Harry's voice came from the bottom of the stairs. "Furl all the sails excepting the fore jib. And move it!"
The sailors stomped up the stairs to the deck. Sallina and Garibaldi could feel the ship rolling around them. It was rolling with the same, slow, swing, but each time it seemed to roll farther each way. Garibaldi decided the ship would always roll at the same speed, and he was unhappy about that, because if it would just go quicker for a while, or maybe slower, he would feel better. But the same speed all the time, that was horrible to think about. As he stood there in the dark with Sallina, he swayed against the door, then against their bunk beds, then against the door again, and into Sallina. She put her arms around him. He hugged her and closed his eyes. Even when he was seasick, Sallina still smelled good.
"I'm frightened," she said.
"I'm too sick to be frightened," Garibaldi said.
"I thought you were feeling better. You ate some soup."
"It was the lanterns. Standing here in the dark I'm feeling bad again."
"Lie down on the bunk," Sallina said.
The bunks were on the fore wall of their cabin, one on top of the other. Garibaldi lay down on the lower bunk. Lightening flashed outside their window. Garibaldi saw the rain outside, and huge, white-topped waves.
Crack-a-Boom! The clap of thunder came right after the flash. The storm was above them.
By feeling with her hands in the darkness, Sallina found the drawer in the small table on the aft wall. Harry had left some candles and matches in the draw for them. She struck a match, lit one of the candles, melted the bottom of the candle with the match, and stuck the candle to the table.
The orange light of the candle shone upon the walls of the cabin. Garibaldi blinked.
Sallina took her old skirt out of their bag, tore a strip of cloth from the hem, and used the strip to hang the bag from a hook in the ceiling. She had noticed the hook earlier in the day, when she had been lying in her bunk.
"There," Sallina said, "A swinging bag for you to watch."
Garibaldi looked at the bag. He smiled. He watched the bag swing back and forth.
"Well?" Sallina said.
"I think it's working."
The bag swung towards Sallina. She stepped away and put her hand on the wall next to the window. The ship was creaking and shuddering as it rode the waves.
"The ship is groaning," she said.
"Yes," Garibaldi said.
Sallina climbed up into the top bunk. Garibaldi had not thanked her for hanging the bag from the ceiling. Perhaps he was so sick he had forgotten to be grateful. She frowned. She was proud of what she had done for him, but he did not seem to recognize how much trouble it was for her to look after him, and it was especially difficult to look after him now that she was scared of the storm.
They lay in their bunks. The sound of waves striking the ship grew louder and louder. The thunder and lightning came more often. The bag swung farther and farther from one side to the other. Sallina hung on to the rail at the edge of her bunk. Garibaldi lay watching the bag.
Garibaldi was ashamed that he was so sick. He had been enjoying Sallina looking after him, but now he felt embarrassed. It was a clever idea of hers, hanging up the bag, and it was working. He wished he had thought of it himself, and done it himself, instead of just waiting for her to think of it. Maybe that was the problem when a smart woman spent time with a man who was not so smart. The man started to leave all the thinking to her, and would get more and more stupid, until she was sick of him.
The bag nearly touched the ceiling. The ship shuddered. The thousands of thick wood planks out of which the ship was made creaked and banged. Water slammed onto the deck above them.
Smash!
The smash of the wave was so loud it made Sallina's ears ring. The boards of the ceiling above her nose bent down towards her face with the weight of the wave, and salty water squirted through the gaps between the boards and onto her shirt.
She screamed. She thought the ceiling was going to fall on her. She jumped out of her bunk and threw herself on top of Garibaldi. She hung on to him and pressed her face into his chest.
Garibaldi held her head in his hands. "It's okay!" He had to shout over the noise of the ship creaking and the waves smashing. "It's just the waves!"
Someone was standing on the deck above their cabin. They heard his footsteps.
"Spar four! Let up on it! Get the jib tied!"
It was Harry.
Another wave smashed on the deck. Someone called, "Man overboard!"
Garibaldi took his eyes from the bag and reached for his axe. It lay on the bed beside him. "What did he say?"
"He said 'man overboard'," Sallina said.
"My gosh!"
"I've got him!" Harry cried. "Give me a hand here! Sharpy, give me a hand!"
"Aye, aye, mate, I'm on my way!" Sharpy said.
Garibaldi let go of his axe. Whoever went overboard must be tied to the ship with a rope.
They heard the voice of the Captain. "Harry! You, Sharpy and Dan keep to the aft deck. Get Jasper below, his arm is broken. Leave Otis on the fore deck with the jib sail. Tell the rest to get below. Otis! Take the jib. Double-lash yourself!"
"Aye, aye, Captain. Double-lash myself!"
"Captain, we don't have a chance," Sharpy said, "We should run from it!"
"Don't talk back to me in a storm, sailor!" the Captain cried, "Pull yourself together, man! Get to the wheel. Lash yourselves. Dan! Lash yourself! Don't argue with me! Do it!"
Sallina and Garibaldi heard the door at the top of the stairs slam open. Sailors pounded down the steps, one after the other. One screamed. Another said, "Don't move his arm! Leave it, leave it!"
A wave hit the deck.
"Water coming in!"
The door slammed shut. The wave swept across the deck and away into the sea. Sallina could hear it go.
"All clear!"
The door slammed open again. More sailors came down the steps and along the passage to their dormitory.
Garibaldi and Sallina lay squashed together in Garibaldi's bunk for a long time. Waves smashed on the deck. Lightening flashed outside. Thunder boomed. The wind screamed around the ship. Their candle burned lower and lower.
The candle had almost burned out, and Sallina was thinking of lighting another, when the ship rolled so far over that the bag touched the ceiling of the cabin for the first time. Sallina and Garibaldi slid along the bunk towards the wall. There was a roar of wind and a crash of water on the deck.
A tremendous crack came from the rear of the ship.
"What was that!" Sallina said.
Something landed with a loud crash on the aft deck. The ship lay upon its side. It straightened up, but not all the way. It leaned to starboard and stayed leaning to starboard.
Garibaldi grabbed his axe. There was something was wrong with the ship.
"Cut it loose!" the Captain cried from the aft deck.
"What's going on!" Sallina said.
"I don't know," Garibaldi said, "But something has gone wrong. I'm going up."
"The Captain said to stay down."
Garibaldi pushed Sallina off his chest and pulled her hands from his shirt. He rolled out of bed and stood up with his axe in his hand.
"You stay here," he said.
"Don't go," Sallina said. She started to cry "I don't want you to be washed overboard!"
The ship rolled a little farther to starboard. Garibaldi hung on to the doorway to stop himself from falling across the cabin. When the ship rolled back, he leaned down and kissed Sallina full on the lips. "I'll be back, don't worry. But there's something hanging off the ship, and it needs to be cut off."
He opened the door, stepped into the passage and closed the door behind him. He walked to the stairs and ran up them to the door at the top. His heart was pounding. He forgot about his seasickness. He listened at the door. A wave smashed against it. Water squirted under the bottom and around the edges. When the water stopped squirting, he opened the door and stepped out onto the deck.
Three bright lanterns swung wildly from hangers on the main mast. The mast itself towered up into the darkness. Its sails were wrapped in tight bundles. Dozens of ropes ran up from the sides of the ship into the darkness. The wind blew through the ropes and whistled. One small sail was stretched out in front of the forward mast. Garibaldi could see it flapping in the wind and rain. Beneath the sail, on the fore deck, he saw Otis, the oldest sailor on the ship, with his thin white hair and thick white beard.
A wave burst over the side. Garibaldi grabbed the brass rail on the wall beside the door. With his other hand, he closed the door firmly before the water could rush down the stairs. The wave washed past him, soaking him to the waist, and slipped off the other side of the deck.
Garibaldi stepped along the wall to the starboard side of the ship. Above and to his right was the aft deck, and that was where the loud crack had come from. In his left hand, he carried his axe. With his right hand, he held the brass rail. He walked up the steps to the aft deck. When he reached the top, a tall, fast wave struck the port side of the ship. Cold, frothing saltwater flew high into the air above the deck. Garibaldi looked up and saw a wall of water falling down upon him. He held tight to the rail and crouched down. The water fell upon him and slammed him down onto the steps. His head struck something hard. The water rushed past him, cold and fast. It pulled upon his legs and body.
Garibaldi held on tightly to the brass rail with one hand and to his axe with the other. He did not let the wave take him. When the wave was gone, Garibaldi was wet and cold, but he did not notice. He looked across the aft deck and at last he saw what the cracking noise had been. The mizzen mast, the one that rose up from the aft deck, had cracked and fallen. It was tangled with ropes and white sail cloth and hanging over the starboard side of the ship. The wood at the bottom of the mast was shattered and bent, but not entirely broken, so that the mast could not fall off the boat and into the sea. It dragged in the water and pulled the ship over onto its side. Waves were smashed into the port side of the ship, tipping her over even farther.
The Captain was at the ship's wheel. The deck was tilted so far over that it was half-way between being a floor and a wall. The Captain was tied with ropes to a wheel frame. He saw Garibaldi and shouted at him. "Get below! Get below!"
Garibaldi looked at the broken mast. Sharpy, Harry, and Dan were trying to chop through the base of the mast and all the ropes that tied it so that they could push it off the deck. But they were not doing very well. The wood was thick and hard, as Garibaldi knew it would be. The sailors had only hatchets to cut it with, and the deck was almost impossible to stand on.
There was a rope tied to a brass ring at the top of the steps. Garibaldi could see no place to put his axe, so he swung it and struck the deck in front of him. He let go of the axe and it remained stuck where it was in the wood. He tied the rope around his waist. He used the same knot he used when he tied a rope around a tree stump before Eliza pulled the stump out.
With the rope around his waste, he felt safer. He was lashed to the ship, like the other sailors. He pulled his axe out of the deck and walked towards the broken mast along the the starboard rail.
The Captain was leaning on the ship's wheel with all his weight. "Otis, tighten number six!"
From the front of the ship came Otis's voice. "Aye, Captain, tighten number six!"
Even above the howling of the wind, the pounding of the waves, and the groaning of the ship, the sailors shouted loudly enough to be heard.
"I'm a woodcutter!" Garibaldi shouted.
"I can't hear you, boy!" the Captain said.
Sharpy looked up from his chopping, "He says he's a woodcutter!"
"All right, help then!" the Captain said. "Chop away, but watch the −"
A wave splashed over the deck. Sharpy's head disappeared under the water. When the wave slipped away, he shook his head, spat water out of his mouth, raised his hatchet and chopped at the splintered base of the mast.
Garibaldi stepped away from the starboard rail to the splintered mast. The ship rolled upright, and he was able to stand on the deck.
"Stand back!"
Sharpy and Harry moved back. Garibaldi stood with his legs apart and raised his axe. The ship rolled slowly to port, and then to starboard.
Garibaldi waited.
"Get on with it, boy!" the Captain said.
But Garibaldi waited. He had been paying very close attention to the way the ship moved for the entire day and night, and he knew what he was waiting for.
Putting your feet in the right place is important when you use a big axe like Garibaldi's. Although he had strong arms, he knew well that if you want all your weight and strength to pass from your body into the head of the axe, you have to swing it with grace and balance. For Garibaldi, that meant waiting until the ship stayed still. He knew that such a moment would come. Even with the mast in the water, the boat was still standing still every now and then.
"Boy!" The Captain said, "What are you playing at?"
The ship stood still. Garibaldi swung his axe. Chop! The axe bit into the splintered wood. He pulled the axe out and swung again. On the seventh chop, he cut through the base of the mast.
A wave washed over the side and swept Garibaldi off his feet. He floated across the deck and hit the starboard rail. The water rushed around him, through the holes at the bottom of the rail, and into the sea. In a few moments, the water was gone. He looked up. The ship was leaning on her side. The wind was howling in his ears.
He stood up. The Captain was leaning on the wheel. Harry was lying against the rail not far away. He was shaking his head and trying to get up. Another wave washed over the deck. The mast slid sideways and came down hard upon the railing. The railing cracked, but did not fall apart. The mast started to slide over the side.
But it stopped with one end sticking in the air. The ropes held it to the ship.
"Cut it loose!" the Captain cried.
The ship straightened up, and Garibaldi stepped up to the ropes. There were many of them. He swung his axe and cut one, and another. Dan was cutting ropes on the other side of the mast with his hatchet. Between his own strokes, Garibaldi looked at Dan. The old man's hatchet rose and fell quickly. Each stroke severed a rope, just like Garibaldi. Unlike Garibaldi, however, Dan was not lashed to the ship. If he went overboard, he would die.
"Where's Sharpy?" the Captain said.
A voice came from the tangle of ropes holding the mast to the ship. "I'm here! I'm trapped!"
"I see you! Dan! He's tangled. Cut him free! Harry! Up with you Harry!"
Garibaldi swung his axe. Harry rose to his knees. There was blood running down his face. "I'm okay, Captain."
"I didn't ask if you were okay, first mate!" the Captain said, "I ordered you to get up!"
Garibaldi cut another rope, and another. A wave came over the side. The mast floated on the water. The water rushed around Garibaldi's waist. He held onto the ropes that remained uncut. When the water began to flow off again, the mast pulled them tight. Garibaldi raised his axe with one hand. He held it half way down its handle. He took hold of the tightest rope he could find, and cut it with three short strokes.
The water began to run off the deck.
"Sharpy!" Harry cried.
Garibaldi cut another rope. The mast slid sideways. It was almost free. He moved towards Dan, who was standing next to the rail, chopping with his hatchet. The rope around Garibaldi's waist tightened. The other end of it was tied to the rail at the top of the stairs. He could go no further. But now he saw Sharpy tangled in the ropes of the mast. Even as he watched, the mast slid over the starboard rail and dragged Sharpy with it. Dan leaned over the edge with his hatchet.
"I can't reach!" he cried.
The mast floated in the water and thumped against the side of the ship.
Garibaldi knelt upon the deck. He laid his guard rope down and cut it. He was no longer tied to the ship. He took a few steps across the slippery deck and stood next to Dan. When Dan saw Garibaldi with his woodcutter's axe, he stepped out of the way and pointed over the edge of the ship.
"Quickly now. You can do it," he said.
The mast thumped against the side of the ship again. Garibaldi leaned over the rail. There was Sharpy. He was holding onto the edge of the deck with one arm, but down below, one leg was tangled in a rope tied to the mast. The mast was pulling him down into the water. There was another rope tied around his waist. The second rope was still attached to the ship. Any moment now, the mast could pull away from the boat. The two ropes, with Sharpy's body in between, were all that held the broken mast to the ship. All the other ropes had been cut.
A wave washed over Sharpy's head and he came up spitting water. "Help me!" His face was white and trembling in the light of the swinging lanterns. "Don't let me die!"
Garibaldi looked down at the rope wrapped around Sharpy's leg. It was one rope, but it ran from the mast, wrapped around Sharpy's leg three times, and returned to the mast again. Sharpy was being dragged down by two lengths of rope, not just one. Garibaldi looked up at the sea. Another huge wave rolled towards them. Sharpy looked up and saw it too. He shook his leg, trying to get it out of the tangle of rope, but he could not. The rope was too tight. He and Garibaldi both knew that this next wave would pull the mast away from the ship when it went past. The mast would either tear Sharpy apart, or pull him down into the water to drown.
Sharpy looked up at Garibaldi. "You have to cut my leg off!"
Garibaldi raised one eyebrow and his axe at the same time. With one foot, he stepped hard upon Sharpy's hand.
"Ouch!" Sharpy cried.
The wave rolled closer.
"Hurry!" Sharpy cried.
Harry was leaning over the deck nearby. "Do it!" He said, "There's no other way!"
Garibaldi swung. His axe came down in a great arc, out over the side of the ship and down towards Sharpy's leg. He swung it one-handed, as far as he could reach. With the other hand, he held the ship's rail to keep him from falling overboard.
Thud!
"Ah!" Sharpy cried.
Garibaldi let go of his axe. He reached with both hands and grabbed Sharpy's arm before Sharpy could let go of the deck. Harry jumped forward, put his arms around Garibaldi, and held him tight. Dan grabbed the starboard rail. The wave washed over them. They were under water. They could see nothing, but the water roared in their ears as it rushed by. The mast thumped against the side of the ship once more, and was silent.
The ship rolled upright. The wave slid away over the port side. Harry held Garibaldi and Garibaldi held Sharpy's arm. Garibaldi and Harry were pressed up against the rail of the ship, on the end of Harry's rope. Sharpy was hanging over the side. Garibaldi stood up. He pulled Sharpy over the rail.
Sharpy lay on the deck. "Ah!" he cried. "Ah! Ah! Ah!"
Harry spat water from his mouth. "What, man, what!"
"He chopped my leg off!"
Garibaldi reached over the starboard rail and tugged his axe free from the side of the ship.
"No he didn't," Harry said.
Sharpy looked down and grabbed his leg with both hands. He laughed. "It's still there!" The end of the rope was wrapped around the leg, and his leg was bent into a strange shape, with blood showing through his white trousers, but the leg was still attached to him. Garibaldi had cut both ends of the rope with one stroke.
"Ha-ha!" Sharpy said. "Ha!"
He lay back on the deck and fainted.
"By the gods!" the Captain said, "He's safe!"