? ? ? ? Just then a puff, slightly stronger than usual, struck us. The boat was caught as it obliquely crossed the crest of a wave. It went over suddenly, burying its gunwale level with the sea and shipping a bucketful or so of water. I was opening a can of tongue at the moment, and I sprang to the sheet and cast it off just in time. The sail flapped and fluttered, and the boat paid off. A few minutes of regulating sufficed to put it on its course again, when I returned to the preparation of breakfast.
? ? ? ? 'It does very well, it seems, though I am not versed in things nautical,' she said, nodding her head with grave approval at my steering contrivance.
? ? ? ? 'But it will serve only when we are sailing by the wind,' I explained. 'When running more freely, with the wind astern, abeam, or on the quarter, it will be necessary for me to steer.
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