Chapter 14We sighted land on the 21st of Hoderstide, approximately one month after our encounter with the Maere. In all respects, they were a thoroughly grim few weeks, in which the only thing more unpalatable than the increasingly green and slimy water, the leathery meat, and the biscuits that could have crawled out of the barrels by themselves, was the icy company that we received from our shipmates. After a week or so of enduring the crew’s venomous looks and incomprehensible insults, I gave up venturing further forward than the poop deck, and spent most my time below, poring over Dr. Alcott’s maps, and playing King’s Table with Johan. We marked the board on an old piece of timber, and at first settled for using coins as playing pieces, though eventually we understood one another well e
