destroy other shipping. She is not a rowboat but a racing shell; she is not a club, but a rapier.
I, swaying in the basket at the masthead, with the glass of the builders, smiled.
Penned in among the twenty-three round ships was a long galley, a purple ship, flying the purple flag of Cos. It was a beautiful ship. And the flag she flew was bordered with gold, the admiral's flag, marking that vessel as the flagship of the treasure fleet.
I snapped shut the glass of the builders and, by means of a slender rope ladder fastened at the masthead and anchored to a cleat near the mast well below, took my way down to the deck.
'Thurnock,' I said, 'let the flags of division and acquistion be raised.' 'Yes, Captain,' said he.
There was a cheer from the men on the deck of the Dorna.
I anticipated, and received, little resistance from the round ships. There were various reasons for this. They had been herded together and could not maneuver. They were slower than the ram-ships and, under any conditions, little match for them. And their rowing slaves, by this time, were fully aware that the fleet encircling them was that of Bosk, from the marshes.
Vessel by vessel my men boarded the round ships, commonly meeting no resistance. The free crews of these ships, of course, were hopelessly outnumbered by my men. The round ship, although she often carries over one hundred, and sometimes over two hundred, chained slaves in her rowing hold, seldom, unless she intends to enter battled, carries a free crew of more than twenty to twenty-five men. Moreover, these twenty to twenty-five are often largely simply sailors and their officers, and not fighting men. The Dorna, by contrast, carried a free crew of two hundred and fifteen men, most of whom were well trained with weapons. In an Ahn I stepped across the plank thrown from the rail of the Dorna to that of the flagship of the treasure fleet. The ship itself, by my men, had already been subdued.
I was met by a tall bearded figure in a purple cloak. 'I am Rencius Ho-Bar,' said he, 'of Telnus, Admiral of the Treasure Fleet of Cos and Tyros.' 'Put him in chains,' I told my men.
He looked at me in fury.
I turned to Clitus, who had been on the ship before me. 'Do you have the master cargo list?' I asked.
He presented a folio-sized book, bound with golden cord and sealed with wax, bearing the impress of the Ubar of Tyros, Chenbar.
The admiral, to one side, was being fitted with wrist and ankle irons, joined by a length of chain.
I broke the golden cord and the seal and opened the master cargo lists. They were most excellent.
From time to time, I scanned the lists, there was a cheer from one round ship or another as her slaves were freed. The free crewmen, of course, were places in chains, men and officers alike. The distincition of man and officer does not exist on the benches of a galley.
'Admiral!' said the admiral of the treasure fleet to me.
I glanced to the gold-bordered, purple flag, the admiral's flag, flying from the halyard strung between the forward starboard mooring cleat and the height of the stem castle. 'Strike that flag,' I said, 'and put there the flag of Bosk, from the marshes.'
'Yes, Captain,' said Thurnock.
'Admiral!' protested the admiral of the treasure fleet to me.
'Take him away,' I told my men.
He was dragged from my presence.
I snapped shut the book. 'If these figured are correct,' I said to Clitus, 'as doubtless they are, we and the Captains of Port Kar are today the master of much treasure.'
He laughed. 'Surely enough,' said he, 'to make us all among the richest of men!' 'More wisely spent,' said I, 'these goods would go to increase the arsenal fleet of Port Kar.'
'But surely,' said he, 'the arsenal does not require so much?'
I laughed. 'The arsenal share,' said I, 'is eighteen shares of thirty.' Eighteen of the ships in my fleet had been arsenal vessels.
I had, by agreement with the council, reserved to myself twelve shares of thirty divisions, as well as all slaves taken.
'Captain,' said a voice.
'Yes,' I said.
A seaman had approached me.
'The Lady Vivina,' said he, 'asks to be presented to you.'
'Very well,' said I. 'Tell her that her request to present herself to me has been granted.'
'Yes, Captain,' said he.
I reopened the book of cargo lists.
When I lifted my head again I discovered that the Lady Vivina was, and had been, standing before me.
Seeing me, she started.
I smiled.
Her hand was before her veil. Her eyes were wide. She wore swirling, dazzling robes of concealment, of purple and gold cloths, brocades and silks. The veil itself was purple, and trimmed with gold.
Then she caught herself and presented herself before me, as a high-born lady. 'I am Vivina,' said she, 'of the city of Kasra of Tyros.'
I nodded my head. 'Call me Bosk,' I said. 'I am a captain of Port Kar.' Behind the girl, in robes almost as rich as hers, were two other high-born maidens.
'I gather,' she said, 'I am your prisoner.'
I said nothing.
'You will, of course,' said she, 'be severely punished for what you have done.' I smiled.
'As you know,' she said, 'I am pledged to be the Free Companion of Lurius, Ubar of Cos. Accordingly, my ransom will be high.'
I indicated the two girls behind Vivina. 'How many of these are there?' I asked Clitus.
'Forty,' he said.
'They did not appear,' I said to him, 'on the master cargo lists.'
Clitus ginned.
The girls looked at one another uneasily.
'My maidens,' said Vivina, 'will also be ransomed, though their ransoms will be less than mine.'
I regarded her.
'What makes you so certain,' I asked, 'that you will be held for ransom?' She looked at me, stunned.
'Remove you veil,' I told her.
'Never!' she cried. 'Never!'
'Very well,' said I. I returned my attention to the master cargo lists. 'What is to be done with us?' she asked.
I turned to Clitus. 'The Lady Vivina,' I said to him, 'will of course grace the prow of this ship, the flagship of the treasure fleet.'
'No!' she screamed.
'Yes, Captain,' said Clitus.
Already two men held her arms.
'Take then those that were with her,' I said, 'and distribute them to the extent of their number among our other ships, the twent most beautiful to our twenty tarn ships now with the fleet, and the most beautiful of the twenty to the prow of the Dorna, and the other twenty set at the prows of twenty of our prizes. 'Yes, Captain,' said Clitus.
Men laid hands on the two girls behind the Lady Vivina, and they cried out with fear.
I again turned my attention to the master cargo lists.
'Captain!' said the Lady Vivina.
'Yes,' I said, lifting my head and looking at her.
'I–I,' she said, 'will remove my veil.'
'That will not be necessary,' I said.
I handed Clitus the book of cargo lists and strode to the girl, jerking out the pins that held her veil, face stripping her.
'Beast!' she cried.
I gestured that the seamen should remove the veils from the two girls who stood behind her.
They wept.
They were beauties, all.
I looked down into the face of the Lady Vivina, who was beautiful.
'Put her at the prow,' I said to Clitus.
I turned away, taking the book of master cargo lists from Clitus, and again giving them my attention. The other two girls were taken from my presence. The Lady Vivina, to one side, was readied for the prow.
Within the Ahn we were ready to sail for Port Kar. I had the admiral of the treasure fleet, Rencius Ho-Bah of Telnus, in his chains, brought before me. 'I am returning one round ship to Cos,' I said. 'You withe certain of the seamen captured, will sit chained at her benches. Beyond this, I will give you, from among our prisoners, ten free men, six seamen, two helmsmen, an oar-master and a keleustes. The treasure from the ship, of course, will be placed aboard other ships, taken to Port Kar as prizes. On the other had, your ship will be adquately provisioned and I do not doubt you will make port in Telnus within five days'
'You are generous,' said the Admiral, dismally.
'I expect,' I said, 'when you return to Telnus, should you decide to do so, that you will make a reasonably full and accurate accound of what had occured here recently.'
'Doubtless,' smiled the Admiral, 'I shall receive requests to that effect.' 'In order that your information my be as accurate as possible, at least to this point, I inform you that seven of your treasure ships have, at least until now, eluded me. I expect to pick up some of them, however. And, of tarn ships, I have one captured, your
