Free LC 04 - Skeleton Crew by Beverly Connor Page A

in a kind of dance. When the leader sings a phrase,
the men chant oh, oh and at the same time pull one of divers
ropes, and the sails are raised. It sounds thus:

    Working the sails is truly the most amazing and hazardous task
of all they do. Each sail is heavy, requiring ropes and pulleys to
manage. One slip and a man will fall to the deck or in the ocean.
The crew praise God at every chance. Living so precarious a life as
this one needs the goodwill of our heavenly Father.
    We had an escort for two days after leaving the islands.
Dolphins swam with us, providing the crew entertainment by leaping out of the water. Valerian, the passenger from the islands,
stood with me and we watched the fish cavort.
    "They are friendly and curious," he said, "like children. They
are, I believe, my favorite fish in the sea."
    "You've encountered them before?" I asked.
    "Many times. They will play with the slightest provocation."
    I was going to ask where he was when he played with them,
when the captain, upon hearing our conversation, asked what
they taste like.
    "Oh, my friend, I haven't eaten them. I think that would be like
eating a friend."
    The captain, I could see, thought Valerian touched in the head
and moved on to query Bellisaro. He missed seeing the whale that
surfaced in the distance. They are quite large.
    I sighted the Nuestra Senora del Rosario today. She is the capitanas-the lead ship in the convoy. What a majestic sight she is.
Seeing her in full splendor, all sails filled with wind, sweeping
through the ocean, I know now why some men desire to be mated
to such a creature-only to find too soon what a difficult mistress
she is. Much like my Luisa.
    Pedro Acosta is the ship's captain. Bellisaro does not like him.
For his part, Acosta, I think, resents the navigator. Acosta is a man
who likes the last word. He has come to our cabin more than once
arguing for a route different from the one Bellisaro chooses. "There
is no wind there," Bellisaro tells him. The captain then yells and
stomps off. In matters of the course of this ship, it is to Bellisaro the
helmsman must listen. From my point of view, this is good, as the
captain could find neither up nor down were not down the natural
direction things fall.
    We had guests today. The captain-general of the fleet came
from the Nuestra Senora del Rosario. I have met him at court. He is
a good man. I trust him. Like many men I've known with sweeping responsibilities, he is inclined to be remote to those who serve under him. But he tries to have a sense of humor. I think he only
pretends, but that only makes it a greater courtesy. I was tempted
to confide in him, but I did not.

    Juan Lopez, the king's general inspector, came aboard from the
Espiritu Viento. He has a long face, eyes that droop at his lower lids,
and dark hair that curls in ringlets. His countenance would look sad
were it not for his jovial temperament. We were glad to see him.
He seemed a little pale-not surprising, having been tossed about
in such a small boat traveling from his ship to ours. We are a moving kingdom out here on the water. Instead of castles, we have
ships. Instead of horses and wagons to travel from castle to castle,
we have little boats. But we are no less connected to one another
because we are not on land. We-I say we, I mean some-move
from ship to ship as readily as we visit a neighbor and carry news
of the others. However, in our kingdom we sometimes drift out of
sight of our neighbor, or one neighbor is exchanged for another.
It is an interesting community.
    The captain told the cook to prepare a feast fit for a king. So the
Captain-General, Acosta, Father Hernando, General-Inspector
Lopez, Bellisaro, Valerian, and I sat down at a table lain with six
roasted chickens stuffed with rice, almonds, and raisins, broad
beans and garlic, olives, honey cakes, and the best of the captain's
wines. My stomach was joyful, so tired was it of dried fish, boiled