said, “it was a long time ago, when ships like that didn’t exist.”
Mike was getting bored with thinking about a name for the ship. He went over to the window and moved the curtains apart. “Wow”, he said looking out the window. “Look at the beautiful rainbow. I’ve never seen one in wintertime before.”
“Ah, an arc en ciel, as they say in French,” Camel replied, “an arc in the sky.”
“That means good luck for our voyage”, Wolf added.
“Yes…” Camel said, thinking. “Of course!” he exclaimed suddenly. “An ark! That’s what we’ll call the ship. Just like in the book!”
“That’s a strange name,” Captain Wolf said, surprised. “I’ve been to sea on twenty seven different types of ships, but I’ve never gone on an ark!”
“So the ship will be named Mike’s Ark?” Moosie asked.
Everybody liked the name. But Mike said:
“Thanks, everybody. But if the ship is going to have my name, it should be my grown-up name.”
“What do you mean, my young friend?” Camel inquired.
“It’s like this,” Mike said, “My daddy calls me Michael, like an adult. A ship should have a grown-up name. Let’s call our ship Michael’s Ark.”
“A wise proposal,” Camel observed. Let’s write that on the side. “Vox emissa volat, litera scripta manet’ which in Latin means “the spoken word flies away, the written remains’, concluded Camel, adding: “‘Ita fiat! Dixi!47’”
Chapter 7. First Adventures
“Weigh anchor, cast off all lines!” Wolf cried, “Steady on two points to port48! Secure the jib49!”
Michael’s Ark slid away from the pier and gaily flew from the harbour.
The place that the ship set sail from had a very pretty, but long name: “Newfoundland’. Why it was “Newfoundland’ Mike really didn’t know. He had spun and spun the globe, checking the names of the seas and oceans, and finally found this island with the beautiful name. Dreamer approved of the choice.
“‘Newfoundland’”, said Camel, “means a new-found-land, which in this case is in complete consonance with the facts, given that you were the first to find it on the globe I concur with the development of…”
But Mike didn’t care to listen to one of Camel’s long-winded speeches. He wanted voyages and adventure, so he went forward, all the way to the ship’s bow.
Moosie stood at the brig’s helm. Captain Wolf had taught him how to steer the ship – that is, how to tell port from starboard50. Moosie was very pleased and proud of himself. He even asked to be called Theodorus Moosovich, but Wolf flatly refused.
“Squids in me craw!” he said. “I’ll run us up on a reef before I’ll call you such a silly name! I’ll call you either seaman, or seamoose!”
“No,” Moosie said, “I want you to call me Seamoosie.”
Moosie liked that name so much that he didn’t call himself “little white Moosie’ any more, but would repeat to himself “I’m Moosie, Seamoosie”. Moosie gladly agreed to be the helmsman51, but he absolutely refused to climb up in the rigging and lines. In any case, Wolf didn’t insist; after looking Moosie over, he wheezed “Can’t use you aloft52, you’ll get them horns fouled in the rigging53.” Camel wasn’t suited for the work either, since he had hooves on all four legs.
“By St. Elmo’s fire,” Wolf croaked, “what use are ye on a ship?”
“I have analyzed my capabilities,” Camel said, “and I have come to the conclusion that the best position for me would to be lookout. Camels are known for their excellent sight and hearing.”
“With hearing that good, you ought to be a hearout,” Wolf croaked, slightly confusing even himself, “anyway, all right, be a lookout. Just be brief in your reports, or else we’ll be stuck on a reef before you shut your gob!”
Wolf made Mike the cabin boy and assigned all the other work on board to him. At first Mike was a bit upset:
“I wanted to be captain, or at least first lieutenant54, and now I’m only going to be a cabin boy?”
“Better to start off as cabin boy and end up as captain than to start as captain and end up at the bottom of the sea,” Wolf said.
“A sage observation55,” Camel agreed.
“There’ll be no favourites on my ship,” the captain concluded, “stand your watch, boy!” But Mike wasn’t downhearted. First he had to be the cook for the animals and for himself. He had stocked the galley56 and laid in supplies for the purpose. In addition, Mike learned how to raise and lower the sails, tie sailor’s knots and drop the anchor. True, sometimes he confused the mainsail with the mainbrace57, and Wolf loudly dressed him down. But the cabin boy bravely withstood Wolf’s criticism, and didn’t resent his captain.
Their first days at sea were tranquil. A fair warm wind filled the sails. The friends enjoyed the views of the faraway shores, the fresh sea air and the sunny sky above the sails.
“It’s so great that we’ve started off on this voyage!” Mike thought. “It’s so terrific!”
Moosie manned the helm. Camel dreamed, dozing on the brig’s bow, occasionally raising his eyebrows and looking off into the distance. Wolf paced up and down the ship importantly, sucking on his pipe and barking comments at Mike and Moosie.
“Just how in Davy Jones’s locker58 are you securing that jib59, boy? Can’t you tie a sailor’s knot? You’re not tying your shoes! And as for you, don’t you know yet how to come about60, you horned beast? You’re gonna lower the boom61 on them horns of yours! You’re not driving a streetcar!”
At first Moosie was afraid of Wolf and he winced every time he heard his hoarse yells, but then he got used to it and just lightly flapped his ears.
On their third day at sea, the weather took a nasty turn. The sky was filled with rain clouds, a fine rain was falling and a blustery wind blew.
“Of course, I am not a meteorologist62,” Camel said, “but the weather no longer favours us. Preventive measures63 are called for!”
Wolf ordered lowering half the sails, and Mike had to climb up the pitching, rolling mast right into the rain.
By the morning of the fourth day the bad weather had turned into a real storm. Gigantic waves tossed Michael’s Ark up and down, and the brig creaked and rolled from side to side. Rain came down in torrents. You couldn’t even see the sky, only clumps of gray clouds hanging over the rolling masts.
Moosie