- Across the West Harbor
- Four Oars and a Drum
- Twenty Bits a Head
Westquay Ferry
The road from Stonebridge Village crosses the farmland of the western shore and stops at a shingle landing, a tarred post with a drum hung on it, and a wide estuary full of light. Across the water the west harbor of Three Rivers rises in quays, warehouses and round-towered walls. Beat the drum and the Westquay Ferry comes: a broad, flat-bottomed harbor barge pulled by four oars, with room for a cart, a pair of oxen and whoever is willing to stand close to them.
The ferryman calls the stroke and keeps the tally on a notched stick, and the rowers sing when the tide is against them. The crossing takes about as long as a short meal. On the city side the barge ties up at the Westquay steps, where porters wait to carry bundles up into the harbor streets for a few bits more. Travellers who want to reach Three Rivers from the west, and do not want to walk the long way round by the river roads, all come this way sooner or later.
The ferryman calls the stroke and keeps the tally on a notched stick, and the rowers sing when the tide is against them. The crossing takes about as long as a short meal. On the city side the barge ties up at the Westquay steps, where porters wait to carry bundles up into the harbor streets for a few bits more. Travellers who want to reach Three Rivers from the west, and do not want to walk the long way round by the river roads, all come this way sooner or later.