Forever Young The Beginning by Gerald Simpkins Page A

arrived and looked at everything. The
carpenters showed up and soon the repairs were underway. Ian told
all of the crew except Lorn they could go ashore for the day, but
to check in by early evening. He needed Lorn for a translator being
as he could speak French.
    That evening, the crew had returned
and one of them had a crude map of the Marseille water front area.
Ian went over it with them. He then gave three of them flasks of
scotch whiskey saying “Now lads, this ain’t for drinking. If ye get
adventurous with some French lassie this evening, be certain to
wash yourselves well with this when ye are finished. It’s a mite
hot, but you’ll be glad you did it. You can get the rot here as
well as any place else we’ve been and Lorn here can tell you more
about that than I can.” At that all laughed at Lorn’s expense as he
said red-faced “Aye! And once was enough for me!” The scuttlebutt
was that he had such a misadventure once in Liverpool. With that
they departed. Li stayed with Ian and they had a quiet supper and
an uneventful evening.
    The next day, repairs were
resumed on Tico . A
wooden gantry with large sheaves and windlasses overhead was rolled
into place along the twin repair piers, pulled by four draft
horses.
    First they pulled out the
broken stump after the carpenters had drilled out the dowels that
fastened it to the step below deck. Then the new mast was picked up
and carefully lowered into place using two men on dual windlasses.
Before noon it was stepped and the carpenters were below deck
drilling it to receive dowels. Ian stayed with Tico the whole day….only stopping to
eat when the carpenters did.
    In late afternoon, a well-dressed man
approached the workers and began to ask questions. They pointed him
towards Ian. The man approached Ian and made an inquiry. Ian
replied in halting French that he would have to fetch a translator,
and called for Lorn to join them. It seemed the man owned a
newspaper business in Marseille, and wanted to do a story about
their adventure. Ian left Lorn to it and went back to observe the
fitting of the mast and its fittings. It was nearly ready for the
sails to be fitted tomorrow.
    He and five of the crew took a dunk in
the harbor and dressed, wandering towards better looking areas that
Ian had memorized from the Harbormaster’s map. They came at last to
a sizeable place with a name that Ian couldn’t make out, and stood
outside deciding whether to go in, or walk around some
more.
    Across the street and a few
doors down was a figure in a dark red hooded cape, watching them.
She observed the group of men curiously. Then it dawned on her that
these might be the group the whole town of Marseille was gossiping
about. In particular, she noticed a tall dark complexioned one.
Seeing that the others seemed to defer to him, she could hear them
speak and could even make out his voice from the voices of the
others. She had been methodically working up and down the streets
and alleyways of Marseille for three days searching for her little
brother. Watching until they went into the Blue Oyster , she waited a couple of
minutes, then walked across the street and went in.
    Ian felt an odd prickly
sensation at the base of his skull. It was as if his hair was
standing up on his neck. He reached back to scratch and rub it to
confirm that nothing like an insect was back there. It went away as
he passed through the door to the inn. Inside, he and his friends
found a large table and each ordered a tankard of beer. The serving
wench returned with their order shortly. A heavy-set man with a
florid face accompanied her who introduced himself as Henrique
Pronovost, owner of the Blue
Oyster . He asked if they were the Scotsmen
who had saved the ambassador’s daughter and Lorn answered in the
affirmative. So he said that the first round was on the house and
then with a loud voice, he got everyone to quiet down for an
announcement. He told the guests who it was sitting at their table
and there