“Why, you won’t go all that way in a lugger, uncle?”
“Bah! Rubbish!” cried Uncle Paul shortly. “Here, give me hold of that glass.”
He took the telescope, drew out the slide to a mark upon the tube which indicated the focus which suited his eye, and then as he began slowly sweeping the portions of the harbour which were within reach he went on talking.
“Isn’t there anything between a lugger and a ship, sir? You know well enough if you talk to a sailor about a ship he’d suppose you meant a full-rigged three-masted vessel.”
“Yes, of course, uncle. And a barque is a three-master with a mizzen fore-and-aft rigged.”
“That’s better, my lad. But what do you mean by fore-and-aft rigged?”
“Well, like a schooner, uncle.”
“Good boy! Go up one, as you used to say at school. Well, what do you think of a large schooner for a good handy vessel that can be well managed by a moderate crew?”
“Oh, I should think it would be splendid, uncle; and she’d sail very fast.”
“That depends on her build and the way she is sailed, my boy. But that’s what I am thinking of having, Pickle.”