Explore "All Taut" by Oliver Optic on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The wind was from the west, and there was but little of it. Tom knew a great deal more about sailing a boat than when he tried to handle the Goldwing; and he trimmed the sails on the port-tack so that the schooner went along very well, though she was making not more than two knots an hour. It was very dark, and the gloom of the night was rather trying to the new skipper. But he could see the light on Split Rock Point, and steered for that.
It was very quiet on the lake at midnight, for there was nothing to create a particle of excitement. There was nothing to be done to the sails; for Tom could hardly see them, and he was not skilful enough to know their condition from the feeling. He had sent Kidd Digfield and Pell Sankland to the forecastle to keep a lookout, while the other four remained in the standing-room with the chief.