At the Mast: An American Sea Adventure (The Patriot Sailor Book 2) by Cal Clement

Author:Cal Clement [Clement, Cal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

Evening painted the western skies into a glorious ballad of color as the sun entered its final stages of surrender to the horizon. Hues of blazing orange and red, pink and amber danced high into the heavens. Upon his arrival to the quarterdeck, Jack was hastened to the ship’s wheel. Captain Williams stood along a windward bulwark, his face the picture of grim determination. At his side stood the ship’s second in command, Lieutenant Sifton. The two appeared to be exchanging conversation in low tones and without making eye contact with one another, which Jack took as a black omen.

“Ready at the helm there, Horner,” Lieutenant Sifton said in a tone slightly warmer than most officers would chance with a common sailor in front of the ship’s commander. “I chance that you will be there until the sun rises, but tonight, young man, you will see some seamanship.”

The vague promise intrigued Jack. Looking ahead, he could only see the faintest hint of Saber’s outline on the eastern horizon. She had flown all sail and hastened north by east until Allegiance was hopelessly out of range. Nightfall would come and there wasn’t a chance in hell they would catch her before the last light of day slipped from the world. Jack held the wheel steady. The seas were calm with low rolling waves that met Allegiance’s bow and lifted the hull in a steady rhythmic pitch that produced only the slightest thrums of pressure against the rudder. Shifting his gaze between the sails and compass, Jack held their course just a few points east of north while Saber slipped further away with every passing heartbeat.

“Land ho!” called down a foremast lookout.

“Where away?” bellowed back a boatswain’s mate near the ship’s waist.

“Three points off the larboard bow, looks to be off Saber’s beam,” the lookout shouted.

Another low exchange took place between the ship’s commander and his first lieutenant, but Jack couldn’t hear what was being said, and did not want to appear as though he was trying.

“Looks like Saber is shifting course toward land!” the lookout cried out again. “She’s hauling over to larboard!”

Jack gripped the wheel, his hands tight against the coarse grain of weathered wood in anticipation of command.

“Steady as she goes, Horner,” Lieutenant Sifton said with a firm voice. “We’ll not give up the game until daylight has faded.”

Jack wondered at the cryptic comment, but held the wheel steady while the light of day failed in the western skies. Saber faded from a silhouette, to a shadow until it blended with the darkness of the night surrounding it. Stars glittered in the heavens while the last rays of amber hue slipped from the western horizon and left Allegiance plying forward into a world of darkness. It seemed like hours, every moment Jack waited for the command he felt was coming, until finally the first lieutenant turned to him with a smile.

“Alright, Horner. Bring her about, larboard,” he said with a sly edge in his voice.

Jack turned the wheel and sent Allegiance’s edging over toward the west.

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