“By sea?” The ship-master jerked his thumb toward the Avventura. “Talk to Wiskich; he is a Dilk and a madman, with the seamanship of a Blue Mountain sheep. Pay him terces enough and he will sail to Jehane itself.”
“This I know for a fact,” said Cugel. “Certain cargoes of value arrive at Port Perdusz from Saskervoy, and are then trans-shipped to Almery.”
The ship-master listened with little interest. “Most likely they move by caravan, such as Yadcomo’s or Varmous’. Or, for all I know, Wiskich sails them south in the Avventura. All Dilks are mad. They think they will live forever and ignore danger. Their ships carry mast-head lamps so that, when the sun goes out, they can light their way back across the sea to Dilclusa.”
Cugel started to put another question, but the ship-master had retreated into his cabin.
During the conversation, the small portly man in the uniform had emerged from the warehouse. He listened a moment to the conversation, then went at a brisk pace to the Avventura. He ran up the gangplank and disappeared into the cabin. Almost at once he returned down the gangplank where he halted a moment, then, ignoring Cugel, he returned at a placid and dignified gait into the warehouse.
Cugel proceeded to the Avventura, hoping at least to learn the itinerary proposed by Wiskich for his ship. At the foot of the gangplank a sign had been posted which Cugel read with great interest:
PASSENGERS FOR THE VOYAGE SOUTH, TAKE NOTE!
Ports of call are now definite. they are:
Mahaze and The Misty Isles
Lavrraki Real, Octorus, Kaiin
Various ports of Almery.
DO NOT BOARD SHIP WITHOUT TICKET!
SECURE TICKET FROM TICKET AGENT
IN GRAY WAREHOUSE ACROSS WHARF
With long strides Cugel crossed the wharf and entered the warehouse. An office to the side was identified by an old sign:
OFFICE OF THE TICKET AGENT
Cugel stepped into the office where, sitting behind a disreputable desk, he discovered the small portly man in the dark uniform, now making entries into a ledger.
The official looked up from his work. “Sir, your orders?”
“I wish to take passage aboard the Avventura for Almery. You may prepare me a ticket.”
The agent turned a page in the ledger and squinted dubiously at a set of entries. “I am sorry to say that the voyage is fully booked. A pity … Just a moment! There may be a cancellation! If so, you are in luck, as there will be no other voyage this year … Let me see. Yes! The Hierarch Hopple has taken ill.”
“Excellent! What is the fare?”
“The available billet is for first class accommodation and victualling, at two hundred terces.”
“What?” cried Cugel in anguish. “That is an outrageous fee! I have but forty-five terces to my pouch, and not a groat more!”
The agent nodded placidly. “Again you are in luck. The Hierarch placed a deposit of one hundred and fifty terces upon the ticket, which sum has been forfeited. I see no reason why we should not add your forty-five terces to this amount and even though it totals to only one hundred and ninety-five, you shall have your ticket, and I will make certain book-keeping adjustments.”
“That is most kind of you!” said Cugel. He brought the terces from his pouch, and paid them over to the agent, who returned him a slip of paper marked with characters strange to Cugel. “And here is your ticket.”
Cugel reverently folded the ticket and placed it in his pouch. He said: “I hope that I may go aboard the ship at once, as now I lack the means to pay for either food or shelter elsewhere.”
“I am sure that there will be no problem,” said the ticket agent. “But if you will wait here a moment I will run over to the ship and say a word to the captain.”
“That is good of you,” said Cugel, and composed himself in a chair. The agent departed the office.
Ten minutes passed, then twenty minutes, and half an hour. Cugel became restless and, going to the door, looked up and down the wharf, but the ticket agent was nowhere to be seen.
“Odd,” said Cugel. He noticed that the sign which had hung by the Avventura’s gangplank had disappeared. “Naturally!” Cugel told himself. “There is now a full complement of passengers, and no need for further advertisement.”
As Cugel watched, a tall red-haired man with muscular arms and legs came unsteadily along the dock, apparently having taken a drop too many at the inn. He lurched up the Avventura’s gang-plank and stumbled into the cabin.
“Ah!” said Cugel. “The explanation is clear. That is Captain Wiskich, and the agent has been awaiting his return. He will be coming down the gang-plank any moment now.”
Another ten minutes passed. The sun was now sinking low into the estuary and a dark pink gloom had descended upon Port Perdusz.
The captain appeared on the deck to supervise the loading of supplies from a dray. Cugel decided to wait no longer. He adjusted his hat to a proper angle, strode across the avenue, up the gangplank and presented himself to Captain Wiskich. “Sir, I am Cugel, one of your first-class passengers.”
“All my passengers are first-class!” declared Captain Wiskich. “You will find no pettifoggery aboard the Avventura!”
Cugel opened his mouth to stipulate the terms of his ticket, then closed it again; to remonstrate would seem an argument in favor of pettifoggery. He observed the provisions now being loaded aboard, which seemed of excellent quality. Cugel spoke approvingly: “The viands appear more than adequate. It would seem that you set a good table for your passengers!”
Captain Wiskich uttered a yelp of coarse laughter. “First things come first aboard the Avventura! The viands are choice indeed; they are for the table of myself and the crew. Passengers eat flat beans and semola, unless they pay a surcharge, for which they are allowed a supplement of kangol.”
Cugel heaved a deep sigh. “May I ask the length of the passage between here and Almery?”
