the open space behind the cabin
heretofore described,--the good-natured and kindly Captain in the midst
of them, firmly holding the helm or tiller of his boat, and guiding it
with steady hand wherever he wished it to go, cracking a pleasant joke
now and then, and enjoying in all the fulness of his big, warm heart the
joyous delight of his young guests. And he was in no hurry to stop the
sport, for he ran on clear across the harbor, and then said he would
"'bout ship," and put back again.

"What's 'bout ship?" inquired William.

"That's going about on the other tack," replied the Captain.

"What's going about on the other tack?" asked William, as wise as he was
before.

"I'll show you," said the Captain. "Now see here: first I give the
proper order, as if somebody else was giving it to me, and I was the man
at the wheel: 'Hard-a-lee,' do you observe;--now look, I put the helm
down as far as I can jam it,--there;--look now, how that turns the boat
and brings her up into the wind,--you see the sails begin to
shiver,--the wind is blowing right in your faces now;--now we have
turned nearly round; the boat, you see, has come up on an even
keel,--level, you know;--now look out sharp for your heads there,--the
boom is going to jibe over to the other side;--there, don't you see
we've turned round,--that house over there near the beach that was
almost ahead of us is now behind us. There goes the boom,--bang! There
fills the sail, see it bulging out,--the jib, you see, shakes a little
yet,--but there she goes now filled out like the other; and now you see
I've got the helm back where I had it before, in the middle, 'steady,'
you know, and there goes the _Alice_ off on the starboard tack, and an
easy bowline back towards the Mariner's Rest again. Wasn't that nicely
done?"

"Splendid! splendid!" cried William; "I wish I could do it."

"I'll teach you,--it's easy learned," answered the Captain; "but look
out there, or you'll go overboard; get up to windward, and trim the
boat; you see we are leaning over to the other side now."

And thus the Captain kept on "tacking" across the harbor, going to and
fro, for more than an hour, enjoying every minute of it just as much as
the children did. When at length, however, the children began to quiet
down a little (the sharp edge of novelty being worn off), the Captain
ran into shoal water, and brought his boat's head once more up into the
wind; but this time, instead of letting her head