"Let her come; but, if we are to give any attention to sailing, it is time for us to make a beginning. You may take the wheel, Ash," said Thad, rising in his place to give him the seat on the weather-side of the helm. "But I never steered a boat with that kind of a wheel," Ash objected. "Then, it is time you learned about it," added the skipper, resuming his seat to explain the wheel. "You can all learn about it at the same time, for each of you will have his trick at the wheel before we return." "That's the talk! I want to steer," added Archie. "Then, you must mind what we are doing, and not give all your head to the schooner and the Sylph; and, if there is any thing to see, I will run up to the centre of the attraction." "We don't have a circus with a lot of robbers every day in the week; and, if there is any fun, a fellow wants to see it," added Con Bunker. "If there is any fun, you shall see it, though I am not to meddle with that schooner. Now for the steering-gear. The best way to learn about it is to see how it is constructed," continued the skipper, as the Goldwing passed from under the lee of the bank of the river, and began to be exposed to the full force of the weather. The sun had come out of the clouds, but the wind still blew strong from the south-west. The sloop had two reefs in her mainsail, which was the only sail she carried; but she had the wind free, and she did very well under this short canvas. The waves were piling themselves up on the point, and it still looked stormy in that direction; though the commotion was trifling in comparison with what it had been two or three hours before. "Ugh!" yelled Archie, who was seated on the forward deck, with his legs hanging over into the standing-room, as a wave broke against the bow, and drenched him with spray. "It is damp here." "Come aft, then: of course it will be wet in the forward part of the boat. Four of you on the weather-side, and two on the lee," added the skipper. "That will trim her about right for this sea." "I suppose the weather-side is the side from which the wind comes," said Archie, as he took his seat on that side of the boat. "You are quite right, Archie; and a sailor who had been at sea fifty years could not have hit it any better. If you remember that, it is not necessary to recollect that the lee-side is that from which the wind does not come. Weather and lee are important terms in a boat; and in sailing, we use them instead of starboard and port." "Let me see: starboard is the right-hand side, isn't it, Thad?" asked Archie. "That depends. But, Archie, you are green enough on nautical matters; now don't pretend to be any more so than you really are," said Thad, rather sharply. "But I do get mixed on these things; and now you say it depends," pleaded Archie. "It depends upon which way you are looking. With your face to the bow, starboard is on the right." "Then, port is"--