Part 12 (1/2)

”I know you can't. If you don't want to larn, say so, and I'll make the boat fast to the stake again,” added the old boatman sharply, as though he meant what he said.

”We do! We do!” protested the boys with one voice.

”Then be quiet, and keep your ear-ports wide open. The boy next to the bow is the bowman. The stroke oarsman is the one farthest aft, or nearest the starn. Each on 'em has a boat-hook. Now take 'em, and shove her off.”

The two boys obeyed, and placing the point of the boat-hooks against the rock, shoved off with all their might; and the Zephyr receded from the sh.o.r.e till the wind took her, and drove her out under the lee of Centre Island. Here he directed Tony to throw the grapnel, a small anchor with four flukes, overboard, as much to a.s.sure the impatient oarsmen that there was to be no rowing at present, as to hold the boat where she was.

”Now, boys, I want you to larn somethin', so as to know where you are.

Some on you better write it down; and don't forgit it.”

Several of them took paper and pencils from their pockets, and were ready to write down what was said.

”The for'd part of the boat is the bow; also the fore-sheets,”

continued the old sailor. ”The after part, where the c.o.xswain sets, is the starn-sheets. The middle of the boat is the waist. Enough of that for now. Do you know what an oar is?”

”Of course we do, Uncle Ben!” shouted the crew.

”An oar has three parts,” said the instructor.

”It is all in one piece,” added one of the boys.

”So is your head all in one piece; but haven't you got any nose, ears, and chin. An oar has three parts,--the blade, the loom, and the handle.

The blade is the part you put in the water. The handle is the part you take hold of. The loom is the round part between the blade and the handle. Can you remember that if you haven't writ it down?”

”We know all that like a book,” replied Fred Harper.

”This is a carvel-built boat; that is, her planking runs fore and aft,”

Uncle Ben explained, using gestures to indicate the direction.

”Planking may mean boards or thinner stuff. The planks are jointed at the edges so as to fit close, and the s.p.a.ces between are stuffed with oak.u.m, which is called calking. A clinker-built boat is put together in the same way, but one plank laps over another; and we generally call this kind of boat a lap-streak. Now, youngsters, we are going to take the oars--not yet, till you know how to do it. The first command of the c.o.xswain will be 'Up oars!' They lay now across the thwarts.”

”Across what?” asked one of them.

”The thwarts: lubbers call them the seats,” replied the old seaman, laughing. ”You set backwards when you row, all facing the c.o.xswain.

Them as is on the starboard side has the oars on their left. Those on the port has 'em on their right, just where you will put them when you boat your oars after you have done using them. Now, Frank, you will give the first command; but not one of you will obey it, for you don't know how.”

”Up oars!” said the c.o.xswain in a commanding tone.

”At this order, you will pick up your oars, and hold them up straight, with the blades athwarts.h.i.+ps, or across the boat,” the instructor explained. ”If the boat were at a landing, or alongside another boat, the two bowmen and the two stroke oarsmen would not do as the others do; for it would be their duty to shove off, and get the boat under way. Now you may try it; but don't hurry. Give the order again, Frank.

Stand up this time, so that you can see the whole length of the boat.”

The c.o.xswain rose from his seat; and having no little natural dignity, he did it very gracefully, and was not at all flurried.

”Up oars!” said he very slowly, pausing between the words.

All hands made a dive, as it were, at the oars, and stood them up as required. But they hit each other in the back, rapped others on the head, elevated the oars so that there was neither order nor symmetry in the movement, and they were straggling as many different ways as there were boys.

”Avast there! That won't do at all!” shouted Uncle Ben. ”You are all snarled up, and we must have it done s.h.i.+pshape.”