"Then, it is a clergyman," added Hop, trying to be funny.
"The nautical meaning of _D. D._ in the navy is 'Dead. Discharged.'"
"Right you are, Ash. What is _i_, which the Goldwing does not wear just now?"
"The flying jib-boom," shouted Archie, who had been very unfortunate in his answers so far.
"Out on a fly! Jib-boom is enough for this spar. Only two more: what is _b b b_, the lower one?"
"The head of the mainsail, when you know what it is. Now we will attend to the rigging."
"There is not much of it to attend to," said Archie.
"A short horse is soon curried, but the short horse needs currying quite as much as the long one," replied Thad. "Now, suppose the mainmast were simply run through the forward deck, and the foot of it inserted in the socket in the keelson: would it be strong enough to bear the pressure of the sail in a stiff breeze?"
"It would not: the first flaw would take the mast out of her," replied Ash Burton.
"It would take the mainmast out of her," added Archie sharply.
"I respectfully asked you to be reasonable, in the beginning, Mr. Pinkler," interposed the skipper.
"He called the mainmast simply the mast," pleaded the critic.
"Will you be kind enough to point to the mast?" When he did so, "What are you pointing with?" asked Thad.
"With your forefinger, you mean. But it is not always necessary to specify exactly what particular thing is meant. I told you that mast was enough in a sloop, though when we come down to the proper names of parts, we should apply the right name. The flaw would take the mast out of her, and it would be likely to do so. What rigging keeps the mast in its place when the flaw comes, Hop?"
"The shrouds. One of them is on each side of _b_, nearest to the mast," answered the student indicated.
"Two in the drawing; but the Goldwing has only one on each side of the boat," added Hop. "A ship may have nine or ten of them; and I suppose they put on as many of them as are needed."
"Sensible you are, Hop. They are shrouds, and the number of them differs with the size of the vessel. But they are not often called shrouds in small boats as in larger craft. Boatmen call them stays, though the word is rather confusing sometimes. You observe that the shrouds, or stays, in the drawing are both set up abaft the mast."