Free The Magnificent Showboats by Jack Vance Page B

Blanche-Aster waited with a bundle of her own belongings. Forward, the flames raged and crackled, illuminating the surface of the Lant: a dramatic and awful spectacle.
    Bonko approached. “We must take to the boats. The planks are springing away from the stem and we’re taking water forward; we might go down in a dive.”
    “Very good, lower the boats. Make sure the animals are released; give them a chance to swim for their lives.”
    The boats were lowered: three pinnaces and the somewhat more comfortable captain’s gig, to which Zamp assigned Damsel Blanche-Aster. She climbed down the ladder and Zamp passed her bundle down to Chaunt the steward, then handed down his own heavy leather pouch. “Chaunt, make sure of this pouch; secure it in the forward cuddy!”
    “Yes, sir!”
    Zamp was last to leave the ship, already wallowing to the action of the water taken aboard. He climbed down into the gig. “Cast off!”
    Oars were shipped; the boats pulled away from the flaming hulk. Zamp gazed steadfastly down-stream, unwilling to watch the passing of his proud vessel. Flickering orange light played over his shoulder, brightening the fascinated faces of those who chose to look back.
    In sudden puzzlement Zamp looked from person to person: where was Chaunt? Not in the gig. Odd. There he was in the pinnace a few feet to port. Zamp called across: “Chaunt! Where is my pouch?”
    “Safe aboard the gig, sir, stowed in the forward cuddy.”
    “Very well.”
    The boats rounded a bend; Zamp took a last glance over his shoulder. Whants, rather than pursuing in their own boats, had paused to plunder the sinking ship; Zamp could see their dark shapes jumping with simian agility back and forth in front of the flames.
    The riverbank obscured his vision; Miraldra’s Enchantment was no more than a flickering glare in the sky and presently even this was gone.

Chapter VI
    All night the boats drifted down-river, rowing from time to time, the better to out-distance any Whants who might be pursuing.
    At dawn the boats put ashore on a sandy river bar, to facilitate the stepping of masts and yards. Bonko built a fire, at which the troupe toasted sand-crawlers while the crew rigged the four boats.
    Zamp noticed Damsel Blanche-Aster sitting with her bundle beside her and bethought himself of his pouch in the forward cuddy. It demonstrated a most gratifying weight, and Zamp stowed it again, more securely.
    Returning to the beach he noticed that a number of crew-members had gathered around Bonko, each seeming to make some insistent point. A few yards along the beach, the performers and musicians of the troupe were engaged in a similarly intense discussion.
    A moment later Bonko and Viliweg the Master of Miracles presented themselves before Zamp. Viliweg spoke. “A rather interesting point has been raised by certain artists of the troupe —”
    “And also by members of the crew,” said Bonko, who still wore the executioner’s costume.
    “— to the effect,” continued Viliweg, “that once we reach Lanteen, a degree of confusion and flux will ensue and conceivably, through some error, salaries and wages might not be paid.”
    Bonko said: “The crew also feels that now is as good a time as any to settle up accounts, so that when we arrive at Lanteen, no one need be inconvenienced.”
    Viliweg endorsed the remark. “The effort of searching out so many individuals at Lanteen in order to render to each his wage would be a most unfair vexation for a man already burdened with concern.”
    Zamp looked from one to the other in amazement. “I can hardly believe my ears! Return to your people and announce that my first and most urgent task is the acquisition of a new boat, so that all may once more be secure in their careers. With this concept in mind, I propose to retain the ship’s monies in trust for all of us.”
    Viliweg cleared his throat. “Several members of the troupe predicted that you would entertain such ambitions. I agree that they