chopping motion was
exchanged for a regular rise and fall; "this is what I enjoy--a steady
wind and a regular sea. The _Seabird_ goes over it like one of her
namesakes; she is not taking a teacupful now over her bows.

"Watkins, you may as well take the helm for a spell, while we go down to
lunch. I am not sorry to give it up for a bit, for it has been jerking
like the kick of a horse.

"That's right, Jack, hang up your oilskin there. Johnson, give us a
couple of towels; we have been pretty well smothered up there on deck.
Now what have you got for us?"

"There is some soup ready, sir, and that cold pie you had for dinner
yesterday."

"That will do; open a couple of bottles of stout."

Lunch, over, they went on deck again.

"She likes a good blow as well as we do," Virtue said, enthusiastically,
as the yawl rose lightly over each wave. "What do you think of it,
Watkins? Is the wind going to lull a bit as the sun goes down?"

"I think not, sir. It seems to me it's blowing harder than it was."

"Then we will prepare for the worst, Watkins; get the try-sail up on
deck. When you are ready we will bring her up into the wind and set it.
That's the comfort of a yawl, Jack; one can always lie to without any
bother, and one hasn't got such a tremendous boom to handle."

The try-sail was soon on deck, and then the _Seabird_ was brought up
into the wind, the weather fore-sheet hauled aft, the mizzen sheeted
almost fore and aft, and the _Seabird_ lay, head to wind, rising and
falling with a gentle motion, in strong contrast to her impetuous rushes
when under sail.

"She would ride out anything like that," her owner said. "Last time we
came through the Bay on our way from Gib., we were caught in a gale
strong enough to blow the hair off one's head, and we lay to for nearly
three days, and didn't ship a bucket of water all the time. Now let us
lend a hand to get the main-sail stowed."

Ten minutes' work and it was securely fastened and its cover on; two
reefs were put in the try-sail. Two hands went to each of the halliards,
while, as the sail rose, Tom Virtue fastened the toggles round the mast.

"All ready, Watkins?"

"All ready, sir."

"Slack off the weather fore-sheet, then, and haul aft the leeward. Slack
out the mizzen-sheet a little, Jack. That's it; now she's off again,
like a duck."

The _Seabird_ felt the relief from the pressure of the heavy boom to
leeward and rose easily and lightly over the waves.