The Domesday Book, (No, Not That One) (A Tale of 1066-ish) by Howard of Warwick

Author:Howard of Warwick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Funny Book Company
Published: 2013-12-06T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Ferry Risky

'You seriously think four horses are going to get into that?’ Le Pedvin was directing the question at Mabbut, which he thought was a bit unfair as it was More's boat.

'I'll come back for the horses,’ More explained, grinning brightly.

'How many times?’ Le Pedvin was disbelieving. 'It's going to be dark soon and no horse in its right mind would put a hoof in that thing.’ He cast a contemptuous glance at More's vessel. 'You may be willing to drown before we get halfway, but I'm not.’

'Safe as houses,’ More grinned and tapped the side of the boat in a solid sort of way which made it rock dangerously.

'I've seen your houses,’ Le Pedvin retorted.

'Oh come on, it's not far.’ More looked over his back to the far shore. Mabbut was rather concerned to notice the man was squinting heavily as if he was having trouble making out that a far shore existed, let alone where it was. 'Get in, take a seat.’

'Where?’ Le Pedvin asked looking at the boat.

Mabbut admitted this was a very good question. There was one seat, or rather a plank, which straddled the centre of the boat, and upon which sat More. A similar plank graced the back of the craft and that was it. Two planks in a boat.

Looking even more closely, the description ‘boat’ now seemed overly generous. It looked like a thing that might once have been a boat, but the outside had been taken away. This had been replaced with some sort of animal skin, and then the original insides had been thrown out as well. The result was nothing more than a floating boat repair. And a temporary one at that.

'One of you next to me, you can take an oar. Two at the back and one in the prow.’ More’s tones expressed disappointment at landlubbers who didn't even know enough to sit down in a boat.

'And the thing will still float, will it?’ Le Pedvin asked.

'Mostly,’ More grinned. 'At least enough to make it to Chadwell.’

'How many times have you made this journey?’ Mabbut asked, pretty convinced the answer would be none.

'Oh, loads,’ More nodded. 'I know the river like the back of my, erm, you know.’

'Hand?’

'That's it. Course if you don't want to go, you'll just have to wait two days for the next ferry.’

Le Pedvin glared hard, at the world and everyone in it. 'Get in,’ he commanded the others.

'You may be mad, but I am not.’ Ranulf stated this quite plainly as he joined the inspection of their transport. 'I know a little about the work of the shipwright,’ he went on – no surprise there, then. 'They are skilled craftsmen, and I can confidently report that none of them has ever been near this thing. It looks like someone has hollowed out a cow and put a rudder on it.’

'Rudder?’ More asked, plainly not familiar with the term.

'We can report to William that we got this far. I've made enough of a note for the trip to be worthwhile and we'll say we turned back at the river.

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