and sat down
again.

"Well, you have got through all the danger, at any rate," said Rollo,
"now that we are inside the land."

"On the contrary," said the captain, "we are just coming into the
danger. There is very little danger for a good ship, whether it is a
sailing ship or a steamer, out in the open sea. It is only when she
comes among the rocks, and shoals, and currents, and other dangers which
thicken along the margin of the land, that she has much to fear. Ships
are almost always cast away, when they are cast away at all, near or
upon the land."

"Is that the way?" replied Rollo. "I thought they were cast away at sea.
I am sure it _looks_ a great deal safer here than it does out in the
middle of the ocean."

"I suppose so, to your eyes," replied the captain. "But you will see, by
reflecting on the subject, that it is, in fact, just the contrary. If a
very violent storm comes up when the ship is out in the open sea, it can
ordinarily do no harm, only to drive the ship off her course, or
perhaps carry away some of her spars or sails. If there is no land in
the way, she is in very little danger. But it is very different if a
gale of wind comes up suddenly in such a place as this."

"And how is it here?" asked Rollo.

"Why, in the case of a good steamer like this," said the captain, "it
makes no great difference here; for we go straight forward on our
course, as long as we can see, let it blow as it will. But a sailing
vessel would very probably not be able to stand against it, but would be
driven off toward any rocks, or sand banks, or shores that might happen
to be in the way."

"And so she would certainly be wrecked," said Rollo.

"No, not certainly," replied the captain. "As soon as they found that
the water was shoaling, they would anchor."

"How do they know when the water is shoaling?" asked Rollo.

"By the lead," replied the captain. "Did you never sound with the lead
and line?"

"No, sir," replied Rollo.

"Well, they have a lead, and a long line," rejoined the captain, "and
they let the lead down to the bottom by means of the line, and so learn
how deep the water is. The lead is round and long. It is about as large
round, and about as long, as Jennie's arm, from her elbow to her wrist,
and there is a small cavity in the lower end of it."

"What is that for?" asked Rollo.

"That is to bring up some of the sand, or mud, or gravel, or whatever it
may be, that forms the bottom," replied the ca