[Top]CHAPTERXXVIII.THE UPSETTING OF THE MONKEY, AND ITS LESSON.“The Monkey has upset!” exclaimed Dory, considerably excited by the catastrophe.“You had better take the helm, Dory, for we can’t wait to make any mistakes,” added Oscar, as he gave the tiller to the skipper.“Bolly is determined to drown himself, and he will do it if he keeps on trying. I did not think he had pluck enough to go out in a sailboat again without a skipper.”“But the rowboats are all around him, and they are all pulling towards the Monkey,” continued Oscar. “But that sailboat don’t sink, as you say the other did.”“Perhaps she has not ballast enough to carry her down. She is lying flat on her side, and the fellows that were in her are clinging to her. They are safe for a while if they will only hold on,” said the skipper of the Goldwing when he had taken in the situation.The Goldwing was within five hundred feet of the Monkey when the latter went over; and, before any of the rowboats reached the wreck, the schooner was alongside of her. The skipper had taken in the foresail; and, as she rounded-to, Oscar let go the jib-halyard, and Dory lowered the mainsail. With the boat-hook Oscar got hold of the wreck, and the schooner was hauled alongside.Bolly, Steve Baxter, and Phil Gawner were helped into the Goldwing. All three of them were thoroughly frightened, but were not otherwise damaged.“Who was the skipper of this boat?” asked Dory.“Bolly; and he said he knew how to sail a boat, or we should not have come out with him,” replied Phil.“Can you skipper a boat, Bolly?” said Dory, turning to Bolly.“I thought I could,” answered Bolly sheepishly.“You thought so last Friday, when you let that steam-launch run into you.”“But since that I have watched you, and I was sure I could do it,” pleaded Bolly.“I don’t think you know any more about it nowthan you did then. I told Oscar you would upset the boat when I first saw her come out of the river. I don’t believe you will ever be hanged. If you are going to keep doing this thing, you had better learn to swim,” added the skipper of the Goldwing.“I won’t try it again: there is something about sailing a boat that I don’t understand,” replied Bolly.“A good deal that you don’t understand; and, if you want to commit suicide, you had better keep on sailing a boat. You will finish the job one of these days. It is lucky this boat did not sink, like the other. If she had, some of you might have been drowned. As it is, we must get her up, and bail her out.”“If you will tell us how, we will do all the work,” added Bolly.By this time the four-oar boat came up. Corny Minkfield was acting as coxswain, in the absence of Dory. Dick Short was not in the boat, and Dave Windsor and John Brattle pulled the two after-oars.“Where is Dick Short?” asked Dory.“Mr. Brookbine would not let him come. Hesaid he must learn the lesson he lost while he was up a tree,” replied Corny. “We have got two greenhorns in the boat, and we can’t row worth a cent.”“No need of telling of it, for any one could see it a mile off,” laughed Dory.“Corny wants to do all the ordering while we do all the work,” added Dave Windsor. “When he is appointed boss we will mind him.”“Just as you like. There is Captain Gildrock on the point watching us, and I don’t believe he will let any of you fellows out in a boat again till you learn how to handle one. But we must put the Monkey in shape, and take her up the river: Sim Green don’t want to lose another boat just yet.”Dory fastened a line to the mast-head of the Monkey. As the boat had gone over on the port side, he moved the Goldwing to the opposite side. But pulling on this line would only move the boat in the water without righting her.Making another line fast to the middle of the inside of the wreck, he passed it over the side out of the water, and then drew it under the keel, carrying the rope out beyond the mast-head. Theend of the line was then made fast to the stern of Corny’s boat, whose crew were directed to pull with all their might when the word was given.Dory then climbed to the foremast-head of the Goldwing, with the other line tied around his body. From this elevated position he could pull up from the fallen mast of the Monkey. He gave the word to Corny to pull, and the boat yanked away at the line; but the crew pulled so badly that they did not exert any great force.The skipper passed his line over the spring-stay of the schooner, so that Oscar could keep what he got. When he pulled at the rope, greatly to his delight, and somewhat to his astonishment, the mast of the wreck began to rise, and the hull began to right. After it had been elevated a few feet, it was easy work; and the Monkey was soon right side up. The rowers gave a smart cheer when the work was accomplished.Bolly and his companions timidly returned to the Monkey. All the buckets and dippers that both boats contained were in demand, and she was soon free of water. The lines were cast off, and both sailboats were ready to return to Beech Lake. Phil and John Brattle positively refused to sailwith Bolly again, and the late skipper of the Monkey had his doubts about attempting to get the boat into the river without upsetting her.“I can do it,” suggested Oscar.“I have no doubt you can, Oscar, and you may do it,” replied Dory. “You will have the wind fair all the way.”Oscar took his place in the Monkey, which he soon found was not such a craft as the Goldwing. He trimmed the sail, and got under way without making any mistakes. He had the wind on the beam, and he let out the sheet of the sloop until the sail would just draw full. The craft made double the speed she had attained at any time since she came out with her incompetent skipper.Dory followed her in the Goldwing when he got his sails up. He watched the work of his pupil with close attention as he passed the Monkey, and shouted his approval to Oscar. When he reached the point, Captain Gildrock made a signal that he would like to be taken on board the schooner; and Dory made a landing.“No more boating for these boys at present,” said the principal, as he stepped into the Goldwing. “They can neither sail a boat nor rowone. Who is sailing that boat now, Dory? He is doing better than has been done with her before this afternoon.”“Oscar Chester is in charge of her. He has been sailing with me in the schooner; and, as far as he has gone, he knows how to do it,” replied Dory.“It will be impossible to keep them out of the boats; and the pupils must be taught at once how to row, and how to handle a sailboat,” continued the captain, as he glanced at the rowing of the party in the four-oar boat. “When I saw that sloop-boat go over, I thought that the first day of our school was to end in a disaster. I am thankful that no one lost his life. But no one shall go out of Beech Lake again in a sailboat unless there is a skipper on board.”Dick Short welcomed the boys back to the school-grounds. He had made up the lost lesson, and was as good-natured as though he had not been punished. Before breakfast the next morning, the boys all walked over to the beach in the little lake, and went into the water. In the evening a great deal had been said about learning to swim. It was found that only eight boys out ofthe twenty-two could swim a stroke. Dory and Harry Franklin were appointed instructors in this department; and they were to have a lesson every day, when the weather was suitable.Some pieces of plank were obtained at the lumber-shed, and conveyed to the beach. Holding these floats with their hands, some of the boys ventured out into deep water. The first thing was to obtain the necessary confidence. They were told how to move their feet in the operation, and the first trials were very satisfactory.The schoolroom exercises of the forenoon were about the same as the day before. The boys all felt that their learning was to be of the most practical kind, such as would help them in the business of life. All education does this, but all boys cannot realize it.The first business of the afternoon with the second class was to put up the shelves they had made the day before. Of course, the boys had to go through a great many forms that were useless to experienced workmen.“Now, my lads, we are to nail the shelves to the brackets,” said Mr. Brookbine. “To do this correctly will be a nicer job than you have yet done;but you must work carefully, and give strict attention to the directions. With the larger try-square draw a light line eight inches from each end of the shelf, and on the top.”“Which is the top?” asked Dick Short, as he looked on both sides of the board in the hands of Phil Gawner, who was his bench-partner.“Either side will answer for the top, but you should take the best side—the one with no rough places in it—if there is any choice. Always put the best side out: there is no cheat in it in carpentering. It is not like putting all the poorest apples at the bottom of the barrel.”The students selected a side for the top, and ruled the lines.“Now draw another line on the other side, seven inches and a half from the end,—a more decided line than the other. Good! Now put one of the brackets in the bench-vise, and screw it up tight. Put the wide end of the bracket up, and about two inches above the top of the bench.—Tom Ridley, you have got it four inches.—Ben, you are not more than one inch.—You must learn to measure distances with the eye. That will do.“Here are several kegs of nails, which I openedthis forenoon. We have spikes, tenpenny, eightpenny, sixpenny, shingle, and lath nails. There are two kinds of the same length, as a tenpenny or an eightpenny board-nail, or a finish-nail. Board-nails have a broader head, and are stouter than a finish-nail. Which kind shall we use for the shelves?”“Finish-nails,” shouted half a dozen boys at a venture.“Eightpenny finish will be about right. No. 1 will nail to the first bracket, and No. 2 to the second. No. 2 will take the board, and lay the end on the bracket, and No. 1 will nail it. Fix the shelf exactly against the mark on the under side. Hold the board very still; and, when the nailer gets it exactly right, he should put his left hand against the bracket, grasping the board at the same time.”The instructor did it himself, and all the nailers observed how he did it.“The light line on the top is to show you where the nails are to be driven. Now go ahead. Strike so as to hit the nail squarely with the face of the hammer, so that it will not bend the nail, or slip off and mar the board.”He had to stop half of them, and give them a little outside practice with the hammer. But the boards were nailed on. They were tried with the square, and then nailed against the wall, between the windows. The planes were put upon them, and the boys were proud of their first job.
[Top]
“The Monkey has upset!” exclaimed Dory, considerably excited by the catastrophe.
“You had better take the helm, Dory, for we can’t wait to make any mistakes,” added Oscar, as he gave the tiller to the skipper.
“Bolly is determined to drown himself, and he will do it if he keeps on trying. I did not think he had pluck enough to go out in a sailboat again without a skipper.”
“But the rowboats are all around him, and they are all pulling towards the Monkey,” continued Oscar. “But that sailboat don’t sink, as you say the other did.”
“Perhaps she has not ballast enough to carry her down. She is lying flat on her side, and the fellows that were in her are clinging to her. They are safe for a while if they will only hold on,” said the skipper of the Goldwing when he had taken in the situation.
The Goldwing was within five hundred feet of the Monkey when the latter went over; and, before any of the rowboats reached the wreck, the schooner was alongside of her. The skipper had taken in the foresail; and, as she rounded-to, Oscar let go the jib-halyard, and Dory lowered the mainsail. With the boat-hook Oscar got hold of the wreck, and the schooner was hauled alongside.
Bolly, Steve Baxter, and Phil Gawner were helped into the Goldwing. All three of them were thoroughly frightened, but were not otherwise damaged.
“Who was the skipper of this boat?” asked Dory.
“Bolly; and he said he knew how to sail a boat, or we should not have come out with him,” replied Phil.
“Can you skipper a boat, Bolly?” said Dory, turning to Bolly.
“I thought I could,” answered Bolly sheepishly.
“You thought so last Friday, when you let that steam-launch run into you.”
“But since that I have watched you, and I was sure I could do it,” pleaded Bolly.
“I don’t think you know any more about it nowthan you did then. I told Oscar you would upset the boat when I first saw her come out of the river. I don’t believe you will ever be hanged. If you are going to keep doing this thing, you had better learn to swim,” added the skipper of the Goldwing.
“I won’t try it again: there is something about sailing a boat that I don’t understand,” replied Bolly.
“A good deal that you don’t understand; and, if you want to commit suicide, you had better keep on sailing a boat. You will finish the job one of these days. It is lucky this boat did not sink, like the other. If she had, some of you might have been drowned. As it is, we must get her up, and bail her out.”
“If you will tell us how, we will do all the work,” added Bolly.
By this time the four-oar boat came up. Corny Minkfield was acting as coxswain, in the absence of Dory. Dick Short was not in the boat, and Dave Windsor and John Brattle pulled the two after-oars.
“Where is Dick Short?” asked Dory.
“Mr. Brookbine would not let him come. Hesaid he must learn the lesson he lost while he was up a tree,” replied Corny. “We have got two greenhorns in the boat, and we can’t row worth a cent.”
“No need of telling of it, for any one could see it a mile off,” laughed Dory.
“Corny wants to do all the ordering while we do all the work,” added Dave Windsor. “When he is appointed boss we will mind him.”
“Just as you like. There is Captain Gildrock on the point watching us, and I don’t believe he will let any of you fellows out in a boat again till you learn how to handle one. But we must put the Monkey in shape, and take her up the river: Sim Green don’t want to lose another boat just yet.”
Dory fastened a line to the mast-head of the Monkey. As the boat had gone over on the port side, he moved the Goldwing to the opposite side. But pulling on this line would only move the boat in the water without righting her.
Making another line fast to the middle of the inside of the wreck, he passed it over the side out of the water, and then drew it under the keel, carrying the rope out beyond the mast-head. Theend of the line was then made fast to the stern of Corny’s boat, whose crew were directed to pull with all their might when the word was given.
Dory then climbed to the foremast-head of the Goldwing, with the other line tied around his body. From this elevated position he could pull up from the fallen mast of the Monkey. He gave the word to Corny to pull, and the boat yanked away at the line; but the crew pulled so badly that they did not exert any great force.
The skipper passed his line over the spring-stay of the schooner, so that Oscar could keep what he got. When he pulled at the rope, greatly to his delight, and somewhat to his astonishment, the mast of the wreck began to rise, and the hull began to right. After it had been elevated a few feet, it was easy work; and the Monkey was soon right side up. The rowers gave a smart cheer when the work was accomplished.
Bolly and his companions timidly returned to the Monkey. All the buckets and dippers that both boats contained were in demand, and she was soon free of water. The lines were cast off, and both sailboats were ready to return to Beech Lake. Phil and John Brattle positively refused to sailwith Bolly again, and the late skipper of the Monkey had his doubts about attempting to get the boat into the river without upsetting her.
“I can do it,” suggested Oscar.
“I have no doubt you can, Oscar, and you may do it,” replied Dory. “You will have the wind fair all the way.”
Oscar took his place in the Monkey, which he soon found was not such a craft as the Goldwing. He trimmed the sail, and got under way without making any mistakes. He had the wind on the beam, and he let out the sheet of the sloop until the sail would just draw full. The craft made double the speed she had attained at any time since she came out with her incompetent skipper.
Dory followed her in the Goldwing when he got his sails up. He watched the work of his pupil with close attention as he passed the Monkey, and shouted his approval to Oscar. When he reached the point, Captain Gildrock made a signal that he would like to be taken on board the schooner; and Dory made a landing.
“No more boating for these boys at present,” said the principal, as he stepped into the Goldwing. “They can neither sail a boat nor rowone. Who is sailing that boat now, Dory? He is doing better than has been done with her before this afternoon.”
“Oscar Chester is in charge of her. He has been sailing with me in the schooner; and, as far as he has gone, he knows how to do it,” replied Dory.
“It will be impossible to keep them out of the boats; and the pupils must be taught at once how to row, and how to handle a sailboat,” continued the captain, as he glanced at the rowing of the party in the four-oar boat. “When I saw that sloop-boat go over, I thought that the first day of our school was to end in a disaster. I am thankful that no one lost his life. But no one shall go out of Beech Lake again in a sailboat unless there is a skipper on board.”
Dick Short welcomed the boys back to the school-grounds. He had made up the lost lesson, and was as good-natured as though he had not been punished. Before breakfast the next morning, the boys all walked over to the beach in the little lake, and went into the water. In the evening a great deal had been said about learning to swim. It was found that only eight boys out ofthe twenty-two could swim a stroke. Dory and Harry Franklin were appointed instructors in this department; and they were to have a lesson every day, when the weather was suitable.
Some pieces of plank were obtained at the lumber-shed, and conveyed to the beach. Holding these floats with their hands, some of the boys ventured out into deep water. The first thing was to obtain the necessary confidence. They were told how to move their feet in the operation, and the first trials were very satisfactory.
The schoolroom exercises of the forenoon were about the same as the day before. The boys all felt that their learning was to be of the most practical kind, such as would help them in the business of life. All education does this, but all boys cannot realize it.
The first business of the afternoon with the second class was to put up the shelves they had made the day before. Of course, the boys had to go through a great many forms that were useless to experienced workmen.
“Now, my lads, we are to nail the shelves to the brackets,” said Mr. Brookbine. “To do this correctly will be a nicer job than you have yet done;but you must work carefully, and give strict attention to the directions. With the larger try-square draw a light line eight inches from each end of the shelf, and on the top.”
“Which is the top?” asked Dick Short, as he looked on both sides of the board in the hands of Phil Gawner, who was his bench-partner.
“Either side will answer for the top, but you should take the best side—the one with no rough places in it—if there is any choice. Always put the best side out: there is no cheat in it in carpentering. It is not like putting all the poorest apples at the bottom of the barrel.”
The students selected a side for the top, and ruled the lines.
“Now draw another line on the other side, seven inches and a half from the end,—a more decided line than the other. Good! Now put one of the brackets in the bench-vise, and screw it up tight. Put the wide end of the bracket up, and about two inches above the top of the bench.—Tom Ridley, you have got it four inches.—Ben, you are not more than one inch.—You must learn to measure distances with the eye. That will do.
“Here are several kegs of nails, which I openedthis forenoon. We have spikes, tenpenny, eightpenny, sixpenny, shingle, and lath nails. There are two kinds of the same length, as a tenpenny or an eightpenny board-nail, or a finish-nail. Board-nails have a broader head, and are stouter than a finish-nail. Which kind shall we use for the shelves?”
“Finish-nails,” shouted half a dozen boys at a venture.
“Eightpenny finish will be about right. No. 1 will nail to the first bracket, and No. 2 to the second. No. 2 will take the board, and lay the end on the bracket, and No. 1 will nail it. Fix the shelf exactly against the mark on the under side. Hold the board very still; and, when the nailer gets it exactly right, he should put his left hand against the bracket, grasping the board at the same time.”
The instructor did it himself, and all the nailers observed how he did it.
“The light line on the top is to show you where the nails are to be driven. Now go ahead. Strike so as to hit the nail squarely with the face of the hammer, so that it will not bend the nail, or slip off and mar the board.”
He had to stop half of them, and give them a little outside practice with the hammer. But the boards were nailed on. They were tried with the square, and then nailed against the wall, between the windows. The planes were put upon them, and the boys were proud of their first job.