nity.

"Don't get mad, Dory. We don't know what a weather helm is any better
than we do what a lee helm is," added Corny, as an apology for the
interruption.

"I was going to tell you what a weather helm is; for, when you know what
one is, you will understand the other: but you keep putting your oars
in, fellows, so that I don't get a chance."

"We won't say another word until we know what a weather helm is, and
what a lee helm is," said Thad. "Dry up, fellows! not another word."

"A boat ought to carry a weather helm," Dory began again; and then he
paused to give his companions a chance to interrupt him.

Corny was just going to remind him that he had said this before, when
Thad put his finger on his lips, and the remark was suppressed. Dory
looked at them all, and found that they intended to "give him the
floor;" and then he proceeded with his explanation.

"The wind don't always blow just the same," Dory proceeded; and Corny
could hardly help making a comment on this sage remark. "I don't mean on
different days, but within the same hour. In other words, the wind don't
come steady. To-day it comes down in heavy flaws. You can see the
effect of the puffs on the top of the water. A vessel keeps tipping a
little in almost any breeze."

The members of the Goldwing Club nodded all around to indicate that they
understood the matter so far.

"When a flaw or puff comes," Dory continued, "it changes the course of
the boat. The helm has to be shifted to meet this change. Almost always
the tiller has to be carried to the weather side of the boat. Do you
know which the weather side of the boat is, fellows?" asked the
expounder of nautical matters.

"It is the side the weather is on, of course," replied Corny.

"It is the side from which the wind comes," added Thad, who thought it
was not quite fair to make fun of the remarks of the skipper when he was
doing his best to have them understand the difficulty with the Goldwing.

"And what do you call the other side?" asked Dory.

"The lee side, I think," answered Thad.

"Right, Thad; and Corny was not so far out of the way as he meant to
be, for to a sailor the wind is about all there is of the weather. When
a flaw comes, and you have to carry the tiller to the weather side of
the boat to keep her on her course, that is a weather helm," Dory
proceeded.

"I see it!" exclaimed Nat Long, as though he had made a great discovery.

"I don't believe you do, Nat," interposed