The Third Book of Samuel
Excerpt from Samuel's voyage.
The first day was excitement. Everything was new and he enjoyed hanging on and facing the wind as the ship sailed along the river towards the open sea. He obeyed Tomas and did every task that he was given, quickly and efficiently. He closed hatches, coiled ropes, stowed loose objects, carried food from the galley to the Captain’s quarters, helped to clear, wash and stow meal plates and knives, and unrolled his hammock. Occasionally, Tomas would say, “Well done” and Samuel felt that he was making the grade.
He was allowed to seek out his hammock without a watch that first night.
The hammock was a string of netting that had wound up on itself so unwinding it and stretching it into some sort of a sleeping surface was almost all that Samuel could manage, even watching others accomplish the same thing with a few adept movements of their hands. Getting into it was totally beyond him. He just didn’t seem to have enough hands and arms to keep it stationery while he lifted himself up backwards. He began to look at the decking as an alternative but that was already wet and looked like becoming awash fairly soon.
Then he threw himself upwards across the coiled hammock and while lying on it, he tried to uncoil it. Finally, he managed to spread one end out and insert his shoulders while his legs were strung across the bottom end. The other sailors, lying comfortably in their hammocks, were watching and chuckling. They had all been through this problem themselves and they left it to him to learn.
Finally, the toes of one foot seemed to manage to find the right insertion point and he stretched out. Suddenly, he was lying in his hammock securely and he lay back in relief.
There was a roar of applause from the watching men. “Great going – faster than I managed it the first night,” “Much faster than me because I spent the first night on the decking,” “I suspect he had someone tell him how to do it,” “Perhaps that’s how bats sleep in church belfries,” and so on. Samuel smiled at himself but he was not quite sure how he could do it again because the final move felt like pure accident.
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Excerpt from Samuel's voyage.
The first day was excitement. Everything was new and he enjoyed hanging on and facing the wind as the ship sailed along the river towards the open sea. He obeyed Tomas and did every task that he was given, quickly and efficiently. He closed hatches, coiled ropes, stowed loose objects, carried food from the galley to the Captain’s quarters, helped to clear, wash and stow meal plates and knives, and unrolled his hammock. Occasionally, Tomas would say, “Well done” and Samuel felt that he was making the grade.
He was allowed to seek out his hammock without a watch that first night.
The hammock was a string of netting that had wound up on itself so unwinding it and stretching it into some sort of a sleeping surface was almost all that Samuel could manage, even watching others accomplish the same thing with a few adept movements of their hands. Getting into it was totally beyond him. He just didn’t seem to have enough hands and arms to keep it stationery while he lifted himself up backwards. He began to look at the decking as an alternative but that was already wet and looked like becoming awash fairly soon.
Then he threw himself upwards across the coiled hammock and while lying on it, he tried to uncoil it. Finally, he managed to spread one end out and insert his shoulders while his legs were strung across the bottom end. The other sailors, lying comfortably in their hammocks, were watching and chuckling. They had all been through this problem themselves and they left it to him to learn.
Finally, the toes of one foot seemed to manage to find the right insertion point and he stretched out. Suddenly, he was lying in his hammock securely and he lay back in relief.
There was a roar of applause from the watching men. “Great going – faster than I managed it the first night,” “Much faster than me because I spent the first night on the decking,” “I suspect he had someone tell him how to do it,” “Perhaps that’s how bats sleep in church belfries,” and so on. Samuel smiled at himself but he was not quite sure how he could do it again because the final move felt like pure accident.
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