“So do I,” agreed Leslie, as a somewhat fresher puff took the brig and caused the spars to buckle still more ominously. “Royal halliards, let go! Clew up and furl!” he shouted to the men who were lounging on the forecastle over some tasks that they were performing in the leisurely manner usual with merchant seamen.
The carpenter sprang to the main royal halliards and let them run; a man forward dropped the serving-mallet that he was using, and did the same with the fore royal halliards; and while two other hands started the sheets and began to drag upon the clewlines, a third shambled aft and helped the carpenter to clew up the main royal.
This relieved the brig a trifle; but there was a hard look about the sky to windward that promised still more wind; so Leslie said—
“The breeze is coming still stronger before long, Chips; you had therefore better make one job of it, and take in the topgallantsails as well. And when that is done, if the men are not better engaged, let them get to work and set up the topgallant and royal rigging fore and aft; it is shockingly slack—hanging fairly in bights, in fact—and is affording practically no support to the spars.”
“Ay, ay, sir!” answered the carpenter, who was acting also as boatswain. “I’ve had my eye on that riggin’ for the last day or two; it wants settin’ up badly, and I’ll attend to it at once.”
The men had got the canvas clewed up, and were aloft furling it when Miss Trevor emerged through the companion-way; and Leslie, with a word of greeting, hastened to arrange a deck-chair for her accommodation on the lee side of the deck, within the shadow of the main trysail; for although there was a slight veil of thin, streaky cloud overspreading the sky, the sun shone through it with an ardour that made shelter of some sort from it very acceptable, especially to a girl who might be supposed to set some value upon her complexion. She accepted Leslie’s attentions with a brief word or two of thanks, uttered in tones that suggested an inclination to revert to her former unapproachable attitude; and the ex-lieutenant at once left her to herself, passing over to the weather side of the deck and devoting himself strictly to his duties as officer of the watch.
At seven bells he called Purchas, who presently made his appearance on deck, with an old-fashioned quadrant in his hand. He looked aloft, and then to windward, noted the changes that Leslie had affected, and graciously expressed his approval of them. Then he said—
“I s’pose, Mr Leslie, you’re a first-class navigator and know all about shootin’ the sun?”
“Naturally, I do,” answered Leslie; “navigation is, of course, an essential part of the education and training of a naval officer; and I learned all in that line that they thought it necessary to teach me a good many years ago.”
“Ay, so I supposed,” returned Purchas. “As for me, I’ve learned what was required to enable me to get my certificate; but, after all, I don’t really understand it properly. I can take the sun at noon, of course, and work out the ship’s latitood; but, even at that, I’ve got no very great faith in myself; and as to the longitood—well, there; I always feels that I may be right or I may be wrong. I never was much of a hand at figures. So, if you’ve no objections, I’d take it very kind of you if you’d lend me a hand at this job while the skipper’s on his beam-ends. He’s got a real dandy sextant in his cabin that I’ll take it upon me to let you have the use of; and the chronometer’s in there too. We might as well have them things out of there too, then we shan’t have to disturb the young lady every time we wants ’em.”