The instructor would not allow any one to assist him; and he soon had the rope in running order, and bent it on the sail. When he had hauled the sail up so that the lower clews were just above the deck, Dory stopped him.
"Now, Con, bend on the tack," continued the skipper.
"We don't bend any thing: what's the use of having such a word?"
"That's my son Yoppa's name," added Hop, laughing.
"Bend is the nautical word for make fast, and that is the particular reason why I use it. Would you have me say, 'Tie the halyard to the sail'? Bend it on, Con."
"The end you bend on to the sail is on the port-side, and the end you haul upon is on the starboard-side. It is made fast abaft the cleat used for the halyard, and you never need make a mistake. When Archie hoists the sail to the mast-head, you will stand by the tack on the starboard-side, and haul the rope over the gaff. The sheet is made fast to a cleat on the main-boom, Syl; and, as the sail goes up, you will haul on it just enough to prevent the rope from fouling. Hoist away, Archie."
The setting of the sail was a decided success; and with less system, the whole affair might easily have been snarled up, as it often is.
The anchor was weighed, the jib was hoisted, and the Goldwing remained just where she had been at her moorings. There was no wind at all in the lower regions; but the gaff-topsail soon filled, and the boat began to move, though it could hardly be seen. Then Dory ordered the crew to set the jib-topsail. This sail was fitted with snap-hanks, by which it could be set upon the main-topmast-stay. Ash, as the best sailor in the party, was sent out on the bowsprit to hook on the hanks. The halyard, which led down the mast, was attached to it; and the sail went up into its place, with the upper clew close to the topmast-head.
The upper part of the jib-topsail filled, and the motion of the sloop was increased a little. Dory had a balloon-jib, which could also be used as a spinnaker, in the cuddy. The Goldwing slowly moved towards the creek; and, without the lofty sails she carried, she would not have moved at all.
"It is part of a boatman's trade to know something about the weather, for I don't think we shall have an up-and-down breeze much longer," said Dory, as he looked about him. "The wind is about west now, and it is very likely we shall have showers before night."