Now, when we came up with the of Atlantis, though Tob, with the of his modern instruments, had his with most skill and nearness, there still some ten days’ more in which we had to our course, till we came to that arm of the sea up which the great city of Atlantis, the capital.
The of the land, and the of earth and which came off from it with the breezes, were, I believe, under the Gods, the means of saving the of all of us. For, as is necessary with long cross-ocean voyages, many of our ships’ had died, and still more were with through the tossing, or (as some have it) through the salt, food from shipboard. But these last, the and the of land up in fashion, and from being logs, unable to move under of the scourge, they active again, able to help in the shipwork, and (when the time came) to for their and their vessels.
From the moment that I was in Yucatan, despite Tatho’s assurances, there had been in my mind as to what nature would be my in Atlantis. But I had this event of the without concern: it was in the hands of the Gods. The Empress Phorenice might be on earth; she might my to be from its proper the moment I set ashore; but my Lord the Sun was above Phorenice, and if my fell, it would be He saw best that it should be so. On which account, therefore, I had not myself about the the voyage, but had out my study of the higher with an mind.
But when our had the that had been overrun, and came up with the two which marked the entrance to the waters, there, a two days from the Atlantis capital, we met with another which was, doubt, waiting to give us a reception. The ships were at in a which them shelter, but they had on the high land above, who the of our approach, and when we the headland, they were out to our passage.
Of us there were now but five ships, the having been in storms, or all their were from the scurvy; and of the there were three ships, and three of many apiece. They were clean and and black; our ships were storm-ragged and weather-worn, and had that were with weed. Our ships out the and of Tatho and Deucalion openly and without shame, so that all who looked might know their and errand; but the other came on without banner or antient, as though they were some low for their birth.
Clear it also that they would not let us pass without a fight, and in this there was nothing uncommon; for no law out over the seas, and a in one ship free to his in another if he meets him out of of the beach—more if that other be home from or tour. So Tob, with and method, got our into trim, and the other four captains did the like with theirs, and close in to us to a squadron. They had no wish to slavery, now that the had come so near to its end.
Our Lord the Sun brilliantly, full speed to the machines, as though He was for the to proceed, and the two approached one another with quickness, the three to in line with their consorts. But when some hundred ship-lengths us, the other halted, and one of the galleys, ahead, green from her masts, for a parley.
The was unusual, but we, in our sea-battered state, were no to a unnecessarily. So in sea-bawls word was passed, and we too halted, and Tob a (which had to do for greenery), to that we were for talk, and would respect the person of an ambassador.
The on, round, and till its on our rail, and one of her people up and jumped upon our decks. He was a rigged-out fellow, and lusty, and all healthy from the land and land victual, and he looked him with a at our sea-tatteredness, and with a self-confidence. Then, Tob, he as one meets an acquaintance. “Old pot-mate,” he said, “your woman for you up by the quay-side in Atlantis yonder, with four at her heels. I saw her not a month ago.”
“You didn’t come out here to tell me home news,” said Tob; “that I’ll be sworn. I’ve with you, Dason, to know your thoroughly.”
“I wanted to point out to you that your home is still there, with your wife and children to welcome you.”
“I am not a man that it,” said Tob grimly; “and I’ve got them always at the of my mind, I’ve this ship over the top of more than one pirate, when, if I’d been a single man, I might have been e’en to take the of slavery.”
“Oh, I know you’re a fellow,” said Dason, “and I’m free to that if it come to we are like to a men we you and your here, and your ships sunk. Our has its orders to out, and the of my is this: we wish to see if you will act the part and give us what we want, and so be permitted to go on your way home, with a skin that is and dry?”
“You have come to the bird here for a plucking,” said Tob with a laugh. “We took no or on in Yucatan. We in long to our sea and with food and water, and no longer. We sail as we out, ships. You will not me, of course; I would not have you had our places been changed; but you may go into the and search if you choose. You will there nothing but a in pieces with the scurvy. No, you can nothing here but blows, Dason, and we will give you those with but little asking.”
“I am to see that you your at such value,” said the envoy, “for it is the I must take with me on the galley, if you are to earn your safe to home.”
Tob his brows. “You had speak more plain,” he said. “I am a common sailor, and do not talk.”
“It is clear to see,” said Dason, “that you have been set to Deucalion to Atlantis as a for Phorenice. Well, we others Phorenice hard to against without reinforcements, and so we want Deucalion in our own to with after our own fashion.”
“And if I do the miser, and you this piece of my freight?”
The looked at the ship, and the her. “Why, then, Tob, we shall send you all to the in very time, and of Deucalion the Gods alone, he will go with a company at his heels.”
“I it,” said Tob, “but we shall see. As for you have my Lord Deucalion, that is out of the question. For see here, pot-mate Dason; in the place, if I to Atlantis without Deucalion, my other lord, Tatho, would come one of these days, and in his hands I should die by the of slow inches; in the second, I have my Lord Deucalion kill a great sea lizard, and he himself such a proper man that day that I would not give him up against his will, to Tatho himself; and in the third place, you me for your in our last wine-bout ashore, and I’ll see you with the Gods I give you till you’ve settled that score.”
“Well, Tob, I you’ll easy. As for that wife of yours, I’ve always had a for her myself, and I shall know how to a use for the woman.”
“I’ll your for that, you son of a European,” said Tob; “and if you do not clear off this I’ll it here. Go,” he cried, “you father of monkey children! Get away, and let me you fairly, or by my I’ll the out of you, and make your wear them as necklaces.”
Upon which Dason to his galley.
Promptly Tob set going the machine on our own “Bear,” and his orders right and left to the other ships. The might be weak with scurvy, but they were quick to obey. Instantly the five were all started, and our Lord the Sun was brightly, got soon to the full of their pace. The whole of our small converged, out one ship of their opponents, and she, not being for so an attack, got flurried, and to turn and for room, of trying to meet us on. As a consequence, the whole of our five ships her together on the broadside, her with their beaks, and her we had clear from the engage.
But if we thus the enemy’s number to five, and so equal to our own, the did not with us for long. The three into line: their boatswains’ as the to their oars, and presently one of our own ships was and sunk, the men on her being killed in the water without of rescue.
And then a tight-locked that would have the of the alive. The ships and the were together and one another upon the swells, as though they had been animals. The men on them their arrows, with axes, and with swords, and the fire. But in every way the upon the “Bear.” It was on her that the enemy the of their spite; it was to the “Bear,” that the other of Tatho’s as their own fire, or were or taken.
Battle is an old with us of the Priestly Clan, and for those of us who have had to out for the new colonies, it comes with to the most appetite. So I can speak here as a man of experience. Up till that time, for a life-span, I had men “Deucalion” as a battlecry, and in my day had some encounters. But this sea-fight me in its fierceness. The bleak, which us; the on which we fought; the fire, which and with its flame; the great man-eating that in the sky overhead; the man-eating fish that up from the around, and over those that into the waters, all to make up a fit to the men-at-arms for an army.
But these it all with an courage, and a of quailing. Life on the is so hard, and (from the that the great waters) so full of dangers, that Death has his terrors to them through familiarity. They were who from pure for a would to a themselves in the ashore; and so here, in this sea-battle, the for killing in them, as a fire from Heaven in a forest; and they took their death-wounds laughing.
On our the battle-cry was “Tob!” and the name of this ship-captain to a with it for our own that many a well-known might have envied. The enemy had a dozen cries, and these them. But as their other ship-commanders one by one were killed, and Dason remained, active with mischief, “Dason!” the which was at us in response to our “Tob!”
However, I will not my page with long account of this sea-fight, only was its ferocity. One by one all the ships of either were or with all their people killed, till only Dason’s and our own “Bear” were left. For the moment we were being mastered. We had a score of men out of all those that the when it from Yucatan, and the enemy had us and the of the “Bear” the of battle. But they had been over with the fire, and presently, as we at one another, the and the from the herself let us very know that she was past salvation.
But Tob was nothing daunted. “They may here and if they choose,” he with his great laugh, “but for ourselves the is good now. Keep a on Deucalion, and come with me, shipmates!”
“Tob!” our in their of madness, and I too not sending out a “Tob!” for my battle-cry. It was a for me not to be leader, but it was a luxury for once to in the wake of this Tob, despite his of and plan. There was no stopping this new rush, though progress still was slow. Tob with his cut the road in front, and we others, with the of us to the chin, like in his wake. Gods! but it was a fight.
Ten of us to the galley, with the and the from the “Bear” at our heels. We and at all who to follow, and through the that the to their embrace. The sea-swells the “Bear” away.
The to the rowing-galley’s benches had neither one way the other, and looked on the with concern, save when some a them. But a of the men had on the after us, any to a death on the “Bear,” and these had to be with promptly. Three, with their still red-hot in them, had most to be killed out of mischief’s way; five, who had their into the sea, were to looms, in place of who were dead; and there only Dason to have a apportioned.
The had out of him, and he had his arms to the sea, and for what might befall; and to him Tob up with an face.
“Ho, pot-mate Dason,” he, “you a of talk an hour ago about that woman of mine, who with her on the quay-side in Atlantis yonder. Now, I’ll give you a choice; either I’ll take you along home, and tell her what you said the whole ship’s company (that are for the most part now, souls!), and I’ll her to perform on your as she sees fit by way of payment; or, as the other choice, I’ll with you here now myself.”
“I thank you for the chance,” said Dason, and and offered his to the axe. So Tob cut off his head, it on the galley’s as an of what had been done. The he over the side, and one of the great man-eating that near, it up and away with it to its the crags. And so we were free to a of the fruits and the fresh meats which the offered, the oar-slaves sent the the capital.
There was a wine-skin in the after-castle, and I a and some out at Tob’s in salutation. “My man,” I said, “you have me a fight.”
“Thanks,” said he, “and I know you are a judge. ‘Twas it lasted; and, that my were, for the most, scurvy-rotten, I will say they with credit. I have my Lord Tatho’s navy, but I think Phorenice will see me there. If those that are against her took so much trouble to kill my Lord Deucalion he come to her aid, I can she will not be in her when I put Deucalion safe, if and blood-bespattered, on the quay.”
“The Gods know,” I said, for it is my to discuss with my inferiors, though be for the moment loosened, as ours was then by the of battle. “The Gods will decide what is best for you, Tob, as they have that it is best that I should go on to Atlantis.”
The a from the wine-skin in his hand, and I think was to a at my feet, as I had done at his. But he his mind, and it his instead. “It is thirsty work, this fighting,” he said, “and that drink comes very useful.”
I put my hand on his blood-smeared arm. “Tob,” I said, “whether I step into power again, or I go to the to-morrow, is another which the Gods alone know, but me tell you now, that if a is me of my gratitude, I shall not the way you have me in this voyage, and the way you have this day.”
Tob another from the wine-skin and it at my feet. “That’s good for me,” he said, “that my woman and want from this day onward. The Lord Deucalion for the block, indeed!”
