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_THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES._
_I._
ALL ADRIFT; or, The Goldwing Club.
_II._
SNUG HARBOR; or, The Champlain Mechanics.
_III._
SQUARE AND COMPASSES; or, Building the
House.
_IV._
STEM TO STERN; or, Building the Boat.
_V._
ALL TAUT; or, Rigging the Boat.
_VI._
READY ABOUT; or, Sailing the Boat.
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[Illustration: "THE THUNDERER HAD FOUNDERED."—PAGE 35.]
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[Illustration: Decorative title page]
OLIVER OPTIC'S
BOAT-BUILDER
SERIES.
ALL TAUT.
BOSTON,
LEE AND SHEPARD
PUBLISHERS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL TAUT
OR
RIGGING THE BOAT
BY
OLIVER OPTIC
AUTHOR OF "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD" "THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES"
"THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES" "THE WOODVILLE SERIES" "THE
STARRY-FLAG SERIES" "THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES" "THE
ONWARD AND UPWARD SERIES" "THE YACHT-CLUB
SERIES" "THE LAKE-SHORE SERIES" "THE
RIVERDALE SERIES" "ALL ADRIFT"
"SNUG HARBOR" "SQUARE AND
COMPASSES" "STEM TO
STERN" ETC. ETC.
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_
BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK
CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM
1887
COPYRIGHT, 1886,
BY WILLIAM T. ADAMS.
_All rights reserved._
ALL TAUT.
TO
My Young Friend,
FRED G. BERGER, JR.,
OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.,
_THIS BOOK_
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
"All Taut" is the fifth volume of "THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES," which will
be finished in the next book. Nearly all the characters presented, and
all who take prominent parts in the story, have been introduced in the
preceding volumes. The principal of the Beech Hill Industrial School
entertains some doubts in regard to the principle upon which he has been
conducting the institution, and brings about a partial change in its
character. He is a firm believer in the utility of the school as he has
organized it; and, apart from its industrial mission, he believes it may
accomplish another purpose that will render it still more valuable to
the community in which he resides.
The founder of the school has demonstrated to his own satisfaction, to
say the least, that the institution is a practicable cure for some of
the evils of American society; and he adds to it the feature of making
it partly reformatory. The subjects of his new experiment in this
direction are the Topovers, who have been the bad characters of the
story. He finds them more tractable than he had anticipated, and the
story will show with what results he applied the naval discipline of the
school to them.
In spite of the rather formidable reformatory plan of Captain Gildrock,
the book contains about the same amount of incident and adventure as its
predecessors in the series; but they are events which forward the action
of the principal, and illustrate his method of reforming bad boys. The
Lily is rigged, and makes a very good record as a fast sailer on the
lake.
The principal, though the actual work to be done by the students is only
to rig a fore-and-aft schooner, explains to them the different kinds of
vessels, classed by their rig, and fully illustrates the system by which
the spars, rigging, and sails of a ship are named, so that he makes
quite an easy matter of it for the boys.
The next and last volume of the series will be devoted to the sailing of
boats; though, as in the other books, the subject will be amplified so
as to include nautical manœuvres of larger vessels.
DORCHESTER, MASS., May 31, 1886.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
TOM TOPOVER AND HIS RECRUITS 13
CHAPTER II.
THE VOYAGE OF THE THUNDERER 24
CHAPTER III.
A QUESTION DEBATED AND SETTLED 35
CHAPTER IV.
A MUTINY, AND A NEW SKIPPER 46
CHAPTER V.
A QUESTION OF AUTHORITY 57
CHAPTER VI.
A ROW ON BOARD THE GOLDWING 67
CHAPTER VII.
AN UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE 78
CHAPTER VIII.
A STARTLING EVENT ON THE ROAD 89
CHAPTER IX.
LOOKING FOR A SETTLEMENT 100
CHAPTER X.
TWO CONFLICTING STORIES 111
CHAPTER XI.
COMPLIMENTARY TO THE PICNIC-PARTY 121
CHAPTER XII.
A NEW MISSION FOR THE BEECH-HILL SCHOOL 132
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BEGINNING OF THE TROUBLE 143
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PRISONERS IN THE DORMITORY 154
CHAPTER XV.
FIRST LESSONS IN DISCIPLINE 164
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PUPILS FOR THE NEXT YEAR 175
CHAPTER XVII.
TOM TOPOVER FINDS HIMSELF IGNORED 186
CHAPTER XVIII.
NAUTICAL INSTRUCTION ON THE WHARF 197
CHAPTER XIX.
THE DIFFERENT RIGS OF VESSELS 207
CHAPTER XX.
THE SPARS, SAILS, AND RIGGING OF A SHIP 217
CHAPTER XXI.
THE RIGGING AND SAILS OF A SCHOONER 230
CHAPTER XXII.
ORGANIZING THE SHIP'S COMPANY 241
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE TRIAL TRIP OF THE LILY 251
CHAPTER XXIV.
A LIVELY BREEZE ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN 262
CHAPTER XXV.
TOM TOPOVER IN THE ASCENDANT AGAIN 273
CHAPTER XXVI.
AN INDEPENDENT LEADER 284
CHAPTER XXVII.
A SLEEPY SHIP'S COMPANY 295
CHAPTER XXVIII.
STEALING A MARCH UPON THE LEADER 306
CHAPTER XXIX.
TOM TOPOVER'S RECEPTION 317
CHAPTER XXX.
THE REFORMED TOPOVERS AT BEECH HILL 327
ALL TAUT;
OR,
RIGGING THE BOAT.
CHAPTER I.
TOM TOPOVER AND HIS RECRUITS.
"What's the use of rigging the boat, Tom Topover?" demanded Ash Burton,
with no little disgust apparent in his tones and looks.
"How can you sail the boat if she isn't rigged, Ash?" retorted Tom, who
had always been the leader of the "dangerous class" of boys in
Genverres.
"We don't want to sail her; we can't sail her in this creek," replied
Ash Burton, who seemed to be inclined to dispute the authority and
reject the leadership of the Topover.
"What's the reason we can't?" asked Tom, suspending his labors upon an
old stick which was to serve as a mast for the craft they were getting
ready for service.
"Because there is no room up here to sail a boat. This creek is not more
than ten feet wide, and the wind is blowing directly up stream. It is
half a mile to Beechwater, as the fellows in the Industrial School call
it. The current will carry us down with only a little steering."
"What are we going to do when we get to the little lake? We have nothing
but a couple of pieces of boards for oars, and we can't do nothing
rowing," argued Tom Topover.
"All we want to do in this tub is to get down to the grove, and then we
shall be all right," added Ash Burton warmly.
"We are going to sail down," persisted Tom; not that he cared how the
craft was propelled through the water, but because he always wanted his
own way, and that his word should be law to his companions.
"You don't know how to sail her after you get her rigged," said Ash,
with no little contempt in his tone.
"You do, and that's enough. When we get her into the water, your work
will begin, and mine will end."
Ash Burton had recently moved to Genverres from Westport, where he had
sailed in a boat a few times, and claimed to know something about the
management of one. Half a dozen boys had gathered on the bank of the
creek; and they were all the associates, more or less, of Tom Topover,
Nim Splugger, Kidd Digfield, and boys of that stamp.
They had heard a great deal about the building of the Lily, the schooner
which had been launched by the students of the Beech Hill Industrial
School just before the end of the term. The people of the town had
talked a great deal about it, and most of them were interested to see
her rigged and sailing in the waters of the river and lake. It was well
understood that the rigging of the boat was the first thing in order
after the school was re-organized in the month of September.
The young ladies in Genverres, and others who had attended the launch,
which had been one of the great occasions of the year, had talked with
the students; and "rigging the boat" was still the subject of
conversation among them. Of course the boys did more talking on this
subject than all others. Tom Topover had seen the launch, and heard the
subject of rigging the new craft discussed. He was inspired to do
something of the same kind, and this explained his persistency in part.
It was the last week in August, and in two weeks the industrial school
would be open again; but the students who went to their homes had not
yet returned, and every thing was very quiet about the grounds and
buildings. A few boys who had no homes, or had them in the immediate
vicinity, spent a good deal of their time in the Sylph, the steam-yacht
of the principal, Captain Gildrock.
Dory Dornwood had preferred to remain at home with his mother and
sister, at the mansion of his uncle the captain. He made a call as often
as it was decent for him to do so, at the cottage of Mr. Bristol on the
bank of the creek. Miss Lily Bristol, the daughter of the engineer who
lived there, was acknowledged everywhere to be a remarkably pretty girl,
about Dory's own age.
Dory was a great character at the school, and he was now the captain of
the Sylph when the institution was in session. He was by no means a
fighting character, though he had been in some hard battles with
students and others, and his prowess possibly had something to do with
his popularity in school and out.
During the vacation, the Sylph was in service a great part of the time.
As she went somewhere nearly every day except Sunday, Dory had frequent
occasion to go to the cottage to give the engineer his orders for the
next day. His message to the father was generally coupled with an
invitation to Lily and her mother to join the party.
Besides, Lily had a brother who had won distinction among the students
for certain battles he had fought with Major Billcord and his son Walk.
Under Dory's direction, the students had moved the cottage in which the
Bristols lived, from Sandy Point to its present location; and this
event, in one way and another, had led to a very close intimacy between
the young captain of the Sylph and Paul Bristol, Lily's brother.
Perhaps Dory wished to see his friend very often; at any rate, he went
to the cottage about every day in the week. Some of the students, and
even his sister Marian, were disposed to laugh at him for his frequent
visits; but Dory never admitted, even to himself, that he went to see
Lily. Being quite young, it is probable that he did not understand the
matter very well, and was ignorant of what it was that attracted him to
the cottage.
Tom Topover and his followers had been hearing all the talk in the
town,—at school, at the taverns, and in the shops,—about the doings at
the Industrial School. They had been inclined to imitate, in their own
way, the operations of the students on the water. They had endeavored to
get into various quarrels with them, sometimes for the simple fun of
bothering and annoying them, and sometimes for the purpose of getting
possession of their boats.
Twice they had stolen the long barges; and once, when they were assisted
by the students of the Chesterfield Collegiate Institute, they had given
the owners a great deal of trouble in recovering the property of the
school. It is not strange that the frequent view of so many elegant
boats on the river and lake inspired them to imitate their more
fortunate neighbors in the sports of the water.
Tom and his companions believed that the students and their principal
were especially mean and selfish, in keeping all these elegant boats
exclusively for their own use. He had done his best in trying to be
civil, and even polite, in making his request, for himself and his
associates, for the use of some of the boats for an hour or two. He had
always been refused; for they were not competent to manage such craft,
in the first place, and the principal had no fancy for indulging bad
boys.
Being unable to obtain the use even of the four-oar rowboats of the
institution, though it was vacation, they had constructed a
flat-bottomed affair, which they called a boat, but to which no one else
would have had courtesy enough to apply the term. It had been
constructed under the direction of Ash Burton, who was certainly a
higher grade of boy than the original Topovers; but it may be doubted if
his standard of morals was any more elevated. He had been well educated
so far, and was now in the high school.
The Topovers were enterprising and daring; and this fact, rather than
their coarse manners and disregard of the laws of God and man, had drawn
him to them. With him in tone and manners were half a dozen other boys
like him, who had joined the Topovers. The old leader had been in some
bad scrapes, and the people were generally sorry that he had not been
convicted for his assault upon Paul Bristol, on the other side of the
lake. They believed, that, in their own State, he would have been sent
to a correctional institution.
The addition of boys like Ash Burton and Sam Spottwood had greatly
changed the character of the original band. Hearing some of their number
speak good English, had led them to improve their own language. But
morally, they probably dragged down the recruits quite as much as the
latter elevated them. On the whole, however, the tone of the crowd was
improved.
The thing they called a boat had been built, and launched with some of
the show which had attended the advent of the Lily into her destined
element. The next thing in order, according to Tom's idea, was to rig
her. It would not be proper to make an excursion in her, if she would
float with half a dozen of them in her,—which had yet to be
demonstrated,—until she had been rigged. The leader and some of the
others had brought such bits of line as they could lay their hands upon,
not always with a strict regard to the rights of property.
Ash Burton and Sam Spottwood did not believe in this folly, and they
were disposed to rebel against the chief of the Topovers. The old sheet
which Tom had brought for a sail would be as useless as a steam-engine
without a propeller, in going down Beech Creek.
"If you want to rig her, go ahead, Tom," said Ash, when he had exhausted
his arguments against the plan. "Sam and I will wait until you do the
job."
"But I don't know how," added Tom. "I never had any thing to do with
sailboats."
"Let him have his own way, Ash," suggested Sam Spottwood, in a low
voice. "Help him out, and we shall get off all the sooner."
The new boat was not only to be rigged that day, but she was to convey
her builders down the stream to the lake. Tom had hacked out a boom and
gaff, and had set up the crooked stick which was to serve as a mast. One
of the boys had to devote himself all the time to the work of baling out
the leaky craft, while another was punching cotton-wool into the gaping
seams, and plastering them over with putty.
The mast-hole was so large that the spar would not stand up; and Ash
rigged a pair of shrouds to support it in place. The sail had already
been bent on the boom and gaff in a very unnautical manner, and a few
minutes served to attach it to the mast. The master rigger on this
occasion was not disposed to waste any time on the rigging; and the gaff
was not made to hoist and lower, but was simply tied to the top of the
mast. A piece of bed-cord was fastened to the boom, to serve as the main
sheet, and the craft was ready for sea.
But the calker had not yet finished his labors, and Sam Spottwood
assisted him. The cotton had but a light hold on the wood, in the
wideness of the seams, but the putty kept it in place. In another
half-hour, the workmen declared that the boat was tight, and would keep
dry, even in a heavy sea, out in the great lake. Ash Burton had some
doubts on this point, but he said nothing. If they all got overboard, it
would be easy enough to get out of the creek, it was so narrow.
"Is every thing all right now?" asked Tom Topover, in a tone of
authority, when the calker announced that his job was finished.
"Every thing is all right," replied Kidd Digfield, who had used the
cotton and putty. "The boat is all ready."
Tom proceeded to take his place at the stern.