y to throw the grapnel, a small
anchor with four flukes, overboard, as much to assure the impatient
oarsmen that there was to be no rowing at present, as to hold the boat
where she was.

"Now, boys, I want you to larn somethin', so as to know where you are.
Some on you better write it down; and don't forgit it."

Several of them took paper and pencils from their pockets, and were
ready to write down what was said.

"The for'd part of the boat is the bow; also the fore-sheets,"
continued the old sailor. "The after part, where the coxswain sets, is
the starn-sheets. The middle of the boat is the waist. Enough of that
for now. Do you know what an oar is?"

"Of course we do, Uncle Ben!" shouted the crew.

"An oar has three parts," said the instructor.

"It is all in one piece," added one of the boys.

"So is your head all in one piece; but haven't you got any nose, ears,
and chin. An oar has three parts,--the blade, the loom, and the handle.
The blade is the part you put in the water. The handle is the part you
take hold of. The loom is the round part between the blade and the
handle. Can you remember that if you haven't writ it down?"

"We know all that like a book," replied Fred Harper.

"This is a carvel-built boat; that is, her planking runs fore and aft,"
Uncle Ben explained, using gestures to indicate the direction.
"Planking may mean boards or thinner stuff. The planks are jointed at
the edges so as to fit close, and the spaces between are stuffed with
oakum, which is called calking. A clinker-built boat is put together in
the same way, but one plank laps over another; and we generally call
this kind of boat a lap-streak. Now, youngsters, we are going to take
the oars--not yet, till you know how to do it. The first command of the
coxswain will be 'Up oars!' They lay now across the thwarts."

"Across what?" asked one of them.

"The thwarts: lubbers call them the seats," replied the old seaman,
laughing. "You set backwards when you row, all facing the coxswain.
Them as is on the starboard side has the oars on their left. Those on
the port has 'em on their right, just where you will put them when you
boat your oars after you have done using them. Now, Frank, you will
give the first command; but not one of you will obey it, for you don't
know how."

"Up oars!" said the coxswain in a commanding tone.

"At this order, you will pick up your oars, and hold them up straight,
with the blades athwartships, or ac