The summer days were passing quickly to the children, and Captain Hawes insisted that they must hurry and learn to swim, and with Patsey's help they were at it daily. After the first cautious wadings and splashing they enjoyed it immensely, and before the summer was really over they had learned to keep their heads above water: not to swim far, that would come with time and greater strength, but they had made a beginning, and felt justly proud of the accomplishment.
[a]THE LOG BOOM]
The two children, under the Captain's instruction, learned to row, after a fashion, though the oars of the sharpey were rather heavy for them, and sometimes would catch in the water with disconcerting results. The Captain called it "catching a crab." But it was all great fun, in spite of this.
Often Captain Hawes took them sailing in his catboat, the Mary Ann, and one day ran up close to the log "boom" which belonged to the shipyard, and showed them where the lumber came from, for the building of the ship. He explained how it had been cut far up in the back forests and rafted down the rivers to the sea. The great raft was now held in place by a frame of logs outside the others fastened together with "dogs" and chains. Here the children saw the men picking out the special logs they needed, and doing various stunts, paddling and balancing with boathooks. Some would even paddle off to the shipyard on a log, balancing much like a tight-rope walker. But once in a while accidents would happen, and they would get more than wet feet, to the great glee of their comrades.
