“I suppose we can take dinner at the wharf as well as anywhere else,” replied Dory.
“We shall not go up to the wharf; but we will keep the boat going till after dinner,” added the captain. “What is your course, second pilot?”
“I am steering for that lighthouse ahead,” replied Oscar.
“All right; but you may go to the eastward of it.”
“What shall I steer for, sir?” inquired the second pilot.
“I don’t know of any object near enough to guide you; but you can steer by compass, and make the course north by east,” added the principal in a matter-of-fact way.
“I never steered by compass, sir, and I don’t know how,” said Oscar.
“That is one of the things a pilot ought to learn very early in his course. There is a compass in front of you on the shelf.”
“I have seen it, but Bates told me to steer for that lighthouse.”
“You did quite right. That is Cumberland Head light. You are steering just north by the compass, but there is a variation of the needle of about eleven and a half degrees. Now, port the helm until the point ‘N. by E.’ comes to the mark on the front of the case. Steer small,” continued Captain Gildrock, placing himself by the side of the second pilot.