Enlightenment

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Prin didn’t like the idea of dumping more bad news on the captain and the bos’n, but Sara was right. If Jam had searched through other crates, he had probably broken or stolen contents, and they needed to know. The ship had to take responsibility for the cargo, or their reputation would suffer.

Sara said, “Well, we don’t have to tell them tonight. They already feel bad enough.”

Prin said, bring the lantern, I need to try to gather that cat, and I need to look for other damage. Once in the hold, Sara held the lantern high. Prin went to the cargo where several ropes that had strapped down crates were missing. Fortunately, there had not been in any severe storms, or the crates may have shifted and punched holes in the hull. Well, one hole was all it too, because that was enough to send the ship to the bottom.

Five other crates had their tops come off as if they had never been fastened. The contents were much the same as in their crates. Containers were broken, contents shifted, and in the second crate, a conspicuously empty place where something large had been but was now missing. Nearly a third of the crate lay empty.

Prin said, “It’s worse than I thought.”

Sara kicked a loose cover to one side. “Probably worse than you suspect.”

“Why?”

“This is the hold where you worked. Didn’t he spend most of his time in the forward hold?”

“You don’t think he did the same there? He had time to do much worse,” Prin said.

“Or, Jam may have done none of this up there, and that’s perhaps much worse.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Think about his intentions. The cargo under his care is satisfactory, but yours has been pilfered and stolen from. What do you think he planned to tell the captain?”

Prin blanched as she understood. He was the captain’s son. His cargo was untouched while hers had been looted, and Jam would have been the one to discover the looting, a crime on any cargo ship.

Sara said, “He was going to get even with you by having you thrown off the ship here in Gallium. It’s so obvious.”

“He’s lucky, in some ways.” Prin reached behind her neck and almost faster than the eye could follow, threw her knife at the base of the mast. “Lucky, if he values his life.”

“His home is Indore.”

“So is mine, now. If Jam values his life, he’ll never let me know when his ship pulls into port.” Prin climbed over the crates to retrieve her knife.

Sara said, “If you’re expecting me to say something like, he just made a mistake, or that you need to forgive him, don’t hold your breath.” She pulled her knife and let it fly. For once, it stuck in the mast next to Prin’s.

“Have you been practicing?”

“Nope. Just lucky that time, but I’m going to get better before we return to the sea. I understand what you told me about feeling helpless. Since you gave me this knife, there is a sense of security I’ve never felt.”

They heard talking and hurried from the cargo hold to the deck, to find the captain speaking to Sayed. There was no sign of the bos’n, and when the captain turned, his eyes slid away from the two girls.

Sayed waited until the captain was inside, they motioned for them to join him at the rail. He said, “Jam and Sammy won’t be coming back.”

Neither answered.

He went on, “While anchored, we need to set a security watch, all night, all day. You never know who’s going to try getting on board and steal what they can. Now, there are only three of us and the cook, who doesn’t count. I’ll take the first watch, and stay here until I need sleep. Then I’ll wake Sara. Sara will wake you, and if necessary, she will wake me.”

They nodded.

Sayed looked to the shore and said, “Jam and Sammy’s ship will sail north before first light. This one will be towed to the drydocks after sunrise, but maybe not until mid-day. We’ll keep a watch until the bos’n says to turn the ship over to the shipyard. Now, I don’t feel like talking to anyone, so you two go get some sleep.”

They went into the crew’s quarters where there were rigs for eight hammocks. The captain, cook, and bos’n, had small cabins of their own. They rigged two hammocks, and suddenly the cramped space felt vast and empty.

Sara said, “Part of our cargo is destined for delivery here. We need to tell them first thing in the morning so they can decide what to do about the thefts and broken things, and inspect it all.

“But tonight is not the time. Try to get some sleep.”

Sara let out a long sigh as she climbed into her hammock. Prin listened to her breathing. With only the two of them in the room, it was easy. She waited for the slow, steady sounds of sleep but never heard it. She couldn’t go to sleep, either. Much later, she heard Sayed slip into the room and wake Sara.

She dressed and went on the deck while Sayed strung his hammock and climbed in. He fell asleep almost instantly. Prin finally fell asleep only to have Sara shake her awake. She dressed while Sara got into her hammock and snored softly before Prin left.

The night had a chill, but she’d taken her blanket to throw over her shoulders. As always, the first thing she noticed were the stars. From any boat, it seemed there were twice as many as on land. But the second thing was the many lights from the city of Gallium and the other ships. There appeared to be as many of them as there were stars reflecting off the calm water of the bay.

In the quiet of the night, she heard the rumble of a barrel being rolled, someone pounded on something, and voices drifted over the water to her from different directions. The creaks and groans of the ship were familiar, and the soft slap of wavelets striking the hull reassuring. The problem she had in going to sleep earlier had fled, and now she wanted to sleep.

Prin stayed on her feet for fear that if she settled down anywhere, she would instantly fall asleep. A small rowboat came in her direction. She watched it from the shadows under the wheelhouse. Thinking it might be a messenger about Jam or the refitting, she stepped into the moonlight at the rail. The small boat abruptly changed directions.

She watched it retreat and approach another ship at anchor. A feeling of relief flooded over her when a lantern on the other ship flared, and again the rowboat went in a different direction. It thieves or others up to no good were not on the rowboat she would be surprised.

Every time she wanted to wake Sayed, she hesitated. He’d probably been up the longest, and Sara wouldn’t have woken her unless she needed to sleep. She walked bow to stern, first on one side, then the other. Once, as she was on the bow and turned quickly, she spotted movement in the wheelhouse. It was the captain, probably checking out his people on watch and his ship.

She saw the sun rise over the sea, then woke the few shipmates, but the cook had again managed to wake on his own, and he had food hot and waiting. Twice, she caught the captain’s eye while eating and twice decided this was not the time or place to tell him about the open crates. The more she thought about it, the more she felt speaking to the bos’n first was a good idea.

When he climbed to his feet and lumbered out on the deck, she followed. He went to the port rail and said, “Spill it, whatever’s bothering you. I don’t suppose it’s about Jam because you knew it was coming, so tell me and don’t dance around.”

Prin didn’t know how he knew she needed to talk but decided to be blunt. “Sara and I went into the hold to get the things out of our crates we want to take with us. The lids came off the crates too easy.”

He waited, then said softly, a chill in his tone, “Continue.”

“They had already been pried off, and the contents spilled and gone through. We don’t know if anything is missing.”

He drew in a breath so long and slow his chest looked ready to explode. Finally, he said, “Tell you what. Give me an honest accounting, and I’ll make the up the cost. Don’t tell anyone else. The captain has had enough bad news this trip.” He turned away, dismissing her.

“That’s not all.”

He turned back, wearing the same expression as a hound dog that had been kicked.

“The crates were not properly tied, and the dunnage was removed on others.”

“You’re right. A storm could have caused us real problems. Keep that to yourself, too.”

“There’s more.”

“Damn, I thought there might be. Well, get to the worst of it.”

“When we found that, we looked around and found other crates were untied and broken into. Lots of them. We looked inside two, and one has a big empty space where something was packed, but it is gone.”

“Did you change anything? I mean, store them properly again?”

“We thought we should stop right there and tell you.”

“You did the right thing. Okay, you are on deck-watch this morning. If any boats come alongside, you call to us down in the hold and get us.” He headed for the wheelhouse and shortly he reappeared, the captain at his heels. They disappeared into the rear hatch.

The bos’n had been right when he said that you can hear cussing and banging through the deck. She heard plenty of it before they emerged and ripped the forward hatch cover off. Once down there, they only remained a short time.

When they came up, the captain looked at her, face flush with anger. “Thank you, Prin.”

“Was the other hold a mess?”

“Worse than that. It was in perfect condition. Most of what was done was to reflect on you, which is probably less honorable than stealing from our customers,” the captain’s voice was shaky.

Prin lifted her chin defiantly. “You don’t think I had anything to do with it?”

“Of course, not. Clearly, Jam did this to make you look bad. I apologize for my son and will repay you for the loss of your things.”

“Ours were just some things to take back home. Most were of little value, except for the books he tore—and they cannot be replaced at any price. We owe you, not the other way around.”

The two of them turned and left her standing alone. She assumed she was still on watch since nobody else was there. Sara would be helping the cook, Sayed cleaning inside from the wheelhouse, down. That left her. Alone. Sleepy.

Later, she watched a pair of longboats approach and then raced to find the captain. The bos’n took an active hand in manning the ropes instead of issuing orders as usual. The anchor was raised, and the Merry Princess was towed to shore.

The dry dock was as the bos’n had described. It was one of a series of piers with solid wood walls that went down into the water and sunk into the mud below. Once the ship was in one of the smaller ones, a pair of giant gates were closed to the sea. Men were standing by, waiting at a series of pumps. They started pumping splattering bursts of water back into the harbor, the handles traveling up and down, up and down.

As fast as they worked, the level of the water seemingly remained the same. Sara appeared at her side, and they watched. The bos’n came up beside them and said, “We’ve met with the repair superintendent, and he’s looked at our needs. He said there is no way the work will be completed in less than thirty days, and probably more than forty.” He pointed to one side, “After they’re done cleaning and repairing the hull, the ship will move over there. The cargo will be placed in those sheds and locked. If you need anything, get it before then.”

Sara said, “When can we go into town?”

“As of now, you are free to leave. Keep watch for the green flag on the mast, or come down and ask the supervisor for a date they’ll be done. Listen, ten days after that green flag goes up, the ship sails. If we need to replace crew, there’s a pool of them to draw from in the seaman’s hall.”

“If we’re not here you’ll leave us?” Prin cried.

“The ship will sail on time. Hopefully, you are here, but we can’t come searching for you in a city this size.”

Sara said, “We’ll check every few days. Prin, I think we’re packed, but I can’t find the cat.”

The bos’n said, “It probably took off. They often do when a ship hits port.”

“But I was beginning to like it,” Prin said.

Sara said, “Okay, one more quick look around.”

They returned to the deck without the cat, and Prin said, “I will come back in a few days to see if it’s here.”

They went into the crew’s quarters and gathered their things. Prin still carried the hidden purse containing her gold coins at her waist and another purse for small purchases. Sara also wore one. They wore their drab brown dresses and pointed hats, thinking they would draw less attention by dressing so different.

Prin called for the cat as they walked the deck, and when they crossed the gangplank to the edge of the drydock, Prin turned back and looked again. She saw the water was at least a foot lower, and the hull was settling into the V-shaped cradle that would hold it. The men at the pumps were still working steadily. Prin waved to the wheelhouse and the captain and continued up the side of the drydock to a road where they stumbled to a stop.

Chaos described the scene.