River Odyssey Read Online Free

could he explain the fact that she had been woken by the ghost in the middle of the night? And besides, I had seen it for myself, and it looked like more than light to me.
    We went to sea the next day. We never had time to send for proper charts. No matter, I thought, we had detailed maps of the river, with soundings marked in fathoms. And we had sonar. We ought to be fine with those. We did have charts for the Strait of Belle Isle and the water around Anticosti Island.
    In the twilight I untied the ropes, climbed into the sub and flipped the engine switch. The engine purred softly, like a sleeping goat. Its vibration came up through the floor as the sub rocked gently from side to side. Seaweed and Hollie took their places by the observation window in the floor of the bow. We were supposed to be going to the Pacific, I knew, but that journey would have to wait.
    Sheba and Ziegfried saw us off with hugs but no tears. We’d be back soon enough. It was just a short journey to Montreal. I would find my father, say whatever needed to be said, and sail back. Yet Sheba wore a serious expression on her face. She had read my cards after supper. “Something terrible is going to happen,” she said. “But you will be all right. And you will return richer than before.”
    “A month tops, Al,” said Ziegfried, then gave me one of his crushing bear hugs.
    I stood in the portal and saluted them both as we motored out of the tiny cove. They stood and waved. They looked like giants to me.

Chapter 4

    WE SAILED NORTH out of Bonavista Bay, around the Fogo Islands and westward towards Dark Cove, my home. I had never met my grandfather on the water before but that was the most practical thing to do and he would respect that. I wanted to ask him where I might find my father. I knew he would be out in the early morning; I just hoped he would be alone in his boat.
    He was.
    I kept the hull underwater anyway as I approached, leaving only two feet of the portal showing. I didn’t want other fishermen to spot the sub. Only my grandparents and Sheba knew where it was from. The coastguard would take it from me if they ever caught me. They would want to inspect it and that would take forever and likely I would never get it back. Nor did I have any kind of captain’s or pilot’s license. I was an outlaw by the laws of the land.
    He looked lonely in the boat pulling traps by himself. If I hadn’t gone to sea as an explorer that’s exactly where I would be right now, standing beside him like his shadow, working silently all day because my grandfather never spoke on the boat when he was working.
    He seemed surprisingly happy to see me. He stood up with his hands on his hips and smiled as we approached. I didn’t think I had ever seen him smile before. It made him look younger.
    “Well, look at this!”
    “Hi, Grandpa!”
    “Aren’t
you
as quiet as a ghost on the water; I never heard you coming.”
    “I was careful of the lines.”
    He nodded. He was still smiling.
    “Heading to Australia, are you?”
    “Not yet. I’m sailing to Montreal first.”
    “Montreal?
Are you going to go in that thing?”
    “Yup.”
    “Well… I suppose you could. But why on earth do you want to go to Montreal?”
    “Uhhhh … I figured I might have a look around for my father.”
    The smile washed off my grandfather’s face. “Oh, well, now there’s a waste of a trip. Nothing good’s going to come of that.”
    I felt the same way. I just didn’t want to tell him that.
    “Sheba says it’s unfinished business.”
    “Unfinished business? Yes, well, I suppose it is that, isn’t it?”
    “Do you think I’d find him on the dockyards probably?”
    “More than likely. He wasn’t one to move around much once he settled. Wasn’t like you. Unfinished business is it? Seems to me you’re going to open a can of worms there, Alfred. He’s not like you, you know. Better be straight about that before you start.”
    I didn’t really want to ask the next