Thats so, conceded the other. You must have got a pretty good notion of how to sail a boat, by watching them. Here, take the wheel. But youll find that practice in real sailing, and just having it in your head from watching others, are two different things. However, youll learn fast. I never knew any one who had any sort of courage, and any natural liking toward boat-sailing, but what he could pick it up fast, if he kept his eyes open.
The first thing to do, to learn to sail a boat, is to take hold in moderate weather and work her yourself. And the next thing, is to talk to the fishermen and the yachtsmen, and listen when they get to spinning yarns and arguing. You can get a lot of information in that way that you can use, yourself, later on.
The younger boy took the wheel, while the other sat up alongside, directing his movements. But first he took the main-sheet and threw off several turns, where he had had it belayed on the cleat back of the wheel, and fastened it merely with a slip-knot, that could be loosed with a single smart pull on the free end.
We wont sail with the sheet fast until you have had a few weeks at it, Henry, he said. There are more boats upset from sheets fast at the wrong time, or from main-sheets with kinks in them, that wont run free when a squall hits, than from almost any other cause. And the river is a lot worse in that way than the open bay, for the flaws come quicker and sharper off these high banks.
Henry Bums, with the wheel in hand and an eye to the luff of the sail, as of one not wholly inexperienced, made no reply to the others somewhat patronizing manner; but a quiet smile played about the corners of his mouth. If he had any notion that the others extreme care was not altogether needed, he betrayed no sign of impatience, but took it in good part. Perhaps he realized that common failing of every yachtsman, to think that there is nobody else in all the world that can sail a boat quite as well as himself.
He knew, too, that Jack Harvey had, indeed, had by far a larger experience in sailing than he, though he had spent much of his time upon the water.
In any event, his handling of the boat now evidently satisfied the critical watchfulness of Jack Harvey; for that youth presently exclaimed, Thats it. Oh, you are going to make a skipper, all right. You take hold with confidence, too, and thats a good part of the trick.
At this point in their sailing, however, the yacht Viking seemed to have attracted somewhat more than the casual attention of an observer from shore. A little less than a quarter of a mile down the river, on a wharf that jutted some distance out from the bank, so that the river as it ran swerved swiftly by its spiling, a man stood waving to them.
Hello, said Henry Burns, espying the figure on the wharf, theres a tribute to the beauty of the Viking . Somebody probably thinks this is the presidents yacht and is saluting us.
Well, he means us, sure enough, replied Jack Harvey, and no joke, either. Hes really waving. He wants to hail us.
The man had his hat in hand and was, indeed, waving it to them vigorously.
They had been standing across the river in an opposite direction to the wharf; but now, as Jack Harvey cast off the leeward jib-sheets, Henry Burns put the helm over, and the yacht swung gracefully and swiftly up into the wind and headed off on the tack inshore. Jack Harvey let the jibs flutter for a moment, until the yacht had come about, and Henry Burns had begun to check her from falling off the wind, by reversing the wheel. Then he quickly trimmed in on the sheets, and the jibs began to draw.
Most beginners, he said, trim the jib in flat on the other side the minute they cast off the leeward sheet. But that delays her in coming about.
Again the quiet smile on the face of Henry Burns, but he merely answered, Thats so.
They stood down abreast the wharf and brought her up, with sails fluttering. Jack Harvey, looking up from the side to the figure above on the wharf, called out, Hello,
were you waving to us?
Why, yes, responded the man, I was. Are you going down the river far?
Bound down to Southport, said Harvey.
Good! exclaimed the stranger, and added, confidently, Ill go along with you part way, if you dont mind. Im on my way to Burtons Landing, five miles below, and the steamboat doesnt come along for three hours yet. I cannot get a carriage and I dont want to walk. You dont mind giving me a lift, do you? Thats a beautiful boat of yours, by the way.
The man had an air of easy assurance; and, besides, the request was one that any yachtsman would willingly grant.
Why, certainly, replied Harvey, well take you, eh, Henry?
Pleased to do it, responded Henry Burns.
They worked the yacht up alongside the wharf, and the stranger, grasping a stay, swung himself off and leaped down on to the deck. Then he pushed the boats head off with a vigorous shove and advanced, smilingly, with hand extended, to greet the boys. The Viking gathered headway and was once more going down-stream.