Marines Aloft, 21st July

Whyte watched silently, but chose to wait. There was one marine going down and he rather did not disturb him. He glanced at MacTavish to see if he understood. "m' going down once he's down.." He suggested. He may have thought only monkeys and madmen climbed up masts and no sane person would do so and he may have still been frightened of the descend as he been of ascend, but he would leave the trembles from showing and keep an outer shell appearing calm.

It was a hard challenge, but he would try to do it well.

In all honesty, the advice not to kick somebody below you was only marginally better then the admonishment not to look down ... Fortunately Terrelly had repeatedly looked down on the top, so that now it only produced a mild jolt of panic, dealt with after another few seconds of white-knuckled clinging. Then he began to slowly and fumblingly make his way down, often very unsure what distance was between the lines.
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"Sure!", MacTavish agreed. "Let me get behind you and Robinson on your side, and nothing at all can happen."

As they were supposed to be going down on different sides, they could already begin their descent, though, and MacTavish was not one for waiting.

"Look, I will go down now, and you can watch how I do it, and then you have all the time you want to manage that first part, and when the corporal looks, you will already be out in the shroud. Think that would get you into his good books quite nicely!"

Whyte blinked. He had wanted to wait a little longer but now he had no choice. It was down, that he would be going, and it would be just at that moment and not many later. He sighed, closed his eyes briefly, nodded again and then straightened.

"Fine, I think... lets do it."He said more bravely than he felt. He hesitated then. "...Where's t'.. reason we're all hurrying down..anyway?" He blinked again. "....and....do we still get that coin? Even if we weren't a shootin'?"

MacTavish laughed.

"Well, I think they will make you go up another time and do some shooting for that."

He went to swing himself out onto the shrouds, but then reconsidered and worked his way in a calmer and more methodical fashion through the lubberhole.

"Here, look, just like going up - always hold on when you move a foot and stand still when you move a hand. And don't try to jump or stand without holding on. Then nothing can happen."

He had no idea what hat happend to the ship they had spotted – but he certainly hoped that they would see her again soon. Regardless of the flag she was flying.

"That ain't fair." Whyte complained, but while he thought injustice was made, he still diligently observed the marine's descent. He paid particular care to how he had placed his hands. He also listened attentively and once he saw that it was finally his turn, he shuffled towards the lubberhole sighing. He was rather high up, but he could not allow his shaky legs to show, nor his feeling of queasyness to be evident.

carefully taking a hold he began to descend as well. "'s easier for you... because you're taller n' us." He mumbled.

"Like I said earlier, it's like a ladder," Thompson said, glancing up. "A little lower - I'm goin' to take your foot an' put it on the next ratline down." He had to grab at Terelly's ankle then before he was accidentally kicked in the face. "It's only jus' an inch or two down," he said, carefully guiding the younger Marine's foot down. "There. Got it?"

"Sorry!", MacTavish answered, not really sounding like it. "Just means that we are heavier when we hit the deck. Come on, you did perfectly fine on your way up. You didn't miss a line once, and who cares if you needed a breezer in the middle. Do it a few more times and you'll do it backwards and upside down."

He waited for Whyte to be securely on the shrouds, then climbed sideways so that he could get to Whyte's side.

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Even with the guidance, Terelly carefully felt around and made triple sure that it was really a solid line he was placing his foot on, then repeated the procedure with his second foot.
He didn't speak, to much concentrated on getting this right, but with Thompson's help, he made slow but steady progress until he was - very shakily - stepping down on deck again.

Down there he took a very deep breath and for a moment bend over the side when his stomach suddenly caught up with all the terror. Only when he was sure that everything would stay inside, he said shakily, but with a proud grin:

"I did it! Thank you, Corporal!"

"You did indeed, lad. We'll have you runnin' up an' down the ratlines like a topman afore you know it," Thompson said with an answering grin of his own. "Now, you need to go an' get into your red coat an' be ready for 'em to go beatin' to quarters." He glanced aft, where the officers were gathered in a knot on the quarterdeck.

Whyte began to climb and continued with all the concentration that he mastered and greatest care. He did quicken a bit as he was half way and never once stopped. Once he was firmly on the ground however, he took a few steps, breathed a deep sigh of relief and looked McTavish. If anything he looked quite satisfied at never climbing the shrouds again, in his life...but at the same time felt proud of his success at having survived the endevour. "..Still alive."

MacTavish grinned broadly and clapped the younger man on the shoulder just as Lieutenant Mitchell called out from the quarterdeck to the crow's nest:

"Any changes?"

The drummer stood already waiting to call to quarters, word had been send to the Captain, and Sewell, already fully rigged out on the quarterdeck, indicated to the Marines who had just come down that they should get ready for battle with a brief jerk of his head. He looked as pleased as his stoic features allowed, however, when his eyes briefly connected with each other the youngsters who had been up for the first time.