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The Stowaway
By Jason Silks
The golden lobster lay docked at the portside town. It's planks creaked and sighed with the gentle rise and fall of the ocean water. The moon was high overhead, however the night was unusually dark as the sky was filled with large ominous clouds. Just yesterday Captain Hawk had predicted the weather would be taking a turn for the worse, which is why he had decided to dock at the nearest port and wait out the storm.
The crew of the Golden Lobster were tired from a days hard work as they had struggled to reach port by nightfall. Tired, yet relieved, all of the crew had retired for the evening. All the crew that is except for the night watch! Mates Barton and Crox patrolled the deck of the ship, cautiously sustaining their vigilance lest any threat should board the ship. Undeterred by many nights without variation, Mates Barton and Crox carried out their duties with a brand of dependability only found in those who have had the life experience to teach it.
Slowly the hours passed, and the mates began talking about many of the adventures they had seen on the high seas. Crox was just telling Barton how sorry he had been for his role in allowing Soulcatcher to take over the Golden Lobster when the men saw something moving near the front of the ship.
"Did you see that?" asked Crox.
Without a word Barton nodded to indicate he had. Both men watched in silence, hands on hips, waiting for their unwelcome guest. They didn't have to wait long. In just a few moments their fears were confirmed as a dark figure, barely visible in the dark overcast night, rose near the front of the ship, took a few steps then ducked down behind a large barrel near the front of the ship.
"You go rouse the others, but be quiet about it, and I'll go and introduce myself to our new friend." Said Barton.
"No", Crox replied, "I've been waiting, I mean, well, it's just that I think you should let me go to meet the stranger." Even as Crox spoke the words his voice trembled. Emotions raged inside of him and by the look on his face Barton knew at once that Crox was looking for a way to redeem himself, Crox had not always been the vigilant and dependable guardsman.
After a short pause Barton nodded in agreement then said, "You don't have to prove yourself to me, we've all forgiven you Crox."
"I know, but all the same I think it'd be good for me to see for myself that I've changed."
Barton nodded again, then silently moved backwards in the darkness to rouse the other men. Crox now stood alone, cutlass drawn, on the deck of the Golden Lobster. Mustering all the courage he had, he set his teeth and began to move forward into the darkness.
The unwelcome figure aboard the ship had heard Crox approaching. Having nowhere to run or escape to, the dark silhouette crouched as low as it could get, doing it's best to remain hidden behind the barrels of supplies which lay on the deck near the front of the ship. It should be mentioned here that ships do not normally keep their supplies up on deck. Once the Golden Lobster had docked, the Captain had thought it wise to restock supplies before setting out to sea again. He had ordered two mates, Tilman and Heeder, to move the barrels from the deck to the stores below deck. The men had moved most of the barrels but, being tired from the long day of racing to port, the mates had decided to wake up early in the morning to finish their task. That is why five barrells or so remained on the deck of the ship this morning.
Crox paused and looked all about the deck. His eyes strained in the dark as he tried to make out where the stowaway was. It was no use though the dark figure was well hidden by the night in the shadow of the barrel.
Barton had gone below deck to find mates Tilman and Heeder were awake and nearly dressed. They had, of course, woken up while it was still dark to finish their task of moving the barrels. It took little time for Barton to relay the danger of a trespasser to Tilman and Heeder and he was soon back to his task of rousing the rest of the crew. Tilman and Heeder hurried to the deck. They saw Crox, or the dark figure of a man they thought was Crox, standing near the front of the ship not seeming to move at all. Communicating with hand motions and hoarse whispers, it was decided that Tilman would move up the starboard side of the ship, while Heeder move port side. With Crox in the middle their foes would be trapped.
Crox was feeling anxious and was unaware of the danger, he had meant to explore carefully until he discovered the intruder, however something happened just as Crox began to move forward on the deck. Actually a couple of things happened all at once. Barton, by this time, had roused much of the crew who were starting to come up on deck. As always when you move a large group of people onto deck there is a lot of noise. These new noises behind him startled Crox so that he turned his head to look back at the crew. Just as he was turning his head, a few clouds overhead gave way allowing moonlight to break through the darkened sky. This moonlight just so happened to fall on the dark figure crouched behind a barrel, which at that moment just so happened to be the exact spot where Crox was looking. Eyeing his opponent, who was unaware they had been discovered, Crox couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Without taking his eyes off of the unexpected visitor, Crox motioned towards his crewmates to move forward as he shouted, "It's only a young boy!."
The sound of Crox's voice startled the young man who now trembled with fear realizing he had been caught. The boy wasted no time in rising to his feet. Looking to his left and right, he frantically sought a way to escape. Moving to the rail of the ship, the boy grabbed onto the rigging meaning to climb up further into the ship. That is what he meant to do.
Tilman and Heeder had been cautiously moving forward. They had moved so quietly that not even Crox had noticed their approach. Just as they had neared the head of the ship, both men crouched down hoping to surprise anyone who tried to get past Crox on their side of the ship. Tilman felt a surge of excited energy rush through him as the boy approached the starboard side of the ship. Remaining as motionless, Tilman waited for just the right moment to act.
The young man balanced himself on the rail of the ship and prepared to climb the riggings. Seeing the opportune moment, Tilman leaped from his crouched position towards the young man. He only meant to grab onto the heel of the young man, however as Tilman grasped at the boy's heel his body carried his momentum further than Tilman had expected and his entire body slammed into the rigging. This resulted in a violent jolt which caused the young man to lose his grip altogether. Still reaching out to grab hold of anything to keep his balance, the young man fell into the ocean.
Men now crowded around Crox and began to congratulate him on a job well done. Crox learned that night that it is never too late to do the right thing, no matter how many mistakes you have made. The devil wants to convince us that our past mistakes are so bad that we can never be forgiven. He wants us to believe that we cannot do anything good with the rest of our lives because we've made mistakes in the past. This is a lie. No matter what you've done, it's never too late to start living your life for God today.
***
Tilman eyed the ocean carefully, searching for any sign of the young man in the darkness.
"Where is he, did you catch him?" Crox asked.
"I thought I heard something fall into the water." Said Heeder.
"Yeah, the young man lost his footing as I reached to grab him." Tilman explained.
"Good for him." One of the mates shouted. "I'm sure he'll find his way to shore, a little wetter and a little wiser than to sneak aboard a ship in the middle of the night."
"But what if he doesn't make it to shore?" came another voice in the darkness. "Isn't every life worth saving?" The men knew the voice at once to be the voice of the Captain.
" But how can we help him?" Replied Heeder. "It's too dark to see, we couldn't even get a line to him if we tried. What if he couldn't swim and drowned?"
"All the more reason I have to go in..." said Tilman! Tilman was a quiet man. Not really known for doing anything heroic. He was the sort of man you could count on to be dependable, who never really did anything out of the ordinary. That is why it was such a shock when he announced he would be jumping in to save this boy. "It was me who knocked him in and it should be me who gets him out." Tilman removed his shirt and shoes, and before a word of objection could be spoken he jumped overboard into the cold, dark ocean.
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