halyards--a most perilous
proceeding. The father was aghast; he whispered hurriedly, "Pull, for
God's sake; she'll roll him overboard before we get up." But the young
monkey did not part with his hold so easily, and he came down by the
rings of the mainsail without so much as grazing his shins.

In every vessel the men must have a plaything, and Jack served his
bigger comrades admirably in that capacity. Had not his father been on
board, the lad might have been ill-used in the horrible way so common in
the old days; but the stern skipper allowed no rough play, and the boy
was merely set on to perform harmless tricks. Once the men dared him to
climb down the bobstay, and he instantly tried; but he gave the crew a
scare, for he could not climb back after the vessel had dipped him a few
times, and, last of all, the boat was towered to rescue him. In hard
weather and amid hard work, Jack grew steadily in strength and skill. I
have seen him at work and he made me shudder, although the sight of his
amazing agility might have given anybody confidence. On wet nights when
the deck was like a rink, he would make a rush as the boat pitched; then
he would pick up his rope unerringly in the dark and, in another second,
you would see him over the side with one foot on the trawl-beam in an
attitude risky enough to make you want to close your eyes.

It was nothing much to see him take a flying spring on to the main boom
in the dark, and hang there reefing while the vessel jerked so that you
might have fancied she must send his ribs through the skin. I say it was
nothing, because he performed this feat nearly every winter night, after
the midnight haul, and the spectacle grew common. I never knew him
bungle over a rope or make a bad slip, and it was simply a pleasure to
see him steer. He never threw away an inch, and his way of stealing foot
by foot was worthy of any jockey. Sometimes when I was at the wheel and
running a little to leeward of another vessel, he would say, "I reckon I
can weather him, sir, if you let me have her a bit;" and then, with
delicate touches and catlike watching of every puff and every send of
the sea, he would edge his way up, and pass his opponent neatly.

Most wonderful of all it was to see Jack handling the small boat in
heavy weather. While the wee cockle-shell was rolling and bungling under
our quarter, he would jump on the rail, measure his distance perfectly,
spring on to the boat's gunwale and fend he