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Sleep-time after sleep-time passed. Still, nobody had said, "Now is the time to set out." There were too many sail-beasts cruising around the island and too many giant fish exploding from the water.
One day Deyv was up on the promontory, watching the marine life, when Sloosh joined him and said,
"I've observed that the adult sailship-beasts never attack the young ones."
Smiling, Deyv turned toward the Archkerri.
"You just gave me an idea. We'll capture a young beast that's not too large to handle. And we'll sail it back to the land."
Sloosh buzzed an exclamation, then said, "Why didn't I think of that? Because it's too aggressive an idea? Sometimes, in certain situations, personality can be more valuable than intelligence. However ... let me consider this."
After a while he opened his eyes.
"How do you propose to control the beast?"
"I think I know how to do that. Now, here's what I have in mind."
27
AFTER much argument, a course of action was agreed upon. First, they had to make another boat, one large enough to hold all of them. Then ropes and wooden grapples would be fashioned, and a stock of smoked meat and fruits had to be laid in. If the plan went as it should, however, they'd not require most of their provisions. When all this had been done—the only serious interruption being a series of earthquakes— they caught and smoked a large pile of fish and put the catch into a fiber net.
Before the chase could be started, it was necessary to wait for the quarry. Luckily, this took only a sleeptime and a half. Along came three of the young sail-beasts, one much smaller than the other two. The voyagers launched the boat into the heavy surf without upsetting it, having practiced this until they were weary of it. Vana and Hoozisst raised the single triangular sail, then joined the paddlers.
As they approached their quarry, the beasts changed course to get away from the unfamiliar thing. Deyv, in the bow, threw out some fish and some legs of meat. Immediately, the beasts turned toward the food, which was floating on the surface, buoyed by air bladders from a sea plant. It took some maneuvering to bring the boat up alongside the youngest creature. After almost turning over once, they accomplished it.
Deyv cast out some more fish, and the young beast started to turn in toward them. Vana and the Yawtl quit paddling and grabbed the ropes controlling the sail.
_Deyv, praying to Soonwitl, the water god, threw his lariat. Despite the up-and-down motion of the boat and the wind blowing against it, the noose settled around the tiny projection, a-sailless bowsprit, just below the junction of bow and deck. The noose was pulled tight and the rope wrapped at the other end around a stout post fixed in the thick bottom of the dugout. Jowanarr held the extreme end, ready to' pay out more rope if it was needed.
Swinging sidewise, the dugout bumped into the hull of the beast The paddles on that side were withdrawn just in time to keep them from being pi
The Yawtl came up next, the end of a rope in his hand. He quickly secured it around the spear, and Deyv caught the end of another rope tossed by Vana. There was a desperate scramble then as the others came aboard. Sloosh, of course, was last.
Deyv had wanted to untie the ropes after this phase was done. The others had said that they should wait until they were sure that the beast could be controlled. If it couldn't, they could return to the dugout. If it could be handled, then the boat could be released so that it wouldn't slow down the beast.
Deyv and Hoozisst hauled up onto the deck the very heavy net filled with smoked fish. Vana had thrown the long pole and its sawhorselike support onto the deck before she'd come aboard. Sloosh, bracing his four legs to keep his balance, carried the pole to the bow. Deyv carried the support after him, while two slaves dragged the netful behind him.
By then the flower-eyes on the masts and yardarms had turned toward the trespassers. Deyv felt selfconscious and a little apprehensive, but he didn't think that the beast could do anything about the situation. After all, it didn't have hands, and it couldn't roll over.
Deyv set the support just behind the edge of the bow and helped Sloosh tie the net to its end. The plantman and the Yawtl handled the pole, pushing it outward until the net hung about six feet beyond the bow. Then they lowered the net until it was just above the top of the waves.
Two of the slaves had to be called to hang on to the legs of the support. Since the deck was wet, the support tended to slide to one side whenever the beast turned and so caused the deck to tip. Vana tied a rope to the end of the pole behind the straining men and the Archkerri. This was to ensure that the pole wouldn't be lost if it did slip overboard.
Deyv directing, the pole was kept pointing at where they thought the mainland should be. Their only reference was the island. Once the top of the peak was below the horizon, they would have to trust to luck. But the beast turned toward the fish hanging in front of it and headed in the right direction. Of course, it had to go off the straight line to tack against the wind, and its tempters had to take this into consideration. When it veered, they would swing the fish to be in line with its travel. When the beast had angled away too much, they swung the fish to one side. It would then change course to bring the wind at the correct angle against its sail.
"It works! It works!" Deyv cried. "Yes," Hoozisst said, "as long as we work, work, work."
They had a long way to go. They'd have to take turns at handling the pole, and eat arid work in shifts.
The length of each shift would be determined by the strength of the handlers. This meant that the main burden would fall on Deyv's party. Feersh, her children, and the slaves had led too easy a life for too long. Their experiences since the tharakorm had lifted had toughened them somewhat, but none had the muscular strength or endurance of their captors.
Sleep-time came and passed with much labor and short naps. By the next one, all except Sloosh were near exhaustion. Nevertheless, they couldn't slacken. From time to time they had to pull the net in and remove a few fish. These they threw ahead of them so the beast could have something to eat, to tempt it onward. They feared that if it got nothing at all, hunger would drive it to seek living fish. They prayed that it would chase the uncatchable net until they were at least in sight of land.
Halfway through the third sleep-time, the beast took off after a school of large fish with high-curving fins on their backs. For a while this led them in the direction they wanted, but then the school veered away. The beast followed it. Only by throwing out about twenty fish from the net could they entice it to get back on the right course. And there was no sign of land ahead.
By then the beast's unwanted crew was nearing the end of its energy. The stronger ones were forced to work beyond their shift and to aid the weaker from time to time.
"I think we should get back on our boat," Kiyt said. "I can't last much longer. Neither can anybody else,
I'm sure."
"You'll last until I tell you to stop, you weakling!" Feersh spat. "Oh, that all of you had the guts of
Jowanarr! Then I could be proud of you instead of regretting that I ever birthed such whining puny milklings! What have I ever done to deserve such a brood? My slaves are better men than you, and that includes the women!"