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over the gunwale onto the deck.
"Damn cold up here!" said Giles, shivering. "All of a sudden I'm chilled to
the bone! Help me to somewhat wherewith I can dry myself."
"I thought of that, too," said Brian."Slashed open one of the bales. Here you
have a length of cloth in lincoln green that I cut off with my sword."
Giles snatched it from Brian's grasp, his teeth chattering, and proceeded to
rub himself dry.
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"Cold up here?" asked Jim. "It must have been freezing in the water, then."
"Not at all.Quite pleasant, really," said Sir Giles, as he rubbed himself
down. "But, of course, I was in my other body."
Since the sea in this particular area was far from what an unclothed man
might consider warm, Jim could well believe that wearing a seal body instead
of a human one would be the only possible reason for finding immersion in it
comfortable.
"What did you find?" demanded Brian eagerly.
"One moment, Brian," interrupted Jim. "Giles, Brian here, of course, now
shares the knowledge of the uh talent in your family to which Sir John Chandos
referred. You both know mine. I am a magician."
"Indeed," said Giles humbly, "I learned as much back at the inn. If I have
offended through my ignorance of your true rank, m'Lord Mage, I do most
heartily beg pardon "
"Nonsense!"Jim cut him short. He had expected the other, being a selkie, not
to take the fact of magic in Jim as seriously as Brian and others did. "I only
have a D rating, which makes me a very junior sort of magician."
"Nonetheless," put in Brian swiftly, "he was able to put a spell upon the
sailors up front so that they should not escape with the small boat we have on
deck, thus leaving us free to lift you from the water."
"Hah?" said Sir Giles. "That's good. That's very good. If you would hand me
my underclothing and hose, m'Lord "
"Giles," said Jim, handing the clothing to him, "to get back to what I was
just saying, we were at the point of first names between us, if you remember.
Please, let's stay on that level. You're a selkie. I'm a beginning magician.
Sir Brian is simply a worthy and valiant knight. Nonetheless, we are all three
equal here, and all good friends. Call me James, then."
"If you wish.Very kind of you, m' James," said Sir Giles, rapidly dressing.
"Very good indeed, considering that I was merelyborn a selkie, whereas to
understand magic, so I understand, takes great and terrible study. But if you
wish, James" he hastened to stop Jim, who was about to speak again "so it
shall be. And Brian, if my language was a little overrough just now when I was
in the sea and you were above me "
"Barked a couple of times," said Brian. "I heard nothing to be offended at."
"Good of you too, Brian," said Giles, completing his process of
dressing."Now, about the ship. It is really not badly aground at all, and it
is not holed in the least."
"The shipmaster will be overjoyed to hear that," said Jim, "but go on. What's
the situation down there, then?"
"Why, we have simply run our bow up on one small spire of rock, as we might
on a sandy shore," answered Giles. "It is an outward piece of a larger rock
that goes down to the sea bottom; but we are not strongly fixed, for all that
the ship seems solidly set. Still, a rising tide will not lift us off it,
because of the way we are held. The only way we can get free is to back the
ship up. But that can be done if we are men enough. If the shipmaster and his
lads will give me a longer rope, I can swim out with it from the stem and tie
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it around another spur of rock not too far off and by using this apparatus
they have on board for lifting weights and such "
"Block-and-tackle," supplied Jim.
"No matter.Whatever the name.The sail will have to be lowered, for with the
wind in this quarter it would work against our effort, pressing us farther on
the rock. But if they will take it down and use the block-and-tackle to
multiply their strength, and pull against the rope which is tied to the other
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