"What do you think of the weather, Watkins?" he asked his skipper.
"It's going to blow hard, sir; that's my view of it, and if I was
you I shouldn't up anchor today. Still, it's just as you likes; the
Seabird won't mind it if we don't. She has had a rough time of it
before now; still, it will be a case of wet jackets, and no mistake."
"Yes, I expect we shall have a rough time of it, Watkins, but I
want to get across. We don't often let ourselves be weather bound,
and I am not going to begin it today. We had better house the
topmast at once, and get two reefs in the mainsail. We can get the
other down when we get clear of the island. Get number three jib
up, and the leg of mutton mizzen; put two reefs in the foresail."
Tom and his friend Harvey, who was a good sailor, assisted the
crew in reefing down the sails, and a few minutes after the gig
had returned and been hoisted in, the yawl was running rapidly down
Southampton waters.
"We need hardly have reefed quite so closely," Jack Harvey said,
as he puffed away at his pipe.
"Not yet, Jack; but you will see she has as much as she can carry
before long. It's all the better to make all snug before starting;
it saves a lot of trouble afterwards, and the extra canvas would
not have made ten minutes' difference to us at the outside.
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