What does the phrase "keep to looard" mean in chapter 16?

In nautical terms, the term "leeward" means the side that
is downwind of something else.  So if you are to my leeward, I am between you and the
direction the wind is coming from.  In that case, I am to your windward side -- that's
the opposite of leeward.

It makes sense for the men to tell
Huck to keep the raft to their leeward side because the men think that there is disease
on the raft.  So they want it to be downwind from them so that the germs cannot blow
from the raft to them.