“Aye, aye,” responded the mate; and the Sea-Lark’s nose went straight up into the wind. The boom swung across the deck, mains’l and jib flapping in the breeze.
“Stick to it. You’re all right,” cried Tony, pleased with the skill his apprentices were displaying. “She’ll make it if you give her time.”
Farther the sloop came as the wind got to the other side of her sails. Quickly she swung about, and then headed straight as an arrow, on the port tack.
“Now, listen here, boys,” said Tony. “The time may come when you’ll be compelled to jibe her in an emergency, to avoid a collision. But I want you to promise that you’ll never do so unless you’re compelled to, because though it’s all right to do it now, with no wind to speak of, and me aboard to see that nothing happens, jibing is no sort of game for two boys to play at in a sloop of this size. While I’m here, though, I’d like to see you make a shot at it. When you’re ready, Cap’n.”
Jack, who was on the port tack, having got there from the starboard tack by the simple and usual course of heading into the wind and allowing the boat to swing over, now wanted to run before the wind and while doing so alter his course so that the boom swung over from the starboard to the port side.
He glanced along the surface of the water to the westward, to see there was no strong puff of wind coming.
Taking advantage of a temporary lull in the breeze, the sloop swung round harmlessly.
“Ease off your main sheet!” the skipper ordered. Away ran the boom as a fresh puff filled the sail; and the Sea-Lark was already winging its way before the wind.
“That’s all right,” Tony approved. “You’ve got the hang of it. But remember what I say; that’s a dangerous manœuver if there’s much of a breeze.”
For another hour or two the boat-builder continued to coach the boys in the art of sailing; and then, as they ran toward the town, he declared that they were not likely to come to much harm if they promised never to go outside the breakwater until he was able to “certify” them as sufficiently skilled, never to make the sheet fast with anything but a hitch which could quickly be cast off in case of a sudden squall sweeping down, and never to sail without a reef taken in when the whitecaps were making.