"Exactly; so he does. After he has found the throat, he must box the compass, lay the parallel ruler on the deck, count the anchor three times to make sure of the number, swing six, and cast out nine, and then go to the other side of the mast to look for the peak-halyards; but I will bet half a pint of Champlain water against a hogshead of New-Orleans molasses that he won't find them." But the two hands designated had found the peak-halyards on the starboard side of the mast. The sail was set, the bow shoved off, and the boat began to gather headway. The jib was set; and, as the wind was still very fresh, the Goldwing heeled over, and darted ahead at a flying rate. Thad took the helm himself; for Dory had put in a horizontal wheel, and not one of the class was competent to steer her. "Now, how many of you fellows know all the ropes in a sloop?" asked the young instructor, as the boat headed towards the outlet of the little lake. "There are not a great many things to learn about such a craft as this, but a fellow has got to know them all over." "I know them all," added Archie. "Just as you knew where to look for the throat-halyards," laughed the skipper. Thad took a picture of a sloop from his pocket. CHAPTER XVI. ON BOARD OF THE LA MOTTE. Perhaps the principal reason why Dory Dornwood and the instructor in mechanics had obtained so easy a victory over the two members of the Nautifelers Club who remained on board of the La Motte, was that both of them were soaked with beer. They were not intoxicated in the worst sense of the word: they were "boozy" and stupid. They had been left on board while the other three had gone on shore to "do the job" at the school, and, no doubt, the time in the furious storm hung heavy on their hands. They had imbibed from the keg until they were deprived of whatever natural energy belonged to them, and they did not seem to have either the pluck or the ability to do any thing for themselves. A stronger intoxicant might have made them wild and desperate: the beer simply stupefied them. "We have got the vessel," said the machinist, with a cheerful smile, as he held on to the robber whom he had just secured. "No doubt of that," added Dory, as he rose from the deck where he had been attending to his prisoner. "These fellows don't seem to be very desperate characters." "I expected a far worse time than we have had," added Mr. Jepson. "What is the next move? Shall we take them to the school in the vessel?" "Not yet a while," replied Dory, glancing towards the shore where the two had landed on the rafts. "We have another job on our hands; but I think we had better put these fellows where they will not be in our way."