ich is fastened at one end outside the ship, and then is drawn in at
the other by the sailors on board. When this operation is performed in a
dock, for example, one end of the line is carried forward some little
distance towards the direction in which they wish the vessel to go, and
is made fast there to a pile, or ring, or post, or some other suitable
fixture on the quay, or on board another vessel. The other end of the
line, which has remained all the time on board the ship, is now attached
to the capstan or the windlass, and the line is drawn in. By this means
the vessel is pulled ahead.

Vessels are sometimes warped for short distances up a river, when the
wind and current are both against her, so that she cannot proceed in any
other way. In this case the outer end of the line is often fastened to a
tree.

In the arctic seas a ship is often warped through loose ice, or along
narrow and crooked channels of open water, by means of posts set in the
larger and more solid floes. When she is drawn up pretty near to one of
these posts, the line is taken off and carried forward to another post,
which the sailors have, in the mean time, been getting ready upon
another floe farther ahead.

Warping is, of course, a very slow way of getting along, and is only
practicable for short distances, and is most frequently employed in
confined situations, where it would be unsafe to go fast. You would
think, too, that this process could only be resorted to near a shore, or
a quay, or a great field of ice, where posts could be set to attach the
lines to; but this, as will appear presently, is a mistake.

The warping which had attracted Rollo's attention was for the purpose of
bringing a ship up alongside of the quay at the place where she was to
be unloaded. The ship had just come into the dock.

"She has just come in," said Rollo, "I verily believe. I wish we had
been here a little sooner, so as to have seen her come through the
drawbridges."

Just at this instant the rope leading from the ship, which had been
drawn very tense, was suddenly slacked on board the ship, and the middle
of it fell into the water.

"What does that mean?" asked Rollo.

"They are going to fasten it in a new place, I suppose," said Mr.
George. "Yes, there's the boat."

There was a boat, with two men in it, just then coming up to the part of
the quay where the end of the line had been fastened. A man on the quay
cast off the line, and threw the end dow