"FULL SAIL" "Chapter 2" " The secret of the wreck" "Good day, sir." "Good day." "Do you speak our language?" "Why wouldn't I?" "Do I look like I come from the moon?" "No, but I thought you were English." "From the Commission." "Tell me, old man, have you been here long?" "Long enough." "I'd say I was born here." "But I don't know exactly how long ago." "It's hard to say." "Maybe 65... maybe 70." "I don't remember." "Are you a fisherman?" "I used to be." "Now I take care of the lighthouse." "Oh, so you are Ifrim." "The lighthouse caretaker." "Who else?" "I was just looking for you." "Your old lady is pretty harsh." "She can go to hell." "Take this, old man." "Thank you, sir." "It's easier than with the flint." "I have matches too, at the lighthouse." "They gave them to me to light the lamps." "But for my pipe, the flint is better." "Tell me, old man." "Are you in a hurry?" "No, there's time until the sun sets, and the lamps are clean." "Tell me, do you know what happened to this ship?" "I know." "This one, the one over there..." "But don't ask me when." "These are Spanu's misdemeanors." "There were some water bandits." "They are called pirates nowadays." "They were plundering throughout the Black Sea, the Marmara, the Archipelago and I don't know what other sea." "Their leader was a man..." "Axente, but people called him Spanu (Baldie) because he had no hair on his face." "No moustache, no beard." "Like he was inhuman." "Don't know if it's true, because no one ever saw him." "He was bald, but he was fancy." "Traveled a lot." "A literate, I wonder why he started plundering." "Spanu and the bandits were watching the shore in the evenings and if they saw a ship on the sea, they put lamps on cattle's horns." "So they moved them around." "So the crews thought they were anchored ships." "That's how they lured them." "Some ended up on sand and had no escape." "Tell me, old man, do you think the same happened to this one?" "I wonder if anyone escaped." "Spanu never let anyone escape." "I don't think anyone got away." "That's another story." "How do you know it wasn't Spanu?" "I don't know, sir, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't." "I don't know." "The ox was there." "I saw it myself." "Maybe Spanu forgot about it, maybe he tied it on purpose," "I don't know, but I saw it myself." "It's been 6 or 7 years." "4 years this April." "That's right." "I always get the years wrong." "It was spring, that I know for sure." "But I never heard of someone getting away." "I kept talking and forgot about the lighthouse." "I'll go light the lamps." "Sir, don't mind me asking..." "It seems my words bothered you." "What is it with you and this wreck, which has been rotting here for so long?" "It was mine, old man." "Yours?" "There you are!" "We were waiting for you, sir." "I was talking to Gherasim." "Didn't know where you were." "Do you have any orders?" "Tonight we'll stay on board, but tomorrow morning we'll get our luggage and say goodbye to the captain." "Do you change your mind so often?" "Aren't we going on that trip as we discussed?" "Yes we are." "But not on kir Iani's ship." "I'm coming with you." "I'm not sorry about kir Iani, I'm sorry about Penelopa." "I've been sailing it for so long." "What is it, Ismail?" "Good wind it is." "We go Stanbul." "Couldn't be better." " Tomorrow you get off?" " Yes." "I stay here." "You take Gherasim?" "Yes I'll take him with me." "I didn't know he told you." "Captain, take Ismail, too." "Me stir, me clean deck, me sew sails, me work." "Me make musaka." "Ismail good cook is." "Me make saraigli." "But you know what I want to do." "Me know." "Gherasim told everything." "Be aware." "We'll go to the world's end." "We go." "Tomorrow we go." "Ismail don't like this kir Iani." "Cheap he is." "He is very cheap." "Me thank you." "Safe sail, captain Iani." "Let him go." "Now, this is what we have to do." "Ieremia, you go to the market and find a tailor or a shop and get some proper clothes." "There's no need, sir." "When the Austrian ship arrives, at noon," "I'll find somebody to give me a uniform for a bottle of scotch." "I don't like this kind of business." "I hope you won't get in any trouble." "And do you think these people are better than others?" "It's your business, after all." "Ieremia, you must find a landlord downtown, where we could stay for a while." "That's easy." "My cousin, Haralamb has good relations with all the widows around here." "Yeah, but we don't want to get married." "Ismail, you stay here with the luggage, until Ieremia gets a carriage to carry it to the place." "When you are done, get on the road along the channel, until you reach the lighthouse." "You'll see me, there." "Captain, today we eat, no?" "For now, we'll grab something to eat in that bistro over there." "You go and check today's menu." "Me know." "Meal with carp it is." "How the hell do you know that?" "Me smell." "Gherasim, you come with me." "Ieremia, maybe you can find some shovels somewhere." "My cousin Haralamb can do that, too." "Cause he can do anything." "I'll be on my way, now." "Kir Aristide, don't spoil the fish meal, man." "You put pepper and laurel." "A little laurel, a little pepper, small fire you make." "Why this writes "angry" there?" "This is for my co-nationals." "They must see we miss our country." "You change it." "Ismail paint." "Ismail paint beautiful." "Me write "The happy palikar"." "Let me show you something over there." "But this is Martha!" "I bet it is." "I've been sailing it for five years between Gibraltar and English Channel" "You are right." "But it's name was not Martha anymore." "It's a long story." "I'll tell you one day." "Now, let's try and change its faith." "It would be a shame to leave it rotting here." "It was a great ship." "Whose is it, I wonder?" "It was mine." "I owned it together with a friend who, I suspect, died here with his entire crew." "Maybe you've heard of some pirates who, a while back..." " Spanu!" " Yes." "I swear, one day, I will hang him myself." "He killed my brother, Sotir." "We'll hang him together." "This friend he killed was more than a brother to me." "Let's get to work and see what we can fix." "We have to make an inventory of the materials we need." "Afterwards, I'll go to the harbor office to sign the purchase documents." "I don't get it." "What purchase?" "Isn't it yours?" "Who do you want to buy it from?" "It's not mine anymore, if it was left to rot." "After a while, all shipwrecks become state owned." "You're shitting me." "I wouldn't ask no one." "He is Haralamb." "I thought he could help us." "Because he has no duties to attend at the construction site." "Very good." "What are you doing in Sulina?" "We were many brothers back home." "Too little land..." "We scattered throughout the country." "To make a living." "I used to work at a mill in Braila," "I was employed by a carpenter." "And two years ago, I came to Sulina, at the ship construction site." "Leave it, for now, sir." "He will tell us everything some other time." "As to why he ran away from the carpenter..." "You know about the water carrier." "Let's get to work." "Thank you for helping us." "Glad to do it, sir." "What's the plan?" "First, we'll take the ship out of the sand." "Gherasim, we'll go below deck." "I guess it's plenty of sand over there." "It's as hard as a rock, sir." "Same here." "4-4." "I win." "Don't play with me if you suck at it." "Good day." "Good day." "Do you speak Romanian?" "I could speak Turkish, I see you wear a fez." "But I don't speak it so well." "I don't speak Turkish." "Maybe Bulgarian." "Have you been here long?" "Long enough." "Tell me, in the summer of '78, didn't you receive a letter from Istanbul?" "In '78?" "Let me think." "A green envelope." "So you got it." "Maybe." "I wrote to you last winter from Bucharest, too." "Have you heard of the schooner L'Esperance, under French flag?" "I don't know..." "Many ships come through here." "A ship that was plundered by pirates." "Spanu's pirates." "I know." "In that case, why haven't you written back?" "Write you back?" "Why haven't I?" "What's this?" "The Regulations Book." "What does it say?" "Without glasses it's difficult, isn't it?" "I don't really know the new writing." "I know the Cyrillic one." "Yeah, but the books didn't read upside down then, either." "Read some." "Sir, don't hurt me." "If you were sent from Bucharest to check up on me..." "Look, I've saved some money, I'll give you all of it, but don't tell on me" "I don't need your money." "I'll borrow some and give you more." "I'll also give you two ducks I shot yesterday." "I don't care." "But tell me, how can you do your job if you can't read or write?" "What is it to read?" "What is it to write?" "Don't you receive letters, memos from your bosses?" "No, sir." "The job goes smoothly, no one interferes." "How did you say it goes?" "Smoothly." "Then, Godspeed." " Coffee, sir?" " No, thank you." " A hookah?" " I don't smoke." "Than, backgammon?" "We play for little money." "Maybe some other time." "Ok, but you won't tell on me." "No, don't worry." "If you couldn't read four years ago, I don't care you can't read now." "Wait." "If you don't learn, I will tell on you." "I'll get you an ABC." "Of course, sir." "This is what I need." "4:2 on to home board." "Lastuna!" "Lastuna!" "Is that duck cooked?" "Haralamb, lad, this from seraglio comes." "Seraglio cake." "Seraglio is where Sultan keep wives." "Many wives." "In Turkish, cake is gli." "Sara-igli." "This cake was made by a cook for the Sultan." "But a rascal, an apprentice, ran away and sell recipe." "The one who knows Koran, also knows that we put saraigli in a jar with honey and confiture." "The confiture is of rose." "In the jar we put with honey and leave it ten days." "The confiture makes cake tender." "Then you eat and lick fingers." "Gherasim!" "You were right." "There's no need to throw money away." "How's it going?" "We'll finish by night fall." "But we'll need more men tomorrow to prepare it to launch at sea." "Haralamb, do you think you can find more men and ropes and pulleys?" "You mean... should I look for them tonight?" "Sure." "We'll find them, sir." "Let's go." "Ismail, what do you think kir Panaiotis will serve us for dinner?" "Me can not smell." "It is far." "While Ieremia is gone," "I hope we can arrange some dwellings near our construction site." "What do you mean... gone?" "I'll send you to Galatz, for merchandise." "You'll leave by boat tomorrow morning." "I chose you because you know the city." "Look here." "You have a list of materials." "And here, you have 100 gold pieces." "But... aren't you afraid, sir?" "Why?" "Well, 100 gold pieces is what a wealthy man's house is worth." "If you have the rifle with you, I'm not afraid." "Ready it is." "Come eat." "This is meatballs soup." "Like Romanians do it." "With lovage..." "lots of it." "Here, taste." "Taste." "Look, brothers, Ieremia is back." "Welcome back, Ieremia." " Good appetite." " Sit down." "Tell me, what have you got?" "All of it, as ordered, sir." "Except for pinewood for masts." "I spoke with..." " Eat, eat." " Thank you, Ismail." "I spoke to a boatman on Bistrita, I know the man." "He should bring two high pine trees." "When he reaches Galatz, he'll send word." "Well done." "There's no hurry." "We need the masts later." "I also brought the book for the port captain." "Here it is." "I see you did a great job here." "Why do you have a yellow scarf, bro?" "Can't you see you're all black?" "Have you seen Ghiocica?" "No." "But I saw her father." "The water carrier." "Sir, we have to hurry, 'cause the boat is waiting for us to unload." "I also have a boy there, I took him along to help me." "I think he's hungry, poor fellow." "Let's go doubletime." " Thank you, Ismail." " Thank you, Ismail." " Ismail, me thank you." " Me thank you, too." ""Ismail, me thank you."" "Me make meatballs soup for Romanians, I don't cut the meat with machine," "I cut by hand... they don't get it..." "they eat." "You eat?" "No, my old lady got angry and threw the food away to the dogs." "Stay, me give you soup." "Soup like Romanians do it." "The soup doesn't go with bread." "Do you have polenta?" "Polenta?" "Don't you have a wooden spoon?" "The soup is no good with iron spoon." "Don't have." "How is taste?" "The soup is good, but the meatballs are cut too thin." "Siktir." "His name is Mihu." "I'll get him some food." "He is the boy I told you about." " Cousin..." " What?" "Don't be sorry you came." "I will repay your trouble." " Is the dog yours?" " I found him some time ago on the road." "My guess is some hunters lost him." "He followed me, so now we travel together." "You swear you haven't seen her." "Boys, go find some men." "And a carriage to unload the ship." "Where's the captain?" "Over there, to get a drink." "Now, where to, Mihu?" "I thought to get back to Galatz, and then..." "Where are you from?" "I'm from Muscel." "Near Rucar." " What were you doing there?" " Guarding sheep." " Yours?" " No." "Last year, the sheepfold was attacked by wolves." "The shepherd wasn't there." "It was a disaster." "They tore up nine sheep." "Out of 11 dogs, only five survived." "When the shepherd came back he punished me for a week." "So you ran away..." "Yes." "Why didn't you go home?" "They don't have anything." "I went to Campulung, wanted to serve a tradesman." "But I had already found Labus." "We were together." "The tradesman said he'd keep me, but I had to chase the dog away." "He said he didn't need a mutt." "Is Labus his name?" "Labus, yes." "And now, are you going back to find another tradesman?" "Yes..." "Maybe I can find somebody nicer." "Listen." "Do you want to stay with us?" "And do what, sir?" "Whatever we all do." "What do you say?" "Would you like to?" " Would you also take Labus?" " I wouldn't have it any other way." "I came to play backgammon." "But I see you're busy." "Damn these letters, who thought of those, I don't know." "But I won't quit." "Good for you." "But if you came, let's play backgammon." "Ok." "Let's see..." " Blacks" " Whites." "All this I see... is it only water?" "Only water, lad." "And this is only a small part of the entire water on Earth." "Oh, dear God." "Hey, where the hell is the port?" "I'm looking for a guy..." "Ieremia." "Hey, sailor!" "Godspeed!" "Hey, where are you going, man?" "Yo, nutcase, don't go there with the axe, we've just painted it." "That's not a tree." "Wait, man, we didn't even say hello." "Welcome." "Ismail, make some tea." "Let's get you dried up." "Good food." "I think not even rich men eat food like this." "Wait, tomorrow we make musaka." "Are you happy we got the wood for masts, sir?" "Of course I am." "But I am also happy, when I think Cristea is going to be a damn good sailor." "Sir, we make him helmsman." "Don't make fun of me, if I didn't behave properly." "But I never saw the sea before today." "We're not making fun." "We were astonished you are so good at sailing." "Aren't you, really?" "No way." "But what plan do you have?" "Where to?" "Ismail, go fetch another bottle of wine." "Mihu, go to the barrack, there are some maps on the table." "I know sir." "Which one do you want?" "Bring them all, you might get confused." "Look, this is the Earth." "Seas, oceans, continents..." "We are here." "This is the Black Sea." "And this is Romania." "Look how small it is, compared to the rest of the Earth." "True, sir." "The Earth is quite big." "What are we?" "Stanbul, where is Stanbul?" "This is our route." "So you weren't joking, sir." "It really is the end of the world." "Stanbul far is." "We see." "I won't go." "Don't be afraid." "It is not such a tough trip." "If you know what you're doing, everything gets easier." "I want to get there, because others didn't." "Although they tried." "It is a promise to myself." "I don't want to leave those places unseen." "Particularly that my best friend, the one whom I planned this with, is no longer with us." "What's the point, sir?" "What's the point?" "If great navigators such as Magellan or Columbus, when they started their journeys, far longer than ours, would have wondered about the point of it all, maybe we wouldn't have the proof that the Earth is round." "Me go, Ismail sailor is." "We're sailors, sir." "We agreed to follow you." "We'll go with you wherever you want." "But first, I'd like you to understand." "What we don't understand today, we'll probably understand tomorrow." "Of course, we'll get it." "There's something else bothering me." "Travelers like Magellan, or Columbus, or others... cause I heard of them, too, they all had enough means." "And still it was tough." "How will we manage?" "Do you have so much money so we dare set sail so far?" "Yes, for starters." "At least, I have enough to finish the ship and pay you for your work up to now." "But after, who pays?" "Kir Iani give 7 lira a month." "I'll give you 10, as promised." "And you will have a share of the profit, too." "Profit?" "Where do we take profit?" "We'll do as kir Iani did." "We carry merchandise Pireu and Stanbul?" "Yes, we will, until next summer." "Pireu, or Istanbul, wherever there will be orders to." "Then what?" "Then, next summer, when we have enough money, we'll go beyond Gibraltar, to Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro," "Buenos Aires..." "Allah, Allah..." "But I understand your fears." "It's one thing to sail in your pot to Pireu or Istanbul and another to take a chance and go at world's end." "You said danger is greater over there." "Indeed it is." "But when we get to Istanbul, we'll insure the ship and in case of a disaster, you'll get enough money to allow you to get back home and not empty handed." "Good thinking is." "But we want to know..." "Stop babbling, you fool, when did you become so picky?" "But still, sir, I wonder if our ship can handle the trip." "I know it." "I faced many storms aboard it." "But still..." "But still, now, you picky too." "That doesn't mean you're picky, neither one of you." "I'm glad you're asking." "Gherasim, do you really think Magellan had bigger ships?" "Do you think they were engineered, like they are today?" "Not to mention that we have a better sails arrangement." "We use all knowledge left behind by navigators in hundreads of years." "I say we don't doubt our ship." "We should better ask ourselves if we are worthy of it." "That's a good question, sir." "Because only you and me are real sailors." "Ieremia has some experience, also." " Me too." " You too." "And after all, everybody can learn." "Haralamb also could learn." "What do you say, Haralamb?" "Do you want to go with us?" "I don't want to be a burden sir..." "Ok, everybody learns, but until then, we must do extra work." "Work, why not?" "Take Haralamb, make good sailor." "I won't go, sir." "Please don't be angry with me." "But I want to get married." "I want to settle down." "You're joking." "You'll settle down, when I become a monk." "We need six of us there's no need for more." "But till our departure, there's still time." "We'll see." " Cheers!" " Cheers, sir." " Check out Mihu!" " Don't tell me you want to go too." " What can we do with a kid?" " Tell me, Mihu." "I'd go with you, sir." "But I know nothing." "I've never been away." "But take me, sir." "I'll do as you command." "Really, Mr Gherasim, I swear I'll always obey you." "I say we take him." "Every ship has its sailor-boy." "What is a sailor-boy, sir?" " A kind of an apprentice." " The work is hard, kid." "We'll meet storms and other dangers." "And many years will pass before we come back." "That is... if we do come back." "I want to go, sir." "Ieremia, tomorrow you'll go to the fair and get some proper clothes for this boy." "Take some for Cristea, if he decides to go." "No, sir." "I won't go." " What about Labus, sir?" " That's a good one." "A dog aboard the ship." "We take him, too, of course." "Here you go, old man, have a drink." "It's good." "Honor our ship." "You look like the other one." "Who?" "The helmsman." "This old man, I don't know what's wrong with him." "I think he's a little nuts." "He told me L'Esperance burned up." "Not even a single log was burned." "He's a drunk." "Yeah, he doesn't know what he's saying." "Hey, Speranta!" "Isn't anybody here?" " I think I know you." " Maybe." "And if six months ago in Salonic you had a black eye..." "I think I did that." "I knew you were on Penelopa." "I knew you were on Neptun, now I see you in a small boat." "Is the captain here?" "He'll be here." "But what do you want with him?" " I brought him his boat." " Did you inherit it?" "I can beat you up, you know..." "Easy, palikar." "What ship are you sailing now?" "Orion." "The steamer over there." "Right..." "How many boats do you have on that ship?" "About five." "I get it, now there'll be only four." "Let's say one of the boats was tied up at stern and last night, the current took it away." "It happens." "How much money did the captain give you?" "Look sir, there's a sailor with a boat." "How much did you pay?" " Two golden twenties." " Two golden twenties?" "But this is a small fortune." "Luckily this sailor is a good man." "He just told me he wants to give you one back." "Isn't that so?" "Come on, give it back." "He's a kind man." "He won't press charges." "Come on, I say." "An now, tie the boat up at stern and return to your ship by sea," "I don't want to see you on the pier, or I'll break your bones." "The clouds looked the same, back then." "You could only see the lightning." "Sea or sky... all the same." "Go away, old man, or your old lady will beat you up." "Come on, drink." "Drop the gun!" "Drop it!" "Drop the gun!" "Leave him be." "He's drunk." "That's right." "It wasn't you." "But you look like the other one." "But he was smaller and had a scar on his cheek." "A scar on his cheek..." "Wasn't his name Sotir?" "That's right." "That's how the Frenchman called him." "There was a Frenchman..." "tall, black-haired..." "How do you know this, you drunk?" "How do you know?" "Come on, say it." "Speak, old dog, speak." "Speak." "Let's leave him get better." "Tomorrow he'll speak." "He ran away!" "The old man from the lighthouse was found drowned." "The Danube brought him ashore." "He was the last man who could tell me what happened to Pierre." "Chapter III Vanity fair" "May God be with you, son." "My god, or your god?" "There is only one god, my son." "Then call him Allah." "That's His name." "What is that?" "Compass is." "Compass..." "And... what's it for?" "For... things." "But where does the light come from?" "Is the compass so powerful?" "It's not sun... it's not moon." "Tell me, helmsman, I see you are very smart." "It has lamp." "But I can't see it." "Can you show me?" "Me show you." "Lamp down, it lights up." "And me sees compass." "There's a mirror, which takes light to other mirror" "No sun." "Only light from lamp." "This compass is." "Go to sleep, don't keep Ismail talking." "I get the wrong route." "Ismail have to work." "God is with you, son." "Damn priest."