Young
Hopeful crawled from the throat of the gaff to the very end of the spar,
and then proceeded to swarm up the gaff halyards--a most perilous
proceeding. The father was aghast; he whispered hurriedly, "Pull, for
God's sake; she'll roll him overboard before we get up." But the young
monkey did not part with his hold so easily, and he came down by the
rings of the mainsail without so much as grazing his shins.
In every vessel the men must have a plaything, and Jack served his
bigger comrades admirably in that capacity. Had not his father been on
board, the lad might have been ill-used in the horrible way so common in
the old days; but the stern skipper allowed no rough play, and the boy
was merely set on to perform harmless tricks. Once the men dared him to
climb down the bobstay, and he instantly tried; but he gave the crew a
scare, for he could not climb back after the vessel had dipped him a few
times, and, last of all, the boat was towered to rescue him. In hard
weather and amid hard work, Jack grew steadily in strength and skill.
Pages:
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228