Adventure stories; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Sailing -- Juvenile fiction; Ship captains -- Juvenile fiction
The skipper of the Goldwing had an excellent appetite, and the other
members of the club had regained theirs by this time.
Fortunately they had plenty of provisions, for there was nothing for
them to do but eat during the rest of the day. It continued to blow as
fresh as it had since the middle of the forenoon till dark.
Dory thought it would abate at night, but there were no signs of a
change. The party were pretty thoroughly tired out after the labor and
the excitement of the day. The boys gaped until they had nearly thrown
their jaws out of joint.
There was room enough in the cabin for four of the club,--two in the
berths, and two on the floor between them. Dory decided to sleep in the
standing-room, where he was most likely to be waked by any change in the
position of the schooner. By eight o'clock all hands were fast asleep.
Half of them had nothing better than "the soft side of a board" to sleep
on, but they were too tired to need beds of down.
The skipper was the most wakeful sleeper in the party, but he slept for
several hours without waking. When he did wake, he sprang to his feet as
if conscious that he had neglected his duty as a faithful skipper. He
had no idea of what time it was when he sprang to his feet. All was
still around him, and the Goldwing appeared to be in precisely the
position he had left her when he turned in.
He could no longer hear the roar of the big waves as they dashed against
the south side of the island. The violent wind had subsided, and the
lake seemed to be as calm as the dream of an infant.
He looked all about him in the darkness, but there was nothing to demand
his attention. His companions were all sleeping, and some of them were
snoring, on their hard beds. Dory began to gape when there proved to be
no grounds for excitement. He concluded that he could not do any better
than finish his night's rest. Taking the most comfortable position he
could find in the standing-room, he turned in again, and was soon fast
asleep.
When he woke in the morning, it was after sunrise. The rest of the club
were still fast asleep. The skipper felt like a new man after his long
rest. A gentle breeze was rippling the surface of the lake. It came from
the westward, and the promise was that the day would be fine. Without
calling his companions, he loosed the sails, and turned out the reefs
from the fore and main sails. He laced on the bonnet of the jib, and
shipped the short tiller, instead of the long one he had used the day
before.
So far he had not seen how the sails set when all spread, and he was
interested in his present operation. He hoisted the mainsail. It was not
so large but that he could handle the throat and peak halyards at the
same time. He was entirely satisfied with the set of this sail. The set
of the foresail pleased him equally well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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