After Bart had butchered the dead cow he caught Nymeria up on deck and placed a tray of offal before her. She sniffed around the tray and ate only the liver. She then went about her walk with no more interest in the offal. A fisherman snagged the heart off the tray before the rest was tossed overboard. He sliced the heart into bait sized pieces and produced a bag of powder and a small vial of oil. He placed the pieces in a bowl and dusted them with the powder then he uncorked the pungent oil and poured some in. He wrapped the bowl in a seal skin cloth and tied it off securely watertight. He then lowered it, with a weight, into to a barrel of collected rainwater on deck, one singled out for only animal use.
By noon on the following day all details of cleanup had been finished and there still was no wind. Captain Portsmith called out, "There's nothing for it, till we have wind you crewmen have the rest of the day off." A cheer went up from the crew. A large net was thrown over the side of the ship and many crew jumped over board and began swimming around. Baths were in short supply for crew members so they were enjoying themselves.
Arya and Nymeria were making their rounds of the deck when they came upon Thomas standing at the edge of the cathead looking out on the ocean. He was dropping small wood splinters in the water and watching them float away. Realizing Arya was watching him he said, "Look there, that small piece of intestine floating was thrown in yesterday. It's floated in front of us but only a few yards. The ship is moving in the current, but only a few feet a day." Arya smiled at him, "Are you always like this?" She laughed and started moving off. "Nymeria and I are going to go swimming you should join us. A bath wouldn't hurt you." Thomas stuttered back, "What...?" But Arya was already talking to a few crew members watching the swimmers. They nodded their heads and swung up a hoist for Nymeria and Arya to board. Calancy ran over from where she had been watching the swimmers, pointed at the hoist and then to herself. Arya dropped some gear and a few pieces of outer clothing and Calancy peeled out of her dress down to her chemise and half slip. Calancy helped convince Nymeria to board the hoist and the three of them were lowered into the water. Nymeria got a concerned look on her face as the water rose around her but when Arya and Calancy swam out easily she wolf paddled after them. Soon it was apparent that she was enjoying the cool water and that was before she noticed small fish in the water around her. That cinched it she was having fun biting the water to catch small fish.
On the other side of the boat{port} the fisherman had pulled his secret beef heart bait out of the water barrel. It was slightly gelled and fairly stunk, though the smell wasn't really bad, just strange. 6 of his mates lined up and the special bait was passed among them. They had silver coins to catch and they went at it with abandon. They caught 10 or so blues in quick succession and then one of them snagged a really large fish. The others pulled their lines to avoid crossing his and he fought the fish for several minutes. When it finally surfaced one of the others shouted, "Tuna!" They all cheered because they knew the rare fish for it's excellent flesh that could be eaten almost raw when soaked in lemon or lime juice. It took a bit longer for the fish to tire enough to be hauled aboard and as soon as he had it he ran it down to Bart who giggled and rubbed his hands together in joy. He nodded at the man saying, "I will see to it you get an extra rum ration for this catch." The other lads went back to fishing but they were getting no more bites.
On the starboard side Arya saw Thomas strip to the waist and watched him make a graceful dive into the water. He pierced the surface with hardly a splash and then didn't come up. She became concerned a few minutes later when he still hadn't surfaced. But then he popped up sputtering several yards NW of where he dove in. She swam over to him and said, "Are you alright? You were under for a very long time." Thomas laughed back, "I will have you know I am an excellent swimmer and can hold my breath for extreme periods of time. Further more at just over 30 feet down there is a strong current moving NW." Arya looked at him closely and asked, "Are you always like this?" Thomas shot back, "You keep saying that. Am I always like what? The look on Arya's face softened and she returned, "Intelligent, aware of everything and constantly studying the world around you with deep understanding." His eyes smiled back at her, "Yes, I am...and thank you for noticing."
As the others had begun climbing out Calancy corralled Nymeria and they all made their way to ride the hoist up.
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