OPORTO, 22nd May - Naval Landing Parties

"They gots to press more men, ain't they, needin' 'em to handle them big guns. Dunno if they fire all the guns at the same time - though I reckon they got enough men to do it. They got near nine hundred men on one of them first-rates, you know. And a second-rate ain't so much smaller." He nodded, grinning. "Aye, Dad showed me round one that was near finished, once. He was sober that day, and I dunno why he showed me round, but he did. 'Course, she hadn't any guns in or anythin', but she was big. Though I reckon she'd be more crowded than Terpsy here is." He patted the mast he was standing beside. "I men, three decks, all with men livin' on 'em in 'tween the guns and everythin' don't sound like there's much room, does it?"

He scratched his head. "Well, they do seem to live for a bit, though I reckon they'd drown in the air like we would in the sea, if you didn't hit 'em over the head. So I dunno how them flyin' fish do it."

One of the sailors looked up. "Flyin' fish, lad? It's more sort of... jumpin', they do, than proper flyin'. Though I seen 'em land right on the deck of a ship, more'n once."

Oxley shrugged. "Well, there you go then. An' we could polish your face shiny, I reckon... if you'd let us..."

"Hope he ain't spinnin' t' yarn, n' if that's true." He could imagine a fish jumping, it wasn't quite unnatural for the lot. But why a fish would even want to jump in the air where a seagull could easily have snatched it from the sky. Why would a fish willingly expose herself so, or were they the sort of mad fish which would flip and jump into people's laps begging to be eaten. No, if they had been the sort then there'd be none left unless they were terribly poisonous, even so.

"Anything else yed want to see out there in the strange , undiscovered " He made it sound as if they were actually going off to explore the world and find oh so many new things, "world?" And then touching his cheeks he blinked. "Why ever on earth would I need my face polished... least alone, how would yer do it?" He looked at the young marine. "Not sure if I'd let you, sounds rather uncomfortable.. n' it ain't shaving. Which I don't need! Not yet anyway. Do you?"

As the sailor turned away, Oxley rolled his eyes behind the man's back. "I thought sailors was s'posed to spin proper yarns, not make it sound like... like any sort of thing you can see in a river," he said, and frowned thoughtfully. "I dunno. I wouldn't mind seein' a proper blue sea, though. It's all sort of cold and green round hereabouts. Well, either that, or mud-colour. I'd like to see a mermaid, I think. Just to say I've seen one, I mean. Dunno."

He grinned suddenly. "You mean you wouldn't like your face to be so shiny I could see me face in it? Shame. And where would you like to go vistin', if you could go anywhere?"

" What do you call a proper yarn?" He asked as he turned from the sailor and followed along with Oxley, since he had rid himself of his cutlass and needn't return anything else to the armory. He had to scowl at the tease: " There ain't no way that that's possible anyhow. A person having a face that could have someone else see themselves in it. Not possible!" He shook his head.

"You're talkin' daft about that. Tommy." He smiled though as he thought of the places they could have visited. " Hmm.. I dunno. I'd like to see sand beaches,.. as pale as the moon. N' I'd like to see some of them odd animals that noone else had ever seen. I would only like to see a sea monster if it were dead and harmless. Don't want to die or all that after all." He shrugged. "I'd like to see a mermaid too, though none of those that draw a sailor to follow them and then drown or have the ship destroyed on t' rocks." He looked up, glad he did not need to duck to avoid any beams.

"N' I'd like to see monkeys and colourful birds. I want to have one brought to the ship one day. Have it as a pet. You know. Wouldn't that be fine? They say some of them, 'specially t' parrots can actually talk!.. Talk like humans or near so!"

"A proper yarn? Oh, talkin' 'bout, I dunno, the sort of things folks have seen in the South Seas or whatever. Stuff like that." He shrugged, and tipped his head to the side. "Mightn't be possible, but it'd be fun to try it. Sure you don't want me to polish you up like that? It'd surprise the captain and all that lot, wouldn't it?"

His stomach gurgled suddenly and he shrugged. "I'll tell you sometime 'bout the Marine on Atalanta who had a parrot. Later, mebbe, though. I dunno 'bout you, but I'm that hungry I could eat a horse. Well, mebbe a small one, anyhow."

"Aye, goin' to me mess now. See you sometime." He stretched a little not quite sure which meal it would be at that time, but certain that any food gotten by the time would be a Heaven sent.

"See yer." He added again, made a small wave and bounded towards his mess.