Lucy and Eden launched the boat by turning her over and sliding her over the sandy foreshore into the shallows of the lake.

"All aboard, crew!" shouted Eden, once Boudicca was afloat.

"Aye aye, captain," said Lucy, slightly flustered, but it was easier to scramble over the side and into the bow wearing breeches, rather than a long dress.

A moment later Eden had taken her position in the stern and had her hand on the tiller, although as she said, it would be barely needed. They were only going to be in shallow water , and the lake was as flat as a mill pond.

"And what if I tip the boat over and fall out?" Lucy asked, with a touch of anxiety in her voice.

"We'll get our knees wet," said Eden sardonically. "Take up oars, crew."

Eden had put the oars in the rowlocks ready, and Lucy took them up, slightly awkwardly. They were heavier than she'd been expecting.

"Give way, crew," said Eden, before adding, "That means, start rowing."

"I thought it did," Lucy said, dipping the oars into the water and pulling them in what she hoped was a good imitation of Eden. Then she remembered, and corrected herself, "I mean, aye aye, captain."

"Don't put the oars in so deep ... yes, that's better now," Eden told her. "Don't lift the oars that high, keep them straight. Don't pull with your arms, use your back and legs."

Lucy listened carefully and tried her hardest to follow all these instructions, keeping time by counting, "One ... two" under her breath, with each stroke and lift.

"That's not half bad for a beginner," Eden said, after a few steady strokes.

Lucy gave a slightly flushed smile, then suddenly there was a bump, and her legs were in the air. She had slid off her seat, and was looking up at the blue sky above.

"What happened?" a dazed Lucy asked.

"You caught a crab," Eden said with a grin.

"Did I? Where is it?" Lucy asked, as she got back on her seat and recaptured her errant oars.

There was a hastily suppressed splutter of laughter, and then Eden explained, "It means your oar missed the water. It happens to everyone when they're learning. Try again. Give way, crew."

"Rowing is very hard work," Lucy said, after a few slower and more careful strokes. "I feel like a galley slave."

"I'll have no slaves on my ship, that's an evil trade," Eden said at once. "Only freeborn men ... er, and girls."

"Well, it's just as hard work, even if I'm not a slave," complained Lucy.

"When there's no wind for the sails, there's nothing for it but to take to the oars," Eden said. "The good ship Boudicca is becalmed in the doldrums, and only the crew can keep her going, so it's row, row, row, my hearty."

"You're enjoying this," Lucy said with a pout.

"I am, really," Eden admitted. "I'm enjoying having someone else to play games with, it can get lonely when you're always by yourself."

"I'm dreadfully hot," Lucy said, and indeed, she was red faced from rowing.

"You're surrounded by a lake," Eden said. "In a galley, the rowers are kept cool with buckets of water."

Eden took the scoop which was used to bale water out of the boat, dipped it into the lake, and threw the contents at Lucy's face, perhaps harder than she meant.

Lucy gave a shocked gasp at the water hitting her, and almost instinctively she used an oar to furiously splash water at Eden. Eden shrieked, and threw more water at Lucy, exactly as hard as she meant, until both girls were giggling and screeching, in the middle of a water fight.

The boat rocked from side to side as they lunged at each other, and they only stopped when Lucy slipped and fell off her seat, almost hitting Eden with the oar. They were both laughing in a wheezy sort of way, and were quite a bit wet.

"You must feel cooler by now," Eden said, as she began baling out the inch or so of water they had got into the boat somehow.

"I do, and besides, there's a lovely breeze over the lake," Lucy said, raising her face to feel it.

"There's a wind coming up," Eden said in delight. "Come on, ship your oars and help me raise the mast and hoist the sail, Lucy. All hands on deck!"

After a flurry of rope and canvas, and nearly getting smacked in the face by the boom, Lucy was sitting in the bow of the boat like a figurehead, looking eagerly out over the lake. The breeze picked up, and swelled the sails, driving them forward.

"We're setting sail," Eden said exultantly. "We'll go around the Horn, and steer a course for the Castilian Main and the Seven Seas. We have fair winds at our heels, and the finest crew there is."

"And the greatest captain," cried Lucy loyally.

The wind tore Lucy's hair from its imprisonment, the leather thong dropping into the lake, unheeded. Her curls blew wildly, and whipped around her face. The boat was fairly flying, skimming across the lake like a bird, taking them to adventure, and parts unknown.