"Alas, no! The Cimmerian ordered the ships to make straight for the eastern shore. He said he was on a vital mission. One of the slaves we freed was a Khitan. Conan remained with him for hours, squatting in conversation. They talked of far lands beyond the Himelias. If Khitai be his goal, he must seek some really fabulous treasure."
"Why took he not a score of sea rovers with him?"
"That is another mystery. He swore he had taken an oath to journey alone, and that his goal would be unattainable otherwise.
"We landed him on the eastern shore, and the farewell between him and Rolf the Northerner was short and manly. The crew in their sorrow began chanting a sea dirge, until he lifted his mighty voice to curse us to silence. We watched him disappear behind a sand dune on his way to unknown perils.
"Rolf is our captain now, and an abler one is not to be found barring Conan. For Conan will always remain the greatest captain of them all, even when Vilayet Sea has become a desert waste and the stars have fallen from the heavens. I drink his health. May his quest be successful!"
The toast was drunk in a silence oddly out of place in a pirates tavern.
The End