Treasure of the sea |Lesbian story|

CHAPTER L

The crew had scattered all over the island; however, every morning, we all reached the west side of Nassau, where the Black Star was located. The ship had been run aground sideways on a steep beach, favoured for careening, then pulled up with bollards from the mastheads to strong points on the beach. All of Arenis' crew members had to contribute to her refit. The work was progressing well, if a little slowly. Arenis had paid a dozen carpenters in advance, who had measured the gash in the hull and formed two teams to search for and cut wood. The dense vegetation beyond the beach had been completely cleared.

Arenis, with her hair tied back and the hems of her trousers rolled up to her knees, supervised the work and at the same time fixed the places where the wood had begun to rot. She did not stop for a moment to rest, not even when the sun became so hot it burnt her skin. The rasping of the saws was continuous, as was the endless chatter of the men. Some whistled joyful tunes, while others could not stop complaining about all the heat. Nevertheless, they were all working hard, naked to the waist and completely drenched in sweat. I, fortunately for me, had been assigned by Arenis to scrape off and burn the seaweed and crustaceans that had stuck to the keel and was well sheltered from the shadow of the ship.

Pitch was melted in large cauldrons. This bubbled over the fire relentlessly and the men used it to waterproof the hull.

The work was not so bad. I mostly copied what others did and no one complained about my inexperience in that field. Arenis always made sure I understood before letting me do it myself.

I stayed the night at Dinnington's. The little house -that's what he called it- was nothing more than a wooden hut with three rooms; the kitchen and two bedrooms. It was not a spacious room, but at least it was clean. To repay him for taking me in, I did the housework. I would clean, cook what few recipes I knew and do the laundry. One evening I tried to prepare corn porridge, but the more I stirred, the lumpier and harder it became. I plated it and put it on the table anyway, but as soon as Dinnington saw that yellowish and not at all inviting consistency, he shook his head and let out a laugh. "What do you say we go out to eat? I'm sorry to say this, but I have no intention of touching your porridge."

"I don't know where I went wrong. I did everything as the grocery shop owner told me, yet it came out like this."

"Come on, throw everything away. This morning I saw a stall selling dried meat and fried bananas."

Nassau was always the same, always chaotic and full of life. Holding a small paper bag overflowing with fried bananas, Dinnington and I stroll around the city, looking at stalls and shops.

The sky darkened and a downpour came down. On the streets of Nassau there were rivers of water rushing violently, overturning carts and chairs. I took off my shoes and with my bare feet walked carefully through the rain. Dinnington, his beard soaked and a hand on his forehead to shield his eyes, ordered me to get to the nearest tavern as soon as possible. A few metres ahead, however, I noticed Arenis and Louise, sheltering under a canopy, both holding wooden swords.

"Oh, Eveline! Eveline!" called Louise, raising her sword in the air and waving it to attract my attention.

I slipped under the canopy quickly and blinked, then wiped my eyelids dry with my fingers. "Captain. Louise," I greeted. "What are you doing?"

"The Captain is teaching me how to fight!" replied Louise, excitedly. "However, we were interrupted by rain and had to seek shelter."

"Oh! How's it going?"

"Good. I think?" Louise shot a doubtful look at Arenis and, as she said nothing, continued: "I'm learning to parry. That's so exciting! I can't wait to use a real sword!"