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And the strokes are given; but no longer to propel it in that direction, for the point of the land spit is now on her beam, the helm is put hard-a-port, bringing the boat's head round with a sharp sheer to starboard, and she is clear of the cove! The mast being already stepped, Ned and Henry now drop their oars and hasten to hoist sail.
A prairie schooner. A long canvas-covered wagon used especially by emigrants crossing the prairies. Skimmer-bugs. Bugs that skip or glide over the surface of the water. Luff. To turn the head of a vessel towards the wind. Hard-a-port is a direction given to the helmsman, meaning to put the helm quickly to the port or left side.
So overboard a keg of nails And anvils three we threw, Likewise four bales of gunny-sacks, Two hundred pounds of glue, Two sacks of corn, four ditto wheat, A box of books, a cow, A violin, Lord Byron's works, A rip-saw and a sow. A curve! a curve! the dangers grow! "Labbord! stabbord! s-t-e-a-d-y! so! Hard-a-port, Dol! hellum-a-lee! Haw the head mule! the aft one gee! Luff! bring her to the wind!"
"Hard-a-port! hard a-port! There's a ship right under our bows, sir!" The helm was promptly put over, the schooner sheered out of the wake of the black mass ahead apparently a craft of considerable size, and we ranged up on her starboard quarter.
Then the levers moved again, and the ship went hard-a-port as Chet caught again one fleeting glimpse of shadow below that could only be the markings of a building he had known well. "Hold her there, Spud!" he shouted. "He'll be back in a minute or two! He'll get us next time!" Chet was reaching for the straps of a 'chute.
The helm of the enemy's steamer had been put hard-a-port; and as she promptly came about, the sharp bow of the Bellevite shot past her quarter, and she barely escaped the blow. It look as though those on board of either vessel could have leaped to the deck of the other. "What is the reason she don't fire upon the Bellevite?" asked Christy, when he felt that the crisis was past.
He could not prevent the "Scourge" from broaching-to, so, ordering the helm to be put hard-a-port, he luffed us right athwart the Frenchman's stern, pouring in the larboard broadside, which had been disengaged since our opening fire, with such good effect that the French ship's main-yard was shot away, and the mainmast-head badly wounded.
The Union vessel's helm was then put hard-a-port, swinging her broadside to bear upon her approaching foe, who was naturally expected to imitate the movement, opposing side to side to avoid being raked.
The Victorieuse and the Medusa appeared to have taken no more than a few scars; but the third ship, the Baleine, listing heavily to larboard so as to keep the great gash in her starboard well above water, was out of account. "You see!" he cried to van der Kuylen, and without waiting for the Dutchman's approving grunt, he shouted an order: "Helm, hard-a-port!"
There was a cry at that moment a cry such as might have chilled the blood in the stoutest heart "Rocks ahead!" "Port! port! hard-a-port!" shouted the men. Their hoarse voices rose above the gale, but not above the terrible roar of the surf, which now mingled with the din of the storm. The order was repeated by the mate, who sprang to the wheel and assisted in obeying it.
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