Urlik stepped out of the wheelhouse and peered curiously at the circular lines of charcoal spreading across the deck. His eyes scanned right to left until he spied Jbat hunched over, moving his right arm slowly in a circle. Urlik stepped over to his friend.
“What'cha doing?” he inquired.
“The cap'n said to coil the lines,” replied Jbat. “Tis easy if you start small, but if'n ya get one awry, tis very hard ter set it straight.” He pointed to a line of charcoal that didn't match the concentric circles of the others, but wandered off, seemingly at random.
Urlik's toe fidgeted with a length of thick rope lying on the deck. “It doen' seem aright” he observed. “I never sen it done this way on ot'er boats.”
“Maybe our cap'n knows somet'ing those ot'er cap'ns don't!” his friend stated knowingly.
The yellow of Urlik's teeth appeared between his lips as he nodded his head.
“Do ya have more charcoal?”
I think I'm missing something important. I don't get it. 'Splain it to me.
ReplyDeleteOn a sailing ship, the 'ropes' that connect the sails and allow for raising / lowering are called lines. The 'lines' are continually coiled on board to keep them from tangling and becoming unmanageable. It's just a little play on words...
ReplyDeleteApparently the knowledge of this is not as widespread as I thought. I'm 1 for 3 on readers understanding it...Oh well. Back to the drawing board!