Seeing them coming up, the midshipman laughed, and told Dick
what was in store for him.
The boy had been as awkward as most beginners in climbing the shrouds,
the looseness and give of the ratlines puzzling him; but he had, for
years, practised climbing ropes in the gymnasium at Shadwell, and was
confident in his power to do anything in that way. The consequence was
that, as soon as the sailors gained the top, where he and the
midshipman were standing, Dick seized one of the halliards and, with a
merry laugh, came down hand over hand. A minute later, he stood on the
deck.
"Well done, youngster," said the boatswain's mate, who happened to be
standing by, as Dick's feet touched the deck. "This may be the first
time you have been on board a ship, but it is easy to see that it
isn't the first, by a long way, that you have been on a rope. Could
you go up again?"
"Yes, I should think so," Dick said. "I have never climbed so high as
that, because I have never had the chance; but it ought to be easy
enough."
The man laughed.
"There are not many sailors who can do it," he said. "Well, let us see
how high you will get."
As Dick was accustomed to go up a rope thirty feet high, hand over
hand, without using his legs, he was confident that, with their
assistance, he could get up to the main top, lofty as it was, and he
at once threw off his jacket and started.
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