### 55

Shafts of sunlight break through the slate-grey cloud, and the rain eases off and finally stops. You ride across the rolling valley floor towards the River Phoen until the track stops at a ramshackle house perched precariously on the river-bank. An old wooden jetty juts out from the side of the house, its platform almost submerged in the rain-swollen river. A noticeboard standing in front of the house reads:

FERRY HOUSE LANDING

Passenger barges to Tharro--embark from this jetty.
Barges to Phoena--embark from opposite bank.

NO CATTLE, WAGONS, CARAVANS OR HERD ANIMALS UNLESS BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

If you wish to wait here for a barge to Tharro, turn to 299.

If you wish to investigate the Ferry House, turn to 130.

Text copyright © 1987 Joe Dever.
Illustrations copyright © 1987 Gary Chalk.