noon
Those seven days had made a vast amount of difference to Dick Maitland , so far as his usefulness as a seaman was concerned . In that comparatively brief period he had contrived not only to learn the name and function of every bit of running rigging in the ship , but also to lay his hand unerringly upon any required halyard , brace , sheet , downhaul , clewline , or other item of gear in the darkest night ; he was as active and almost as handy aloft as the smartest A.B. in the ship ; and he proved to be a born helmsman , standing his `` trick '' at the wheel from the very first , and leaving a straighter wake behind him than any of the other men , even when the ship was scudding before a heavy following sea . Mr Sutcliffe , the chief mate , was delighted with his young _ protege _ , and declared , in unnecessarily picturesque language , that he would qualify the boy to perform the duties of an able seaman before Natal Bluff should heave in sight . But Dick was to prove his mettle in quite another fashion before long ; for the strong south-westerly breeze which the _ Concordia _ encountered on her seventh day out rapidly developed into so furious a gale that , after battling with it for some fourteen hours , Captain Roberts decided to heave-to under close-reefed fore and main topsails , and at eight bells -- noon -- the order was accordingly given to clew up and furl the already reefed courses , and to haul down and stow the fore-topmast staysail . This , under the weather conditions of the moment , was a task requiring the services of all hands , and by the orders of the chief mate , who was conducting the operations , Dick was stationed at the weather fore clew-garnet , with three other hands . The men , having gone to their stations , were waiting for the word of command when suddenly the chain main-tack carried away , and the part attached to the sail , acting like a whip , struck one of the men who was standing by to ease it away , smashed the poor fellow 's right arm above the elbow , shattered his jaw , and laid open his right cheek from the turn of the jaw to the right ear , which was all but torn away from the man 's head ; the force of the blow also was such as to dash the unfortunate fellow against the bulwarks so violently that he instantly fell to the deck senseless . The accident , naturally , at once occasioned the utmost confusion , in the midst of which the mainsail promptly threshed itself to rags , the mate sprang down the poop ladder and rushed to the spot , yelling a whole string of orders , to which nobody paid the slightest attention , and Dick , with two or three others , abandoned their posts and ran to the injured man 's assistance .