Thad did not give Dory credit for all the enterprise he was manifesting in the capture of the robbers, though he certainly would not have helped matters if he had approached the La Motte. Some of the boys grumbled about the delay, but Thad did not abandon his plan. "What is the principal sail in a sloop?" he asked. "The mainsail," replied Archie, who was very sure this time. "This sail, as you may see in the picture or the real thing before you, is irregular in its shape," continued the skipper. "I wish the real thing wouldn't bang about so," added Ash. "Give a pull on the main-sheet," added Thad; and it was done. "The real thing won't trouble you now any more than the pictured one. It is supported at the top by the gaff, by the mast at the inner side, and stretched out at the bottom by the boom. On the mast are hoops, which slide up and down when the sail is hoisted or lowered." "I thought they were called hanks," said Ash. "Hoops is the correct word; but the rings, whether of wood or any other material, by which a sail, a jib, or a staysail, slides on the stay, are called hanks. There are six parts of this sail which you ought to learn by heart, and know as quick as you know the sleeve of your coat from the collar of it. If you are told by the skipper to take hold of the leech, you ought to know what it is." "I should say a fellow couldn't do any thing with it till he knew where to find it," added Ash Burton, laughing. "In the first place, there are the head and the foot," continued Thad. "You know what they are, but you must know that they are called by these names. To what is the head of the sail attached?" "To the gaff: I mean the main-gaff," replied Archie. "Right both times. To what is the foot of the sail fastened?" "To the boom," answered Con Bunker. "And the wood or iron by which it is fastened, or seized, is called the jackstay. The up-and-down edges of the sail are called leeches." "Do they bite? How do you spell that word?" asked Hop. "They don't bite unless you miscall them. As to the spelling, you pay your money, and take your choice, for it is spelled both ways. They are the inner and the outer leeches. The inner leech, where the hoops are attached, is the luff. The four corners of the sail are called the clews, though some call only the outer lower corner by this name. The upper outer corner is the peak. The lower inner corner is the tack." The skipper, after the manner of the principal, then examined the crew on the subjects just explained till he had made them proficient. He required them to point out the parts on "the real thing" before them. "Now we will see what the jib (2) is made of. The names used vary somewhat. The part of the sail to which the hanks are fastened is the luff, or inner leech." "Inner?" queried Ash, almost sure he was wrong.