"Captain, there's no response from behind us. Want to try again?"
"Forget it. It's probably drifted too far away. No matter how many times we blow the horn, they won't hear it." William stopped the second mate, who still wanted to keep sounding the horn, then unhurriedly yielded the helm.
"You take the wheel for a while. I'm going below to find something to fill my stomach. Those couple of drinks have been making me feel sick."
"This wind and these waves came on fast. Strange, too. Good thing our ship's big enough to hold steady... Hey, don't just grip it and stay still. Nudge it right every so often—the waves are changing. Are your hands too clumsy to feel it out?"
"Good thing Oliver's on the Iceberg. Anyone else would be unreliable. But things definitely aren't easy over there right now. He might even be cursing me for not leaving him a few more experienced hands."
"That shouldn't be the case. With his skill, he'll panic for a little while at most. Unless something unexpected happens, there shouldn't be any problems." The second mate stiffly turned the wheel three fingers' width to the right, then hurriedly spun it back when he felt he had gone too far.
William shook his head again and again at the sight of that handling. Oliver, the former first mate, had always done this work before. His successor was clearly not as clever and learned a little slowly.
He silently gave up on the idea of taking a short nap after eating. The Snow Rime was large, but a novice could make equally large mistakes. Better not be away too long.
Before stepping down from the sterncastle, he casually asked, "How's it below deck? Are the lads behaving themselves?"
"Fine. A few of them