Then he laid the oars softly in the bows and dropped the rope into the bottom, and began to push the boat slowly down to the sea.  The boys did as he had told them to do, and in a few minutes the bows were in the rippling water.  The old sailor took off his shoes and stockings and put them on board, and rolled up his trousers.  Then with a strong push he sent her down over the pebbles and got upon the bows as she floated out.  To look at his heavy form you would not have thought that he could move so lightly and quickly when he pleased.  In a moment he was standing over the oars and backing to the beach again for the boys to get in.  They stood above their knees in the warm water and handed him the chocks before they got on board.  He nodded as though satisfied, but said nothing as he pulled away towards the rocky point.  The lads sat silently in the stern, wondering whither he was taking them.  He certainly had brought no fishing tackle with him.  There was not even a torch and harpoon aboard for spearing the fish.  He pulled rapidly and steadily as though he were going on an errand and were in a hurry, keeping close under the high rocks as soon as he was clear of the reefs at the cape.  At last, nearly an hour after starting, the boys made out a great deserted tower just ahead.  Then Antonino stopped pulling, unshipped his oars one after the other and muffled them just where the strap works on the thole-pin, by binding bits of sailcloth round them.  He produced the canvas and the rope-yarn from his pockets, and the boys watched his quick, workmanlike movements without understanding what he was doing.  When he began to pull again the oars made no noise against the tholes, and he dipped the blades gently into the water, as he pulled past the tower into the sheltered bay beyond.

Then a vessel loomed up suddenly under the great cliffs, and a moment later he was under her side, tapping softly against the planking.  The boys held their breath and watched him.  Presently a dark head appeared above the bulwarks and remained stationary for a while.  Antonino stood up in his boat so as to lessen the distance and make himself more easily recognisable.  Then a hand appeared beside the head and made a gesture, then dived down and came up again with the end of a rope, lowering it down into the boat.  Antonino gave the line to Ruggiero and then stepped off upon the great hook on the martingane’s side to which the chain links for beaching, got hold of the after shroud and swung himself on board.

Now it may be as well to say here what a martingane is.  She is a good-sized, decked vessel, generally between five-and-twenty and a hundred tons, with good beam and full bows, narrow at the stern and rather high out of water unless very heavily laden.  She has one stout mast, cross-trees, and a light topmast.  She has an enormous yard, much longer than herself, on which is bent the high peaked mainsail.  She carries a gaff-top-sail, fore-staysail, jib and flying-jib, and can rig out all sorts of light sails when she is before the wind.  She is a good sea boat, but slow and clumsy, and needs a strong crew to handle her.