[Top]CHAPTERXII.CAPTAIN GILDROCK’S FIRST LESSON IN NAVIGATION.Mr. Brookbine secured the door of the ice-house, and put the key into his pocket. The interior was ventilated for the benefit of the provisions that were kept on the ice when the steamer was on a long cruise, but there was no window or other opening which would admit a particle of light.“What’s the trouble, Mr. Brookbine?” asked Jepson the engineer, who was the master-machinist and an instructor of the school.“That is the most desperate young cub I ever happened to encounter,” replied the carpenter, as he proceeded to relate what had happened in the Goldwing and on board of the steamer.“Captain Gildrock will bring him to his senses,” added the engineer, laughing; for he believed the captain could do any thing that was within the scope of mortal man.“I am ready to have him begin where I leave off; but there won’t be much left of the young rascal when I get through with him if I have to deal with him,” replied the carpenter.“We are likely to have a sweet time with these young fellows if many of them are like that one,” added Mr. Jepson. “He wants to get even with Dory, does he? I reckon Dory will be willing to give him a chance, though I never knew of the skipper’s getting into a fight on his own account.”Dory had already become a great favorite at Beech Hill. He was a smart boy, but he was not perfect by any means. He had a great deal to learn, but he was willing to learn it. The instructors in the scholastic department had not yet arrived, but the mechanical directors were already his fast friends. Even the servants, of whom there was a small army on the estate, always smiled when he went among them; for he was invariably kind and obliging to them, and willing to assist them by all the means in his power. Besides, he was regarded as the heir of the magnate of Beech Hill; and it was prudent to “keep on the right side of him.”Of course the nine other boys who had arrivedthat day all talked about the exciting events which had transpired since they left Burlington in the forenoon. Still, no one belonging to the steamer heard them say any thing. They made no comments on the conduct of Oscar: possibly they were afraid they might be reported to him. But they had learned to feel a great admiration for Dory; first, because he was not afraid of the rebel, and, second, because he could handle a sailboat and manage a steamer.It was about dark when the Sylph arrived at the landing in Burlington. Captain Gildrock was on the wharf, waiting her coming. As soon as he went on board, Mr. Brookbine reported the case of discipline to him, and informed him that the prisoner was confined in the ice-house.“All right: let him stay there,” replied the captain, when he had listened to the account of the doings of the new scholar. “Then Dory has had a hard time of it. I was afraid he might have some difficulty.”“No fear for Dory,” replied the carpenter, laughing. “He can take care of himself. He fought his own battle in the Goldwing, and won the day every time.”“I knew that Chester was the worst fellow in the party, but I did not expect him to break out so soon. I am glad to hear that the others have behaved well,” said Captain Gildrock, as he walked forward where the boys were assembled. “How are you getting on, boys?”“First-rate, sir,” replied several of them in the same breath.“I am glad to hear it; and none of us will have any trouble as long as we mean well. What you mean is more than half the battle in morals. I did not expect you so soon, and I am afraid Dory has not looked out for your stomachs.”“Yes, he has, sir,” said Ben Ludlow. “He had a basket of provisions on the boat, and we fed out of that.”This was the lunch he had taken the night before, and it had served over a dozen instead of two. But the boys had been so much excited by the novel event of a sail in a fresh breeze that they were not in condition to do justice to the rations.When the captain learned that the scholars had eaten only the supply of food intended for two, he took the whole party to the hotel to supper.After Captain Gildrock and Dory returned, the engineer and carpenter went. The latter suggested that the prisoner in the ice-house had been forgotten.“I shall not forget him, but he may go without his supper to-night. A little fasting will do him good. His father and mother are both dead, and his uncle is one of the richest men in the State. He told me that nothing but the sharpest discipline would do him any good. He will run away as soon as he gets a chance; and this must be prevented,” replied the captain.Jepson and Brookbine returned in less than half an hour. The captain had quite a chat with the boys while they were waiting. He told them something about his plans, and was so kind and familiar with them that they began to like him.“I am told that some of you have been wild boys, and have been turned out of school,” said he. “Except in one instance, I don’t know who they are. I prevented your parents and others from telling me any thing about your misconduct. You are all alike to me so far, and every boy has his own reputation to make.“You will not be judged at all by the past, butby what you do in the future. I want you to remember this, boys. All of you will have to work in the shops, and wherever there is any thing to do. You will have to learn your book-lessons as well as how to work in wood and metal. But there will be lots of fun as well as hard work. In a few days we shall man this steamer, and every one of you will have a station on board of her.”“Hurrah!” shouted one of the new pupils in his enthusiasm; and the cheer was taken up by the entire party.“Before winter I hope some of you will be as competent to handle a sailboat or a steamer as Dory is. But bear in mind that it is not all play. I am going to make useful men of you, and I hope you will second all my endeavors.”The arrival of the carpenter and engineer interrupted the conversation, and in a few minutes more the Sylph was standing up the lake. It was dark now; and the boys gathered around Captain Gildrock again, for he could not talk without interesting them.“Who is steering this steamer now, Captain Gildrock?” asked Jim Alburgh.“Dory is steering her,” replied the captain.“But it is dark: how can he find his way back to Beech Hill?”“Did you suppose that ships that cross the ocean, being out of sight of land for weeks at a time, stopped in the night?” asked the captain.“I didn’t think any thing at all about it,” replied Jim. “I don’t know any thing about it. It is as dark as a pocket, and I should not think Dory could see the land on either side of the lake.”“He has no need to see it. Do you see that lighthouse on the island?” asked the captain, pointing at Juniper Island.“But that does not give light enough to enable the pilot to see the shore on either side,” replied Jim.“That is not what a lighthouse is for. The light it gives don’t amount to any thing half a mile from it. The light only marks certain localities. Now look up the lake all of you,” continued Captain Gildrock, pointing in the direction of Split-Rock light. “Do you see that light?”“Yes, sir!” shouted Lick Milton. His name was T. Licking Milton, but he had a nickname.The rest of the boys soon made out the light, and some of them shouted as loudly as the first speaker.“Juniper Island light is on our right now. Dory will run on till the steamer is in range with this light and Split Rock, which is twelve miles and a half from here. Then he will head for the Split-Rock light, keeping Juniper exactly astern of him,” continued the captain.“Why don’t he run for Split Rock now?” asked Ben Ludlow.“He would run upon Quaker-Smith’s Reef, about four miles from here, if he did. Now, my boy, can you walk straight from where you stand to the flag-pole at the stem of the steamer?”“No, sir, I cannot. That thing is in the way,” replied Ben, after he had looked the matter over.“Precisely so: the capstan is in your way. Now go over to the side of the steamer.” Ben obeyed, and the boys watched the demonstration with interest. “Can you walk straight to the stem of the boat now?”“Yes, sir, I can. There is nothing in my way.”“Then, if you keep in range with the port gangway and the stem, there will be nothing in your way, will there?”“Nothing, sir.”“That is exactly the principle on which wepilot a steamer or any other vessel. But sometimes the matter is much more complicated, and we have to take a dozen different ranges in going a dozen miles. Pilots learn all these ranges, and get their bearings from various objects on the shore. You can see the capstan; but we cannot see the obstructions in our way in sailing a vessel, for they are under water. They are all laid down on the chart, and we can learn our courses from that.”“But isn’t there any thing on that reef to let you know where it is?” asked Dave Windsor.“There is nothing on Quaker-Smith’s Reef, for it is out of the usual track of vessels. It is about a mile from the eastern shore of the lake. When the water is as low as it is now, this steamer would get aground on it. But at the entrance to harbors they put buoys, and also on rocks and shoal places in or near the usual track of vessels.”“What sort of things are buoys?” asked Bob Swanton.“Generally they are logs of wood, anchored to the bottom. These are called spar-buoys. Others are made of metal, hollow, and shaped like a couple of frustrums of cones joined at the big end.These are can-buoys. There are other kinds, but you won’t find them in this lake.”“Spar and can buoys. We can remember them,” added John Brattle.“The spars are all painted red, black, or striped. When going into a harbor, red buoys must be left on the starboard hand; that is, on your right. Black buoys must be left on the port, or left, hand. When you see a buoy painted with black and red stripes, it is a danger buoy; and you may go on either side of it. When you see one painted up and down with black and white stripes, you must go close to it. Sometimes the buoys are numbered: then the even numbers are on the red buoys, and the odd ones on the black buoys. But you must learn all these things by seeing them.”“What are the colored lights on the sides of this steamer for?” asked Bob Swanton.“The red light is on the port side, and the green on the starboard. They are to show any vessel approaching us which way we are going,” replied the captain. “But I can explain this better when we see the lights of another vessel.”All hands were on the lookout for another vessel at once.
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Mr. Brookbine secured the door of the ice-house, and put the key into his pocket. The interior was ventilated for the benefit of the provisions that were kept on the ice when the steamer was on a long cruise, but there was no window or other opening which would admit a particle of light.
“What’s the trouble, Mr. Brookbine?” asked Jepson the engineer, who was the master-machinist and an instructor of the school.
“That is the most desperate young cub I ever happened to encounter,” replied the carpenter, as he proceeded to relate what had happened in the Goldwing and on board of the steamer.
“Captain Gildrock will bring him to his senses,” added the engineer, laughing; for he believed the captain could do any thing that was within the scope of mortal man.
“I am ready to have him begin where I leave off; but there won’t be much left of the young rascal when I get through with him if I have to deal with him,” replied the carpenter.
“We are likely to have a sweet time with these young fellows if many of them are like that one,” added Mr. Jepson. “He wants to get even with Dory, does he? I reckon Dory will be willing to give him a chance, though I never knew of the skipper’s getting into a fight on his own account.”
Dory had already become a great favorite at Beech Hill. He was a smart boy, but he was not perfect by any means. He had a great deal to learn, but he was willing to learn it. The instructors in the scholastic department had not yet arrived, but the mechanical directors were already his fast friends. Even the servants, of whom there was a small army on the estate, always smiled when he went among them; for he was invariably kind and obliging to them, and willing to assist them by all the means in his power. Besides, he was regarded as the heir of the magnate of Beech Hill; and it was prudent to “keep on the right side of him.”
Of course the nine other boys who had arrivedthat day all talked about the exciting events which had transpired since they left Burlington in the forenoon. Still, no one belonging to the steamer heard them say any thing. They made no comments on the conduct of Oscar: possibly they were afraid they might be reported to him. But they had learned to feel a great admiration for Dory; first, because he was not afraid of the rebel, and, second, because he could handle a sailboat and manage a steamer.
It was about dark when the Sylph arrived at the landing in Burlington. Captain Gildrock was on the wharf, waiting her coming. As soon as he went on board, Mr. Brookbine reported the case of discipline to him, and informed him that the prisoner was confined in the ice-house.
“All right: let him stay there,” replied the captain, when he had listened to the account of the doings of the new scholar. “Then Dory has had a hard time of it. I was afraid he might have some difficulty.”
“No fear for Dory,” replied the carpenter, laughing. “He can take care of himself. He fought his own battle in the Goldwing, and won the day every time.”
“I knew that Chester was the worst fellow in the party, but I did not expect him to break out so soon. I am glad to hear that the others have behaved well,” said Captain Gildrock, as he walked forward where the boys were assembled. “How are you getting on, boys?”
“First-rate, sir,” replied several of them in the same breath.
“I am glad to hear it; and none of us will have any trouble as long as we mean well. What you mean is more than half the battle in morals. I did not expect you so soon, and I am afraid Dory has not looked out for your stomachs.”
“Yes, he has, sir,” said Ben Ludlow. “He had a basket of provisions on the boat, and we fed out of that.”
This was the lunch he had taken the night before, and it had served over a dozen instead of two. But the boys had been so much excited by the novel event of a sail in a fresh breeze that they were not in condition to do justice to the rations.
When the captain learned that the scholars had eaten only the supply of food intended for two, he took the whole party to the hotel to supper.After Captain Gildrock and Dory returned, the engineer and carpenter went. The latter suggested that the prisoner in the ice-house had been forgotten.
“I shall not forget him, but he may go without his supper to-night. A little fasting will do him good. His father and mother are both dead, and his uncle is one of the richest men in the State. He told me that nothing but the sharpest discipline would do him any good. He will run away as soon as he gets a chance; and this must be prevented,” replied the captain.
Jepson and Brookbine returned in less than half an hour. The captain had quite a chat with the boys while they were waiting. He told them something about his plans, and was so kind and familiar with them that they began to like him.
“I am told that some of you have been wild boys, and have been turned out of school,” said he. “Except in one instance, I don’t know who they are. I prevented your parents and others from telling me any thing about your misconduct. You are all alike to me so far, and every boy has his own reputation to make.
“You will not be judged at all by the past, butby what you do in the future. I want you to remember this, boys. All of you will have to work in the shops, and wherever there is any thing to do. You will have to learn your book-lessons as well as how to work in wood and metal. But there will be lots of fun as well as hard work. In a few days we shall man this steamer, and every one of you will have a station on board of her.”
“Hurrah!” shouted one of the new pupils in his enthusiasm; and the cheer was taken up by the entire party.
“Before winter I hope some of you will be as competent to handle a sailboat or a steamer as Dory is. But bear in mind that it is not all play. I am going to make useful men of you, and I hope you will second all my endeavors.”
The arrival of the carpenter and engineer interrupted the conversation, and in a few minutes more the Sylph was standing up the lake. It was dark now; and the boys gathered around Captain Gildrock again, for he could not talk without interesting them.
“Who is steering this steamer now, Captain Gildrock?” asked Jim Alburgh.
“Dory is steering her,” replied the captain.
“But it is dark: how can he find his way back to Beech Hill?”
“Did you suppose that ships that cross the ocean, being out of sight of land for weeks at a time, stopped in the night?” asked the captain.
“I didn’t think any thing at all about it,” replied Jim. “I don’t know any thing about it. It is as dark as a pocket, and I should not think Dory could see the land on either side of the lake.”
“He has no need to see it. Do you see that lighthouse on the island?” asked the captain, pointing at Juniper Island.
“But that does not give light enough to enable the pilot to see the shore on either side,” replied Jim.
“That is not what a lighthouse is for. The light it gives don’t amount to any thing half a mile from it. The light only marks certain localities. Now look up the lake all of you,” continued Captain Gildrock, pointing in the direction of Split-Rock light. “Do you see that light?”
“Yes, sir!” shouted Lick Milton. His name was T. Licking Milton, but he had a nickname.
The rest of the boys soon made out the light, and some of them shouted as loudly as the first speaker.
“Juniper Island light is on our right now. Dory will run on till the steamer is in range with this light and Split Rock, which is twelve miles and a half from here. Then he will head for the Split-Rock light, keeping Juniper exactly astern of him,” continued the captain.
“Why don’t he run for Split Rock now?” asked Ben Ludlow.
“He would run upon Quaker-Smith’s Reef, about four miles from here, if he did. Now, my boy, can you walk straight from where you stand to the flag-pole at the stem of the steamer?”
“No, sir, I cannot. That thing is in the way,” replied Ben, after he had looked the matter over.
“Precisely so: the capstan is in your way. Now go over to the side of the steamer.” Ben obeyed, and the boys watched the demonstration with interest. “Can you walk straight to the stem of the boat now?”
“Yes, sir, I can. There is nothing in my way.”
“Then, if you keep in range with the port gangway and the stem, there will be nothing in your way, will there?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“That is exactly the principle on which wepilot a steamer or any other vessel. But sometimes the matter is much more complicated, and we have to take a dozen different ranges in going a dozen miles. Pilots learn all these ranges, and get their bearings from various objects on the shore. You can see the capstan; but we cannot see the obstructions in our way in sailing a vessel, for they are under water. They are all laid down on the chart, and we can learn our courses from that.”
“But isn’t there any thing on that reef to let you know where it is?” asked Dave Windsor.
“There is nothing on Quaker-Smith’s Reef, for it is out of the usual track of vessels. It is about a mile from the eastern shore of the lake. When the water is as low as it is now, this steamer would get aground on it. But at the entrance to harbors they put buoys, and also on rocks and shoal places in or near the usual track of vessels.”
“What sort of things are buoys?” asked Bob Swanton.
“Generally they are logs of wood, anchored to the bottom. These are called spar-buoys. Others are made of metal, hollow, and shaped like a couple of frustrums of cones joined at the big end.These are can-buoys. There are other kinds, but you won’t find them in this lake.”
“Spar and can buoys. We can remember them,” added John Brattle.
“The spars are all painted red, black, or striped. When going into a harbor, red buoys must be left on the starboard hand; that is, on your right. Black buoys must be left on the port, or left, hand. When you see a buoy painted with black and red stripes, it is a danger buoy; and you may go on either side of it. When you see one painted up and down with black and white stripes, you must go close to it. Sometimes the buoys are numbered: then the even numbers are on the red buoys, and the odd ones on the black buoys. But you must learn all these things by seeing them.”
“What are the colored lights on the sides of this steamer for?” asked Bob Swanton.
“The red light is on the port side, and the green on the starboard. They are to show any vessel approaching us which way we are going,” replied the captain. “But I can explain this better when we see the lights of another vessel.”
All hands were on the lookout for another vessel at once.