120 THE CALL OF THE SEA 



There is nothing makes a man's heart so buoyant 

 as to see one of the httle ships bowhng along breast- 

 high towards him, with the wind and the clouds 

 behind it, careering over the sea. It seems to 

 have borrowed something of the air and some- 

 thing of the water, and to unite them both and to 

 be their offspring and also their bond. When 

 they are middle-way over the sea towards one 

 under a good breeze, the little ships are things to 

 remember. 



So it is when they carry double sail and go, as 

 we say of our schooners, " wing and wing." For 

 they can carry two sails when the wind is 

 moderate, and especially when the vessel is run- 

 ning before it ; but these two sails are not carried 

 upon two masts, but both upon the same mast. 

 The one is the common or working sail, carried in 

 all weathers. The other is a sort of spinnaker, of 

 which you may see the yard lying along decks in 

 harbour or triced up a little by the halyard, so as 

 to swing clear of the hands. When the little ships 

 come up like this with either sail well out and 

 square and their course laid straight before the 

 general run of a fresh sea, rolling as they go, it is 

 as though the wind had a friend and a companion 

 of its own, understanding all its moods, so easily 

 and rapidly do they arrive towards the shore. A 

 little jib (along this coast at least) is bent along 

 the forestay, and the dark line of it marks the 



