our way.
There are lots of things to attend to in a boat. You have to watch out for the painter otherwise it gets tangled round your feet and can pull you overboard. You might slip when going ashore and hit your head and drown. You can sail too close to the shore and get caught in the undertow. You can stay too far away from the shore and end up in Estonia in the fog. In the end you go aground and then everything really gets into a pickle. Although he thinks all the time about the things that might go wrong, Daddy loves great waves, particularly if they come from the south-west and get bigger and bigger.
Things turn out just as he said and the wind gets stronger and stronger. So now he doesnât need to be uneasy any longer but can be calm and cheerful while the wind blows.
Alas and alack weâre leaving the shore Oh maiden so fair weâll see you no more. Weâre living under the spritsail on Acre Island and the wind is getting stronger all the time.
The Hermansons and the Seaforths arrived a little later. They have no children. They put up their sail for the night next to ours. And there we all were in the storm. All the females rushed around putting things straight and all the men rolled huge stones and shouted to each other and pulled the boats higher up. When the evening came Mummy wrapped me in a blanket. From under the sail one could see a triangle of heather and surf and the sky that got bigger or smaller as the sail flapped in the wind. All night the men went down to the shore to see that everything was as it should be. They pulled up the boats and measured the height of the water and estimated the strength of the wind out on the point. From time to time Daddy came in to see whether we were still there and stuffed his pockets full of bread. He looked at me and knew that I was enjoying the storm just as much as he was.
Next morning we discovered a motorboat on the far side of the island. It lay there quite abandoned bumping up against the rocks; two planks had split and it was half full of water. And they had had no oars with them. They hadnât even risked their lives trying to save the boat.
Itâs just as I have always said, you can never rely on a motor, it just breaks down. People who go out to sea might well bother themselves to learn something about it first. They have never seen a spritsail in their lives and go and buy boats with high gunnels and then leave them lying on the beach without any tar and so they get leaky and become a disgrace to the whole community.
We stood looking at the boat for a while and then went straight up the shore and looked in the clump of willows behind the rocks on the beach, and there it all was â two-gallon canisters like a silver carpet under the bushes as far as you couldsee and a little higher up they had tucked the brandy under some spruce trees. Well, Daddy said. Well! It canât be true!
All the men started to run all over the place and the females followed with Mummy and me last, running as fast as we could.
On the lee-side Daddy and Mr Hermanson were talking to three soaking-wet fellows who were eating our sandwiches. The females and Mr Seaforth were standing a little way away. Then daddy came up to us and said, now this is what weâre going to do. Hermanson and I will take them home because they have been drifting for three days without food and can hardly stand on their feet. If all goes well, each family will get four bottles and three canisters. Seaforth canât go with us as a matter of principle because heâs a customs man himself.
We sat in a row and watched them sail away. Sometimes you could get a glimpse of the boat but sometimes you couldnât see them at all.
Mrs Seaforth looked at Mr Seaforth and said: think carefully what youâre doing.
Iâm thinking all right! He answered. Do you think this is easy for me? But Iâve made up my mind. I shanât take any notice of the whole thing, and I
There are lots of things to attend to in a boat. You have to watch out for the painter otherwise it gets tangled round your feet and can pull you overboard. You might slip when going ashore and hit your head and drown. You can sail too close to the shore and get caught in the undertow. You can stay too far away from the shore and end up in Estonia in the fog. In the end you go aground and then everything really gets into a pickle. Although he thinks all the time about the things that might go wrong, Daddy loves great waves, particularly if they come from the south-west and get bigger and bigger.
Things turn out just as he said and the wind gets stronger and stronger. So now he doesnât need to be uneasy any longer but can be calm and cheerful while the wind blows.
Alas and alack weâre leaving the shore Oh maiden so fair weâll see you no more. Weâre living under the spritsail on Acre Island and the wind is getting stronger all the time.
The Hermansons and the Seaforths arrived a little later. They have no children. They put up their sail for the night next to ours. And there we all were in the storm. All the females rushed around putting things straight and all the men rolled huge stones and shouted to each other and pulled the boats higher up. When the evening came Mummy wrapped me in a blanket. From under the sail one could see a triangle of heather and surf and the sky that got bigger or smaller as the sail flapped in the wind. All night the men went down to the shore to see that everything was as it should be. They pulled up the boats and measured the height of the water and estimated the strength of the wind out on the point. From time to time Daddy came in to see whether we were still there and stuffed his pockets full of bread. He looked at me and knew that I was enjoying the storm just as much as he was.
Next morning we discovered a motorboat on the far side of the island. It lay there quite abandoned bumping up against the rocks; two planks had split and it was half full of water. And they had had no oars with them. They hadnât even risked their lives trying to save the boat.
Itâs just as I have always said, you can never rely on a motor, it just breaks down. People who go out to sea might well bother themselves to learn something about it first. They have never seen a spritsail in their lives and go and buy boats with high gunnels and then leave them lying on the beach without any tar and so they get leaky and become a disgrace to the whole community.
We stood looking at the boat for a while and then went straight up the shore and looked in the clump of willows behind the rocks on the beach, and there it all was â two-gallon canisters like a silver carpet under the bushes as far as you couldsee and a little higher up they had tucked the brandy under some spruce trees. Well, Daddy said. Well! It canât be true!
All the men started to run all over the place and the females followed with Mummy and me last, running as fast as we could.
On the lee-side Daddy and Mr Hermanson were talking to three soaking-wet fellows who were eating our sandwiches. The females and Mr Seaforth were standing a little way away. Then daddy came up to us and said, now this is what weâre going to do. Hermanson and I will take them home because they have been drifting for three days without food and can hardly stand on their feet. If all goes well, each family will get four bottles and three canisters. Seaforth canât go with us as a matter of principle because heâs a customs man himself.
We sat in a row and watched them sail away. Sometimes you could get a glimpse of the boat but sometimes you couldnât see them at all.
Mrs Seaforth looked at Mr Seaforth and said: think carefully what youâre doing.
Iâm thinking all right! He answered. Do you think this is easy for me? But Iâve made up my mind. I shanât take any notice of the whole thing, and I
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