“It is my impression, my young friend, that we are experiencing a classic example of a neap tide, which reaches significant proportions in this part of the world. It is surprising, however, that our highly experienced captain failed to take that factor into account⁷⁸.”

“What kind of tide?” Mike asked. “A leap tide?”

“Neap tide, my young friend,” Dreamer replied. “You are of course familiar with the fact that high and low tides are related to the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. When their effects are combined, unusually strong high and low tides occur, which are called spring and neap tides.”

“I understand,” Mike said, but how will we get out of here now?”

“Seeing as high tide occurred last evening, the water should regain its previous level by evening today. The most important thing is that our ship’s hull should not sustain any puncture by sharp rocks, or else there is a chance that it will remain on the bottom when the tide comes in, just as it did when the tide went out.”

“So we’ll have no tide until this evening?” Mike clarified.

“Quite likely,” Camel responded, “but then, now you can walk out to the ship.”

Mike had no desire whatsoever to walk out over the soggy bottom. He remembered that his daddy told him that in any dilemma there are at least two solutions. And one of them immediately came to his mind.

“Dreamer,” Mike said carefully, “Could you help me?”

Camel raised his left eyebrow and studied Mike.

“How can I help you, my young friend?” Camel asked.

“Are you the ship of the desert?” Mike obliquely suggested.

“That is how our proud tribe is sometimes described!” Camel agreed.

“And the bottom here looks like the desert, doesn’t it?” Mike said.

Camel laid back his ears, chewed his lip and wiggled his brows, grumbling:

“I have laid aside the labours of a beast of burden⁷⁹ in order to devote my life to intellectual pursuits for some time now.”

“Please carry me to the ship and back, please!” Mike asked.

Camel sighed deeply and dropped to his knees.

“All right, climb on!” he said. “But remember, my young friend, that I am a dromedary, not a Bactrian camel⁸⁰, so try not to slide down on my head!”

Camel worked his way across the ocean bottom toward the ship. Mike had never ridden on the back of a camel, and it wasn’t comfortable. He laid his stomach on the hump so as not to slide down on Camel’s neck, and he started looking down. The exposed ocean floor was teeming with life. Bug-eyed little crabs swarmed around in the mud and fish swam in the puddles, and on the rocks seagulls were perched, springing up right under Camel’s hooves.

Camel plodded on silently, only grunting when Mike fidgeted on his back.

After five minutes they made it to the ship.

“Let’s check to see if there are any holes in the hull,” Mike suggested.

They walked around the ship. Fortunately, the sea bottom at that spot was fairly even, without any stones. The starboard side was fully visible, but the port side was sunk in sea mud.

“The likelihood of penetration appears to me to be minimal!⁸¹” Camel said. “However, my young friend, enough riding on my hump. Climb aboard the ship!”

Mike looked around and noticed that the rope ladder had disappeared. Apparently Moosie had pulled it up.

“Moosie!” Mike called, “let down the ladder for me!”

He waited a bit, but Moosie didn’t appear on deck.

“He’s probably asleep,” Mike thought, pulling a pistol from his pocket and tapping on the hull with the handle.

The sound echoed around the gulf. And then there was silence. Not a rustle or a murmur was heard on the Ark.

“It would appear that our antlered friend has hoofed it!” Camel said.

Mike cried as loud as he could:

“Moose, I know you’re in there! Drop the ladder or else we’re sailing away!”

The clopping of hooves was heard from the depths of the ship. Slipping along the listing deck, Moosie managed with great difficulty to reach the edge and hold on to the railing with his nose. He was terrified. His horns and ears hung at different angles, while the crest on his head was all knotted and twisted. “H-how can you sail away?” Moosie stammered. We can’t sail anywhere! The sea is all dried up, and the boat is gone all sideways.”

“Gone all sideways…” Mike taunted. “Throw down the ladder!”

Moosie looked around, but didn’t go for the ladder.

“Where’s Wolf?” Moosie asked, hiding behind the railing. “Was he the one howling all night on the shore?”

“My antlered friend”, Camel said to Moosie, “May we please postpone this narrative for a more opportune time?⁸² If you please, help my young friend climb aboard!”

Moosie took the end of the rope ladder in his teeth and threw it over the side. The ladder fell on Mike’s head and painfully whipped his face.

“Moosie! Can’t you watch what you’re doing?” Mike cried.

There was no response, and Mike climbed up.

When he finally was on deck, he saw that Moosie had disappeared again.

“I hurt his feelings!” Mike thought, immediately regretting that he had yelled at his friend.

However, there was no time for apologies. Walking along the listing deck turned out to be very difficult; you could fall down and go over the side at any time. Grabbing on to the railing, Mike got hold of a mooring line, worked it into a circle and hung it around his neck. Going back with the line looped around his neck was even harder. Fortunately, Camel was standing under the rope ladder, just as before.

“Well, Dreamer, shall we go back? You’re not too tired?” Mike tried to cheer up his means of transportation.

“That is of no significance!” Camel dignifiedly observed. “As the great commanders would say, ‘Gaudet patientia duris!’ which in the Latin means ‘Patience rejoices in adversity!’ Let’s be off!”

They were back on the shore next to Wolf’s hole in twenty minutes.

Wolf had recovered somewhat; he didn’t howl any more, he just cursed.

“We’ll get you out now, Wolfie!” Mike cried happily. “We brought a rope.”

“It’s not a rope, it’s a line!⁸³” Wolf growled.

It was time to start the rescue operation. Mike tied one end of the line to Camel, and dropped the other carefully into the crevice.

“Okay, Wolf, wrap the line around you!” Mike cried. “We’ll pull you out now.”

Wolf tied the line around his waist, and then took it in his teeth.

“Okay!” Mike called to Camel. “Pull!”

Camel walked along the shore, moving away from the hole. The line took a strain, but immediately hung up by a rock on the edge of the hole and got stuck. Mike tried to work it loose, but he wasn’t strong enough.

“Halt!” Mike cried. “This won’t work.”

Camel took a step back, and Wolf plopped down on the bottom of the hole.

The friction is preventing any movement,” Camel observed. “We need to somehow enhance the lubricity of the line.”

“What?” Mike asked. “Just tell me simply, what do we have to do?”

“We need to place something slippery, right here,” Camel explained, pointing with his hoof at the edge of the hole, as for example a piece of wood soaked in water.”

“We need to find one.” Mike said.

“That is a reasonable conclusion, my young friend,” said Camel, “but I advise you to be careful. If you should fall into a hole as well, it would be necessary to extract you both, which would significantly complicate the task.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t fall in!” Mike said and went off to search along the shore.

Chapter 10. Buffalo

Mike walked rather far, but he couldn’t find a suitable piece of wood. He had already decided to turn back, when all at once he saw something like a copse⁸⁴ in the distance, stretching from far away inland to the shoreline. Mike picked up his pace.

It took Mike about ten minutes to reach the copse. He heard water flowing behind the trees. Pushing aside the branches, he saw a stream trickling along the stones and flowing into the sea.

“Fresh water!” Mike thought.

He worked his way through the bushes, jumped across the stones among the sedge⁸⁵ and got to the edge of the stream. Mike crouched down and scooped up some water in his hands. The water was very tasty and smelled of fresh grass.

Mike turned back to find some piece of wood, made a step and…froze in his tracks.

Some unknown animal with sharp, curved horns stood where Mike was standing a minute before, staring at him with a steady gaze. From a distance, the animal looked like a bull, but his foreparts were covered with thick curly wool, while his hind parts were normal, like a cow.

“Hello,” Mike said cautiously, not expecting anything good to result from the meeting.

The animal said nothing, just flicking its tail.

Mike thought it would be best to run from the beast, but the stream was behind him, and his path to Wolf and Camel was cut off. He had to resort to discussion.

“I’m Mike,” Mike said, loudly and clearly pronouncing each word, “I’m travelling through here. My friend got in trouble, and I’m trying to help him.”

It was hard to know whether the animal understood Mike. He stood silently, just flicking his tufted tail.

Mike carefully moved toward the beast, but the animal dipped his head, pointing his sharp curved horns forward.

“I…” Mike began, but he didn’t manage to finish.

“Do you butt heads?” the animal asked unexpectedly.

“Butt heads?” Mike said, dumbfounded. “I can’t butt heads, I’m not a bull, I’m a boy. My name is Mike.”

“And I’m a buffalo – a bison,” the animal said, “my name is Bruiser.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mike replied, although so far it hadn’t been much of a pleasure.

“Butting is a pleasure,” said the buffalo Bruiser, “nothing else matters! I’m looking for somebody that I can butt with. Have you met anybody I can butt with?”