"Yes, sir. I can't make it out. It goes over freely three spokes, and yet when it's coming back, it grates between two and three."
The chief mate spun the wheel backward and forward once more, and then looked up quickly. It was impossible to see the expression of his face; but evidently he had made up his mind as to what was wrong with the steering apparatus of the yacht Seabird.
He said:
"The carpenter is in your watch, Mr. Starclay?"
"Yes, sir."
"Ask him to step aft."
When the carpenter had come, the first mate said:
"Mr. Carpenter, yesterday two spokes or three spokes of the wheel picked up the slack of the rudder-chain when the wheel was hard over in smooth water, now it takes six spokes to pick up the slack. Try the wheel and tell us what you think of it."
The carpenter caught the spokes and put them over, and put them back again.
"At halfway back I feel something," said the carpenter. "That is bad. It's not the chains, it's not the wheel, it's not the tackles----"