I jumped to attend to the painter just as Clancy’s voice broke in from above: “Swing her off about 133 two points, ease your main sheet and keep an eye on that light to looard. Off, off––that’s good––hold her––and Joe, slack stays’l and then foretops’l halyards. Be ready to let go balloon halyards and stand by down-haul. Look alive.”
I paid out some sheet from the bitt by the wheel-box, unbuttoned the after stays’l tack, jumped forward and loosed up halyards till her kites dropped limp.
“Down with your balloon there––and at the wheel there, jibe her over. Watch out for that fellow astern––he’s pretty handy to our boat. Watch out in boat and dory!” The last warning was a roar.
The big balloon gossamer came rattling down the long stay and the jaws of the booms ratched, fore and main, as they swung over. From astern came the voices of the men in boat and dory, warning each other to hang on when they felt her jibing. Some of them must have come near to being jerked overboard. “Why in God’s name don’t you slack that painter?” came the voice of the skipper from the boat.
I leaped to give them more painter, and “Draw away your jib––draw away your jumbo,” came from aloft. Sheets were barely fast when it was: “Steady at the wheel, George––steady her––ste-a-dy––Great God! man, if you can’t see can’t 134 you feel that fellow just ahead? And, skipper, tell them to close their jaws astern there––water won’t hurt ’em. Ready all now?”
“Ready!” roared back the skipper.
“All right. Down with your wheel a bit now, George. Down––more yet. Hold her there.”
The vessels that we had dodged by this bit of luffing were now dropping by us; one red light was slowly sliding past our quarter to port, and one green shooting by our bow to starboard. Evidently Clancy had only been waiting to steer clear of these two neighbors, for there was plenty of fish in sight now. The sea was flashing with trails of them. Clancy now began to bite out commands.
“Stand ready everybody. In the boat and dory there––is everything ready, skipper?”
“All ready, boat and dory.”