"Joe," said Sim Vedder, "hand me that kite of yours."
"Mine's a di'mond. I don't know how to make any other."
"Do you suppose it'll stand steady, with those fore-bands so close together? No, it won't. Up with it, and see how it'll wiggle. Bob Jones, is that yours?"
The third kite was meekly handed to him, for the more the boys stared at Sim's big kite, the more they believed he knew what he was talking about.
"It isn't a bad kite, but those fore-bands are crossed too low. It'll dive all over."
"There's plenty of tail, Sim. It can't dive."
"Tail!--and a bunch of May-weed at the end of it! How's a kite of that size to lift it all? I'll show you," replied Sim.
He was unfastening the fore-bands as he spoke, and now he crossed them again over his little finger, and moved them along till the kite swung under them, almost level.
"That'll do. Now I'll tie 'em hard, and you can cut off your May-weed. There'll be tail enough without it. When I was in China--"
"Yes, I was. That was when I was a sailor. I saw kites enough there. They spend money on 'em, just as we do on horses; make 'em of all shapes and sizes. Don't need any tails."
"Well, some of 'em have, and some of 'em haven't. It's a knack in the making of 'em. I've seen one like a dragon, and another like a big snake, and they floated perfectly. Only a thin silk string, either."
"String's got to be strong enough to hold a kite," said Parley Hooker. "Look at yours."
"Yes, mine's strong; it's made of fine hemp. But it isn't any heavier than yours. What do you want of a rope, with a kite of that size?"
"It's too heavy, though. Besides, you've tied pieces together with big knots in them. You can't send up any travellers."
"I'll show you. Some call 'em messengers."
Just then Parley exclaimed, "Sim! Sim! mine's broke! it's coming down!"
"Broke right in the middle, where you notched your big sticks together."
"Just where it needs to be strongest," said Joe, knowingly.
It was the biggest kite they had ever seen, and it came down square at the bottom; but it was not a great deal wider than Parley's. The curious part of it was the cross-sticks and fore-bands. What did he need of so many?
"So many?" said Sim. "Why, the bands take the strain of the wind. If you put it all on the sticks, they'd bend or break. Don't you see? There's a band tied every two inches, and they all come together out here in the centre knot. It just balances on that."