Chapter 3 - The Land Across The Sea
 
Christofert, along with many of the men was anxious to see land again.
He was now walking around on deck fine, but still suffered from
seasickness occasionally.  Christofert managed to smuggle himself aboard
the first longboat from the ship to land.
 
As soon as the coast was clear, he made a ferretline track for the cover
of the trees.  To his dismay though he found he couldn't run a straight
line.  He knew the land was not moving, but it sure felt that way.  It
took him quite a while to get accustomed to walking on dry land without
swaying.  If any ferrets had been there to watch, they would have
assumed that he had gotten drunk by eating too many fermented raisins.
 
Once he got to the trees, he immediately went to full alert with his
tail as bushy as he could make it.  Christofert knew that there were
many dangers in any forest, but even more so in a strange new jungle
like this one.  Within a matter of moments, he had his first encounter.
It was a very large yellow snake.  The snake saw him too.  It turned
it's head and lunged for Christofert.  Christofert jumped, but not quite
fast enough and the snake bit down on his tail.  Fortunately the snake
misjudged the size Christofert's tail, since it was fluffed out, and
lost its grip.  Christofert twisted his body into a circle lightning
fast and bit the snake behind its head.  He shook his head as hard as he
could, but the snake was really too big for him to kill.  Both
Christofert and the snake withdrew and faced each other.  The snake
hissed a bit, and Christofert hissed right back.  After a few moments,
the snake decided that this rat (meaning Christofert) was too dangerous,
and slithered back into the undergrowth.
 
Christofert continued to look around for awhile, but didn't find any of
the wonders that he heard existed in China and India.  Shortly he
returned to the ship.
 
For several days the ship sailed awhile, then members of the crew would
disembark to look around.  Quickly they realized that they had actually
found some islands, not the mainland.  The ship, crew and Christofert
continued to search for the mysterious lands of China and India.
 
(to be continued)
 
            Bryan P. Coffey - Boston, MA
      Weasel Warriors - Albi, Esef, Merri, and Mint
        http://www.gis.net/~bpcoffey/furball.html
[Posted in FML issue 2819]