A bit of a cliffhanger here, but I will try to get the next chapter out before the end of the week: Daw

Stone

Chapter 49- Jason as Sea 3

Jason felt the sun on his face as he woke. Looking around, he discovered that he was in Kalosun’s sick bay, laying on a cot beside Kookla and the seaman who was injured when the mast fell. Jason looked at the window, which showed light shining through.

“What time is it?” he asked Kalo, as the older man moved about in the small room mumbling a prayer.

“It is nearly noon, Jason,” Kalo said. “The new captain was in a few hours back, checking on his son. He said he wants to talk to you as soon as you are up.”

“How is Kookla? How long have I been asleep?”

“You were brought in here at about six last night, as the storm was ending. You had been awake for over 24 hours, so it was normal for your body to shut down on you like that. Kookla is better, but I haven’t been able to get him to drink or eat, which is needed to break the fever.”

"Let me try,” Jason said, and he got off the cot and poured a glass of water and took it to the smaller boy.

“Come on, Kookla,” he said softly. “You need to drink this.”

“’ason,” the boy croaked, barely opened his eyes, but he started to sip the water and took a half cup before he laid back and closed his eyes.

“That tin has some pigeon soup in it,” Kalo said, pointing. “Heat it up a bit on the whale oil stove and see if he will take it. Make a big batch … I want you to eat some too. You must be hungry.

Starved, Jason thought to himself as he put the soup into a tin dish and started to heat it. He ate half of it himself, finding the hot soup filling, along with a hard ship’s biscuit. Then the soup was cool enough that he felt he could spoon it into the boy’s mouth. Kookla didn’t open his eyes, but seemed reassured by Jason’s voice.

“I want you to eat this,” he said. “I made it specially for you and it is delicious.” The boy opened one eye, and Jason put a spoon of soup into his mouth. He soon closed his eye but continued to lap up the soup. He must have been just as hungry as Jason. They hadn’t eaten at all while in the hold.

The boy finished the soup and Jason said: “I have to go see the captain. I will come back to check on you when I can.”

Jason hurried out on deck. The sun was not out, but it was much brighter than it had been for days. The storm was still visible to the south west and the seas were still high, but nowhere near where they had been.

Jason tapped on the door to the captain’s cabin and entered. Both the captain and the mates had their sextants out and were sighting. Sunrise, sunset and noon were the only time when sightings could be reliably given.

“Just a moment, Jason,” Keenstone said. “We need to get these readings to find out where we are.”

A third sextant lay on the table: the shiny brass one the old captain had used. Jason had learned how to do transits back in Westport when the captain had given classes. Jason was in charge of the sextants, and had watched whenever the classes were on, practicing himself before he put them away after the classes.

The other two had finished their readings, and were doing the math on sheets of paper, when Jason finished his readings. He took a third piece of paper and started doing his calculations. He finished before the others and put a pin in the map in the position he had calculated.

The captain finished next and put a pin in far to the east of Jason’s. “I think your readings were off, son,” Keenstone said. A few more minutes passed and then the mate read out his calculations. He too was far off the others and Jason put a pin in at the coordinates.

“I think you missed something here,” he told the mate. “This spot is on land … fairly close to Golden, a little mining town.”

Jason looked at the mate’s math and realized that he had transit figures far off his. He picked up the mate’s sextant and saw it was an older model and had two different scales on it. The mate had read the wrong one. The man did his transits again and got numbers much closer than before. He started to redo the math, but Jason interrupted noting that it was now past noon, and he should work with the readings the Captain had gotten.

Jason then turned to the Captain’s figures and scanned the math. “Right here,” he pointed out. “You forgot to carry the one. If it had happened near the end it wouldn’t have been much of a problem but occurring so early the error just got worse and worse.”

Keenstone saw the error, and started redoing his calculations, finishing before the mate. He moved his pin to nearly the same spot at Jason’s. The mate finally finished and moved his pin to the same general area.

“So that must be where we are,” the captain said. “We are far to the west of port, and a long way out to sea.” He opened the door and called out a new heading to the helmsmen. “We won’t make much progress on two masts, but at least we are now heading for home.”

“You wanted to see me?” Jason asked.

“I did, but that is not important now. How is my son?”

“He still has the fever, but he drank some water and ate some soup. Kalo said that is what he needs to break the fever. Hopefully he will be better by tonight.”

“Good. Can you check on the carpenter and find out how he is coming on gerry-rigging the main mast? We do need more sail.”

Jason headed for the center of the ship and found the carpenter sawing on the main mast. He had made a half lap joint on the bottom of the mast, and his helpers had removed all the spars so that it was a single pole.

“How is it going?” Jason asked.

“This part is good, but it is going to be a bear to dig all that out.” He pointed to the bottom part of the mast, which was broken below the level of the dock. Jason had an idea.

“Wait here,” he said, darting off to the hold.

“Wasn’t planning on going anywhere,” the carpenter replied as the boy ran away.

A minute later Jason was in the part of the hold where the mast continued down to the keel. After climbing onto some chests, he pulled out his knife and started to cut into the wood. It wasn’t as easy as cutting rope, but he soon had cut a lap joint to match the top half of the mast. The knife seemed to guide him to make a perfect fit.

When the cut was completed Jason was able to wiggle the small top part and push it up. Soon it popped through and the astonished face of the carpenter looked down at him. To the older man’s amazement, there was a matching lap joint awaiting the mast.

It took several hours for the entire crew to rig up hoists to the other masts to bring the main mast upright again and get it into position. During this time Jason reported back to the captain, and then made a short visit to Kookla, who he fed again. The boy’s temperature was dropping. Back on deck the mast was now in position. It was loose and wobbly, and the carpenter started making dowels. Jason started boring holes through the laps for the dowels. He had the five holes drilled before the first dowel was ready. Once the carpenter pounded the first dowel in the mast was more stable. Jason darted off and came back carrying four belaying pins. “These should be quicker to shape than the new wood,” he said, and the carpenter agreed.

The carpenter took one pin and shaped it with his spoke shave while Jason started on one with his knife. He had all three done before the carpenter finished his one. The four additional dowels were pounded in, and then seamen surrounded the joint with ropes to further secure the mast.

Jason left the crew to reattach the spars and get the sails up. He went back to the sick bay and found Kookla was awake and hungry. Kalo came in a minute later bearing food. “I want both of you to eat,” the healer said as he set the plates down. Jason eagerly dug into the stew while Kalo fed the still weak Kookla, who also gobbled it down.

After they ate Jason stayed and chatted with Kalo and Kookla for about an hour when he heard the whistle for ‘all hands on deck.’

“I should go now,” Jason said.

“I’ll come too,” Kookla suggested.

“You will not,” Kalo ordered. “You are still sick. Tomorrow you can leave, not before.”

Jason slipped out the door as the pair argued.

He stood with the rest of the men at the main deck while Captain Keenstone and the second mate stood above on the forecastle. “Men,” Keenstone shouted, so the men would quiet down. “I want to announce the end of the storm shifts. Normal shifts start immediately.” Cheers. “Secondly, there are some changes to make. I declare myself captain. Are there any challenges to this? I admit to making some errors in the hurricane, including not battening the hatches as soon as I should have.” Silence. “I also want to name Second Mate Kalso as first mate. Are there any challenges?” Silence. “And finally I want to name Ship’s Monkey Jason as second mate. He took great leadership during the storm, battening the hatches, manning the pumps in a new and more effective manner, freeing the fallen main mast, and getting a wounded man to the sick bay. As well, it was an earlier invention of his that helped our helmsmen steer the ship during the storm. It meant two men did the work that usually takes three. Or four in a storm of that magnitude.” Massive cheering.

“I challenge that,” said the day master Kilmer. “He is just a boy. A man is needed for the mate position. I challenge personal combat for the position.”

“You can’t be serious,” the captain said. “He is 12 and you are 42 and weigh three times what he does.”

“I am,” the master said. “Is it not my right to challenge?”

“It is. But do you know how to navigate?”

“I learned from the old captain back at the school. I am probably pretty rusty with it, but I will learn.”

“Both Kalso and I are learning too. From Jason. If not for his help today, we really wouldn’t know where we are right now. But as you say, you have the right to combat. But I have the right to ask if there is a champion who will take his place.”

“I will fight for Jason,” shouted Master Kertle, the man Jason had stopped from going overboard.

“Or I will,” Master Kull, who had manned the pumps for the boy. Immediately almost every other voice on the deck spoke up, wanting to help.

“No,” said Jason. “If I am to take the position, then I fight for myself. Clear a space for the battle.”

Keenstone groaned. “So be it. But Master Kilmer. I don’t want to see the boy hurt. You hold him for the 10-count and the victory is yours. There is no need to hit the boy. Draw blood and you will lose on forfeit.”

“I find those terms highly unfair, but I accept them,” the master said.

The men had been backing up to make a circle on the deck, with the two combatants in the middle. The captain ordered a whistle to start the fight, and the Master started stalking Jason, who realized that his only hope for success would be to keep out of the big, muscular man’s hands.