The boatswain looked at him out of one eye.
“Do you really want to learn, lad?”
“I do, sir.”
“Well, when there are, as at present, other hands aloft, you may go up, but not at other times.”
“Thank you, sir!”
Will at once started. He was accustomed to climb the mast of John Hammond’s boat, but this was a very different matter. From scrambling about the cliffs so frequently he had a steady eye, and could look down without any feeling of giddiness. The lubbers’ hole had been pointed out to him, but he was determined to avoid the ignominy of having to go up through it. When he got near it he paused and looked round. It did not seem to him that there was any great difficulty in going outside it, and as he knew he could trust to his hands he went steadily up until he stood on the main-top.
“Hallo, lad,” said a sailor who was busy there, “do you mean to say that you have come up outside?”
“Yes, there did not seem to be any difficulty about it.”
“And is it the first time you have tried?”
“Yes.”