looked vaguely familiar. It may have been the same one from the police officer this morning.
“No! Wait!” It cried out but a moment later the boat captain was there trying to grab it.
The furry ducked the grab at it and dashed to the aft end of the boat. The captain followed and then Maggie lost sight of them behind the cabin. As she came around the corner there was a loud splash and the furry was standing there alone.
“He slipped while trying to grab me!” He pleaded. “Find some rope, or a life preserver! Anything!”
Maggie looked down into the water in disbelief and saw a hand clutching the back of the craft. The rest of the body was completely submerged. “He is there!” She pointed.
The furry disappeared for a moment and came back with the loose end of some rope. He tossed it over at the hand but just before it hit the water the hand slipped and vanished under the water. The boat captain was nowhere to be seen.
They stood there for nearly five minutes staring at the water to see if he would emerge but he never did. He was gone. The sound of a loud horn and a bell ringing woke them from their trance.
They both went around the cabin and saw there was a large river boat heading straight towards them. It was much larger than the flat they were on and would scuttle them.
“What do we do?” The furry called out in panic.
Maggie rushed forward to the console and grabbed the wheel. She turned it sharply and the boat started lumbering starboard. The horn and bells continued to sound on the approaching ship. The edge of the steam ship actually clipped the port corner of the fore of the boat causing the rear of the boat to come up out of the water briefly. Then it released the hold on the smaller boat and the flat slammed back into the water. The wash from the large steam boat then actually worked to push the flat away, but the flat was now listing in the water. Maggie could feel the boat surface leaning to the port. She looked at the controls before her and had no idea what anything besides the wheel did. None of the levers were labeled.
She steered hard to starboard and the boat, leaning to the port, fought hard against the water to lumber toward the side waters.
As the boat broke free of the midwater it suddenly turned sharply and instead of coming up alongside the land, it turned and rammed sharply into the bank. The engine, still running tried to push the front of the boat further ashore. In surges the engine seemed to grip the water and lurch the boat further up into the bank till it finally seemed it could not get it any further. Maggie tugged and pulled levers ineffectually.
“Hey!” She heard someone calling to her and looked off to her right. The boatman was running in the shallows towards the boat.
“What are you doing to my ship?” He called out.
The furry, seeing him coming ran for the shore and jumped over the rail. He started up the bank away from the boat and away from the captain. The captain changed course and went after the furry. He caught up to him pretty easily and had the furry pinned on the ground. A couple of minutes later the captain was dragging back an unconscious furry towards the boat.
Somehow Maggie managed to cut the fire to the engine and the steam was dying down quickly.
She rushed forward to meet the captain as he arrived back at the boat.
“Help me get him aboard.” The captain stated indicating the furry.
Together they lifted him over the side rail and dragged him to the windlass and used the rope there to tie him down.
“How did you survive?” The Lost Daughter asked the captain. “We threw a rope and watched for you.”
“I caught the rope.” He stated. “But the turbulence from the engine kept pushing me under.”
“But how—”
“Don’t worry about it.” He cut her off. “What did you do to my boat?”
He was looking over the damage to the port corner at the fore of the flat. It had a huge dent in it from where the steamer had clipped it, but it was still holding up.
“I just tried to save it. That other boat was bearing down on us.”
He nodded, but seemed to be distracted by examining his boat.
“I think the boat is okay, but I saw it was listing. I had better check the load.” The captain stated.
The captain went to the cargo panels and started pulling up sections of the deck.
While he was doing this Maggie went to inspect the prisoner. He was still unconscious but mostly he looked whole. She did not find any broken bones and he was not bleeding from anywhere. The man’s fur was caked with mud and sand from fighting on the bank, but otherwise he seemed fine. The captain apparently knew a very effective way to knock a person out causing the least amount of damage as possible. Maggie knew of multiple ways to do this herself. Fighting was another skill that was programmed into her and the other daughters.
“The load shifted.” The captain called out. “Is he awake yet? We need his help to get going again.”
“Not yet.” She answered back. “Hopefully he does not have a concussion.”
“No, he will be fine.” He was at her shoulder now. “You have any stimulants in your bag?”
“I think so.” She said headed back to the cabin.
By the time she returned the captain was untying the now awake furry.
“He woke up?” She asked.
“I woke him up.” The captain said simply.
Maggie wondered what that meant but knew better than to ask.
“I did not mean for it to happen. I was just looking to get out of Saint Ellwood.” The furry pleaded.
“I don’t take passengers, I am a cargo ship.” The captain stated.
The furry looked over at the Lost Daughter. The Rafter followed his gaze.
“Her? That’s different.” He stated. “For one thing, she asked.”
“I am truly sorry though.” The furry said. “Can you just let me go?”
“No.” The captain stated. “In River Law, do you know the penalty for stowing away?”
The furry stood silently and shook his head.
“Trespassing stowaways are to be pitched from the ship in the center current.” The boatman declared. “A lot like what you did to me.”
“We tried to save you.” The furry was in tears. “I threw you a rope!”
“That rope is the only reason you are alive right now!”
Maggie attempted to calm the captain down some by pull back on his arm and shoulder. The Rafter seemed to relent and backed off at her prompting.
After a minute or so, the captain seemed to compose himself. “You are currently my prisoner under the charge of stowing away. You are going to help us reload the cargo so we can get underway.”
The furry realizing he had been bought at least some more time agreed. “Of course. Point me to it.”
Amidships a bunch of the deck had been opened up to reveal the cargo hold below. Bars of steel were strewn everywhere but mostly the lay in a large pile on the port side of the hold. They would have to be re-piled in the middle redistribute the load evenly.
The three of them started to work. Maggie was surprised how hard the furry was working to balance the load. In a matter of about an hour without any breaks they had stacked all of the ingots into a new stack that was spread out across the bottom of the hold.
“Start closing the holds.” The captain ordered the furry as he went to the castle and started pulling levers. Maggie stood and watched as the boat seemed to come alive. Steam very quickly started billowing out of the stack and a rumbling emerged from the deck beneath her feet.
A wash of water started going up the shore on either side of the boat as the engine worked to break the boat loose from the shore, but the boat did not move. Eventually he cut the engine back, the steam died down, and the rumble ceased.
The Captain looked up and down the river and quickly spotted what he was looking for.
“You!” The captain pointed at the furry who was just fini
shing up closing the hold. “Get out and push when I tell you.”
“What?” The furry asked. “You want me to push this huge boat?”
“Lift is more like it. Get out there now!” The captain ordered. “Push upwards and away from shore.”
The furry jumped over the rail and got into position. He heaved against the hull but only succeeded in burying his feet into the sand.
“Not yet!” The captain shouted to him. :”Wait till I say!”
The captain was watching the river. He seemed to be intent on an approaching ship.
Just before the ship got even with them he pulled a couple of levers to dump full fuel on the burner. Steam started billowing heavily out of the stack. A large rolling wake broke from the side of the passing ship.
Something caught Maggie’s attention through all this. On the top of the bank a man was approaching on horseback at high speed. The furry seemed to notice him too.
“We need to go now!” The furry screamed over the engine noise.
“Wait till I say!” The captain shouted back.
The wave front from the passing ship came closer.
The instant that it hit the back of the ship the captain shouted, “Now!”
At the same time he kicked the transmission of the boat into reverse and the combination of the downward and backward pull of the motor with the pivot point of the wave and the extra lift from the furry, the boat lurched and dragged itself backwards into the water. The furry lost his footing but made a leap for the boat. He was clinging to the rail and the boat rallied itself away from the shore.
Maggie ran to the fore and grabbed the furry’s arms and heaved