Besides the two four-oar quarter-boats belonging to the Sylph, there were four other rowboats, two pulling four oars, and two pulling two oars, each. When the boys went on board of the steam-yacht, they noticed that all the rowboats were made fast to her stern. It was evident that the present excursion was for the purpose of drilling the boys in rowing and handling boats.
Captain Gildrock had been away all the afternoon, and returned only in time to join the school in the steamer. Bates had got up steam, for he
had learned to be a man-of-all-work, from hoeing corn, up to steering a steamer. Dory was sent to the pilot-house, but no one heard the instructions given him. Oscar went with him; but, if Dory knew the programme, he did not speak of it.
The ship’s company all went to their stations, though there was nothing for the cooks and stewards to do. Oscar steered until the steamer was near Thompson’s Point, opposite Split Rock, when Dory took the wheel. The captain had instructed Thad Glovering, the first officer, to get the anchor ready. Dory ran the steamer into a bay next to the point; and, when she was within a quarter of a mile of the shore, he rang to stop her.
“Back her, Dory,” said the captain, who did not wish to go too near the shore. “That will do: let go the anchor.”
“Now, my lads, we are going to learn to handle boats before we sail any more,” said Captain Gildrock. “It is often as important to be able to handle a boat properly, as it is to be able to sail the ship. We are rather short of instructors in the art of rowing, but we shall do as well as we can. I will take the port quarter-boat, and Dory will go in the starboard.”
“The Goldwing Club know how to row,” suggested Dory. “They can do all that I can, though that isn’t much.”
The captain admitted that they could row very well, for he had seen them do it; and he appointed the other four members of the club as coxswains of the remaining boats. In a few minutes they had all embarked, and, as directed, had assembled around the port quarter-boat, from which Captain Gildrock told them all that could be told in regard to the art of rowing.
“You will obey the orders of the coxswains without grumbling, or asking any questions,” continued the captain, when he had given the pupils the names of the different parts of an oar, and shown them how to use it. He was in favor of a man-of-war stroke, especially for beginners; for it was slow and measured.
The Goldwing Club had practised it a great deal, for the skipper had learned it of his father. The boats separated, and each coxswain proceeded to tell what he knew about rowing “man-of-war fashion.” Many of the boys were disposed to indulge in a little skylarking, and some of them were not inclined to obey the orders of the several