n6 ALL AFLOAT 



new set home ; while the headsheets forward 

 thrash about like mad and thump their blocks 

 against the deck with force enough to dash 

 your brains out. 



Mates and boatswain work furiously, for 

 the skipper's eye is searching everywhere, and 

 the skipper's angry words cut the delinquent 

 like the lash of a well-aimed whip. The boat- 

 swain forward has the worst of it, for the restive 

 sheets and headsails won't come to trim without 

 a fight when it 's breezing up and seas are 

 running. But presently all the yards get 

 rightly trimmed, tacks boarded, and bowlines 

 hauled out taut. She 's on a bowline taut 

 enough to please the old man now ; that is, the 

 ropes leading forward from the middle of the 

 forward edge of every square sail are so straight 

 that she is sailing as near the wind as she 

 can go and keep a full on. ' Go below, the 

 watch ! ' and the men off duty tramp down, 

 the cook and boatswain with their ' oilies ' 

 streaming from their scuffle with the flying 

 spray and slapping dollops at the bows. 



When a quartering trade wind is picked up 

 sailing is at its easiest ; for a well-balanced 

 suit of canvas will keep her bowling along night 

 and day with just the lightest of touches at the 

 wheel. Then is the time to bend her old sails 



