[Fig. 4] is a Becket-hitch, the proper knot for joining a large and a smaller rope. It will be useful, for example, when the keleg-line of your boat is too short, and the only line at hand to bend on to it is a stout piece of hemp twine.
FIG. 4.—A BECKET-HITCH.
A loop at the end of a rope—that is, a loop that will not draw up—is another knot that has frequently to be made. And yet few people know how to make it. I know a very bright young fellow living out at the Highlands, who the other day made a loop in the end of a rope which he knew would not slip, and then, squeezing it over his dog’s head, tied him to the kennel and went off to school by himself. But the loop did slip, and poor Don almost choked to death before his plight was discovered. What is wanted in such a case is a Bowline.
FIG. 5.—THE BOWLINE.
Make a bight near the end of your rope, as in the first cut of [Fig. 5]. Seize this with the left hand at a, and then with the right hand pass the end b up through the bight, around behind the main part of the rope at c and down in front of it through the bight again as in d. Draw this tight and you have the much-talked-of Bowline. It is a very simple matter, as you see; but with it you can make a slip-noose that will give you no trouble in lacing up your box, or you can put your dog’s head in it without fear of coming home and finding him “dead at his post;” or the farmer’s daughter can safely tether a pet pony or the bleating calf out to feed upon the fresh grass.