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minute!
Chapter Eleven
The heavy rolling motion of the ship made it hard to retain our feet as
I helped Janis Jord out onto the deck, Sharon at her side doing what she could
for the still stunned Princess of Du- larn. The gusting wind whistling
ominously through the rigging in the darkness. The salty cold spray drenching
us to the skin as it flew up over the leaping bow in the darkness. The women
now gathered on deck beginning to show their terror as the word passed among
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them of what had happened. The thought of being aboard a ship under such
conditions being enough to terrify any- one! The crew having made off in a
small boat kept beneath the stern castle and mounted over the rudder. We had
another, some- what larger, that was mounted upside down on deck between the
masts, which would have carried perhaps a dozen men at the most. Sharon and I
had slept through everything that had happened just below us. The noise of the
ship working in the heavy sea and our own state of exhaustion, both nervous
and physical, having been enough to keep us asleep despite the noises that
they had made escaping. I wondered if they would reach the shore or drown!
I knew I would have to take command of the Ronda despite my lack of
knowledge, Janis being too badly hurt to be of much use yet. Or face the
horrors soon to come as terror ran rampant aboard the ill-fated vessel! I
shuddered at the thought of what it would be like, a ship filled with
terrified women. Janis mut- tering something about a "cape" that meant little
to me at the time. Sharon helping the Princess below to do what she could for
her while I remained up on deck. The eyes of the woman at the wheel shining in
the light from the binnacle as she silently watching the goings on. The
cracking of the striped sails barely visible overhead telling of the strain
they were taking, the ship lying nearly as close to the wind as it could. A
sudden flash in the overcast sky ahead telling of the storm soon to be upon
us. The sound of the thunder hidden in the crash of the waves against the
shuddering hull as the Ronda pounded through the growing sea.
Then just as I thought that there was no way that things could get any
worse, a woman came running up to me, stumbling on the wet rolling deck.
Crying out, "The Water Barrels Have Been Drained!" The young half clad
blonde's eyes wide with the first signs of terror, the departing crew
apparently having made sure that we wouldn't travel far before having to put
in for fresh wa- ter. Her words spreading fear and terror among those within
ear- shot of her. The women on deck gathering in terrified clumps, muttering
among themselves, panic now taking its toll! I thought I could faintly hear
the ominous crash of breakers ahead and to the right! Janis' muttered warning
coming back to haunt me at the sound. The term "lee shore" going through my
mind! We need- ed to turn through the wind and go about on the other tack, and
damm soon! The only trouble was: I didn't know how to do it!
"Steer as close into the wind as you can!" I ordered the woman at the
wheel. Knowing from what Janis had told me earlier that tacking a ship like
the lateen rigged Ronda was a task that required an experienced crew,
especially in weather like this! The woman nodded and turned the wheel a bit.
The warning flap- ping of the sails telling that little was to be gained that
way as she regarded me. Keeping her thoughts to herself. Waiting for further
orders. Obviously considering it "my problem" too!
I knew that the problem was that in order to tack the Ronda, it would be
necessary to first take in sail, then swing the ship over on the other tack.
Letting the sails back out again after the yards had been swung across. The
design of the short stubby masts and their rigging being such that the sails
would not clear unless this was done. Our only other choice was to turn and
at- tempt to sail back downwind; but due the design of the Ronda's lateen
rigging, I suspected that this would most likely result in disaster in such a
"wind". Unlike other sail designs, the lateen rig cannot be easily adjusted as
such for wind conditions, but is usually replaced with different suits of
sails as needed, al- though the positioning of the sails in respect to the
wind can of course be adjusted to "take" more or less of the wind like any
sailing vessel. In any case I knew the Ronda was already carry- ing far more
sail than was proper for her under the conditions!
Looming ahead out of the darkness it seemed to me as if I could see the
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gleam of breakers as they smashed against the jag- ged rocks of the shoreline.
This part of Trelandar being mostly jagged and rocky with few areas where one
could seek shelter, the woman at the wheel told me. Having been a fisherman's
wife be- fore being taken and then judicially enslaved as payment for a debt
he had been unable to pay. Her name was Shirl, she told me.
"I'm making you second in command!" I cried over the whistle of the wind
and the crash of the waves against the hull, hoping that Shirl was as
competent as she appeared. The woman being a big brunette who looked competent
and capable. The muscles be- neath her now spray-soaked shift telling of a
life of hard labor. "I'm open to suggestions!" I added, grabbing at the woman
as a wave suddenly flew over the bow and drenched us both!
"We have to tack away from this shore!" Shirl cried in re- ply, the
problem being of course how to do it! Both of us know- ing that tacking such a
vessel as the Ronda would be no easy task in such weather. The Ronda now
working heavily in the rising sea, there being no doubt that we were in for a
storm that under the conditions we would never survive! We would be smashed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]