"Sensible you are, Hop. They are shrouds, and the number of them differs with the size of the vessel. But they are not often called shrouds in small boats as in larger craft. Boatmen call them stays, though the word is rather confusing sometimes. You observe that the shrouds, or stays, in the drawing are both set up abaft the mast." "I saw a fellow in Genverres yesterday who was set up," said Con Bunker. "He did it with whiskey." "He was tight; and that is just what rigging is when it is set up, though we don't do it with liquor. Suppose we should rig a purchase on the shrouds of the sloop in the cut, and continue to tighten them as long as we could, what would be the effect on the mast?" "It would bend the mast towards the stern," replied Ash promptly. "Then the shrouds would support it from that direction," added Thad. "If no other rigging were used, it would be likely to bend it towards the stern. Look at _g g_ on the diagram; and what do you call it?" "The jibstay, on which the jib is set," answered Ben Sinker. "Never mind the jib now. The name is right. Suppose we rig a purchase, and tighten the jibstay: what will be the effect?" "If we haul it taut enough, it will straighten up the mast," replied Ash. "Therefore it will support the mast from the bow of the boat." "And all of you will see that it would be impossible to take the mast out of her in a blow unless something broke," added the skipper. "But tightening the jibstay would hoist the bowsprit," suggested Syl Peckman. "That is just where I was leading you, my hearty. Now, look at _f_, if you please; and what do you call it?" "The bobstay," replied Ash, who had sailed a boat a little at Westport before he entered the school. "Correct. Haul the bobstay as taut as you can, and it will keep the bowsprit from hoisting. The stem of the craft is the upright timber, placed farthest forward, and forming a continuation of the keel. The iron eye to which the lower end of the bobstay is made fast, is bolted into the stem in the strongest manner. Now you can see how both the mast and the bowsprit are held in their place, and how each is made to support the other. The topmast is, or may be, supported in precisely the same way. One or more ropes leading down to the side of the boat from the topmast would be called the backstays, as in a ship. There are none in the picture. When they are needed, with a balloon-jib, they are sometimes carried to the quarter; but these are temporary. In a small boat, backstays are not needed, for the topmast is stiff enough without them. Look at _k_; and what is it?" "The main-topmast-stay," said Ash.