THE FISHERMAN’S BOY. 39

drenched with water; but this was of no
great consequence, for it soon began to rain
in torrents, and as there was very little
shelter, they were both soon pretty well wet
through. But this was not the worst of it;
for it became so thick with the rain falling,
and the mist and spray, that they began to
be afraid they should lose sight of the shore,
as they were going farther and farther away
from it. But fortunately the wind soon
lulled, so that the fisherman thought he
might get up his sail again, and head to-
wards the shore.”

‘Yes, but the wind was blowing off of
the shore,” said Rollo; “and so he could
not sail back home.”

“Yes, he could,” said Jonas. ‘ They
have a curious way of fixing the sail so as
to go towards the land, even when the wind
is blowing off from it. They can’t go ez-
actly against the wind, but nearly against
it ;— they call it sailing near the wind.

“So the fisherman got his sail up, and
brought the head of the boat up to the wind,
and began to edge along towards the shore,
in a slanting direction. But it now began
to grow dark pretty fast, and very soon he