Home Fires by Gene Wolfe

summit, I will tell her I want to get out. My legs must rest from her weight for a while.
    And I want to look at the stars.

6
    STATEROOM ONE
     
    The Rani was gone. Fog or no fog, there could be no doubt of it. A smaller vessel might still have been in port, invisible behind the goblin curtains that had become its atmosphere; no fog could have hidden the Rani ’s long white hull and towering masts in so small a harbor.
    Skip glanced at his watch. “You said they wouldn’t sail before eight. It’s seven thirty-five.”
    “They weren’t supposed to.” Vanessa was scanning the fishing boats.
    Chelle said, “They told you that, Mother?”
    “Yes. Absolutely. I was worried about the passengers who might be left behind. Captain Kain told me there’d be boatmen hanging around the docks offering to ferry people back, and he wouldn’t up anchor until high tide. So I wanted to know when that was, and he said eight o’clock.”
    Achille asked, “What you do, mon?”
    “Give chase,” Skip said. “They can’t have been gone long. If it weren’t for this mist, we might be able to see them. There are men working on that boat.” He pointed with his walking stick.
    “Yes, mon. I see.”
    “Run over there. Tell them we’ll pay them if they can get us to the Rani .”
    Achille dashed away.
    The boat was small, and smelled of fish twice as much as was to be expected. Chelle sprang aboard it without assistance; Skip climbed in more cautiously, and together they helped Vanessa aboard. Their crew of three raised worn brown sails spread wide by gaffs, after which the younger men manned sweeps while the owner took the tiller.
    Chelle’s hand found Skip’s. “What if we can’t catch them?”
    “We go to Hispaniola. There should be an airport there, and if we’re as lucky as five people can be, we may be able to charter a plane to fly us to the next port on the tour.”
    “Someone who can get that much fuel.…”
    “Exactly. Which is why we’ll need wonderful luck. It will cost a great deal, if we can do it at all. This boat won’t, so it’s worth a try.”
    Vanessa joined them. “There are only four of us, and the beggar won’t be boarding the Rani with us.”
    Chelle said, “Tante Élise said there were seven people there. Remember, Mother? I think she thought any gun—”
    Skip had his finger to his lips.
    “Well, you know. Anyway I thought about that, about seven, and the man who stopped Achille made six. We four, Tante Élise, and him. So there was somebody else.”
    Vanessa said, “Skip?”
    “I simply meant that we would need more luck than four could have.”
    The rowers shipped their sweeps as the sails filled. The owner shouted at them, and one climbed the foremast with an agility Skip could only envy.
    Vanessa was taking off her shoes. “They make it hard to balance,” she told Chelle.
    “You think he’s hiding something, don’t you?”
    “Surely not, darling.” Vanessa’s smile was angelic.
    The man at the masthead shouted and pointed, then slid down.
    “We catch,” Achille said. “Catch today, mon.”
    Chelle asked, “Will we, Skip?”
    “I think so. There isn’t a lot of wind, and it takes a pretty good wind to move a ship like the Rani fast.”
    From his place at the tiller, the owner nodded and grinned. “You sleep beeg boat.”
    Chelle went to the bow, where Skip soon joined her. “Am I intruding?”
    “I was hoping you’d come.” She put her arm through his. “I wanted to talk to you in private.”
    “What about?”
    “Lots of things. Can I start with the Army?”
    “Certainly,” Skip said.
    “I’m not going back.”
    He shrugged. “That’s your decision.”
    “I used to think so.” Chelle sighed. “When you wanted to go on the cruise I thought I could use the time to think things over.”
    Skip had seen what the lookout had seen: sails not yet over the horizon. He stared at them, saying nothing.
    “Last night—do you realize we haven’t slept?”
    “You dozed