Swallows and Amazons

BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN

The island had come to seem one of those places seen from the train that belong to a life in which we shall never take part.

Better drowned than duffers, if not duffers won't drown.

Swallows and Amazons for-ever!

But the big hills up at the lake helped to make him feel that the houseboat man did not matter. The hills had been there before Captain Flint. They would be there for ever. That, somehow was comforting.

It was like exploring a place that you have seen in a dream, where everything is just where you expect it and yet everything is a surprise.

to make the sail set properly you must pull the boom down. That’ll take those cross wrinkles out.” “Is that what those blocks (pulleys) are for hooked to a ring in the kelson close to where the mast is stepped? But they are all muddled up.” “Isn’t there another ring under the boom, close to the mast?” asked Queen Elizabeth. “Got it,” said Captain John. “One block hooks to the ring under the boom, and one to the ring in the bottom of the boat, then it’s as easy as anything to haul the boom down. How’s that?” “The crinkles in the sail go up and down now, and not across,” said Mate Susan. “That’s right,” said Queen Elizabeth. “The wind will flatten them out as soon as we start sailing.

Do you really mean a battle on the houseboat tomorrow?" said Titty. "Tomorrow as ever is," said Captain Flint. "We'll take her," said the able-seaman. "have you got a good plank?" "What for?" "To walk," said the able-seaman.

Susan read her letter. ‘Mother says I must give you plenty of lettuces and peas and things, or else you’ll all get scurvy. What is scurvy?