Chapter 16

The present Captain was told about us but not the identity of our engineer. Solsa went behind Juke as he dictated what was wrong. They went below and didn't emerge for two hours while the Captain sweated. We were given seats in his cabin as we waited.

Juke had not finished by the time Gallik Sith arrived. The owner was not in a happy mode but he was still a gentleman. He frowned a lot when he saw that Juke was the one inspecting the ship. He said nothing to us though.

Juke came over and greeted Gallik politely.

I had to ask, "What did you find, Juke?"

"Overall the ship is in fine shape. The cargo has been offloaded and the caulking should start today. The boys were out drinking last night and would be in no shape to do it this morning. Some of the main ropes need replacement as does the mainsail. The other sails are fine and should last another year. The hardware is well taken care of but one of the capstans needs some repair."

When it looked like he was done, I said, "What would be the cost of a new mainsail and the ropes?"

"Juffa is expensive here because of the war. I'd say about fifteen drak. If we sail to Buseland we can purchase the sail at half the price and a better grade of rope for about the same as here. We could trade for copa and make a good profit if we can avoid the war and the pirates."

I turned to Gallic and said, "I won't lower my price. Your Captain seems to take care of the Scors very well."

Gallik got me to one side and wanted to increase the amount. I on the other hand agreed to take on his present crew. Gallik didn't really care what I did with the crew if I bought the ship.

We argued heatedly for a half hour. I had raised my figure to 690 and stayed there. It was not for the copper because that was very cheap for me. It was for the principle of the matter and, of course, the competition. I had mentioned the Tresta once and listed its good points along with a higher cost.

I think it was the sight of a large ship coming into the bay that made Gallik say, "I will agree to your price and attest that there are no outstanding debts against the ship." We had already seen the logs and knew that there weren't any.

Captain Sacco was invited to join us and we went to the Harbourmaster's office. A bill of sale was made out with Gallik's statement that there were no outstanding debts. Gallik was surprised to see me pull out polished copper busbar and lay it on the scale. I then laid copper squares cut from the same type of bar until I was a little over the amount I stated.

"Is this satisfactory?"

Gallic took the metal out and checked it as did the Harbourmaster. Gallik said, "This is very pure copper."

"Yes, it is. In all this copper there is not enough impurities to make a small grain of sand."

"Where did you get this?"

"That's my business. One refiner purifies the metal for me and I prefer to use this metal other than that which has been debased."

Gallik, the harbourmaster and the captain signed the rest of the papers. Gallik then hurried off with his copper lest some thief get wind of his good fortune.

I turned to the Captain and said, "I talked to the former owner about keeping all of you on. He didn't care one way or another. Would you like to continue as Captain? I'll be going with you for a while to do some trading and get home."

"I would graciously accept this post, Milord."

"Are the present crew acceptable to you? It's better to get rid of troublemakers now."

"The crew is the best I've had in a long time. Usually, we are paid in shares. Is that acceptable?"

"We have to talk about that. I want to get home first. That means less trade and less profit. I would rather pay by the day. Then it doesn't matter how much profit I make."

"That sounds more than fair."

"I plan on sailing to Buseland for juffa."

The Captains's face fell. "That's a dangerous place. The storms and currents are bad but the pirates are worse. The men will not want to go."

"How much money does a sailor make on an average trip? How many days is the trip? I want to know what he makes each day."

Captain Sacco thought for a minute and said, "An able seamen would make one flass each day."

"If we are attacked by pirates and any of you are even wounded by them, I will give you five flass per day for the entire trip." That left unsaid that we would still have to escape the pirates.

"They may take that or they may not."

We talked to the crew. They were not happy with the destination but they liked the idea of the extra money if they were hurt.

The ship was caulked and I wanted structural changes as well. There was a crew of fourteen plus the seven more of us. The Captain would be kicked out of his quarters.

Juke had not left, nor had he been paid. "Juke, what is the most profitable cargo to take to Buseland?"

"They are at war which is why there are so many pirates. The navy cannot protect shipping. I would have to say weapons and powder."

"Who's fighting?"

"You don't know? It's the Adchek trying to take over Buseland."

"The Adchek are probably fighting for the Church?"

"They usually are."

"Will the crew keep quiet about our destination?"

"Probably not."

"Where is there some powder and what can we trade to get it?"

"You don't need gunpowder, just the white powder. There are some islands that extract that from bird shit. They like wine and dried meat."

"Good or average wine?"

"The better it is, the more they will want it. The meat has to be good with no maggots."

"Where is a good place to get those supplies?"

"Why, here of course, but the mainland has the meat even cheaper."

"Does the mainland like good Scathan wine enough to pay well for it?"

"That is a profitable voyage but there are pirates around the islands. Most think that it is the Adchek that are behind them."

"On another topic, what can be made here that is profitable?"

"Wine."

"Something that needs a lot of people to make it?"

"Weaving uses many people and both carpet and cloth sell well."

"You are without a job and I wish to offer you one."

"My arm isn't strong."

"That's not needed. I want to set up a factory to weave carpets. When the pirates leave Buseland, juffa prices will fall. I want you to make a cape of juffa with a hood. It has to be big enough to go over a man and his weapons. I want some of them to be small enough to protect a person that is not wearing weapons."

"What is this cape for?"

"Rain doesn't go through the Juffa, but air does. A person wearing it will remain fairly dry as well as warm."

Juke thought about this then said, "You're right. I have wrapped myself in an old sail to stay warm when it was raining hard. I got wet but it was from my own sweat."

"You will run this factory for me?"

"Milord, I would love to but I don't know anything about cloth."

"You will learn. In the process, you take the women and children off the street and give them a job. We will be here a while yet and I will tell you what I want."

Juke ordered barrels of good wine for me and then we went looking for a place to set up shop. We found an old warehouse but it didn't look safe. When we looked for equipment I was depressed. I had hoped that somewhere the spinning wheel had been invented. There was only the local equivalent of a distaff. The only reason I knew about this was from what I had seen in Shreff and knew there was a better way. The internet gave me an improvement.

I had studied that particular machine and even bought an antique so it could be copied easier than the drawings I supplied. I saw that I had to start all over again. There was a large hill that had a rundown building that had been built partially of stone. Buying it was quick, easy and cheap.

Employees meant feeding them and I had to hire the people that would do the feeding as well as the equipment. A woman blacksmith had to make large iron pots that were hammered together from smaller pieces of iron. This took a day but the blacksmith dropped everything else to do what I wanted since I was paying a premium.

Juke went around to hire the cooks and gather the supplies. A few women came at first, but soon it was a sea of them. Juke did the hiring and the first to be hired was a woman that could write. The cooks had to get clean then make soup. Others went to work ripping apart the dilapidated building.

When the building had been dismantled and the parts separated, I showed Juke where I wanted the four corners to be. Engineers were mostly male here but there were also some talented tradeswomen. Juke got two dozen of those for me too.

I bought expensive paper and drew the spinning wheel. Separate sheets showed the details. I showed them the money and they worked hard to do what I wanted. Others built a house on the old foundation and still others worked on building a large warehouse.

I paid Juke his drak and more for the supplies. Eight days after buying the Scors, we were ready to go. The women had the plans for a small weaving machine as well as one that was many times bigger.

Orders were written out about paying taxes, hiring practices, rate of pay and other compensations. A nursery had to be set up and staffed which had to come out of my pocket. I wasn't worried about making money, just that I wanted the business self-sufficient. The manufacturing was no different than others except that we would take care of the employees better, similar to the way the Japanese were before they were improved by lofty western ideas.

My rules were vague but my intent was clear. Juke had to expand the business when he could and carry on the practice of helping the women and children. My copper was also to be traded for gold and this was to be stored. If necessary, this metal could be used to carry on business.

Juke had more copper than he thought ever existed to start out. It had to be hid in small cashes. He would run the business the way I wanted and store any surplus because I could sell the cloth on Earth. Our ship's ballast was altered to carry bars of gold instead of rock. In the end we had to throw out all the ballast to make the substitution.

The sailors were upbeat because I had improved their lot. They had more comfortable beds, better food, and not only life preservers but an additional boat slung from the stern to carry more men if we needed the boat in an emergency.