[JonPop]

It was unanimously voted with much laughing and jest, that Sir Jim, (W.M.P.) would take the dinner watch in the crows nest for being so cocky after his victory over Sir Jayhawk. As the loser, Sir Jayhawk had the stern watch. Mister Kingpole, who was used to eating cold meals, as the helmsman, of course had the forward watch.

All the remaining Knights were sitting at the long table with King Arthur at the head, while waiting to be served by the stable hands, who when finished, would clean up and then retire to their own quarters to eat.

King Arthur was speaking about the journey being almost half over and going over the plans for when they reached the island of Lesbos.
He had watched from above, standing at the railing, the mock battles and fun his Knights were having, like a proud father watching his children at play. He had especially enjoyed the "Pile On" and the camaraderie shown.

The Knights were very hungry as they could smell the food from the kitchen below their feet. The first trays of food had just been placed on the table when the alarm bell sounded.
King Arthur stood and said, "Gentlemen, it looks like dinner will be a little late. To your posts."

[JonPop]

The Knights scrambled through the doorway hurriedly, but in an orderly fashion, grabbing their swords on their way. The shouting was coming from the stern, from Sir Jayhawk who said, "Captain Arthur, there are two smaller ships trailing us about one kilometer directly off our stern."
Captain Arthur as he was now being addressed, said, "Sir JonPop, unlock the arms locker and pass out the pistols and rifles.
Sir Iguana, go below and fetch the stable hands and get them armed. Sir Bret take the port side guns, Sir Remek, cover the starboard side.
Sir Robin, go to the highest point on the bridge and equip yourself with extra arrows as I have a feeling that we are in for a fight." There was a shout from Sir Bman that he had sighted a much larger ship ahead and off the starboard side, turning in to cut off the Far Search.

Captain Arthur, shouted for everyone to stop for a moment and gathered his Knights around him in a circle and said, "When I was in the 'sleep' I was given information on tactics used by pirates that had been learned over many generations of ship captains.
This is one maneuver that was used very well to capture merchant ship and galleons bearing treasure.
This is what they will attempt....

[JonPop]

The Captain continued;
The large ship is turning to block our path and will open fire at our bow with it's cannons, at our masts and sails when we get within range. This will do us no damage as their cannon balls will not penetrate our rigging or our sails, but I am afraid that cannon balls being caught by our sails and raining down on the deck might hurt someone.
The Captain of the galleon will count on our masts coming down to stop us dead in the water.
The two smaller frigates will then come along both sides and demand we surrender to boarding parties or they will fire and sink us. In theory, we would be boxed in.
I am sure that with the very large size of the Far Search, they think we are laden with treasure."

The Captain shouted, "Mister Kingpole, on my mark, turn the ship hard to starboard 180 degrees."
"Knights, grab something to hang on to and prepare for my command."
The Far Search had been tacking against the wind for most of the early evening using the large jib sail.

Mister Kingpole was getting nervous as they were approaching the large ship quickly and said, "Now Captain?" "Captain Arthur said, "Wait for it....Wait for it...NOW!" Mister Kingpole turned the wheel hard over and the Far Search turned like a sports car, hard over on it's axis. It was now heading directly at the two smaller ships. They heard at the same moment, the roar of cannons as the big ship unloosened a volley of cannon fire that landed harmlessly in their wake. The Captain gave the command to run up full sail and as the wind was now at their backs the Far Search jumped forward like shifting into high gear.

"Man your guns men," was his next command. "Mister Kingpole, steer us between the ships."

With the speed of the two smaller ships and the breakneck speed of the Far Search now under full sail, the distance closed rapidly. The two frigates were about 300 feet apart when the Far Search zipped between them. Just as the bow of the Far Search came even with the bow's of the two ships, the Captain gave the order to fire.

Another of Captain Slanker's gifts to the ship, were exploding cannon balls, that would hit an opposing vessel and explode with the force of a stick of dynamite.
As the Far Search let loose they were directly broadside of the two ships and the cannons raked the ships from stem to stern.
The two frigates blew apart like a house of toothpicks. When the Knights looked back, the ships were already half submerged. Captain Arthur then turned his attention to the Larger of the three ships and gave the command to turn the ship, 180 degrees to port, drop the main sails and employee the jib sail.

As they were closing on the Galleon, Captain Arthur, looking through the telescope, saw the Captain of the pirate ship yelling frantic orders to the men below. He saw the pirate captain pick up his own telescope and look back at him with a look of disbelief on his face. The two stared at each other for a few moments as the distance closed.
The larger ship ran up all the sail it had and turned tail. Captain Arthur thought to himself, "I can only imagine the tale that will be told back at the pirates nest." And laughed to himself.

[JonPop]

Sir Hairtrigger and Sir Rob, were both hopping around on one leg and cursing.
In the heat of the battle, when they had fired their separate cannons, they both had the wheel run over their foot as their cannon had moved backward from the recoil. Both knew better, as in their memories many gunners had the same thing happen. Sir Stud was laughing at both their dumb asses and said, "That's what y'all get for being stupid."
Sir Robin came down from the upper deck, rubbing a large knot on his head as he had let go of the railing during the sudden turn to grab for his arrows that were sliding off the perch.

Suddenly, Dr. Sweety was standing amongst them and said, "Please Sir Knights, follow me." And led them into the captains cabin. When Sir Hairtrigger, Sir Rob and Sir Robin reappeared in just a minute or so, they were fine. But they had been gone for many weeks aboard the ship of Captain Slanker. There they had been in sleep while they healed and returned in time to the very moment they had left.

When they told the story of what had happened, the other Knights were astonished that no time had elapsed, but very relieved to know that if they were hurt, they would be fixed immediatly.

The rifles and pistols had been collected, counted and returned to the locked chest and the stable hands were once again tending to the horses. The master chef had to try and put something together for their dinner as everything had gone onto the deck during all the maneuvering.
Captain Arthur said to break out the rum to celebrate the victory. That and cold sandwiches, was just fine for the exhausted Knights. Sir Hairtrigger, Sir Rob and Sir Robin, took watch, as they were totally rested and the rest of the knights hit their bunks.

[JonPop]

Next: Landfall and the Island of Lesbos.

If any of you that are reading this adventure and want to read more of the Knights stories,start with the "Spammer War." It is the first in a series of 5 novels, followed by "The Black Knight," "The Rescue of a Queen," "Nikki's Brothel." and "Star Knights." I would hope that you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. JP

[JonPop]

I am going to stop writing on the story for awhile. Any comments on the first part? Anything you would like to see when we get to the island?
Hey Mr Kingpole, pretty good job at the helm. Way to thread the needle.

[JonPop]

Part two

Captain Arthur, (everyone felt comfortable with calling him that now, because of the 'sleep' training, it just didn't seem right to have a King as the master of the Far Search.) and Mister Kingpole, Sir JonPop, Sir Bret and Sir Remik, had been deep in study of the poem's of Sappho.

Mister Kingpole had been involved with the map making process for so many years, it was as if he had been to the island, in fact he had seen it from above.

With the reading of each sonnet, (The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in lyric poetry) the men were mesmerized by the flowing beauty of Sappho's writings and found it hard to maintain focus on the task at hand, which was to decipher the clues to the location of the magical spring.

Each of the men had a differing opinion, and so they struggled to come to a consensus on the interpretation of each passage that might contain a clue. Finally, after many days and late evenings, they felt that they had what they needed and would then have to wait until they were actually at the cave of Kagaini.

They were still many days sail from the Island, but the weather was beautiful, the sea calm and the wind at their backs. It was truly, (past battles behind them) a pleasant cruise.

Day 52 into the voyage. From the crows nest, Sir Stud shouted down, "Hey y'all, I see land, I hope there's some pussy on that place."

[JonPop]

From the poems of Sappho

These are some of the passages The Knights agonized over for clues.
There are many more....

1. And they passed by the streams of Okeanos and the White Rock

and past the Gates of the Sun and the District of Dreams.


2. ...they say that Sappho was the first,

hunting down the proud Phaon,

to throw herself, in her goading desire, from the rock

that shines from afar.

But now, in accordance with your sacred utterance,

lord king, let there be silence

throughout the sacred precinct of the headland of the White Rock.


3. One more time taking off in the air, down from the White Rock

into the dark waves do I dive, intoxicated with lust.


4. I would be crazy not to give all the herds of the Cyclopes

in return for drinking one cup [of that wine]

and throwing myself from the white rock into the brine,

once I am intoxicated, with eyebrows relaxed.

Whoever is not happy when he drinks is crazy.

Where it is allowed to make this thing stand up erect,

to grab the breast and touch with both hands

[kingpole]

I got erect last night really really big erection. Great story JP. To make matters a bit complicated you can have Mt Thera erupt.

[JonPop]

The Eruption of Mt Thera.

"There came a sound, as if from within the Earth
Zeus' hollow thunder boomed, awful to hear.
The horses lifted heads towards the sky
And pricked their ears; while strange fear fell on us,
Whence came the voice. To the sea-beaten shore
We looked, and saw a monstrous wave that soared
Into the sky, so lofty that my eyes
Were robbed of seeing the Scironian cliffs.
It hid the isthmus and Asclepius' rock.
Then seething up and bubbling all about
With foaming flood and breath from the deep sea,
Shoreward it came to where the chariot stood."
- Euripides, The Hippolytus