I should think it wasn't over three
and three-quarter-inch rope. We all know fifteen tons is enough weight
for that size rope, even with a fourfold purchase, and we understand
you say this stone weighs twenty-one.'
"'I'm sorry, gentlemen,' I said, 'and if you are worried about it you'd
better go 'board the brig, for I'm about ready to pick the stone up and
land her.'
"Well, the Major said he guessed he would, if I was determined to pull
the mast out of my sloop, but the Colonel said he'd stay by and see
it out.
"Just then Bill Nevins stuck his head out of the fo'c's'le. He was
blacker than I was; all smeared with grease and stripped to his waist.
It was hot enough anywhere, but it was sizzlin' down where he was.
"'All ready, Cap'n,' he says. 'She's got every pound she can carry.'
"I looked everything over--saw the butt of the boom was playin' free in
the wooden socket, chucked in a lot of tallow so it could move easy,
give an extra twist to the end of the guy, and hollered to Bill to go
ahead.
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