ls, a pair of pliers, a small piece of zinc, a little
white lead, for mending a leak. Of course there was a bottle of oil for
the lantern; and Mrs. Schuyler added a box of pills and a bottle of
"Hamlin's Mixture" as medical stores. The boys wore blue flannel
trousers and shirts, and each one carried an extra pair of trousers, and
an extra shirt instead of a coat. These, with a few pairs of stockings
and two or three handkerchiefs, were all the clothing that they needed,
so Uncle John said; though the boys had imagined that they must take at
least two complete suits. He showed them that two flannel shirts worn at
the same time, one over the other, would be as warm as one shirt and a
coat, and that if their clothing became wet, it could be easily dried.
"Flannel and the compass are the two things that are indispensable to
navigation," said Uncle John. "If flannel shirts had not been invented,
Columbus would never have crossed the Atlantic." Perhaps there was a
little exaggeration in this; but when we remember that flannel is the
only material that is warm in cold weather and cool in hot weather, and
that dries almost as soon as it is wrung out and hung in the wind, it is
difficult to see how sailors could do without it.

The boys agreed very readily to take with them only what Uncle John
advised. Tom Schuyler, however, was very anxious to take a heavy iron
vise, which, he said, could be screwed on the gunwale of the boat, and
might prove to be very useful, although he could not say precisely what
he expected to use it for. Joe Sharpe also wanted to take a base-ball
and bat, but neither the vise nor the ball and bat were taken.

The _Whitewing_ started from the foot of East
One-hundred-and-twenty-seventh Street on a Monday morning in the middle
of July, at about nine o'clock. Quite a small crowd of friends were
present to see the boys off, and the neat appearance of the boat and her
crew attracted the attention of all the idlers along the shore. When all
the cargo was stowed, and everything was ready, Uncle John called the
boys aside, and said, "Now, boys, you must sign the articles."

"What are articles?" asked all the boys at once.

"They are certain regulations which every respectable pirate, or any
other sailor, for that matter, must agree to keep when he joins a ship.
I'll read the articles, and if any of you don't like any one of them,
say so frankly, for you must not begin a cruise in a dissatisfied state
of mind