Read Online The Making of the Lamb by Robert Bear - Free Book Online Page A

into the wind as much as they could only slowed their approaching doom.
    Hour by hour the devilish wind continued to blow. Drenched and tired to the core, the crew fought on. Late in the afternoon, the ragged coast appeared through the crashing waves and mist—but then Nehemiah saw something that gave him hope. A rocky promontory jutted out from the shore and curved around to their right. They had just enough sea room that they might make it around the point. If they succeeded, the point of land would shelter them from the raging sea and wind, but there was no more time or distance to lose.
    “Gybe-Ho—Now!” Nehemiah shouted and grabbed the steering oar to steer the stern through the wind and put the ship on a course to take them around the point if they were lucky, or else onto the rocks even faster.
    In the raging tumult, one of the hands did not hear the captain and did not understand what was happening fast enough. The stay needed to support the mast on the new tack was not made fast. As the boat’s stern came through the wind a thundering crack rang out, followed by the crash of the sail and its spar. Now at the mercy of the wind pushing it from behind with a useless steering oar, the stricken vessel tore its way toward the threatening shore.
    All aboard—captain, crew, and passengers—stood transfixed as they helplessly awaited their doom—all aboard save one. The voice of a boy came through the storm. Jesus made no effort to shout over the roar of the wind, but his voice rang out clear as a bell. With a look of peace and confidence on his face, he was singing a psalm. In the old melody of King David, he chanted an ancient tune most on deck recognized: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. . .”
    A ray of sunshine broke through the clouds and cast its light upon the kneeling figure of Jesus. The clouds parted further, and light enveloped the vessel. Rapidly, the waters calmed.
    Cries rang out from all on board. “The Lord be praised!”
    Jesus continued to pray, this time in thanksgiving.
    Nehemiah turned to Joseph. “Your nephew will be a great prophet.”
    Daniel, standing close enough to overhear, said, “No, he is already more than any prophet.” He turned to his father. “There is a divine power and light within him. That is what I saw with my own eyes in Nazareth.”
    Joseph shuffled back a step. He looked at his son wide-eyed and guffawed. “Do not presume to compare anyone to Moses, Isaiah, and the other great prophets!” Joseph paused. Little by little, he recovered his composure. “Let us just be grateful that Jesus is a good devout boy and that God heard his prayers.”
    The crew managed to erect a piece of the mast and jury-rig a patch of sail to it. Soon they beached the vessel on a small patch of sand. Sage bushes dominated the landscape, and there was nothing suitable from which to fashion a new mast. Nehemiah knew that impressive stands of cedar grew on the eastern end of the island, but that wood was too soft. Nehemiah and Joseph located a blacksmith in a nearby village. Joseph paid him handsomely, and within two days, two iron collars bound the broken mast back into place.
    With fresh prayers of thanksgiving, the crew launched the ship back into the sea.
    The rest of the voyage passed quickly in fair winds. Within a fortnight, the vessel passed south of the boot of Italia . A few days later, they sighted the shore of trans-Alpine Gaul and then the mouth of the River Rhodanus.
Jesus
    With the sails securely stowed away, the donkeys on the towpath pulled Nehemiah’s vessel along the Fossa Mariana canal that ran several miles from the sea up to their destination in the port town of Arelate. One of the hands led the donkeys while the helmsman steered. Nehemiah sat with the boys on deck. For once, he did not seem to have anything to do.
    “This land seems so wet,” said Jesus. “I vaguely remember Egypt being like this when the Nile flooded, except it was much hotter.”
    “It