We had better house the topmast at once, and get two reefs in the mainsail.

We can get the other down when we get clear of the island.

Get number three jib up, and the leg of mutton mizzen; put two reefs in the foresail." Tom and his friend Harvey, who was a good sailor, assisted the crew in reefing down the sails, and a few minutes after the gig had returned and been hoisted in, the yawl was running rapidly down Southampton waters.
"We need hardly have reefed quite so closely," Jack Harvey said, as he puffed away at his pipe.
"Not yet, Jack; but you will see she has as much as she can carry before long.

It's all the better to make all snug before starting; it saves a lot of trouble afterwards, and the extra canvas would not have made ten minutes' difference to us at the outside.

We shall have pretty nearly a dead beat down the Solent.