Page 56 | Chapter 3 | The Ghost Ship | A Free Serialized Online Novel by Scott Telek

Iris leaned back, turned to John, once it became clear that the man would not respond. He placed his hand on her knee and shrugged. After a moment, they both turned to look longingly at the buildings of town. Their wan smiles seemed to belie an internal act of reconsideration.

The small man suddenly became agitated. “Ah, here it is, here they come, here they come, you all ready?” he said, whirling to face the couple. They were taken aback by the rapidity of the sudden turn of attention. “Are you ready? Ready?” he said. “Have what you’re bringing? Ready to depart? Your cargo’s on board, no need to fear there, all on board.”

“We’re ready,” John said, but by that time the man had again turned, paying no attention to them. Two large men were quickly wheeling a barrow loaded with what looked like lumps of dirty laundry down the wharf. John watched with curiosity as they approached, wondering what they might be doing. His eyes widened as he saw that the laundry he thought he saw was actually a lump of four unconscious men. To his surprise, they stopped directly in front of the boat.

“Here they are,” one of the men said. “Pride of Sarah Very’s Boarding House.” His mouth widened into a garish smile beneath his huge mustache, revealing darkly stained teeth. On the flat board of the barrow lay the four men, limbs hanging over each other. One was a Negro, another square-jawed with enormous bushy white eyebrows. All were passed out with drink, slack mouths open wide. From one, a long thread of spittle extended from his mouth to the stone of the wharf, two feet below.