helgi
New Member
III.
Miss Hello awoke to the unmistakable sounds of battle, and she rose in a right sweat from a tremendous heat. She could not remain in her cabin, but had to see for herself what manner of hell was raging out on the ship. Though it was not yet morning for an hour to come, Miss Hello stepped out to see the entire ocean lit by a nearby galleon that blazed in its last moments.
Captain Crecy stood in full dress upon a cannon that pointed past the damned foe and towards a formidable vessel that was cutting the waves in a parallel effort to engage. The captain seemed possessed by a great madness as he swung his sword, composing orders in lofty and near forgotten modes of dialect, which only his brutish crew could have deciphered by their having been so long subject to their captain.
In a singular moment of danger, a cannon ball shot out from the enemy ship and nearly knocked the captain from his perch. But the captain had verily spit upon the projectile as it sailed past, and his cannoneer witnessed the small cloud of steam that remained hovering as a proof of the captain’s devilish aim.
Verily, one of the cannoneers begged for Captain Crecy to depart from atop the cannon before the enemy cannons could get another shot off. Crecy became wide eyed and brandished his sword most highly. “Cannons? What cannons? I am much too busy supplying the world with formidable histories to more than glance at a sensible page of hitherto! If your concern is well meant, and you wish at all for me to survive this assault upon our blessed ship, then fire this cannon I stand upon! I will only know of your good will when you have fired some ten shots at that monsterly ship that is quick arriving! But it is pointless to expect me to govern our efforts from a less useful vantage! Or would you have me exchange places with the wooden lady who graces the front of our ship?!”
And indeed, although none aboard would know it for some while, the carven lady of fortune had already been blown off the front of the ship by a cannon ball, and so there was indeed such a situation vacant upon the vessel!
Miss Hello had by now ducked behind a barrel, wishing that she had not been so quick to venture forth from her cabin. But it was with some compromise to her safety that she craned her neck over the barrel to look upon her captain, for she feared these would be his last moments. The blade that Crecy brandished was catching a damnating lot of light, and the enemy surely knew his post as disparred shots whistled past the great feathers in his hat, which was itself a proud Napoleanic specimen that should have been knocked off by now, so far into battle.
Each time as the cannon was pulled in to be charged anew, the captain would not depart from it, but cleverly leapt over the interruption caused by the ship’s edge, and landed expertly upon the cannon in its new relation to the rail. Miss Hello began to fear that even if the captain was indeed by some charity graced by God to survive all assailing discharge, that he would soon leap amiss, and drop like a flightless bird to be tossed along the side of the ship until the jealous waves took him out into the open sea. But she dared not make any summons from her spot, for she saw that his men were having no luck entreating him to come down from the cannon, and they soon scrambled back to their proper positions to keep up the fight.
Verily, the enemy ship dared to sidle, and the cannons were at such a close mark that the captain was perhaps only able to survive by some duress that he gave to their cannoneers with his pistol. But before any other man was able to leap across or ferry aboard, it was Captain Crecy who made the first transgression, and he leapt from the tip of his cannon to land upon the across cannon of the aggressor, cutting the fuse to halt a shot that would have surely sunk his ship. Crecy’s men soon followed him aboard, and they had the better of it against their foes, until they finally discovered a well known Captain Kitchener hiding in a pile of nets like some unsung catch. Captain Crecy turned to his men and made them wise. “You see why the vantage of a captain imports us? If I had ducked into a barrel this cowardly fellow would be discovering me!”
Verily they sent Kitchener off to sail his ship in solitude, for his surviving shipmates had already made their escape upon a fair-weather raft, and Crecy would not see a captain slain in cold blood.
IV.
The sun did not rise for Crecy that day, for there was a great fog that had set upon the ocean, and navigation was a confused and dangerous business without bearing. The men decided to spend these idle hours fishing with their great nets, and they cast them over the side.
Crecy meanwhile searched for Miss Hello, until he found her asleep behind her barrel. It was for the captain’s own vanity that he considered Miss Hello to have snuck out to spy upon his liberal pacing a second time, not thinking for an instant that she may have been drawn from her quarters by the row of the assault. Moreover, Crecy fancied that Miss Hello had fallen asleep only after he had gone to don his clothes, and had remained there in hopes of his return, trying to keep her vigil as long as possible, but ultimately falling asleep before any sign of the enemy ships. Crecy reasoned also that if she had been awoken by the battle, she would have fled back to her cabin at once and hid beneath her bedclothes, so he imagined that she had slept through it. And it was this which was the source of the captain’s amusement, for he reckoned to himself, “The same woman who can sleep through a battle is kept restless by my liberal pacing!”
Captain Crecy rose Miss Hello kindly, and with service and empathy informed her of the last night’s dreadful assault. Miss Hello was indeed vexed by this strange behavior, but didn’t suspect for a moment the compliment that Captain Crecy had fashioned for himself. Had she known it, she would have sharply disillusioned him!
Verily, as Miss Hello rose up from behind the barrel, she came to notice the men casting their nets over the side of the ship. Crecy advised her, “They will throw back many a fish, these fellows.”
Miss Hello furrowed her brow. “But why?”
Captain Crecy sighed for Miss Hello’s own benefit. “Alas, it is because they are not fishing for fish. They are fishing for mermaids.”
Miss Hello was astonished by such a transgression upon the people of the sea, and she objected to the captain’s resignation towards the matter. Crecy explained, “If it were not for this provision, many men would stick to land and not chance the life at sea. And my crew is a restless lot, for we did not stop long in Ravendock, and they did not get a chance to go into town.”
Just as Crecy relayed this stark provision to Miss Hello, the men had made their success, and there was a great buxom lady caught in their net! They pulled her over the side of the ship without ceremony, and they set to the work of untangling her. But as the lady’s form was made clear, Captain Crecy recognized it at once as the carven lady of fortune that for so long had kept the front of their ship! He ran over to the great painted statue and marveled at his luck, for the lady remained much in her proper form, and had been blasted rather cleanly from the ship. The men left off their fishing at once and set about the repair of the figurehead, for never had there been a more superstitious lot than they, and due in great part to Crecy’s own mania beliefs towards the lady of luck.
Miss Hello awoke to the unmistakable sounds of battle, and she rose in a right sweat from a tremendous heat. She could not remain in her cabin, but had to see for herself what manner of hell was raging out on the ship. Though it was not yet morning for an hour to come, Miss Hello stepped out to see the entire ocean lit by a nearby galleon that blazed in its last moments.
Captain Crecy stood in full dress upon a cannon that pointed past the damned foe and towards a formidable vessel that was cutting the waves in a parallel effort to engage. The captain seemed possessed by a great madness as he swung his sword, composing orders in lofty and near forgotten modes of dialect, which only his brutish crew could have deciphered by their having been so long subject to their captain.
In a singular moment of danger, a cannon ball shot out from the enemy ship and nearly knocked the captain from his perch. But the captain had verily spit upon the projectile as it sailed past, and his cannoneer witnessed the small cloud of steam that remained hovering as a proof of the captain’s devilish aim.
Verily, one of the cannoneers begged for Captain Crecy to depart from atop the cannon before the enemy cannons could get another shot off. Crecy became wide eyed and brandished his sword most highly. “Cannons? What cannons? I am much too busy supplying the world with formidable histories to more than glance at a sensible page of hitherto! If your concern is well meant, and you wish at all for me to survive this assault upon our blessed ship, then fire this cannon I stand upon! I will only know of your good will when you have fired some ten shots at that monsterly ship that is quick arriving! But it is pointless to expect me to govern our efforts from a less useful vantage! Or would you have me exchange places with the wooden lady who graces the front of our ship?!”
And indeed, although none aboard would know it for some while, the carven lady of fortune had already been blown off the front of the ship by a cannon ball, and so there was indeed such a situation vacant upon the vessel!
Miss Hello had by now ducked behind a barrel, wishing that she had not been so quick to venture forth from her cabin. But it was with some compromise to her safety that she craned her neck over the barrel to look upon her captain, for she feared these would be his last moments. The blade that Crecy brandished was catching a damnating lot of light, and the enemy surely knew his post as disparred shots whistled past the great feathers in his hat, which was itself a proud Napoleanic specimen that should have been knocked off by now, so far into battle.
Each time as the cannon was pulled in to be charged anew, the captain would not depart from it, but cleverly leapt over the interruption caused by the ship’s edge, and landed expertly upon the cannon in its new relation to the rail. Miss Hello began to fear that even if the captain was indeed by some charity graced by God to survive all assailing discharge, that he would soon leap amiss, and drop like a flightless bird to be tossed along the side of the ship until the jealous waves took him out into the open sea. But she dared not make any summons from her spot, for she saw that his men were having no luck entreating him to come down from the cannon, and they soon scrambled back to their proper positions to keep up the fight.
Verily, the enemy ship dared to sidle, and the cannons were at such a close mark that the captain was perhaps only able to survive by some duress that he gave to their cannoneers with his pistol. But before any other man was able to leap across or ferry aboard, it was Captain Crecy who made the first transgression, and he leapt from the tip of his cannon to land upon the across cannon of the aggressor, cutting the fuse to halt a shot that would have surely sunk his ship. Crecy’s men soon followed him aboard, and they had the better of it against their foes, until they finally discovered a well known Captain Kitchener hiding in a pile of nets like some unsung catch. Captain Crecy turned to his men and made them wise. “You see why the vantage of a captain imports us? If I had ducked into a barrel this cowardly fellow would be discovering me!”
Verily they sent Kitchener off to sail his ship in solitude, for his surviving shipmates had already made their escape upon a fair-weather raft, and Crecy would not see a captain slain in cold blood.
IV.
The sun did not rise for Crecy that day, for there was a great fog that had set upon the ocean, and navigation was a confused and dangerous business without bearing. The men decided to spend these idle hours fishing with their great nets, and they cast them over the side.
Crecy meanwhile searched for Miss Hello, until he found her asleep behind her barrel. It was for the captain’s own vanity that he considered Miss Hello to have snuck out to spy upon his liberal pacing a second time, not thinking for an instant that she may have been drawn from her quarters by the row of the assault. Moreover, Crecy fancied that Miss Hello had fallen asleep only after he had gone to don his clothes, and had remained there in hopes of his return, trying to keep her vigil as long as possible, but ultimately falling asleep before any sign of the enemy ships. Crecy reasoned also that if she had been awoken by the battle, she would have fled back to her cabin at once and hid beneath her bedclothes, so he imagined that she had slept through it. And it was this which was the source of the captain’s amusement, for he reckoned to himself, “The same woman who can sleep through a battle is kept restless by my liberal pacing!”
Captain Crecy rose Miss Hello kindly, and with service and empathy informed her of the last night’s dreadful assault. Miss Hello was indeed vexed by this strange behavior, but didn’t suspect for a moment the compliment that Captain Crecy had fashioned for himself. Had she known it, she would have sharply disillusioned him!
Verily, as Miss Hello rose up from behind the barrel, she came to notice the men casting their nets over the side of the ship. Crecy advised her, “They will throw back many a fish, these fellows.”
Miss Hello furrowed her brow. “But why?”
Captain Crecy sighed for Miss Hello’s own benefit. “Alas, it is because they are not fishing for fish. They are fishing for mermaids.”
Miss Hello was astonished by such a transgression upon the people of the sea, and she objected to the captain’s resignation towards the matter. Crecy explained, “If it were not for this provision, many men would stick to land and not chance the life at sea. And my crew is a restless lot, for we did not stop long in Ravendock, and they did not get a chance to go into town.”
Just as Crecy relayed this stark provision to Miss Hello, the men had made their success, and there was a great buxom lady caught in their net! They pulled her over the side of the ship without ceremony, and they set to the work of untangling her. But as the lady’s form was made clear, Captain Crecy recognized it at once as the carven lady of fortune that for so long had kept the front of their ship! He ran over to the great painted statue and marveled at his luck, for the lady remained much in her proper form, and had been blasted rather cleanly from the ship. The men left off their fishing at once and set about the repair of the figurehead, for never had there been a more superstitious lot than they, and due in great part to Crecy’s own mania beliefs towards the lady of luck.