midday
You may make your mind easy on that score ! '' With these words , Bob sprang forward on the fo ` c 's ` le and began loosening the jib from its fastenings ; while Dick , now that his scruples were overcome , set to work casting off the gaskets of the mainsail , the two boys then manning the halliards with a will , and hoisting the throat of the sail well up . The jib was then set , its sheet being slackened until Dick slipped the buoy marking the yacht 's moorings overboard ; when , the tack being hauled aft , and the mainsail peaked , the bows of the cutter paid off and she walked away close-hauled , standing out towards `` No Man 's Fort , '' on the starboard tack . It was now past midday and the tide was making into the harbour ; so that , as the wind from the south-west had got rather slight , veering round to the southwards , the cutter did not gain much of an offing , losing in leeway nearly all she got in beating out to windward . `` I vote we let her run off a little towards the Nab , '' said Bob , seeing what little progress they made towards the fort ; and he , being the steersman , put the helm up , easing off at the same time the sheet of the mainsail ; Dick , who was in the bows , attending to the jib . `` It 's awful poor fun drifting like this ! '' `` Mind you turns back agen when the tide begins to run out ! ''