g why she did so, and then found that
she had to cut the mousing and catch the remaining corner of the sail
with the hooks. When at last she triumphantly hoisted it the thing went
up in a kind of bundle. Its own sheet was wrapped round it twice, and
a jib sheet which had somehow wandered away from its proper place got
twined round and round the boom which remained immovable near the mast.
Priscilla surveyed the result of her work with a puzzled frown. Then she
lowered the sail and turned to Frank.

"I thoroughly understand spinnakers," she said, "in theory. I don't
suppose that there's a single thing known about them that I don't know.
But they're beastly confusing things when you come to deal with them
in practical life. Lots of other things are like that. It's exactly the
same with algebra. I expect I've told you that I simply loathe algebra.
Well, that's the reason. I understand it all right, but when it comes
to doing it, it comes out just like that spinnaker. However it doesn't
really matter. That's the great comfort about most things. You get on
quite well enough without them, though of course you would get on better
with, if you could do them."

The _Tortoise_ did in fact slip along at a very satisfactory pace in
spite of the lightness of the wind. It was just half past eight when
they reached the mouth of the bay in which they had lunched the day
before with Miss Rutherford.

"I feel rather," said Priscilla, "as if I could do with a little
breakfast There's no use going on shore. Let's anchor and eat what we
want in the boat."

Frank who was very hungry agreed at once. He rounded the boat up into
the wind and Priscilla flung the anchor overboard. Then she picked her
parcels one by one from the folds of the spinnaker in which they had
wrapped themselves.

"It won't do," she said, "to eat everything today at the first go off
the way we did yesterday. Specially as we've promised to give Miss
Rutherford luncheon. The duck, for instance, had better be kept."

She laid the duck down again and covered it, a little regretfully,
with the spinnaker. She took up the jampot which contained the caramel
pudding. Her face brightened as she looked at it.

"By the way, Cousin Frank," she said. "That word is inviolable."

"That word?"

"The sanctuary and secret word," said Priscilla. "Don't you remember
I couldn't get it last night But I did after I went to sleep which was
jolly lucky. I hopped up at once and wrote it