But without knowledge, and knowing just what to do in dangerous times, this pleasant summer sail is a treacherous pastime.
CHAPTER VIII.
A SHORT CRUISE WITH A SLOOP-YACHT, ILLUSTRATING THE COMMON SEA-MANŒUVRES.
"Well, uncle Charley, when are you going to give me a sail in your yacht? You know, that, although I have sailed a little, I look forward with the greatest impatience to a trip with you; so that I may become posted in all respects, and finally turn out a first-class sailor."
"Your ambition is a worthy one, Tom; and I am willing to gratify it. But it is yet very early in the season; and I am afraid that we shall encounter some dirty weather, should we attempt now to make a trip."
"Well, that is the very thing that I want to encounter," said Tom. "Besides, you have quite a large yacht, and every thing in apple-pie order; whilst I only have a little bit of an open boat at my home, and really know but little of the science of boat-sailing, and nothing of the technical language or discipline of a well-appointed vessel."
Thus spoke Tom Coffin, a young man of some seventeen years, who was on a visit to his uncle, Capt. Charles Coffin, a middle-aged retired sea-captain, who knew a vessel from her stem to her stern, and who retained his youthful passion for the water, and enjoyed himself thoroughly during the summer months in his beautiful yacht "Nancy Lee."
"By the way, uncle Charley, you have not told me any thing yet about your yacht; and you know I have never seen her. How large is she?"