"
Lucy and Jack then tried to get the tarpaulin out to windward; instead
of which, it carried them to leeward by the force of the wind. The
mast brought them up, or Heaven knows where their new invention would
have taken them. With infinite difficulty they got it down and kneeled
upon it, and even then it struggled. But Lucy would not be defeated;
she made Jack gather it up in the middle, and roll it first to the
right, then to the left, till it became a solid roll with two narrow
open edges. They then carried it abaft, and lowered it vertically over
the stern-port; then suddenly turned it round, and sat down. "Crack!"
the wind opened it, and wrapped it round the boat and the trio.
"Hallo!" cried David, "it is foul of the rudder;" and, he whipped out
his knife and made a slit in the stuff. It now clung like a blister.
"There, Mr. Dodd, will not that keep the sea out?" asked Lucy,
triumphantly.
"At any rate, it may help to keep us ahead of the sea. Why, Jack, I
seem to feel it lift her; it is as good as a mizzen."
"But, oh, Mr. Dodd, there is another danger. We may broach to."
"How can she broach to when I am at the helm? Here is the arm that
won't let her broach to."
"Then I feel safe."
"You are as safe as on your own sofa; it is the discomfort you are put
to that worries me."
"Don't think so meanly of me, Mr. Dodd. If it was not for my
cowardice, I should enjoy this voyage far more than the luxurious ease
you think so dear to me.
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