Python

12; the expedition

The six of us have finally arrived at the border of the sea. On the other side lies the country that Michael and the two Terries come from. But we won't go in that direction; we will head to the south first, following the coastline, till we find ourselves in the ocean. From there, our eyes will be focused on the west. 

We will have to buy or hire a boat, as we don't have one. You'd have expected the king to have a Royal ship, a huge monster that crosses the ocean at the speed of sound, and he does. Only, he was so clever to forget to let it be made ready for the journey. 

Just about half an hour ago, we heard from people in a village that we passed, that there are already other people searching for the shrubberies. They have taken off only five minutes ago, and we were just too late to stop them. Now we will have to do our most best to catch up with them, pass them, and in the end, find the shrubberies earlier than them.

"Excuse me, do you have a boat that we can buy?" Graham asks the owner of the docks. The man looks up, not recognising the king. "Yes, sure. You have any requests?" He walks to a few boats that are apperently not sold yet. "Well, yes, actually. It has to be able to contain six people and more, for the luggage. And it has to be able to sail the Atlantic ocean in quite a reasonable time." Graham says, following the man. 

"What d'ya mean, a reasonable time?" The owner stops walking, and sucks on his pipe. Graham raises his hands. "It has to be quick. And preferably, not too difficult to handle." 

The owner mutters something. "Well, I dunno if I can help ya then!" He starts walking away to continue what he was doing before. "Halt! Do you even know who we are!" The owner stops. "I am your king, Graham Chapman, and this is king Michael Palin from Bohemia! With us are our knights Eric, Terry, and Terry! Our other companion is John Cleese, who has proved to be brave and loyal to his king!" 

The man seems to think about that and then swallows. "Er... well, in that case..." He walks back to us, and past us. "I've still got one ship left that is usable! It's my best; I didn't want to give it those others that came here earlier, but now that you have arrived I'll make an exception!" He laughs strangely. "It is, however, quite difficult to handle. But when you know how to use it, it's the best ship that there is!"

"Show it to us then, please." Michael says, following the owner. "Yes, yes." The man looks around and rests his eyes on a small ship. "There it is."

We walk towards it. It's a little ship, probably just big enough for the six of us and, if we are lucky, we can also store enough food and water in it. A small part of it is covered, which is nice, because if it rains at least two of us can stay dry. The owner shows us how it works.

"If you pull this thing, you can push this button and then you can hoist the sail. Here are paddles. You can cover the whole boat if it rains, with this thing..." He points at some canvas.

"Thank you. We would like to leave as soon as possible. Is there anything else we need to know?" Graham asks. The man nods. "If you want to return alive, all six of you, you need to be extremely careful at sea. Do not hurry and always keep the Polar star on your right. Do not drink the salt seawater, and be careful with your food. Eat a piece of fruit  at least once a week. That's it, I wish you the best of luck on your mission. Goodbye."

The man turns around and walks away, leaving us a bit confused. "Thank you for your help!" Eric shouts, but the man doesn't seem to hear.

Terry G steps into the boat first, careful not to fall over. We follow suit and as soon as we have all found a comfortable place we take off.