"Now, young masters, you will take those two bunks on the top there.
John Lirriper and I will sleep on the lockers underneath you. The
man and the boy have the two on the other side. I put you on the
top because there is a side board, and you can't fall out if she
rolls, and besides, the bunks are rather wider than the lockers
below. If the wind is fair you won't have much of our company,
because we shall hold on till we moor alongside the wharves of
London; but if it's foul, or there is not enough of it to take us
against tide, we have to anchor on the ebb, and then of course we
turn in."

"How long do you take getting from here to London?"

"Ah, that I can tell you more about when I see what the weather
is like in the morning. With a strong fair wind I have done it in
twenty-four hours, and again with the wind foul it has taken me
nigh a week. Taking one trip with another I should put it at three
days."

"Well, now we will be going ashore," John Lirriper said. "I will
leave my barge alongside till tide turns, for I could not get her
back again to the jetty so long as it is running in strong, so I
will be off again in a couple of hours."

So saying he hauled up the dinghy that was towing behind the barge,
and he and Dick rowed the two boys ashore. Then he walked along
with them to a spot where several craft were hauled up, pointing
out to them the differences in their rig and build, and explained
their purpose, and gave them the names of the principal ropes and
stays.