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Babbie was on deck and looked at me with his little fierce eyes in a way that told me I was supposed to be in the cabin asleep I have never been sure how much Babbie understands, but he understands a lot I know he understood that, and you could ask hiet it if he felt like it He would even bring Father food, but he would not do that for Hide or one away, I think into the woods on theto be hard to explain, but I will try to do it better than Hide and the others have
I did not feel asleep at all (Hide says for hi to sleep, but not forthan anything else I have done, but that was not it either Everything began to change Our boat ater, and Babbie was a hairy lasses, and a couple of Babbie's eyes (the little ones) The bird was the bird asleep on theand another bird, a bird too fat to fly that was flying around just the sa to blink theot realer
I felt like I had to hold on to so, and I tried to hold on to the sky I have no idea why that hat I picked, except that it did not see, and I had tried to hold on to everything else, and everything else was changing anyhow except the sky and the water
So I tried to hold on to the sky, the beautiful Blue sky with little dots of clouds all around and high thin wispy clouds way up behind theht I had it and Father could not take it away, it got darker and I thought, "Watch out, a big stor the daylight in Then the boat rolled under me a little, and I kneas not our boat
It had four her, at the bow and stern than in the middle; but even the middle was about five or six cubits above the water I had heard of boats with threeas that It was so big it had a boat as big as ours upside-down forward of the mainmast It steered with a wheel instead of a tiller, and theto roll right out of his head and yelling, "Captain!"
Father's bird landed at his feet about then, a fat bird that ca about Father-I know Hide said so about this but I want to say it too, like I did the changing He looked more like our father there, not really like him, but more than on Blue He was shorter and thicker, and his hair had some black in it His face was more like father's, and his eyes were not sky-colored anymore
There was a man with hi hawk nose His eyes were not sky-colored either I have seen ice in the winter that was that color when the sunlight hit it, big chunks of ice floating in the sea Thisat his hands, and then he bent down and felt his knees, and hit one, too, pretty hard with the side of his fist He told Father, "I would never try this!"
Father said, "Yet this is what you are Try to remember"
About then the captain ca curved sword hanging from the widest belt I ever saw; the blade must have been wider than
Father told him, "I am sorry to commandeer your boat, but commandeer it Iround disks of gold with pictures on theain
"Here," Father said, "take it There will be as ain e leave you-I hope to repay you in other ways as well"
I told the captain, "You better do what Father tells you"
Babbie said, "Huh! Huh! Huh!" and his eyes made the captain step back
Father wanted to knoho that was, so I said, "It's Babbie, Father"
Then he said, "I didn't intend to take hiht, I'"
The fat bird said, "Good boat!" and flew up on the railing to look down at the water It was a big, thick railing with carving on it, and the place where we stood was ten cubits over the water It could have been more
Father had the captain hold out his hands, and put the gold in the, "You must take us out to sea We will leave you thereor at least, I hope ill"
The captain looked hard at thehe had not heard anything When the captain saw the , he turned around and ran down some steps into the middle of the boat, and I heard a door slam
Father asked the fat bird, "Well, Scylla?"
Therewe have seen before turn out to be so My wife knows more words than most people She knows more than anybody except Father But she does not knoord for that
When Father said, "Well, Scylla?" I saw the bird was really a girl old enough to take care of other sprats but not old enough to get irl dressed up like a bird She looked like a girl that looked exactly like a fat bird but was really a big girl that would be a woirl said Then she hopped down onto the deck and spread her wings, and said, "Go sea!" After that the two started pulling apart (This will not be the way it really was, but as close as I can co smaller till it looked like it had on our boat and back on Lizard When it got sirl behind it Then she stood up, a skinny girl with an angry face and straight black hair She said, "No here No god Go sea," and so up above the boat
"Scylla here possessed Oreb," Father told me "It took me nearly a year to realize what had happened because she exercised no influence-or alht him back When I returned to Blue, he went away at once to search for a Window for her, or anything that ht hirew up in her Sacred City of Viron, after all"
Scylla snapped, "Gyoll? It is? Nessus? It is? Where is?"
Father nodded "Ask the man at the wheel He'll tell you, surely"
"Plain s They must"
The hawk-nosed man muttered, "I don't care where it is" Then he threw back his head and shouted, "I want to stay!" at the dark sky
"Youback right now, all of us" He took anu to take Babbie's and ht her wrist Then we fell, not up or down but to one side, faster and faster, rolling over
I woke up on deck with Babbie licking , but what really happened was that I had fallen and hit it I got in my sea anchor then and put out sail
When Father came up out of the cabin, I said I sa that we just fell down like that wherever we happened to be, and if he had told ood bruise
"I would not," he said "You would have disobeyed me in any case"
I had a lot of questions, and I kneas angry, so I thought I would volunteer to cook and made a fire in the sandbox It was too early, but he knew I did not like to cook (he had done all the cooking) and I wanted to shoould try to help without being told While I got the fire going, I was planning what I thought we ought to have, keeping in ood, because I kneas not as good at it as he was I knee had, and we had not done any fishing, so I decided potatoes, bacon, and onions; and when the fire was going pretty well I went below to fetch the on et off and stay out of my way