The other boys immediately began to take the oars, and they all advanced together toward the boat, to get in.

“Stop,” exclaimed Marco, “stop, boys! you must not go aboard without an order.  I’m coxswain; you must wait till I tell you, before one of you goes aboard.  John, come out.”

John, who had stepped into the boat, came back again on hearing this peremptory order, and the boys waited on the bank.  Marco then told them to put the oars in.  The boys began to pitch them in, in confusion, some falling upon the thwarts, and some into the bottom of the boat.

“No,—­stop,” said Marco; “that isn’t the way.  Put ’em in in order.”

“Yes, put ’em in order,” said John.  “Let’s put ’em in order.”

“Lay ’em along the thwarts,” said Marco, “the blades forward.”

Marco explained to the boys how to place the oars.  They were laid along the middle of the thwarts so as to leave room to sit by the side of them.  They were placed in such a manner that the handle of one came upon each seat.

“Aboard!” said Marco, in a military tone.

The boys did not understand that order, and of course did not obey it.

“Aboard, I say!” repeated Marco; “when I say Aboard, you must all get into the boat.”

With this explanation of the word of command, the boys understood what they were to do, and got aboard the boat as fast as they could.  There was much confusion among them in getting their seats.  Several of them began to take up their oars, until they were forbidden to do so by Marco, in a loud voice.

“You must not touch the oars,” said he, “until I say Toss.  Then you must take them and toss them right up in the air.”

“How?” said one of the boys, named Joseph.  “How, Marco?”

This question was scarcely heard amid the confusion.

“Be silent, boys; don’t talk, and don’t stop to ask how, but do just as I tell you.”

Marco was so much accustomed to the idea which sailors attach to the word toss, and to the manner in which they perform the evolution, that he forgot how many different ways there might be of tossing up an oar.  The proper way is, when the command is given, for each oarsman to raise the blade of his oar quick, but gently, into the air, letting the end of the handle rest upon the thwart.  It is then in a position to be let down into the water conveniently when the next order, which is, Let fall, is given.

The raising of the oars, and then letting them fall, all exactly together, by the crew of a man-of-war’s boat, makes a very pretty spectacle.