Chapter 19 Homeward Bound
The Rose was hammering her way through the waves, heavily laden with ore and fish.The teens were happy to be heading home, and the prospects of sleeping in their own beds tonite made them happy.Minnie was still shaken from being attacked by the sharp, but she was secure at the helm far away from the despised fishies. Will was still in the hold finishing up with the fish mess, hauling the nets up to the deck again for repairs and drying and generally puttering.He didn’t want Min to see the sharp again so that barrel had been covered and secured.The main deck was clear of fishing rods and nets now and the mucky deck had been sluiced mostly clean.
Again Naomi was in the galley, she had taken to that duty eagerly. Her helpers were just finishing off the evening meal and Chuck had been dispatched to ring the bell this time.When Minnie heard the clangs of the bell she added in toots of the steam whistle, it made an oddly appealing sound. There was a near stampede to get to the galley as fishing had been nearly as hard as ore loading and people were starving.
Will stopped in the mess to fix two meals,for Min and himself. Stew again but very welcome.He was carrying the tray up the stairs to the main deck when the Rose gave a hard lurch, another and yet another much harder. Enough to make her dip and rock from side to side.The steam whistle shrieked out and Will set off at a run for the wheelhouse.
Looking down at the water as he ran by the rail he couldn’t make anything out on the port side. Gaining the stairs to the wheelhouse and then throwing open the door he found Minnie struggling to hold the wheel. “Hit something big dad, then something hit back” she yelled. Looking forward Will saw a sinuous loop cutting through the wate, it looked to be about 6 feet through.
“A sea serpent!”, he exclaimed, “and a huge one, Min.Hard to port and full speed”.The Rose turned fast as Minnie spun the wheel and hit full speed, surging through the dark water, engine throbbing and the stack bellowing black smoke.Will kept an eye on where the serpent had been, but luckily no sign of it to be seen.From his remembered knowledge he knew the serpents were very rare and hardly ever came to the surface.They preferred to hunt in the black depths below.He hoped nothing had chased it to the surface because anything that the monster was afraid of would be very dangerous indeed.
“You okay for now” he asked Min, “I am gonna check below”.“Righto dad, if anything happens I’ll scream for help”, said Min cheekily.Will laughed, “Keep this course for another couple of minutes then head back east…ok?”.The toot of the whistle answered him as Min pulled on the cable. There was no sound below decks and entering the mess he found everyone huddled around the table, sitting very quietly. “Dangers gone for now”, he said, “Big serpent on the surface bumped against us. I think it was running from something.”. With those words a chill seemed to settle in the room. “We are going to run closer to shore, so we should be ok now” reassured Will.
“Will you make a small meal, maybe tea and cake, if Minnie left any?”, Will asked Naomi.She nodded and started to the galley.Will tried to reassure the frightened teens, “serpents like that don’t attack us, it was just frightened and running.“ yeah,but what was chasing it?”, asked Chuck.Will shook his head, “ I am going to have to read some logbooks, I don’t know.”.With that he headed back on deck then to the wheelhouse. Minnie was doing fine, having turned back on the previous course. “Let’s hove closer to the coast” said Will, “less chance of running into that monster again.”. Min turned the wheel on that course until the high cliffs were quite visible, then back to the east. It would be a couple of hours til home now at this speed.
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A few minutes later a tray of tea, milk and cake was brought up by Chuck. “Everyone else is a little scared to come on deck right now,”, he said. Will nodded “I can understand that, scared the heck out of us too.”. Looking out towards the bow there was nothing out of the normal, Will made a decision. “We are going to close for shore for the rest of the way home.” Will said.He was thinking they had been lucky they weren’t damaged or sunk by the serpent. He just couldn’t figure what could scare a thing like that.“Min, steer us toward shore, keep us slow, I’m going to take a lookout”.
As he stepped out on to the bow it had turned out to be a beautiful evening. Waves, bit of an overcast sky, sun sliding down to the west, gulls, thank goodness he thought. Waving at Minnie “taking a turn around the deck” he called up. She gave a wave back. Will checked the side of the Rose where they had been hit by but no sign of damage, just a shiny rubbing, still a bit slimy.When they returned to dock he would dive down and check the rest of the hull but for now they seemed undamaged.Continuing to the stern everything seemed normal.The drag nets were hanging to dry, cranes locked down, hold hatches tight.Will headed back down to the mess and galley.
The children were still subdued but not as scared as they had been.“Good news, the boats undamaged, weather is still fair so…”, Will started to say.“We’re going straight home?” interrupted Daniel.“Yes, we will stay close to shore but it’s full steam ahead for home.”, said Will.The teens were cheering at this news as Will slipped out and went on deck. He walked on the deck, feeling the engine throbbing below his feet, scanning the surrounding water and finding nothing. Heading to the wheelhouse he and Minnie decided on the best course home, skirting the shore, a goodly distance out but still within lands sight. A little more work for the pilots but easier on the work crew below..
Will took the wheel for the first while, Minnie went below to visit with the littles as she called them. Soon they were all on deck again, laughing and dashing around, hanging over the railing pointing at fishies or at the wheeling gulls. He was glad to see they had gotten over their shock so quickly. Things could have gone much worse than they did, and could again in the future.
But, as he mused, Min came into the wheelhouse with a large mug of tea for him, and several cookies that Naomi had just baked up.There was a suspicious amount of crumbs on her whiskers that told him she had her share already.“Pretty yummy dad, nice sugar cookies for us, and some yuck water for you.”.Will laughed “cookies for us huh, are you sure you haven’t had enough?”.Reaching over he poked Min in the belly, “getting larger huh”.
With a “rawrrrrr”. Min jumped at him and started poking him, this led to a battle in the wheelhouse.Ending with both in an exhausted heap on the floor, maps everywhere.Luckily the tea had not spilled but the cookies had not survived.“Awww, I’ll go get some more cookies dad”. said Min.Shaking his head Will said “oh no you won’t, I think I can do that, besides it’s your turn on the wheel.”. With luck, the helm had been locked in place while the pokey war was going on but now Minnie shoved her stool in front of the wheel and took the helm. “Okay captain, got it, better hurry and get some cookies back here.”. Will stepped out of the wheelhouse into the dimming evening.
As he stood at the prow he could barely make out lights ahead, he hadn’t realized they were this close to home, well… the children’s home anyway. Even in the few days they had been here he felt very comfortable aboard the Rose. “This is home now, I think.” resting a hand on the bow rail. The shriek of the whistle interrupted his thought, “Lights ahead dad”, Minnie yelled from above, “looks like we made it home”.
“We sure did Min, we sure did.”.
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William Harris
Age 50
Intelligence 15/50
Strength 22/50
Vitality 22/50
Stamina 23/50
Affinities for gardening, cultivating, fishing, knitting, swimming, mariner ,
Captain of the heartboat Rose
Navigation 2
Mechanic 2
Minnie
Best dog of all
Age 5
Intelligence 5/25
Strength 10/25
Vitality 18/25
Stamina 18/25
First Mate of the heartboat Rose
Piloting 3
Mechanic 1
Crab Catcher