THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WELL

Chapter 12 – page 19

They went back up to untie the horses and found that the gang plank to the jetty had been taken up. Da Muff put her front paws on the edge of the boat and looked out. Silently and without so much as a shimmy or a shake or a noise, the ship was moving on its own. They could see the noble tecolotes on the jetty. G & J waved, but of course the owls didn’t know what that was. So they waved bigger and wider. Finally one tecolote raised his wing and sorta saluted. Then they marched off down the jetty. G & J could see teeny weeny dots along the shore behind the stick houses. It looked like the whole village had come out to see them off. Then they could see them no more.

Like I said, the ship didn’t rock or sway or wiggle. It glided silently over the water as if it were glass. J went over to untie Mober and Pepper and lead them down to their new digs. Man were they excited! Hay! The stalls were big and had a big window between them so Pepper and Mobe could talk and carry on and scratch each others manes etc. There was also a window for each of them to look out on the ocean, with glass of course. Though this area was in the belly of the ship, it was still above water. The place where they oared, was a few steps lower down. There was even room enough for the horses to sorta run a few steps and kick up, which they did right away after their baskets, blankets and bridles were taken off. Beside the entrance gate into the stalls, there was another smaller door that opened up for feeding. J threw some hay into a wire basket affair. Man were they happy campers! … or … sailors. J also found a faucet that came right out of the wall into a sunken wooden half barrel. This was the water. He had no idea how much water they had on board, so he used it sparingly, smarty pants that he was.