THE TRIAL TRIP OF THE LILY.
Dory Dornwood had been sent to the wheel; and, as the sails of the
schooner filled, he met her with the helm. She heeled over a little, and
but a little, for the wind was very light in Beechwater. On the shore,
everybody connected with the institution in any capacity had assembled
to observe the movements of the new vessel. The three cheers in which
Dory had led off drew from them a lively response.
In a few minutes the Lily was near the outlet; but the principal
directed the captain to make a turn around the lake, so that all could
get a good view of her.
"Ready, about!" shouted the commander to the officers, who repeated the
order, and all hands took their stations for tacking.
Dory saw that the Lily had a good full. The sails fitted extremely well;
for they had been made by the firm recommended by Matt Randolph, who had
furnished his father's yacht, as well as many others of the highest
class.
"Hard a-lee!" continued the captain, when the vessel was in the right
place for coming about.
Dory put the helm down, and all the sails shook for a moment; then they
began to fill on the other side. As instructed, the hands in charge of
the jib-sheets held the sail over till it was filled; and, in this
position, it caught the wind sooner than the other sails, and assisted
in carrying the head around.
"Draw jib!" said the captain; and the order was repeated by the second
mate on the forecastle.
"Slack off the weather-sheet!" added Oscar Chester, who knew his part
well, though this was the first time he had ever sailed in a schooner.
"Haul on the lee-sheet! Too much! Ease off a little! That will do; belay
the lee-sheet!"
The schooner had come about, and was now standing towards the old wharf,
where the people of the institution were assembled, including the ladies
from the house and the cottage. The instructors and others cheered
lustily, and the ladies waved their handkerchiefs vigorously. Doubtless,
the latter wished they were on board; but the principal would not allow
any extra persons on board until the ship's company had been well
drilled in handling the vessel.
With so many hands, there was very little for them to do; but the
captain gave them as much as possible to work off their enthusiasm. He
kept those at the sheets tolerable busy hauling in and easing off
frequently, to enable him to get the "points" of the craft, as he
described it. He let her go free for a moment, and then braced her up to
the wind, making all the change he could without tacking.
As the Lily approached the old wharf where the spectators were
assembled, he got a course parallel with the shore, and, with the wind a
little abaft the beam, allowed her to do her best in a light wind. Her
bow was quite sharp, and she was the best model the principal could
obtain of the most celebrated modeller in New York. She had been built
in strict conformity to the plans and specifications, both in respect to
the spars and sails as well as the hull.
It had been unanimously agreed that she ought to be a fast sailer, by
all who had seen her, including some experts who had visited Captain
Gildrock. It remained still to be proved whether or not she was all that
had been hoped and expected of her. Though she did not wear
racing-sails, she was liberally supplied with canvas. But the wind in
Beechwater was too light to give her a fair test, and it came in light
puffs and squalls.
For the amount of breeze she had, she did very well; and there was quite
a bone in her teeth as she approached the wharf. The cheers and signals
of the ladies were promptly answered; for Captain Gildrock was a naval
officer of the old school, and insisted that every compliment paid to
the craft should receive a proper response. There was no steam-whistle,
as on board of the steamer; and the only way, except with cheers, to
reply, was by dipping the ensign. This was done several times by
Quartermaster Minkfield.
Off the old wharf it was necessary to brace her up, and she was headed
for the mouth of the creek; but there was no one at the cottage to
salute the new craft, its occupants having joined the other spectators.
The water was deep at the entrance of the stream; and the captain ran
the schooner a short distance into it, as far as he could and have room
to come about.
"Ready, about!" he called to the mate rather sharply, when she had gone
as far as he deemed it prudent to proceed up the creek.
She did not tack as handsomely as she had at the other end of the little
lake, for the wind was baffling behind the woods on the shore; but she
got about with a little humoring. Captain Gildrock smiled, and shook his
head, as he looked at Captain Randolph.
"Didn't I do it right, sir?" asked Matt, when he saw that what he had
done was not approved, though it was not condemned.
"Perfectly right, so far as handling the schooner is concerned. But you
made it possible that we might require the services of the Sylph to
assist in getting her off a mud bank," replied the principal, tempering
his remark with a smile again.
"I thought I had room enough to go in stays," pleaded the captain of the
Lily.
"So you had, so far as the schooner is concerned; but you had to humor
her in stays, for the wind was unsteady and puffy."
"Of course it was! What could you expect in such a place in the woods?
There is little wind enough anywhere on Beechwater, but there is less
among the trees than in the open water. The principal trouble with boys
is that they will run risks. They want to cut a hair off at every
corner. They think a young fellow can't be a good boatman unless he
takes risks; and, the greater the risk, the better the boatman, in his
estimation," continued the principal, in a low tone, so that none of the
other students could hear him.
"I didn't think I was taking any risk," added Matt.
"You took the risk of getting aground between two puffs, and nothing but
the current of the stream saved you from it," replied Captain Gildrock.
"I believe in taking a risk when there is need of it, but never for mere
sport, or to show that one is a skilful boatman."
"I am much obliged to you, sir, for speaking to me about it," replied
Matt, who did not regard himself as censured; for the principal had a
way of condemning an act without hurting the self-respect of the actor.
"I have said it a great many times in school, and in the various craft,
that we should take no unnecessary risks. I believe that nearly the
whole of the boating accidents result from carelessness. There is no
reason why a good boat should not stay on the top of the water, even in
a gale of wind. If the boat is a good one,—and it is a risk to go on the
water in any other,—she will float on any sea."
"She may be caught in a squall," suggested Matt.
"Squalls are always to be expected, and it is necessary to understand
how to deal with them. At sea, out of sight of land, we have to take
whatever comes. You have sailed a yacht enough to know what to do in a
squall."
"Something may break," suggested Matt.
"Sails and rigging should be frequently overhauled, to make it
reasonably sure that they will not give out at a critical moment. It is
taking a needless risk to neglect to do this."
"Then you don't believe that any disasters ought to occur?"
"I will not go quite so far as that: nine-tenths of them could be
avoided by taking no needless risk. But we are all human; and while
boatmen will take risks, and be careless, there must be accidents. I
advise you to let the pilot take the vessel through the outlet."
Dory Dornwood was the pilot; and he had had more experience in taking
sailing craft through the bend of the stream than any other person on
board,—or in the town, for that matter. The principal wanted to add,
that this same pilot was the most reliable young skipper he had ever
known, and for the simple reason that he took no needless risks, though
he was ready to incur those which occasion required; but the remark
might hurt the feelings of the new captain, and it was not uttered.
The Lily was handed over to Dory, and the ship's company were directed
to obey his orders. This was no sacrifice of dignity or authority, for
every pilot in charge of a vessel has the absolute command of her for
the time. The current of the outlet had piled up banks of sand and mud
in places; and it was necessary, in such a comparatively narrow channel,
to know where they were.
Dory gave his orders to the mate, and they were executed in the same
manner as though they had come from the captain. The wind was better at
the V-Point than it had been in the creek, and the pilot had no
difficulty in taking the Lily through. She was not as long, by forty
feet, as the Sylph; but at one place she had to make a short tack of not
much more than twice her length, and it required no little skill to make
every thing work so as to avoid a miss-stay.
The schooner came out all right on the river. Captain Randolph resumed
the command. The students watched the motion of the Lily with the most
intense interest, especially those who had taken a hand in building her
hull. The wind freshened as she came nearer to Lake Champlain: she
heeled over more, and the bone in her teeth increased in size.
In a little while she passed out of the river into the lake. The wind
was now about south-west, and this is always a rather unsteady breeze.
As she came to the point at the mouth of the river, the sheets were
started, and the schooner went off with the wind on the port-quarter. As
the day advanced, the breeze had freshened, till the students had all
they wanted. It came over miles of open lake, and there was nothing to
obstruct it. The Lily seemed to fly on her course, and the boys were
excited to a degree which made them quite noisy. After the sails had
been trimmed, there was nothing for them to do except to watch the
motion of the vessel.
Captain Gildrock carried his watch in his hand, and had noted the second
when the schooner passed the point at the mouth of the river. It was
exactly three miles to the headland just beyond the light at Split Rock
Point. Dory told his fellow-quartermaster, that the speed of the Lily
could not be much less than that of the Sylph when she had a good
breeze. She was up with the point ahead before any one had had time to
do much thinking over the matter.
"Fifteen minutes from the mouth of the river to Split Rock Point!"
exclaimed the principal, looking at his watch.
"Twelve knots an hour!" exclaimed Captain Randolph.
"Not quite," added the principal. "The distances on the lake are given
in statute miles. It is only about two and half nautical miles from
point to point, and that is only ten knots an hour, which I call very
fast sailing."
The principal gave the speed to the rest of the students, and then
explained the difference between nautical and statute miles.
"The Lily will do better than that yet," said Captain Randolph, "for we
have not hurried her; and, with the gaff-topsails, I think she will be
good for twelve knots an hour."
The principal assented to the proposition.