se the topmast at once, and
get two reefs in the main-sail. We can get the other down when we get
clear of the island. Get number three jib up, and the leg-of-mutton
mizzen; put two reefs in the foresail."

Tom and his friend Harvey, who was a good sailor, assisted the crew in
reefing down the sails, and a few minutes after the gig had returned and
been hoisted in, the yawl was running rapidly down Southampton waters.

"We need hardly have reefed quite so closely," Jack Harvey said, as he
puffed away at his pipe.

"Not yet, Jack; but you will see she has as much as she can carry before
long. It's all the better to make all snug before starting; it saves a
lot of trouble afterwards, and the extra canvas would not have made ten
minutes' difference to us at the outside. We shall have pretty nearly a
dead beat down the Solent. Fortunately tide will be running strong with
us, but there will be a nasty kick-up there. You will see we shall feel
the short choppy seas there more than we shall when we get outside. She
is a grand boat in a really heavy sea, but in short waves she puts her
nose into it with a will. Now, if you will take my advice, you will do
as I am going to do; put on a pair of fisherman's boots and oilskin and
sou'-wester. There are several sets for you to choose from below."

As her owner had predicted, the _Seabird_ put her bowsprit under pretty
frequently in the Solent; the wind was blowing half a gale, and as it
met the tide it knocked up a short, angry sea, crested with white heads,
and Jack Harvey agreed that she had quite as much sail on her as she
wanted. The cabin doors were bolted, and all made snug to prevent the
water getting below before they got to the race off Hurst Castle; and it
was well that they did so, for she was as much under water as she was
above.

"I think if I had given way to the ladies and brought them with us they
would have changed their minds by this time, Jack," Tom Virtue said,
with a laugh.

"I should think so," his friend agreed; "this is not a day for a
fair-weather sailor. Look what a sea is breaking on the shingles!"

"Yes, five minutes there would knock her into matchwood. Another ten
minutes and we shall be fairly out; and I sha'n't be sorry; one feels as
if one was playing football, only just at present the _Seabird_ is the
ball and the waves the kickers."

Another quarter of an hour and they had passed the Needles.

"That is more pleasant, Jack," as the short,