Chapter 344 – Getting out of the Tiger’s Mouth
Chapter 344 – Getting away from the Tiger’s Mouth
“Notify the entire ship to be on alert!”
The captain of the Fortune frowned and told the crew to get ready.
He turned to Ayrin and the others and said, “Guests, you’d better go to the cabin.”
Erin shook her head and said, “If it’s really pirates and you guys can’t stop them, it’s useless for us to hide anywhere.”
She tapped the sword at her waist – for the sake of convenience, she and Leah had been dressed in men’s clothing since they boarded the ship – and said, “We know a little bit of swordsmanship, and we can still help in a conflict.”
On the side, Leah nodded, not to mention that she herself was originally the princess’s guardian knight, even the princess herself had received good instruction and training in swordsmanship since she was a child, and was quite confident in her own hands, and under the premise of having a sharp blade in her hand, an idle person would not be able to get close to her.
Otherwise, the two girls would not dare to leave home casually.
“Uh …… well.”
The captain of the Fortune nodded suspiciously.
Velos, a merchant on the sidelines, says, “Since the girls are brave enough to face danger head on, wouldn’t it be a laughing matter for us grown men to hide in our cabins.”
The other passengers responded to Velos, saying that they would stay on deck and share the danger.
“Well, in that case, thank you all.”
The captain’s guts grew a little stronger as he instructed the crew to distribute weapons to the unarmed passengers.
The small boat from within the West Harbor gradually approached the Fortune, and the captain roughly estimated that there were about ten or so people, including the oarsmen. With more than 50 people on board his own ship, this small boat alone would not pose much of a threat. But if they were really pirates, there must be more of their associates in the western harbor. He instructed the men on deck to hide their weapons for now.
“I am the harbor official in charge, requesting to board the ship.”
After closing in on the Fortune, a leader-like man shouted towards the deck.
“Yes, just a moment please!” The captain agreed, and he ordered the rope ladder to be thrown down.
The harbor master who had just shouted climbed up with several attendants.
“Where did you come from ship?”
The captain frowned and replied, “The Fortune of the Northwest Bay, we’ve been to West Harbor several times and registered with the harbor office, don’t you recognize it, my lord?”
The captain’s suspicion turned to worry, the shape of the full wind sailing ship was peculiar to the people of West Harbor, logically the recognition should be very high, how could the harbor officials here not recognize it?
Hearing the Fortune’s captain’s question, the person who claimed to be the harbor official smiled awkwardly: “I’m sorry, I’m newly transferred to West Harbor, I’m not too familiar with some of the situations.”
Then he changed to a serious expression and asked in a questioning tone:“What do you intend to do by stopping so close to the West Harbor but not going in? Could it be that you want to spy on the information within the harbor? Or even information about the kingdom’s navy?”
“No, no, no, my lord.” The captain of the Fortune hurriedly [explained], “It’s actually our rudder that’s broken, and we want to try to see if we can fix it before entering the harbor.”
“So it’s the rudder that’s broken.” The harbor official stroked his chin, “Tell you what, you guys shouldn’t drift on the water and dawdle. Let’s use the wind to move towards West Harbor first, and when we get close enough we’ll send people to tow your ship in, wouldn’t it be easier to repair it in the dockyard? There are many skilled craftsmen within the Western Harbor, and even a new type of ship like yours will be no problem.”
“Haha, then I’ll trouble you, my lord.” The captain put on a look of gratitude.
On the side got Velos suddenly said, “Mr. Harbor Officer, give my regards to your colleague Mr. Jefferson, I’m a bit of a friend of his, I’ll stop by to see him this time I’m in Westport.”
He held out his hand as he spoke.
The harbor official reached out to shake his hand and responded with a smile, “It’s that Jefferson fellow, don’t worry, I’ll bring your greetings.”
No more pleasantries were exchanged, and the harbor master quickly led his entourage on a small boat to row towards Westport.
“Mr. Captain!” Velos said suddenly and seriously to the captain of the Fortune: “Turn around and travel at once, far away from Westport. Jefferson is a name I made up, Westport wouldn’t really happen to have such a harbor official, would it? In addition, when I shook hands with him just now, I could clearly feel the thick calluses on the other party’s hands, not at all like a person engaged in clerical work. Summing up, there must be something wrong in West Harbor.”
The captain nodded with a cold face: “I was already thinking of turning around and walking away, with this speculation of yours, I am even more determined.”
The captain quickly gave the order to head north, and under the threat of pirates, the sailors worked far more efficiently than usual.
It was blowing a northerly wind, and they adjusted the angle of the hull and sails to break the wind into two directional forces, one pushing toward the side of the hull and the other toward the bow, the side force being canceled out due to the resistance of the hull’s draught, and the other force propelling the hull toward the bow.
In this way, the Fortune slowly moved, in a zigzag shape to the north of the sea.
This operation was actually quite time-consuming, but I guess the “harbor master” who boarded the ship before thought that his performance had already concealed the people on board the Fortune, and was proudly waiting for the prey to come to his door in the harbor, so he did not make any further action.
However, when the Fortune turned north, they finally realized that it was not the other party who had been deceived by them, but they themselves who had been deceived by the other party.
After a bit of hustle and bustle, several large ships were launched from within the Western Harbor and chased after the Fortune.
But because the Fortune was already far away from the harbor, the paddleboats didn’t catch up after all.
“What should we do next?”
Looking at the fading shadow of the ship in the south, Irene asked somewhat blankly. A good trip home had turned out to be like this, and she couldn’t help but feel very lost in her heart.
Moreover, pirates had even appeared on the west coast of the kingdom, and as a princess, she was worried about the fate of the kingdom again.
The captain told his plan: “The food and fresh water on board are not enough to support us until we return to the northwest bay. So we must go north to find a supply point.”
Velos suggests, “There are multiple harbors dotted along the west coast, they can’t all be infested by pirates as the west harbor is, obtaining supplies should be easy.”
The captain fiddled with his chin, “You’ve reminded me of that, it’s better to find a closer port to unload the cargo first than to ship it back to the Northwest Gulf. We’ll have to send someone ashore in a small boat first to find out what the situation is in the area though.”
As the sun was setting, dinner began to be arranged aboard the Fortune, and the men ate and spent the night with mixed feelings.
Early the next morning, the captain sent someone ashore to learn from a fishing village that West Harbor had indeed been captured by a wave of pirates that came out of nowhere, and even the kingdom’s navy that was stationed inside was finished. Now Jingyao is going around recruiting ships and sailors, preparing to fight the pirates on land and water.
The people on the ship were scared, they almost went into the tiger’s mouth.
(End of chapter)