"Harry Harrison - Hammer Cross 1 - The Hammer and the Cross" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

Godwin and Wulfgar it looked this time as if something was different: stronger
wind,
heavier sea, the grip of the inshore current dragging at the bottom. The red-
bearded man
was still by the oar, still shouting orders for some other maneuver, the ship
was still racing
along, as the poets said, like a foamy-necked floater, but her prow was
turning in inch by
inch or foot by foot; the yellow line was perilously close to her bow-wave, it
was clear she
was going toтАФ
Strike. One instant the ship was running full tilt, the next her prow had
slammed into
unyielding gravel. The mast snapped off instantly and hurled itself forward,
taking half the
crew with it. The planks of the clinker-built boat sprang outward from their
settings, letting
in the onrushing sea. In a heartbeat the whole ship had opened up like a
flower. And then
vanished, leaving only cordage streaming in the wind for a moment to show
where she had
been. And, once again, bobbing fragments in the water.
Bobbing fragments, the fishermen noticed interestedly as they panted up, this
time
rather closer to shore. One of them a head. A red head.
"Is he going to make it, do you think?" asked Wulfgar. They could see the man
clearly
now, fifty yards out in the water, hanging still and making no effort to swim
farther as he
eyed the great waves pounding in to destroy themselves on the shore.
"He's going to try," replied Godwin, motioning men forward to the watermark.
"If he
does, we'll grab him."
Redbeard had made his mind up and started to swim forward, hurling the water
aside
with great strokes of his arms. He had seen the great wave coming behind him.
It lifted
him, he was swept forward, straining to keep himself on top of the wave as if
he could
propel himself up the beach and land as weightlessly as the white foam that
crawled almost
to the soles of the thanes' leather shoes. For ten strokes he was there, the
watchers turning
their heads up to look at him as he swung to the crest of the wave. Then the
wave in front,
retreating, checked his progress in a great swirl of sand and stone, the crest
broke,
dissolved. Smashed him down with a grunt and a snap. Rolled him helplessly
forward.
Dragged him back with the undertow.