The Trike Returns:
Knot
S. Douglas Larsen
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Save the Bell
Captain Hansen leaned against his lead diving-bell as buyers climbed the rope ladder and gathered on deck. Constant naval battles left valuable merchandise on the seafloor. The precious bell allowed him access to it.
Sailors thought him cruel. His standing order was, before all else, save the bell. He'd whipped crew for letting it slip to save a diver. Divers were easily replaced, the bell wasn't. He thought himself practical.
"Gentlemen," he bellowed, "today we offer thirty-two fine cannons." He pulled the tarp from an eight-foot piece.
"Five-hundred gold crowns for the lot!" A buyer called.
A theatrical man, the Captain snatched the bell's line. "We risk life and limb and you'd rob us a fair reward?" He quickly knotted the rope around his waist and then to the cannon. "I'd not part with them for less than twenty gold apiece."
The ship rocked briskly. The cannon slid across the scrubbed deck, smashed through wooden rails and plunged into the deep, dragging the Captain after.
"Save the bell!" cried a diver, another cut the line. The Captain sunk quickly out of sight fighting with the knot at his waist.
"Well gentlemen," the first mate said. "We're selling thirty-one cannons today."
~S. Douglas Larsen
S. Douglas Larsen was born in Germany, educated in the U.S. and now lives with his wife and sons in Bilbao, Spain. Email.
© 2002 by S. Douglas Larsen. All Rights Reserved.
© Copyright 2002 by Cayuse Press. All Rights Reserved.
This page updated August 31, 2002.