Take the two ends and tie them together exactly as you would tie a
“hard-knot” in your shoe-string. Only you must be careful and not tie a
Granny (Fig. 3, _b_).
One _may_ slip, the other won’t.
Fig. 4 is a Becket-hitch, the proper knot for joining a large and a
smaller rope. It will be useful, for example, when the keleg-line of
your boat is too short, and the only line at hand to bend on to it is a
stout piece of hemp twine.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.—A BECKET-HITCH.]
A loop at the end of a rope—that is, a loop that will not draw up—is
another knot that has frequently to be made. And yet few people know
how to make it. I know a very bright young fellow living out at the
Highlands, who the other day made a loop in the end of a rope which
he _knew_ would not slip, and then, squeezing it over his dog’s head,
tied him to the kennel and went off to school by himself. But the loop
did slip, and poor Don almost choked to death before his plight was
discovered. What is wanted in such a case is a Bowline.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.—THE BOWLINE.]
Make a bight near the end of your rope, as in the first cut of Fig. 5.
Seize this with the left hand at _a_, and then with the right hand pass
the end _b_ up through the bight, around behind the main part of the
rope at _c_ and down in front of it through the bight again as in _d_.
Draw this tight and you have the much-talked-of Bowline. It is a very
simple matter, as you see; but with it you can make a slip-noose that
will give you no trouble in lacing up your box, or you can put your
dog’s head in it without fear of coming home and finding him “dead at
his post;” or the farmer’s daughter can safely tether a pet pony or
the bleating calf out to feed upon the fresh grass.
[Illustration: FIG. 6. FIG. 7. FIG. 8. FIG. 9.]
While speaking still of the ends of ropes, let us stop and learn to
“fasten them off” properly to prevent their untwisting or fraying out.
The painter or main-sheet of your boat, Bridget’s clothes-line, your
little sister’s jump-rope, and indeed _any_ rope whose end is not
(like the Irishman’s) cut off altogether, may need such treatment.
The simplest method is to “serve” or wind the end with small twine.
A Single-wall (Fig. 6), or a Double-wall (Fig. 7), is better. But
better still is the Boatswain’s-whipping, formed by making an inverted
single-wall and then splicing the ends back over the rope itself (Fig.
8 and Fig. 9).
The most elegant of all such, however, is the Stopper-knot, seen
complete in Fig. 14.
Place the end _a_ as in Fig. 10, holding it with the thumb at _d_; pass
_b_ around under it, _c_ around under _b_ and through the bight of _a_,
and pull tight; this forms a Single-wall (Fig. 11). Now lay _a_ over
_d_, _b_ over _e_, _c_ over _b_ and through the bight of _a_, and draw
tight (Fig 12).
Next pass _b_ down around _f_ and up through the bight _g_, and do the
same with _a_ and _c_, forming Fig. 13.
[Illustration: THE FIVE STEPS OF THE STOPPER-KNOT.