ith
pleasure a show of activity which, under other circumstances, may be
turned to trials of the utmost hardihood and daring.

Be this as it may, the yards come sliding down the well-greased masts;
the men lie out to the right and left, grasp the tumultuous canvas,
drag out the earings, and tie the points, with as perfect deliberation
as if it were a calm, only taking double pains to see that all is
right and tight, and the reef-band straight along the yard. The order
has been given to take in the second and third reefs only; but the men
linger at their posts, expecting the further work which they know is
necessary. The captain of the top, instead of moving in, continues to
sit astride the spar, dangling his legs under the weather yard-arm
with the end of the close reef-earing in his hand, quite as much at
his ease as any well-washed sea-bird that ever screamed defiance to a
pitiless south-wester.

Johnny's anticipations prove right, for the anxious commander, after
gazing twice or thrice to windward, again consulting his barometer,
looking six or eight times at his watch in as many minutes, to learn
how many hours of daylight are yet above the horizon, and perhaps also
stealing a professional opinion from his first lieutenant, an officer
probably of much more technical experience than himself, decides upon
close-reefing. If he be a man of sense, and wishes the work to be done
quickly and well, he must not now hesitate about starting the topsail
sheets, and it will certainly be all the better if one or both the
clew-lines be likewise hauled close up.

The mainsail is now to be taken in; and as the method of performing
this evolution has long been a subject of hot controversy at sea, I
take the opportunity of saying, that Falconer's couplet,--

"For he who strives the tempest to disarm
Will never first embrail the lee yard-arm,"

has, in my opinion, done a world of mischief, and split many thousands
of sails.

I, at least, plead guilty to having been sadly misled by this
authority for many years, since it was only in the last ship I
commanded that I learned the true way to take in the mainsail when it
blows hard. The best practice certainly is, to man both buntlines and
the lee leechline well, and then to haul the LEE clew-garnet close up,
before starting the tack or slacking the bowline. By attending to
these directions, the spar is not only instantaneously relieved, but
the leeward half of the sail walk