the middle of the squall, which does not prove so violent as was anticipated. Captain, very impatient: "You are a nice, useful fellow on board a yacht! Ten minutes, and you have not triced up that tack. If that had been a serious squall, we might have gone to the devil while you were fiddling about there."
'A (very indignant): "I do not care. I will leave the beastly thing alone. I will not be sworn at. In the daytime I can find the strings; in the night I cannot, and I shall no longer try."'
So, too, on another occasion, when it was my watch below, I was awakened by a tremendous row, a banging about of ropes, and louder, above the din, the stentorian voice of the officer of the watch raised in anger. On coming on deck I found that, on being ordered to let fly the jib-sheet, that the ship might go about, the briefless barrister on that watch had let go in succession the jib halyards, the bowsprit shrouds, and the peak halyards. And with this crew the Falcon was navigated across the Atlantic and half round the world! So there is hope for the clumsiest tyro.
Before explaining how the different manœuvres are performed on a yacht, I will describe how the sails are hoisted, lowered, and reefed.
The Mainsail, when stowed in harbour, is rolled up neatly, the middle of the leach having been first hauled forward and laid along the boom. When the sail is furled, its folds are tied together by short
