The man of the desert learns to row.

[salty]

::Salty was napping under the canvas at the foot of the mast when the boat shuddered and stopped moving. That roused him from his sleep, but it was the shouting and pounding of feet running across the wooden deck that woke him and sent him leaping to his feet. He stayed put by the mast, watching what seemed to be bedlam all around and it was then that he saw the huge net raised across the front of the boat.

He heard the pirate and Arculieus shouting, warning of small boats. Salty peered over the side just in time to see natives in canoes loosing arrows toward the boat. He quickly ducked down and heard the shafts striking the sides of the boat. He cursed his bad luck, he had no skill with a bow and could not assist in defending the boat. He crawled on his belly to the feet of Arculieus who was shooting arrows at the natives as fast as he could notch a shaft. "What can I do?" he called to the giant black man. Arculieus didn't look down, and in a calm voice told Salty, "get to an oar and make ready to row." And then with a grin on his face told Salty, "If you don't know how, you will learn fast my friend or none of us will see the dawn."

Row, row? Salty asked himself as he crawled over to a bench where sat a crew member of the boat. Salty sat up on the bench, turned to the crewman as asked, "How do I row?" The crewman gave him a nudge in the ribs with an elbow, a large grin on his face and said, "Just put thy hands up here on this oar laddie and when I tells ye, pull hard and put your back into it. For now, just stay here, brace your feet on that board down there and wait for the order." Then the man laughed and nudged Salty in the ribs again, "From warrior to galley slave bucko', it happens to the best of men." At first Salty fumed with rage and then his brain began to function. Salty you cannot fight, you know nothing about the boat, so do as you are told if you want to survive. It was then he realized the crewman was joking with him and Salty smiled back and nodded his head. "At least this time if I am to be a slave, I will be getting paid" and he nudged the crewman and waited for orders.::