Chapter 6 Stage ~ Ready! Actor ~ in place! (15)
The torrential rain cracked down on the deck, the wind screamed and forced Shating to retreat, and the Seaweed Golden Crown shook violently a few times, and she fell. When the waves had passed, she got up again, gritted her teeth and headed for the mast! She climbed the rope ladder that led to the observatory, and the soft rope ladder shook violently. Sha Ting knew that the sailor had fallen from here. But at this time, there was neither fear nor a sense of righteousness and awe-inspiring dedication to death in her heart, only a raging rage!
I'm not here to take this risk for Captain Han Chu! Not for the ignorant fools and cowards in the cabin! I'm just for myself! I must not die in this sea with the waste on board! Even if they all bury me! Obviously, you will be able to get to Jinwu Temple in two days! I've worked so hard to get through to where I am today, and I have to keep going!
She calmly planned her every step.
Step on one foot and step on the other. The weight of the body is pressed against the rope ladder, and one hand grasps the rope upwards, and then the other hand is up. Taking advantage of the gap between the waves that had just passed, she hurried two steps and stood firmly on the observation platform. Hold the mast tightly with one hand, pull the rope from your shoulder with the other, and quickly circle the mast twice to tie yourself firmly to it.
She found the shaft that turned the sails, and sure enough, it was loose.
However, an unexpected situation arises, the sail is facing the wind, and Sha Ting finds that she can't push the sail shaft even with all her strength. She tried so many times, but her hands were worn out by too much force, and the sail shaft still didn't move.
She forced herself to think again! Not only because of the strong belief in her heart that she could not die here, but also because she was in a high place, she saw others like her, stubbornly fighting the storm!
On the middle deck, a group of sailors, under the command of Captain Han Chu, were throwing cargo out of the cargo hold—vine baskets for grapes, cloth bags for linen, boxes for cloth ornaments, glass jars for castor oil, one after another from the side of the ship into the sea. In order to reduce the weight of the ship's hull, the captain did not skimp on his belongings.
In the roar of the wind, the drums of the first mate and the oarsmen were beating, and the "Seaweed Golden Crown" danced dangerously among the waves. When the ten oars on the starboard side lifted off the water, the ten oars on the port side danced and paddled desperately like clockwork, and the hull of the boat tilted, swirled, and turned in the whirlpool, and as soon as they escaped, the oars on the left and right sides quickly entered the water at the same time and rushed forward.
On the upper deck, a male passenger was kneeling and spitting, and Satene saw that he had just ventured to clear the debris blocking the drainage hole, and the stagnant water on the deck began to descend and disappear.
The number of violent hull jolts decreased, and Sha Ting finally found a way to do it. She inserted the rope into the gap where the sail shaft was loose, and took advantage of the few seconds of the hull to rotate the sail as it sank, making a quick circle, and then waiting for the next opportunity.
"The palm of the hand is open to the maximum, and the angle between the index and middle fingers is about the angle of the sail when sailing in the wind."
Remembering what her brother had said, Sha Ting slowly pushed the sails, adjusting them to the right angle little by little.
The Seaweed Golden Crown finally stabilized itself in the storm, and it rose or dived and began to leap between the waves. It was only then that Sha Ting realized that she was in the most dangerous position on the entire ship. When the bow of the ship climbed to the crest of the wave, the mast was almost parallel to the sea, and the water on the sail fell on Sha Ting like a basin, and she was out of breath. When the bow of the boat dived, her head was not controlled by her body and hit the mast several times. Every now and then, all her limbs would be in the air, and if she hadn't tied herself, she would have flown out!
Sha Ting felt dizzy and numb in her hands and feet, and she began to worry that she might not make it to the safe haven.
This wasn't the first time she had tasted the near-death experience, and in her drowsiness, the cruel memories of the fourteen years old came back before Sharting's eyes.