If I need your assistance, I'll call you in." "Yes, sir," the mate acknowledged submissively.
In the meantime Harrison had started out on the halyards.

I was looking up from the galley door, and I could see him trembling, as if with ague, in every limb.

He proceeded very slowly and cautiously, an inch at a time.

Outlined against the clear blue of the sky, he had the appearance of an enormous spider crawling along the tracery of its web.
It was a slight uphill climb, for the foresail peaked high; and the halyards, running through various blocks on the gaff and mast, gave him separate holds for hands and feet.

But the trouble lay in that the wind was not strong enough nor steady enough to keep the sail full.