The Lion’s Paw by Robb White

Author:Robb White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

AT THREE-THIRTY in the morning on Thursday the black sloop, Lion’s Paw, sails set to an easterly wind, disappeared from the Atlantic Ocean. Silently ghosting before the wind, it sailed past the sleeping town of Stuart, Florida, cleared the railway bridge, and turned down the south fork of the St. Lucie River. With Ben at the tiller, Nick hauled in on the jib and mainsail sheets at the turn and, with wind now abeam, they passed Palm City and steered for the entrance to the canal marked by the flashing green number 33 buoy. It was still raining, but the wind was steady and strong.

As they passed the buoy, its green light watery through the rain, the sides of the canal closed in on them until, in the darkness, it looked to Nick as though he could jump ashore without even getting his feet wet. This closeness of the land disturbed him.

“This would be a good place for your Uncle Pete to catch us,” Nick said.

Ben shook his head, the sou’wester throwing a spray of water from the brim. “Don’t think so. At least I don’t if Uncle Pete has the memory he’s always bragging about. Because once we were talking about coming through the St. Lucie and we had to show Uncle Pete that this boat drew too much water and couldn’t get through. But they’ve dredged it recently and it’s deep enough now. But I don’t think he knows that. I certainly hope he doesn’t.”

“Me too,” Nick said. “There’s no place to run to in here.”

“We’ll hide again in a little while. There’s another creek like the one we were in down about eight miles. We’ll sneak up there, stay all day, and start out again tomorrow night.”

Nick nodded solemnly, his hatbrim spilling water on the face of the binnacle. “Won’t we ever be able to sail some in the daytime?” he asked. “Me and Penny aren’t used to staying up all night all the time.”

“Neither am I,” Ben said. “I’m no owl. But I figure we’ve got two more nights of it. Tomorrow will be a brute. We’ve got more than sixty miles to do tomorrow to get through the lake—that’ll mean sailing from sundown to sunup. The next night won’t be so bad—about fifty miles to Fort Myers and the Gulf. Then—we’re free.”

“Will it rain all the way?” Nick asked.

“Hope not,” Ben said. “I’ve been wet so long the water’s soaking through my skin.”

“I don’t mind the water so much,” Nick said. “What I mind is the shivering. My bones are about worn out from shivering. But anyway I won’t have to take a bath for maybe a couple of months, will I, Ben?”

“Matters of minor discipline I’ll leave up to Penny,” Ben said.

Nick looked at Ben’s face under the brim of the sou’wester. “Oh, well,” he said. Then he brightened. “But it won’t be like taking a bath at the eganahpro. I won’t have to stand in line waiting for an open shower with people flicking at me with towels.

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