If that's a hint to move the story along faster... I'll try :)
Rushing "There's no boat here," said Jimmy. "So... does that mean it's going to be coming back?" "Maybe," said Ben. "Without a proper boat there's not much further we can do either, unless there's banks to this here river." He gestured down at the rushing flow, and we looked along as far as the light from our torches would allow. To me, at least, it looked like the water had carved a channel through the rock pretty tightly, with no allowance for beaches, or picnic areas or anything that would help us. I looked at both of them, and Ben winked. "I'm not planning how to steal a boat I haven't even seen," I said. "We don't even know that there is a boat, it might have sunk on its last trip and the locals haven't figured out how to get a new one down here yet." "Maybe," said Ben. "But I don't think so." "Me neither," chimed Jimmy, and I shook my head in mild disbelief. Their enthusiasm felt worrying contagious. "There's something over there," I pointed towards more shadows, but where there was contrasts in the darkness. "Let's go see what we have, and then we best get out of here." "We could wait for the boat," said Jimmy. "There's definitely places to hide." "We're not ready," I said. "We don't know how long we'd have to wait, we've got a couple of guns, but nothing else, no food, no ideas. We don't know that the boat isn't met by twenty people who come rushing down here to do all the carrying and lifting. I'd rather come down here when the boat is here and no-one else is." What I didn't say, but was sitting in my mind like an elephant in the room, is that I hoped that the boat would be something that the three of us could sail. And I was pretty certain that Ben's idea of sailing was to sit down and look at other people doing all the work. "I'd not want to be ambushed," said Ben, slowly. "Let's check out the rest of what's down here and then go back." Jimmy paused before nodding, and after a second I realised why: he was thinking about the squeeze through the rocks that we'd have to do again. "Lead the way, Jimmy," I said, thinking that taking his mind off of it might be the best approach. The shadows turned out to be cast by angular rocks that jutted this way and that, and when we wove our way through them they proved to be concealing another staircase; narrow, steep and straight that had definitely been hewn into the rock by someone who needed to get up and down quickly and without carrying anything. Ben started up them before I'd even decided that they were climbable, so I let Jimmy go second and followed after. The steps were pretty much just gashes chipped into the rock, deep enough for a booted foot to force its way in, with a bit of scuffing. It was a little like climbing a ladder, which I've never much cared for either. After two minutes or so Ben called down "it's still steps, I'll keep going," and I started to wonder how far up these things went. Another two minutes and I was starting to feel a burn in my shoulders from the effort and then I realised that there were two guys ahead of me and if either one of them fell off, they'd take me with them. So it was definitely a relief to hear Ben yell out, "reached the top!"
Greg - it wasn't, actually. I think I was trying to come up with a descriptive word for the river to use as a prompt.
I'm definitely up for a ship stealing adventure, especially if said ship is loaded down with gold. But I suppose I'll have to wait to see if things go in that direction.
2 comments:
If that's a hint to move the story along faster... I'll try :)
Rushing
"There's no boat here," said Jimmy. "So... does that mean it's going to be coming back?"
"Maybe," said Ben. "Without a proper boat there's not much further we can do either, unless there's banks to this here river." He gestured down at the rushing flow, and we looked along as far as the light from our torches would allow. To me, at least, it looked like the water had carved a channel through the rock pretty tightly, with no allowance for beaches, or picnic areas or anything that would help us.
I looked at both of them, and Ben winked.
"I'm not planning how to steal a boat I haven't even seen," I said. "We don't even know that there is a boat, it might have sunk on its last trip and the locals haven't figured out how to get a new one down here yet."
"Maybe," said Ben. "But I don't think so."
"Me neither," chimed Jimmy, and I shook my head in mild disbelief. Their enthusiasm felt worrying contagious.
"There's something over there," I pointed towards more shadows, but where there was contrasts in the darkness. "Let's go see what we have, and then we best get out of here."
"We could wait for the boat," said Jimmy. "There's definitely places to hide."
"We're not ready," I said. "We don't know how long we'd have to wait, we've got a couple of guns, but nothing else, no food, no ideas. We don't know that the boat isn't met by twenty people who come rushing down here to do all the carrying and lifting. I'd rather come down here when the boat is here and no-one else is." What I didn't say, but was sitting in my mind like an elephant in the room, is that I hoped that the boat would be something that the three of us could sail. And I was pretty certain that Ben's idea of sailing was to sit down and look at other people doing all the work.
"I'd not want to be ambushed," said Ben, slowly. "Let's check out the rest of what's down here and then go back."
Jimmy paused before nodding, and after a second I realised why: he was thinking about the squeeze through the rocks that we'd have to do again. "Lead the way, Jimmy," I said, thinking that taking his mind off of it might be the best approach.
The shadows turned out to be cast by angular rocks that jutted this way and that, and when we wove our way through them they proved to be concealing another staircase; narrow, steep and straight that had definitely been hewn into the rock by someone who needed to get up and down quickly and without carrying anything. Ben started up them before I'd even decided that they were climbable, so I let Jimmy go second and followed after. The steps were pretty much just gashes chipped into the rock, deep enough for a booted foot to force its way in, with a bit of scuffing. It was a little like climbing a ladder, which I've never much cared for either.
After two minutes or so Ben called down "it's still steps, I'll keep going," and I started to wonder how far up these things went. Another two minutes and I was starting to feel a burn in my shoulders from the effort and then I realised that there were two guys ahead of me and if either one of them fell off, they'd take me with them. So it was definitely a relief to hear Ben yell out, "reached the top!"
Greg - it wasn't, actually. I think I was trying to come up with a descriptive word for the river to use as a prompt.
I'm definitely up for a ship stealing adventure, especially if said ship is loaded down with gold. But I suppose I'll have to wait to see if things go in that direction.
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