"As you are a part of the party, it seems to me that the schooner belongs to you for the time it was engaged; and there is nothing to prevent you from making the excursion around the lake, and remaining upon it as long as you please," suggested the captain. "There is only one thing in the way of doing that: we have no skipper, and we are not competent to handle the vessel. Angy was the only one of us who knew how to handle a schooner, though Mack and Chuck knew something about the business," replied Ripples. "If you will remain in the vicinity of Beaver River, I will furnish a person to instruct you in managing the vessel. You are welcome to remain as long as you please at the school," added the principal. Ripples and his companions thanked the captain for this privilege, and manifested a good deal of interest in the affairs of Beech Hill. By this time the students had gathered in the schoolroom to attend to the lecture which had been suspended, and the guests of the institution were invited to be present. "I have fully explained to you all that it is possible to have you comprehend in regard to a ship, or any square-rigged vessel, without actual practice," the principal began, as he took his place on the platform. "As I said this morning, I prefer to tell you what you want to know." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, at least a dozen hands were raised; and it was plain that the students were primed with questions in regard to nautical matters, and wanted their information from competent authority. "What is sailing on a bowline? I found it in a book the other day," asked Bark Duxbury, when the principal nodded to him. "You pronounce it as though it were two words. Say bo-lin," replied the principal, as he went to the blackboard, and drew one side of a topsail, showing the leech. "The main to' bowline is what I want to know about," added Bark. "You have been trying to put yourself into the pickle," added the principal with a smile, as he noticed the manner in which he clipped out the p. "This is the leech of the main-topsail, we will suppose, though it will answer just as well for any other sail. These are the bridles," he added, as he drew three lines of unequal length from the leech at the lower part. Then starting a line from above the upper one, he carried it so as to touch the outer end of each of the short ones, and continued it in a curve for some distance from the leech. "The long line is the bowline, and the short ones are the bridles. The bowline leads to the foremast, and through a block down to the deck. All the square-sails may be provided with bowlines, which lead forward, either to a mast or to a stay. They are used only on the windward-side of the ship." "What are they for, sir?" "They are used only when the ship is close-hauled; and by them the leech of the sail is hauled forward so as to catch all the wind there is," replied the principal. "I don't know about close-hauled," said Rag Spinner.