eyes.

By means of deck-tackles I had arranged to carry the halyards forward to
the windlass; and now I hoisted the mainsail, peak and throat, at the
same time. It was a clumsy way, but it did not take long, and soon the
foresail as well was up and fluttering.

"We can never get that anchor up in this narrow place, once it has left
the bottom," I said. "We should be on the rocks first."

"What can you do?" she asked.

"Slip it," was my answer. "And when I do, you must do your first work on
the windlass. I shall have to run at once to the wheel, and at the same
time you must be hoisting the jib."

This manoeuvre of getting under way I had studied and worked out a score
of times; and, with the jib-halyard to the windlass, I knew Maud was
capable of hoisting that most necessary sail. A brisk wind was blowing
into the cove, and though the water was calm, rapid work was required to
get us safely out.

When I knocked the shackle-bolt loose, the chain roared out through the
hawse-hole and into the sea. I raced aft, putting the wheel up. The
_Ghost_ seemed to start into life as she heeled to the first fill of her
sails. The jib was rising. As it filled, the _Ghost's_ bow swung off
and I had to put the wheel down a few spokes and steady her.

I had devised an automatic jib-sheet which passed the jib across of
itself, so there was no need for Maud to attend to that; but she was
still hoisting the jib when I put the wheel hard down. It was a moment
of anxiety, for the _Ghost_ was rushing directly upon the beach, a
stone's throw distant. But she swung obediently on her heel into the
wind. There was a great fluttering and flapping of canvas and
reef-points, most welcome to my ears, then she filled away on the other
tack.

Maud had finished her task and come aft, where she stood beside me, a
small cap perched on her wind-blown hair, her cheeks flushed from
exertion, her eyes wide and bright with the excitement, her nostrils
quivering to the rush and bite of the fresh salt air. Her brown eyes
were like a startled deer's. There was a wild, keen look in them I had
never seen before, and her lips parted and her breath suspended as the
_Ghost_, charging upon the wall of rock at the entrance to the inner
cove, swept into the wind and filled away into safe water.

My first mate's berth on the sealing grounds stood me in good stead, and
I cleared the inner cove and laid a long tack along the shore of the
outer cove.