The wizard's revenge 3/11

Very early the next morning the Skipper banged on Fern's door. "Tide turns in half an hour, on deck and look lively now!"

As she arrived, the Skipper and Bob were shortening up the mooring lines to help make their departure easier.

"Bob, this is Fern Marigold Knott, a trainee crew member for a week. Would you believe she's on holiday?"

Bob laughed. "Some holiday and I'm certainly not calling her all that every time I need to speak to her. Her name's Knott, I'll call her 'granny'. Come on, granny let's see how you get on trying to set the tops'l."

Fern followed him to the foot of the mast. Bob loosened some ropes and then stood back. "That's the tops'l halliard," he said, pointing.

Fern cast off the halliard from it's belaying pin and started hauling. Bob watched critically. She really had to put her back into it. It was very different from the schooner, where half the crew used to join in, apparently she was expected to manage all by herself. She heaved away manfully looking up now and then to see how far she'd progressed. When the yard was about two feet from the mast head she had to take a turn round the belaying pin and swig up the remaining distance, throwing her weight on the halliard, taking up the slack and belaying a turn before taking another pull.

"Lummy you're stronger than you look," said Bob admiringly, "perhaps I'd better think of another nickname rather than 'granny'."

"That's alright," panted Fern, "I've been called worse than that believe me!"

The skipper had cast off the mooring lines, pushed the barge's head off from the quay and returned to the wheel while his crew had been working. Bob went forward to the weather side and backed the foresail which had been hoisted earlier. He called 'granny' over to take note of a small line attached to the sail.

"This is the 'bowline' and it's used as I am now, to hold the sail aback when winding. When the sail fills on the new tack, you cast off, go down to the leeside and take a turn round the lee shroud, in readiness for the next tack."

He cast off the short line as he spoke and the sail filled and drew properly as described. Fern looked round. The 'Prudence' had spun round, nearly in it's own length and was gathering way towards the creek entrance sailing under tops'l and fores'l only. She was most impressed. She was even more impressed as the Skipper cut across the mudflat where Jonah had so often come to grief. He laughed when he saw the expression on her face.

"Draws less than three feet when she's light, go almost anywhere if it's damp."

Bob showed Fern how to make fast the bowline and then as the barge came out into the open estuary they set the mainsail together.

'Rather like closing the curtains at a theatre,' she thought. There was certainly a lot more to sailing a barge than she'd imagined. Once in open water the Skipper called her aft to let her demonstrate her skill at steering. She felt she'd done fairly well once she'd mastered the far quicker responses than those she'd been used to when steering the Black Cat. In some ways it was more like sailing a very large dinghy. The 'Prudence' sailed out into the open sea and turned north for the trip to Timber Creek.

"Why didn't you sail up the estuary and go through the wishing fog?"

"Well it's a nice day for a sail and we're giving you a chance to learn the ropes,” replied the Skipper, “even if you never have to use it, the experience 'll be good for you. After all it's what you wanted to do isn't it?"

Fern thanked him, then went forward and gave Bob a spell on the bowlines while he went below to cook breakfast.

The rest of the passage was uneventful. Fern continued her lessons on barge handling until they neared the pier at the Timber Yard. Under Bob's tuition, she helped brail up the mainsail and lowered both topsail and foresail. The barge continued to carry it's way towards the pier. It seemed certain that they were going to go right past, or else hit it with a frightful crunch. She looked round at the Skipper, who looked right back with a grin.

"We'll use our brakes!"

Fern hadn't got a clue what he meant but he seemed happy and she soon found out. As Prudence drew level with the pier, the Skipper called out "Leggo," to Bob who cast off the tackles holding up the leeboards. Both boards dropped into the mud and the barge came to a halt. Bob pulled the dinghy alongside, then took a line across to the pier and made fast.

"The wood yard boys'll be out first thing tomorrow with a load for us to take to Smallport. It's in another world but I expect you're used to that sort of thing."

Fern assured him that although she'd been a dispatcher in the Wish Warehouse, she'd never heard of Smallport.

"I think it's another world in its own right," said the Skipper, "although as far as I know it's only used as a staging point for cargoes to and from further worlds. We'll be unloading our timber onto a tramp steamer. Obviously we can't have them coming in here. It takes quite a few trips for us to load a whole steamboat, which is why we haven't got the time to take you back to the boatyard. Keeps us in work though", he grinned.