"Tell him, Ash Burton." "A vessel is close-hauled when she is sailing as nearly as she can to windward, as when she is beating," answered Ash. "Precisely so; and a vessel is sailing on a bowline when she is as close to the wind as she can get. On a taut bowline is the same thing." "Is it proper to use that expression about a boat, the Goldwing or the Lily?" asked Bark. "It might pass if you wished to be extra salt, though it is hardly applicable. In fact, bowlines are but little used nowadays." "What is scudding under bare poles?" asked Sam Spottwood. "It is a literal expression, and means sailing without any sail set. In a heavy gale, a very heavy one, when a ship can carry no sail, she sometimes scuds before the wind." "What is wearing?" inquired Archie Pinkler. "Do you know what tacking means?" "Yes, sir: it is changing from one tack to another." "To the other, for there are only two tacks in this sense. But which way do you come about?" "Stick her head right up into the wind," answered Archie, using an expression he had learned that morning. "Right, my boy: you are quite a sailor. Sometimes the head of the vessel will not come about: it may be on account of a current, or a want of head-sail. In that case, she has to wear around the other way, with the wind, instead of against it. Box-hauling, in a square-rigged vessel, is wearing by backing the head-sails, those on the foremast." The students continued to ask questions of this kind till the clock struck two, and then they were dismissed to sail the boats. CHAPTER XXVIII. STATIONS FOR GETTING UNDER WAY. "My occupation is gone, like Othello's," said Thad Glovering, when the students assembled on the wharf after the lecture. "Dory can teach his own flock now." "But I have another class for you," interposed the principal, who happened to hear the remark. "The remnant of the Nautifelers Club have decided to have their excursion on the lake, and they will remain in the vicinity of the school. They don't know how to handle a schooner, and you may make sailors of them, Glovering. You may take two of the students with you, or three." "Corny Minkfield, Nat Long, and Dick Short, if you please," suggested Thad. The principal assented, and the party went on board of the La Motte. The schooner was put in order, and Dory suggested that her first trip be made to obtain the hatches which had been left on the beach at Camp-Meeting Point. The new skipper set his crew at work; and, as the wind had moderated to a lively breeze, she went off under a whole mainsail and jib. The class of unskilled boatmen, as they all were except Ash Burton, were on board of the Goldwing. Dory shoved off the sloop; and when she had drifted some distance from the wharf, he let go the anchor. "What in the world is that for, Dory? I thought we were going out on the lake to take a lesson in sailing," said Ben Sinker.