CHAPTER X

ACROSS THE STEPPING-STONES


Very good boats were built at this time in the south of England, stout,
that is to say, and strong, and fit to ride over a heavy sea, and plunge
gallantly into the trough of it. But as the strongest men are seldom
swift of foot or light of turn, so these robust and sturdy boats must
have their own time and swing allowed them, ere ever they would come
round or step out. Having met a good deal of the sea, they knew, like
a man who has felt a good deal of the world, that heavy endurance
and patient bluffness are safer to get through the waves somehow than
sensitive fibre and elegant frame.

But the sea-going folk of Springhaven had learned, by lore of
generations, to build a boat with an especial sheer forward, beam far
back, and deep run of stern, so that she was lively in the heaviest of
weather, and strong enough to take a good thump smiling, when unable to
dance over it. Yet as a little thing often makes all the difference in
great things, it was very difficult for anybody to find out exactly
the difference between a boat built here and a boat built ten or twenty
miles off, in imitation of her. The sea, however, knew the difference in
a moment between the true thing and the counterfeit, and encouraged
the one to go merrily on, while it sent back the other staggering. The
secret lay chiefly in a hollow curve forward of nine or ten planks upon
either side, which could only be compassed by skilful use of adze and
chisel, frame-saw and small tools, after choice of the very best timber,