"All ready," replied Archie, who was getting up a deep interest in the operations.
"Trip the anchor," added Dory in a quiet tone.
"Anchor a-weigh!" shouted Archie.
"Hoist the jib," continued the skipper. "Keep on with your work at the anchor, Archie and Syl, and don't leave it till you have stowed it away in its place, and coiled up the cable, so that it will run out freely if we have occasion to anchor again in two minutes. On a boat, ropes should not be snarled up, but every one of them should be properly disposed for use at any moment."
The cable led through a block under the bowsprit. When it came home,--which is the nautical expression used when any thing is hauled up to the point where it belongs, or as far as can be,--an iron hook was thrown over one of the arms, and the anchor was hauled inboard by a line attached to it. This arrangement made it easy to weigh the anchor.
While the two hands were at the anchor, Con and Hop were hoisting the jib. Ash was directed to put the helm a-lee, and Ben to stand by the main-sheet. The moment the anchor was clear of the bottom, the jib began to fill, and the head of the boat swung off.
"Stand by the jib-sheets, Hop, while Con coils up the jib-halyards," said Dory, after they had "swigged up" the rope.
But the jib-sheets led aft, and Dory trimmed them down himself. It was a dead beat to windward to get out of Beechwater, and the two sails were close-hauled. In a moment every thing was in good order, the cable and the halyards had all been disposed of, as directed, and Ben had made a very nice coil of the spare part of the main-sheet on the floor of the standing-room. The crew were surprised to see with how little fuss the boat had got under way. Dory knew how, and every thing seemed to work to a charm for that reason.
"Now what tack are we on?" asked the skipper.
"On the starboard-tack," replied all of them in one breath, for they had profited by the instructions of Thad in the morning.