by Lee Henschel
“Since your dead captain has already sealed my fate I wish to die knowing you understand a final thing.”
“I’ve no time for your wishes. Take him below.”
Rainey turned away but Nélaton went on.
“You must understand, sir . . . your victory is Pyrrhic.”
Rainey faced him again. “Say it plain, man.”
“I say it plain. When Eleanor opened fire on Marat at the ungodly of range of sixteen hundred yards Captain Oignon immediately understood our fate. You would lay off out of our range and shoot away our masts. We had no choice but to strike—or be destroyed.”
“You tell me nothing I don’t already know. Take him away.” Marley seized Nélaton by his collar and walked him away.
Nélaton called out. “So Captain Oignon conjured a third choice.”
Rainey called him back.
“A risky choice, sir, and with slight odds of succeeding.”
“And what was that?”
“To board you.”
“You did not board us, Nélaton.”
“But we did.”
“What do you mean?”
“The man who killed your captain and then escaped—I believe he is the one you call Qena.”
“Yes, yes . . . get to the point, Nélaton.”
“Of course. May I remove something from my pocket?”
Rainey stepped back.
Nélaton withdrew a small blade and held it for all to see. “The man who killed your captain came aboard your ship with a blade like this concealed in his mouth. That is why he refused to talk. As you see, the blade is quite small. But also very sharp—sharp enough to cut the ropes that bound him when you left him in the great cabin to—ponder his fate.”
“His fate was to drowned while trying to escape.”
Nélaton shrugged. “Perhaps he did—perhaps not. Either way though, the man who killed your captain was not Qena.”
“Then who?”
“The Onion.”
Epilogue
Phan Thiét came for me wearing his pointed hat and a turban wound around his face. We rode into the desert but we’d not go far on a hired donkey wearing a bell clunking lonely. And we traveled light, a jar of water and the broken stela. Thiét sat behind me as the donkey wandered through the deep shade of a date orchard and finally on to the desert. The sun touched the horizon. Shadows of rocks and shards stretched long across our path. The wind died and the air chilled. Thiét finally spoke.
“Captain. He uncle?”
I nodded.
“Thiét sorry he die.”
“You didn’t know him. Why are you sorry?”
“Sorry for you.”
We rode on. Then Thiét pointed ahead into the twilight. “Desert not safe. We not go far.”
“How far?”
“Not far. Donkey no like desert. Donkey stop. Leave thing where donkey stop.”
“I forgot to bring a shovel to bury it.”
“Desert bury.”
“Gottlieb wanted the stela returned here but I still don’t understand why.”
“Desert home of stela. Must come home. Thing not meant for now. Meant for later. Meant for future.”
“That’s what Mr. Lau thinks, that the stela’s about something that’s going to happen later than now.”
“No say more.” I felt him shift as he sat behind me on the donkey. “In Annam people no ask what will happen. Just live between.”
“Annam?”
“Thiét born there. Long way from Egypt.”
The donkey plodded along—picking her way through the crusted sand and ruts.
“Thiét?”
“Yes?”
“The place where you’re from. Annam. You said they live between.”
“Yes. Live between.”
“Between what?”
“Live between past and future.”
“Isn’t that now?”
“Now very thin place. How long you think between before and after?”
“I don’t know. Forever, maybe?”
Thiét chuckled. “Annam people call forever . . . samsara. Born. Live. Die. Born.”
We rode in silence. A star fell. The donkey slowed, then stopped. Her bell stopped clunking. I dismounted and set the stela careful on the hard pack. A jackal yipped, then another. They’d caught our sent. The donkey stirred, her bell clunked. I went to remount and then stopped.
“I heard it again—a whisper outside the great cabin.”
“What you hear?”
“I don’t know, except it means a warning. I told my uncle to stop—not to go in the great cabin. I should have held him back. But he went.”
The donkey shifted, wanting to go.
“I don’t care what you say, Thiét. Now isn’t just a thin place between. It’s everything, because when something happens to you it happens now. When you hear the whisper it means you must do something. The Sukiyama.”
“That what whisper say?”
I nodded. “Do you know what it is?”
“Whisper always happen on ship?”
“Yes.”
Thiét nodded. “Ship live.”
“Ships don’t live, Thiét.”
“Everything live. Everything have spirit. Spirit live inside. Always.”
More jackals howled in the distance. The donkey turned on her own, anxious to get off the desert.
“No matter. All same-same.”
“What do you mean?”
“In Annam there is story. Boy-san, he born. Boy-san think good. Good to be born. But boy-san, he third son. Third son bad. No have nothing. But mother, she still love boy-san very much. Good. Then mother die. Bad. Very bad. But second son, he love boy-san, too. Good. Then boy-san leave home, go on water with uncle. Make boy-san sad. Boy-san’s uncle important man on water. Good. Then uncle die.”
“I am the boy-san?”
Thiét shrugged. “Maybe so.”
“He is me.” I picked up a rock. “And I can’t stand me. I hate it.” I threw the rock hard and picked up another. “I don’t want to know about me.”
As I went to throw once more, Thiét spoke. “Then maybe you want to know about me.”
I stopped in mid-motion and stared at him, wondering why his voice sounded different—why of a sudden he would talk that way.
“The man you call Onion did not drowned. He changed clothes with Qena then shot him in face with a dragon.” Thiét laughed. “No one can identify a man shot in the face with a dragon gun.”
“I think maybe we should go back now, Thiét.”
His eyes glinted narrow and he removed his hat. He unwound his turban slow—to reveal another layer.
“Owen, Je suis l’Oignon.”
I froze, with a fear hollow in my stomach. He studied me with vacant eyes, yet they brimmed with a look most certain. He stepped toward me, but then stopped and looked beyond. He made to grab me quick, but not quick enough. A pistol fired. A shot buzzed past my ear and hit the Onion high on his shoulder. He made a sound and went to one knee. Not in a fall, but to grab the artifact and run. I watched his shadow grow long, receding on the desert floor.
End of Book One
Glossary of Nautical Terms
Ballistics - the science of projectiles and firearms.
Banded jacky - a style of plug tobacco popular in 1798.
Beam end - a ship listing more than 45 degrees.
Beam reach - to sail at a right angle to the wind.
Beat to quarters - to clear for action.
Belay - to stop.
Belaying pin - a short wooden stick stowed in the pin rail and used to secure a rope.
Bicorne - a two-cornered hat worn by naval officers.
Binnacle - the stand on which the ship's compass is mounted.
Blue jackets - the term for sailors trained to fight at close quarters.
Bosun - slang for boatswain, a sailor in charge of deck operations.
Brig - a square-rigged, two-masted sailing ship, a ship’s gaol
.
Brigantine - a ship smaller than a brig.
Broad reach - to sail with the wind coming from behind but at an angle.
Brown Bess - the standard musket for British armed services during the Napoleonic era.
Bulkhead - an upright wall within the hull of a ship.
Bunt line - a type of knot.
Canister - lead balls packed in a can and fired from an artillery piece at short range.
Capstan - a winch used to raise the anchor.
Carronade - an artillery piece intended to be fired at a short range.
Cathead - a beam extending from the port and starboard bow used to secure the anchor.
Cabin boy - usually about twelve years old, duties include serving the captain of the ship.
Carlin - a wooden spacer secured between the beams of a ship.
Chains - a series of deadeyes used to secure shrouds.
Chandler - a merchant selling maritime supplies.
Cleat - a stationary metal or wooden device used to tie down a rope.
Close-hauled - to sail close to the wind, sailing with as little angle as possible.
Come about - to change course.
Companionway - the stairs or steps in a ship.
Corsair - a privateer.
Coxswain - a steersman man serving as boat handler, a captain’s steward.
Crosstrees - a wooden support used to secure the shrouds at the top gallant mastheads.
Crossjack - the square yard used to spread the foot of a topsail where no course sail is set.
Davits - a crane used to bring objects onboard (usually used in tandem to handle boats).
Dispatches, London Gazette - periodicals used to report on military engagements.
Dogger - a commercial fishing vessel.
Downhaul - the running rigging used to lower a yard.
Dragon - a firearm, usually a sawed off blunderbuss fired as a pistol.
Fathom - a measure of six feet.
Fife, fife rail - a small flute usually played at the rail around the mainmast (fife rail).
Fifth rate - a frigate armed with 24 to 40 or 50 guns.
Fighting top - the platform resting on the top of any section of a mast (topmast, mast top).
First rate - a ship armed with 98 guns or more.
Flog - to whip, usually with a cat-o-nine tale.
Full and by - to be close hauled with sails filling.
Futtock shrouds - the shrouds gathered below the mast tops and crosstrees.
Gallery - a small walkway aft of the great cabin.
Galley - a ship’s kitchen.
Glim - slang for a lantern.
Grape shot - ammunition similar to canister shot, used for anti-personnel.
Great cabin - the captain’s quarters located aft on the gun deck.
Grog - a drink, usually about one part rum to four parts water served twice daily.
Gudgeon - the female part of a fitting used as a hinge (see pintle).
Gunnel (gunwale) - the upper edge of the side of a ship.
Hand - to furl a sail (hand and reeve).
Halyard - a rope used to raise a sail, see running rigging.
Hawser - a large rope used for mooring or towing a vessel.
Holystone - a block of sandstone used to scour the deck.
HMS - His (Her) Majesty’s Ship.
Hornpipe - a lively dance.
Hull down - a ship seen with the hull still below the curvature of the earth.
Indiaman - a merchant ship serving in the East India Company (John Company).
In irons - when a ship’s bow is headed directly into the wind.
Jeer - a block and tackle used to handle sails.
Jury-rig - a temporary repair.
King post - the spoke on the wheel indicating when the rudder is steering straight ahead.
Langrage - the debris fired from an artillery piece to cut through rigging.
Leadsman - a man assigned to measure water depth with a long rope weighted with lead.
Lighter - a small harbor vessel.
Loblolly - a surgeon’s assistant, apothecary.
Long gun - a long range artillery piece.
Lubber - a landsman, the lowest rating on a ship, a land lover, a green crew member.
Lubber’s hole - the opening used by a lubber to gain access to a mast top.
Mast top - the platform resting on the top of any section of a mast.
Marlin spike - a hand tool used to reeve or unknot a rope (see spike).
Midshipman - the lowest rank for an officer in the Royal Navy (ensign).
Monkey rail - a light railing surrounding a mast.
Neap tide - a minimal tide occurring just after the first or third phase of the moon.
Nore - the mutiny occurring in the Thames Estuary in 1797.
Oakum - old rope fibers used for caulk.
Orlop - the deck covering the hold of a ship.
Outlier - a ship detached from the fleet serving as a lookout.
Pintle - the male part of fitting used as a hinge (see gudgeon).
Point of sail - the relationship between direction of wind and direction of ship.
Quarterdeck - the last quarter of a ship’s top deck, now called the bridge.
Queue - a braid of hair popular among sailors.
Ratlines - the horizontal ropes tied between shrouds used as the rungs of a ladder.
Reeve - to prepare or mend a rope (hand and reeve).
Roads - (inner roads, outer roads) the open expanses in a harbour where ships anchor.
Rope walk - a long shed in a chandler’s shop used to store and measure out rope.
Running rigging - the ropes employed to raise and lower yards.
Running - to sail with, or nearly with the wind.
Sailing master - the chief navigational officer, also responsible for the best use of sails.
Salt - an experienced sailor.
Sea - a sea refers to heavy weather, the sea refers to a body of water.
Scupper - a hole in the ship’s side to ship water overboard from the deck.
Sheave - a hole or a space for a rope to run through.
Sheet bend - a type of knot.
Sheer hulk - the hull a decommissioned ship used to transfer heavy loads to another ship.
Ship’s bells - the bell rung every half hour to measure the time elapsed in the each watch.
Shroud - the standing rigging employed to keep masts standing upright, port and starboard.
Sheet - a rope used to trim a sail.
Skeg - the trailing edge of the keel where the rudder attaches.
Slops - the clothes worn on a daily basis while at sea.
Smasher - slang for a carronade.
Spanker - a boom sail rigged fore and aft at the lower mizzenmast.
Spithead - the mutiny occurring at Portsmouth in 1797.
Spike - see marlin spike, or to ruin an artillery piece by ramming a spike in its touch hole.
Standing rigging - the shrouds and stays that stand in place to support the masts.
Stay - the standing rigging secured to keep masts standing upright, fore and aft.
Stepping the mast - to erect and secure the mast to its vertical position.
Strake - the overlapping boards making the hull of a boat.
Studding sails - the additional sails extended beyond the yard ends.
Tack - the course of a ship.
Tacking - the zig-zag pattern of sailing into the wind.
Taffrail - the railing on the transom.
Tar - a sailor.
Topmast - the platform resting on the top of any section of a mast (fighting top, mast top).
Transom - the aft wall of the stern.
Tumblehome - the curvature of a ship’s hull from waterline to gunnel.
Waist - of a ship, midway between the bow and the stern.
Watch - the blocks of time served on duty (first watch, morning watch, etc.).
Wear ship - to tack away from
the wind.
Xebec - a small sailing ship common in the Mediterranean.
About the Author
Lee Henschel Jr. was born in 1947. His published work includes Short Stories of Vietnam, and the novel, Deja Nam. He has been anthologized in Denmark and China, and in a wide range of magazines and periodicals in the Unites States. The inspiration for The Sailing Master came when he was thirteen and wanted to write a story set in the Golden Age of Sail . . . a story that one of his nautical heroes, Captain Hornblower, might like to read. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Lee Henschel Jr.
Rocket Science Press
Shipwreckt Books Publishing Company
Lanesboro, Minnesota