Paths of the Sea

Chapter 1 A Yacht

Henry Balliot's POV 

Five people. Just the five of them in the small boat. Henry sat there in the boat with the others watching the last of the ship sink into oblivion. He still wasn't entirely sure what had happened to cause it to sink. Suddenly he heard one of his fellow shipmates exclaim, "She's going now!" He glanced to see that it was Jack who had said it. The old, gray-haired seaman knew what he was talking about, as soon the ship was entirely under the water. For a while no one uttered a single sound, each frozen in their own thoughts. 

Suddenly Jack straightened himself, "Well friends. She has gone down, and those bottom dwelling crew as well. Good riddance in my opinion!" He declared, though his voice cracked with emotion for just a moment. "Yes sir, good riddance! I asked the captain, 'Would you leave the passengers?!' I asked. 'They would panic and complain.' He said, then jumped on one of the boats. I was glad to hear their cries when the sinking current pulled them under, I was! Didn't I warn them that they should wait till the water calmed a little?! I who have spent over forty years at sea and have been in more than one shipwreck!" 

Henry could see that Jack was working himself up, and so laid a hand on his shoulder. "Come on Jack, it won't help matters if you work yourself up and end up tipping the boat over." 

Jack grabbed the oars of the boat with a sigh, "What are your orders sir?" He asked Hery.

Henry was quite surprised at the unexpected question, and looked around for a moment. "My orders? Well we had best eat something I suppose. After that... well, let us eat something first and then we can decide. Benjy, what have you got?" He said addressing a teenage boy who sat in the bottom of the boat with a heap a miscilanious items piled around him. 

As Benjy proceeded to look, Jack shook his head as he glanced for perhaps the first time at the two remaining figured figures in the boat. "A bad business." He muttered, "It is a good thing neither of them seem to be tge crying kind."

As soon as Benjy found some food and water, Hery grabbed some and offered it to the two ladies, "How are you feeling Ma'am?" He asked the older of the two. 

"I am fine... but... ah, what will become of us?!" She answered.

"Well, as our ship was traveling in these parts, it stands to reason that there are other ships that tracing along the same lines. So we are bound to be picked up at some point, perhaps even tomorrow!" Henry replied, doing his best to sound confident.

The woman looked at him earnestly for a moment before deciding that he truly ment what he said, "Did you hear that Madeline? We might yet see the end of our journey!" 

As Madeline looked up, Henry could immediately see the resemblance of the two, it was easy to see that they were mother and daughter. "Tell me." She said a little shyly, "Do you really think that we have a chance of safety?" 

"Well we are in no present danger and we have both food and water.  The storm that sunk our ship has already died down." Henry replied, trying to still be sensible as he gazed into the young lady's beautiful dark eyes. "So I fail to see why we wouldn't make it to safety." 

Soon they had all rated a small amount, and Henry insisted that the two women at least try to get some sleep. Henry took the first turn at rowing, followed by Jack. Hours passed and before dawn they discovered that they had a leak in the boat. Henry quickly volunteeredto take another turn at the oars while Benjy set about bailing the water out with a bowl. 

"Hurry it up lad, the water is up to my ankles!" Jack growled out sharply.

"May I help bail the water out?" Madeline asked just then. "I feel rather stiff from just sitting here..." 

Henry started to argue, not wanting such a delicate looking girl to exert herself that much, but was cut off by Jack. "Let her help, the wind had has a little bit of a nip to it, and the movement will help her keep warm." 

Henry was tempted to reply that if he took his jacket off and have it to her that it would keep her warm too, but by then she had already grabbed another bowl and had started bailing away. But soon with Benjy and Madeline's combined efforts the water level went down in the boat.

"Madeline dear." Her mother said as she woke, "How long have you been doing that? You must rest, I will take a turn." 

"If you will allow me ma'am, it is Jack's turn to row and I will gladly bail now." Henry quickly cut in.

"I am quite able to continue!" Madeline replied stubbornly.

Jack huffed, "Don't feet yourselves. It hasn't hurt the young lady, and there is barely anything left to bail for now, so there is no need for any of you to waste your energy." He said rather grumpily.

They settled into a bit of a routine for the next couple of days, with nothing but a cloudless sky above and the sea below and around them in sight. "What do you make of yonder speck?" Jack suddenly asked Henry one day. 

Hery eagerly looking in the direction that Jack had indicated, seeing nothing at first. Then he was able to make out what looked like just a small speck on the horizon. "I see it Jack, and since we have nothing better to do let us head in that direction." 

They quickly turned and started towing with renewrenewed vigor. As Henry stood for a moment to make sure they were still headed in the right direction, he noticed a curious thing. "Either we have slowly veered off course or our rock is afloat and has moved." He said after a moment of observation. 

"What do you think it could be?" Madeline asked from where she was bailing again.

"I hope whatever it is that we can get off of this boat before much longer." Benjy quickly added with a sigh. "This leak has only gotten worse, and I don't think I can keep up this bailing for much longer."

As they rapidly got closer to the object in question, it became clear that it was the hull of a ship. Soon they were close enough to hail the crew. "Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!" Henry called out loudly, mildly surprised that the lookout hadn't spotted them. They looked at eachother for a moment in confusion as they got no answer even after they all called out. 

They decided to pull up right beside the ship, which proved on closer inspection to be a pleasure yacht. "There must be someone on board." Henry said, as they still could not attract anyone's attention. "I will climb up the side and find someone. Perhaps they are all below deck. Jack, keep the boat near till I come back." 

As soon as Jack have a nod that he understood, Henry quickly clambered up the side. "Hello?" He called out as he looked around. He walked down the stairs and opened every door in his search to find someone, all without success. He shookhis head as he returned to his friends. "Not a soul on board."