home, Tripper?" shouted a man from the next
boat.

"Ay, ay, lad!"

"You will get your decks washed before you get to the Mouse!"

"Do them good and save us trouble!" Tripper shouted back.

"Tell the missis if you see her she may expect to see me next Saturday
if the wind is right." Tripper threw up his arm to show he understood,
and then lent his aid in getting up the anchor.

"Put up the helm, Jack; the anchor is free. That is enough. Keep her jib
just full and no more till we have stowed all away here." When the chain
was stowed below, and the anchor securely fastened, Tripper went aft and
hauled in the main-sheet. "Up with the foresail, Tom. That is it. You
keep the tiller, Jack." The two men now proceeded to coil down all the
ropes, and get everything ship-shape and tidy. By the time they had
finished, Harwich was fairly behind them, and they were laying their
course a point or two outside the Naze, throwing the spray high each
time the boat plunged into the short choppy sea.

"Nice place this, Jack," his uncle said. "There is always a sea on the
shallows if the wind is anywhere against tide. No wonder they call it
the Rolling Ground. There, I will take the helm now. You had best get
the compass up; I can't make out the point sometimes through the mist."

An hour and a quarter from the time of getting up the anchor the _Bessy_
was off the point. As soon as the ugly ledge of rocks running far out
under water was weathered, Tripper put down the helm.

"Haul in the sheet, Tom. That is right; now the sail is over. Slack
out--slack out all it will go; the wind is nearly dead aft. Ease off the
jib-sheet, Jack. That is it. Now she is walking along."

The motion was smooth and easy now. The waves were much higher than in
the shelter of the bay, but they were running easily and regularly, in
nearly the same line the boat was following. Coming up threateningly
behind her, they lifted the stern high into the air, passing gently
under her, hurrying her along as she was on the crest, and then passing
on ahead and dropping her gently down into the hollow.

"I think she would stand a reef shaken out, uncle," Jack said.

"She has got quite enough on her, Jack, and is walking along at a grand
pace. Always leave well alone, lad. The squalls come up very strong
sometimes, and I would not carry as much sail as we have got if she were
a cutter with a heavy boom. As it is, we can brail it up at any moment
if need be. We sha'n