threateningly. "I ain't sich a [Pg 90] chump as to pay a feller for tryin' to burn me to death, an' I'm goin' to knock your two eyes into one, 'stead of throwin' away good money on a duffer like you!" ”

“ Jip said to his comrades, "an' even if they wasn't we might talk here for an hour without their hearin', 'cause Seth's room is in the farther end of the shed, and there's a whole pile of lumber between him an' the door. He don't believe in going out much after he's got inside the yard, for fear the carpenter will see him, so we can make up our minds that there's nothin' to stop us." ”

“ asked the Doctor.
"Certainly it has," said Jip. "Hot water smells quite different from cold water. It is warm water—or ice—that has the really difficult smell. Why, I once followed a man for ten miles on a dark night by the smell of the hot water he had used to shave with—for the poor fellow had no soap.... Now then, let us see which way the wind is blowing. Wind is very important in long-distant smelling. It mustn't be too fierce a wind—and of course it must blow the right way. A nice, steady, damp breeze is the best of all.... Ha!—This wind is from the North."
Then Jip went up to the front of the ship and smelt the wind; ”

“ A vessel is often known by the cut of the JIB sail; hence the popular phrase, “to know a man by the cut of his JIB.”
Jibb, the tongue.—Gipsy and Hindoo. (Tramps’ term.) Thence extended to mean language.
Jiffy, “in a JIFFY,” in a moment.
Jigger, a door; “dub the JIGGER,” shut the door. Ancient cant, GYGER. In billiards, the bridge or rest is often termed the JIGGER. Also, the curtain of a theatre. Jigger has many meanings, the word being applied to any small mechanical contrivance. Printers use the word for a little machine which guides the eye when copy is minute. ”

“ The use of a jib presents many new problems in sailing, and will necessitate some thought and study on the part of a boy whose experience has been confined to the handling of a cat-boat. In the jib-and-mainsail rig there are two opposite forces at work. The mainsail, as in the cat-boat, throws the boat's head in the wind, only this is more pronounced, as the mast is stepped further aft. ”

“ So they hurried me away to their little cart, where I found a boy's suit, which I was glad to put on, as of course I never wore the precious red suit in bed.
"Those were good fire-crackers," said Marah's friend. "They made the horses run."
"Yes," said Marah. "I knew we could clear the gipsies out of the way and get Jim clear. Well, Jim, my son, I'm not strong enough to talk much. I reckon I have done with night-riding since I got this slug in my chest. But here we are again, bound home, my son, with not much shot in the locker." ”

“ Their shirts were held in at the waist by broad belts.
Pa hung his long knife from his belt and Jim started down the clearing, carrying Pa’s heavy flintlock rifle. It was as long as Jim was tall and difficult for him to carry, but he tried to manage it proudly.
As Pa went striding through the thick woods, Jim did his best to keep up with him. Now and then a squirrel darted along in front of them, or a few wild turkeys flew over their heads, frightened by their approach.
Jim stopped and started to raise his rifle. “Let’s shoot some turkeys, Pa. Ma always likes to cook turkey.” ”

“ The effect was magical. “Brace round the foreyard; round with it—set the jib—that’s it—foretopmast staysail—haul—never mind if the gale takes it out of the bolt rope”—a thundering flap, and away it flew in truth down to leeward, like a puff of white smoke. “Never mind, men, the jib stands. Belay all that—down with the helm, now don’t you see she has stern way yet? ”

“ Hauling upon a tack is called "bowsing upon a tack," and when they would have the men pull all together, they cry, "Bowse away." Also used in setting up rigging, as "Bowse away, starboard;" "Bowse away, port." It is, however, mostly a gun-tackle term.—Bowse up the jib, a colloquialism to denote the act of tippling: it is an old phrase, and was probably derived from the Dutch buyzen, to booze.
BOWSPRIT, or Bolt-sprit. A large spar, ranking with a lower-mast, projecting over the stem; beyond it extends the jib-boom, and beyond that again the flying jib-boom. ”

“ He strove to shout: he screamed aloud, yet only a suffocated groan seemed to issue from his lips; he shouted to Jim to fire and so attract their attention, but there was no response; and then, in his agony, he started up, wide awake in an instant, and, hurling off his blankets, seized his rifle and sprang to his feet.
Broad daylight; sunbeams dancing through the trees; and there, doubled up at the back of the parapet, lay that scoundrel Jim—asleep on guard. One vehement kick and curse he gave him: then peered over the barrier down the rocky hillside. God of heaven! ”

“ The jib is a triangle of 3 feet hoist and 3 feet foot, the fore-leach fast by a loop, passing under the painter and over the stem; the head is fixed by a loop over the mast-head, and under the flagstaff button. Thus the jib can be struck while the canoeist remains in the boat, by pushing off these two loops with his paddle. To set the jib, it is best to land. This is much more generally convenient than to have jib-tackle on the mast. (I have now discarded the jib entirely.) The sails are of calico, without any seam. ”

“ Two Malays, silent and almost motionless, steered, one on each side of the wheel, whose brass rim shone fragmentarily in the oval of light thrown out by the binnacle. Now and then a hand, with black fingers alternately letting go and catching hold of revolving spokes, appeared in the illumined part; the links of wheel-chains ground heavily in the grooves of the barrel. Jim would glance at the compass, would glance around the unattainable horizon, would stretch himself till his joints cracked, with a leisurely twist of the body, in the very excess of well-being ”

“ Also, a small sail rigged out on a mast and boom from the stern of a cutter, boat, &c.—Fleet-jigger. A term used by the man who holds on the jigger, when by its distance from the windlass it becomes necessary to fleet, or replace it in a proper state for action. When the man gives the above notice, another at the windlass immediately fixes his handspike between the deck and the cable, so as to jam the latter to the windlass, and prevent it from running out till the jigger is replaced on the cable near the windlass. ”

“ The jib has two sheets, one on either side of the mast, one of which is hauled in and the other slackened out, according to the tack the vessel is on.
When the jibs are small the sheets require no purchase, but each should lead either through a single block on the gunwale or a comb cleat (Fig. 35) on the deck. It is important that this fairlead be exactly in the right spot, for on this depends whether the jib stands flatly or becomes a loose bag. The right spot can only be determined by experiment. ”

“ Many a good jib has been destroyed and pulled out of shape through a bad lead, and more than one race has been lost through the bad lead of a reaching or balloon foresail sheet. When jibs or foresails are changed, the greatest care should be taken to see that the leads told off for their sheets are really fair—that is, that the pull on the sheet does not favour the foot more than the leach of the sail, or vice versâ. ”

“ That bare throat riveted Jim's vengeful gaze. He knew well that the man, though asleep and at an utter disadvantage, was the most dangerous adversary he could possibly tackle.
Step by step, so lightly, so smoothly, that not a twig crackled under his feet, he crept up, his muzzle outstretched, his fangs gleaming the hair rising along his back. When he was within a couple of paces of his goal, the sleeper stirred slightly, as if about to wake up, or growing conscious of danger. Instantly Jim sprang, and sank his fangs deep, deep, into his enemy's throat. ”

“ You never know how women, even the best of them, will take things, and as I watched old Jim instructing young Jim in the mysteries of cricket on the tennis lawn, I began to doubt my wisdom in agreeing to anything so foolish.
And then, somehow or other, the Old-World garden outside seemed to fade away. Only Jim's figure remained, clean cut and sinewy with the great shoulder muscles rippling under his coat. In his hip pocket I could see in my mind's eye the outline of his revolver, which he could draw the fraction of a second quicker than any living man. ”

“ But, happily, Jim was little concerned about things to come. He lived in the day that is, fighting his way as he could [Pg 171] with a leg and a half and a nickname,—“Gimpy” they called him for his limp,—and getting out of it what a fellow so handicapped could. After all, there were compensations. When the gang scattered before the cop, it did not occur to him to lay any of the blame to Gimpy, though the little lad with the pinched face and sharp eyes had, in fact, done scouting duty most craftily. ”

“ Many combinations are made with the jib. There seems to be about only one common way of rigging a jib for a small boat. A pretty clear idea may be gained from the sketch (Plate I) . As may be seen, no stay is used, the sail usually being bound with a rope, which gives it sufficient strength; no halyard is used, either the jib being lashed to the mast, and lowered and hoisted when it is stepped or unstepped. The lower edge is laced to a boom, which is secured to the bow with a lashing about four inches long, a third of its length projecting. The sheet rope is fastened to the inner extremity. ”

“ He saw a shifting gleam of whites. “Come out!” he cried in a fury, a little doubtful, and a dark-faced head, a head without a body, shaped itself in the rubbish, a strangely detached head, that looked at him with a steady scowl. Next moment the whole mound stirred, and with a low grunt a man emerged swiftly, and bounded towards Jim. Behind him the mats as it were jumped and flew, his right arm was raised with a crooked elbow, and the dull blade of a kriss protruded from his fist held off, a little above his head. ”

“ Value of Jigs and Fixtures.—The use of jigs, fixtures, and other labor-saving devices is an important factor in illustrating industrial and practical applications in the school shop. It is advisable to let each group of boys work out its own jig or fixture for the particular job they have on hand.
The three most common forms of jigs are cutting jigs, boring jigs, and assembling jigs. The important reasons for the use of such devices are: (1) They illustrate the speed of output in shop work. (2) They give the student a good idea of machine operation. ”

“ As I have, even within a few days, been in company, and on very familiar footing with a great number of Romanys of different families of the dark blood who spoke the ‘jib’ with unusual accuracy, I write under a fresh impression. The Gipsy is almost invariably strong and active, a good rough rider and pedestrian, and knowing how to use his fists. He leads a very hard life, and is proud of his stamina and his pluck. ”

“ Here the female, unless discovered and removed, forms a sac which expands to the size of a small pea, and which contains hundreds of little jiggers who soon begin to “jig” for themselves, and burrow again in the same flesh. Many of them however are scattered on the ground; those that remain keep multiplying, until if neglected the whole foot becomes a festering sore.
To the African child the jigger is the occasion of its worst suffering. I have seen children who could not walk, some with toes eaten away, and several with nearly the whole foot gone. ”