176 The Mystery of Angel Island (2/2)

That plant was flax. Flax fibers made yarn that could be used to weave fabric; flax seeds were a valuable food. When pressed, the seeds produced what was known as linseed oil, and the crushed mush could be boiled into a nourishing porridge. Best of all, flax grew and matured quickly. It was possible to get three harvests in a single year.

Each flax plant could produce hundreds of seeds. Flax could be planted very densely, and after the first two harvests the Morales colony had enough flax to begin producing linen in quantity. In the meantime, Mr Morales identified another area of importance.

It was clear that in the New World, transportation would be a problem. There were no roads, at least not yet, and there were precious few animals that could be used to transport people and goods. Water transport ruled! A small handful of men and a boat could carry more than a full-sized caravan, and carry it more quickly too, without nightly stops and that whole business of taking care of the pack animals.

King Morales - his people had begun calling him El Rey all by themselves, he was a modest man and would have never thought to bestow a royal title on himself - king Morales was quick to begin the construction of two large pirogues, made from the hollowed-out trunks of gigantic trees. They were almost as big as Viking longboats of a bygone age. Adding big sails made of linen turned them into swift and highly maneuverable craft, easily capable of carrying a couple of dozen people or a sizeable cargo.

As a rule, successful exploitation of an opportunity breeds more opportunities. Arturo Morales was very aware of that fact. He quickly sketched out a plan that saw him expand his colony along the shores of the series of bays stretching all the way to the ocean. When he read about the new Pacific archipelagos in the documentation scroll, he was instantly convinced of their great importance. Why else would the creators of the New World create them, otherwise? He was determined to find out, one day.

King Morales was quick to secure four colonizer licenses the day they became available. He also bought an extra thirty-two colonist licenses. It cost him a couple of the small, 50-gram gold ingots stored at the recycling plant near Vallejos. A third ingot found its way into the pocket of the Vallejos district governor. It convinced him that by a stroke of luck, Arturo Morales' three cousins were present at the plant when the disaster struck, and that all three would make model colonizers.

Once everything was nice and legal, King Morales launched a series of expeditions to secure an unfettered access to the ocean. Unfortunately, his scouts brought back discouraging news.

There were colonies sprouting all over the place. Angel Island, which figured largely in his strategic plan, was already home to three small colonies. That was the confirmed number; there could be more. Angel Island was a hell of a lot bigger in the New World.

Early the previous day, Morales had boarded La Flecha - the slightly bigger of the two pirogues - in the company of a dozen carefully selected men. He had plenty to choose from: the current population of the Morales colony was nearing two hundred. All of the men were good sailors, and half were also very good fighters. They were armed with bows and throwing spears and bronze cutlasses.

One of the reasons Morales was so eager to colonize Angel Island was the fact it probably had deposits of iron ore. He could remember visiting it back in the old times as a tourist: he had seen rocks with iron ore content on the island's mountain. There would be ten times more ore on the Angel Island in the New World.

The second reason for colonizing Angel Island was the reason that applied to almost any piece of real estate: location. Anyone with a strong presence there could control both the San Francisco and San Pablo Bay, and thus - the Golden Gate strait leading to the Pacific.

La Flecha had showed excellent sailing qualities, and the expedition made landfall on the eastern shore of Angel Island on the evening of the previous day. One of the newly established colonies was nearby. Its nine dirty, hungry, half-naked inhabitants came to the camp begging for food. Morales ordered his men to unload a sack of corn and a roast goat leg, and graciously gave both to the desperate colonists. They were ready to kiss his feet! He would have no trouble persuading them to join his colony when the time came.

In the morning, he had the idea it might be smart to look for a similar collection of colonists on the shores of the Golden Gate. The pirogue sailed around the southern end of Angel Island, and approached Alcatraz sufficiently close to determine it was still a hell of a place to live, even in the New World. They had to tack back and forth to keep sailing west because of the westerly wind. Their zigzagging course had brought them to within a mile or so of Point Cavallo, a sharp tip on the peninsula cutting into the bay from the north.

And then, just as they were about to tack southwest, the big ship came sailing out past Point Cavallo. A government ship! How was that possible? The colonial government's capital had to be somewhere on the southern peninsula. That was where the city of San Francisco was located, back in the Old World!

And he'd been repeatedly assured there wasn't a single vessel operational in the bay! The starving colonists encountered on Angel Island had confirmed that only the previous day. Maybe the location of their colony, on the island's eastern shore, could have prevented them from observing what was going on in the west.

Halfway down his journey to the rear of the boat, Morales nearly fell over and into the water - the boat began turning very sharply. The gunwale dipped so deeply he got his hands wet. Resisting an impulse to crawl, he edged towards the stern, keeping both hands on the gunwale.

By the time he got there, the pirogue had completed its turn. The wind in its back made it shoot forward, fully living up to its name. Morales looked astern and saw the big ship was turning too, turning in their direction!

He waited until the captain stopped shouting at the crewmen handling the sail, and said:

”I want you to take another look at that ship. Is it chasing us?”

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