Part 3 --To Artuva--

''I went to bed when the sun fell. But I couldn't sleep because of the noise on the ship, the sound of the waves of the ocean, the sound of the wood creaking, the sound of the crew snoring and moaning. It was a bad night to sleep for me. I woke up in the morning at a very late 12 PM hoping to see land. I cleaned my teeth by the neem twig and went outside the wooden cabin to only see sea all around the ship. Still we didn't reach home. The wind blew the wrong way. Our ship sometimes came back. It injured the ships hull and weakened it. We stopped many times just because of this. "Yesterday was the best day ever, and today.. the worst" Said Amelia.''

''Dad ordered the crew to turn the ship around, and set sail for Artuva, Valereena's closest ally. “Hey Arthur, can you pull that rope there, along with other riggers?" asked dad. "Sure" I replied. I walked to my right and helped the other riggers, it was very hard, the sails and masts were way too heavy for a large rope, 4 men and a boy to move. Some strong sailor joined and pulled the rope with all his power, and the sails and masts moved, and the helmsman turned his wheel, and we all went with the flow of the wind, to Artuva, which was quite far away.''

''I was bored, so I went inside the cabin, and there was a map inside, I looked at it and saw a place called Drakesville, it was very close to Tofuyaa, I was very curious on why we aren't heading there. I went outside to check if the wind blew into the direction of Drakesville, and it did. I walked on to the quarterdeck and asked dad "Why aren't we heading to Drakesville? the wind is blowing exactly the same way there and it is way closer"''

''"No Valereenan sailed there since 1701, exactly 52 years from today, and those who where foolish enough to go there, have never came back" Dad replied "Why" I questioned. "Drakesville is a nation closely allied to Valereena's biggest enemy, Seraphine. any Valereenan whoever visits there is imprisoned for no reason, thats how bad are the relations between Valereena and Seraphine" Dad answered. His words sent chills down my spine, I wanted to stop thinking about it, especially that we were heading in a route that is very close to Drakesville.''

''Now all of that away, I was really bored, I forgot to bring my books, and with nothing to do. I was too shy to ask dad about this thing, because he was standing next to the helmer there the whole time telling the crew what to do for hours, it must've been really boring, and i'm pretty sure he'll answer "You must learn from the sailors, they do the same work all day and don't complain a thing". So I didn't have anything to do. I took a nap to complete my sleep because I usually sleep for 8 hours from 10 to 6 and last night I did not enough sleep. So I went to bed and closed my eyes.''

''I woke up after probably an hour because of my dad's loud voice. I thought that we reached land or something. I walked outside of the cabin to check and saw just sea all around. I went back to bed, but this time I couldn't sleep somehow, so I went back to the top deck and wanted to do something.''

''Without any knowledge of navigation, I couldn't helm, without any manly strength I couldn't be a rigger. I decided to explore the ship. I saw a couple of sailors playing chess below deck, I really wanted to play with them but I don't think they'll let me to. I explored below deck and found a wooden bottle, I was really thirsty, so I opened it and drank it, it tasted weird, it burnt my tongue, I became very dizzy. To my surprise, it was rum! I couldn't control my body and fell unconscious for a while, the boatswain woke me up. "What are ye doin kid here, this ain't the the place to sleep" I had no choice but to tell him that I got drunk "Sorry actually I mistaken rum for water and drank it and fainted". "Mistakes happen, now get up, and sweep and scrub the top deck to prevent ship mites" He said to me. Didn't understand the ship mite part, but I knew what to do, and went up to the top. he gave me a broom and I began sweeping for an hour. It was actually not fun, it tired me a LOT.''

''"Food break" Dad shouted. The food was salted meat, hard biskets and something called "grog". "What's grog" I asked dad. Dad replied to my question saying "Grog is basically a combination of water and rum, a sailor's favourite drink, gives nutrition and taste" "I prefer water, I don't want to get drunk by rum” Said I. "Hey you, go to the water barrels and grab an empty bottle of rum, and fill it with water for my son" Dad ordered a deckhand. That deckhand brought some water and we went for the feast. I smashed my fist into a hard bisket to make it small enough to fit in my mouth. Those biskets where REALLY hard. When I first ate them, I almost broke my teeth, dad showed me a way to eat them, he smashed his fist into the bisket and ate the small pieces of it. They don't even have taste as well, because they are just dough baked in a very hot oven. Then I chewed on some salted meat. That amount of salt on that meat turned my mouth into a desert. After that, the salt dissolved in my mouth that the meat felt tasteless, maybe the salt had done something with it [i.e. the taste]. Anyways, after that lunch I was ordered to speed up the ship by the Quartermaster and began pulling ropes along with other riggers and deckhands. We managed to do the hard task. Out of nowhere someone who is called the "Shantyman" started singing. The crew and I joined in and we all sang in a group. I didn't knew the lyrics so I just copied that man.''

"Rum is the life of  a sailor"

"Rum, Johnny"

"Oh I'll drink rum while I can"

"Rum for my johnny O"

"Oh rum straight, Oh rum strong"

"Give me some rum and I'll sing you a song"

The shantyman ordered rum and a deckhand gave a glass of rum to the shantyman, he drank it all.

"O' rum makes me wear ol' cl'thes

"Rum gave me a broken nose"

"Rum killed my poor old dad"

"Rum druv my mother mad"

"If rum comes too near my nose"

"I tip it up and down she goes"

"I know a girl, her name was Lize"

"She puts rum in her pies"

"My wife and I cannot agree"

"She puts rum in her tea"

"Here comes the cook with the rum can"

"A glass of rum for every man"

"A glass of rum for every man"

"And a bottle full for the shantyman!"