“Yes, I see.”
“Well, when the church is right before that tree it gives us the bearings the other way.”
“I think I see,” said Dick dubiously; “but I’m not sure.”
“It’s easy enough,” said Will. “You’ll soon see. Now look out—the mine chimney over the cairn, and Gullick church in front of the big tree, and there we are right on our fishing-ground.”
They rowed on for another quarter of an hour, watching the chimney and church, which seemed to glide more and more over the distant points till, full of excitement as he began to comprehend more fully the little simple problem learned by fishermen without instruments or books, he waited till he thought that the various points must be exactly coinciding, and called out to those who were rowing behind him as he looked over the stern:
“It’s now, isn’t it—now?”
“Now it is,” said Josh, as there was a splash in the water and the rattling of a rope over the gunwale.
Dick had well learned his first lesson in taking bearings, and called out at the exact moment, just as Josh was in the act of throwing over the little anchor and buoy, to which the long-line, or “bolter,” was to be made fast.
Here is the problem in mathematical lines:
Which being explained is that A represents the old mine chimney, B the cairn, C Gullick Church, and D the tree. The boat was rowed till A and B were in a straight line, and C and D were also in a straight line. This would place the boat at E, the fishing-ground, which they could always find by these simple means.