I had made it a practice never to ram round ships, and I had seen that this practice was wel publicized. I had even had it observed by men at the various slave wharves, presumably inspecting the merchandise. Doubtless, from hold to hold over the months, this word had spread that Bosk not only would not sink a round ship, but that, when he took one, he freed her slaves. I think, had it not been for this, my own actions against round ships of the past months would not have been as successful as they had been. Further, I had spread the rumor that I would be displeased should I discover, after capturing a round ship, that her slaves had been either mistreated or slain. Accordingly I thus, in effect, recruited tacit allies in the rowing holds of round ships. The slaves, eager for the capture of the vessel by one of my ships, could scarcely be expected to row with their full strength, and the masters, knowing full well the ship might be taken, feared, under the conditions obtaining, to seriously abuse or slay the chained oarsmen. The principal alternatives, under these conditions, open to the men of Cos and Tyros would then seem to be, first, to use free oarsmen, which was not, however, traditional on round ships, or, two, increase the ram-ship escort for round ships. It was this latter alternative, rather expensive, which the men of Cos and Tyros had apparently, almost invariably, selected. On the other hand, the treasure fleet, under any conditions, would have a heavy escort, which it did.
The prices of goods, I might note, carried on ships of Cos and Tyros and her allies, because of the need of paying for additional escort, had risen considerably. Accordingly, her goods, to the dismay of her merchants, were becoming less competitive in the markets of Thassa. Insurance rates on such shipments, even those with escort, I might add, had also soared.
Because of my practices in connection with round ships, I did not expect Cos and Tyros to enter them seriously into any naval engagement with my fleet. Thus, the odds, which might have been prohibitive under normal conditions, of seventy ships to thirty, I supected I had reduced to something of forty, or perhaps fifty, to thirty. But even so, I did not regard it as rational to undertake odds of forty, or fifty, to thirty. I had no intention of engaging except under conditions of either equality or, preferably, superiority. The important thing as I saw it, was not so much the absolute numbers of ships involved as the numbers of ships that could be applied at a given place and given time. Accordingly I began to put my plan into effect.
With twelve ships I began to approach the treasure fleet from the southeast. Although I had had the masts, with their yards, taken down and lashed to the decks, and the saild stored below, I had the flutists and drummers, not uncommon on the ram-ships of Thassa, strike up a martial air.
Then, rather bravely, the music drifting over the water, or oars at only half of maximum beat, we moved across the gleaming waters toward the large fleet. Since the ram-ships of the enemy had not yet struck their masts, it would be only a matter of moments before we were sighted.
From the stern castle of the Dorna, then, with a long glass of the builders, I observed, far across the waters, the masts of ram-ships, one by one, lowering. I could hear, moreover, their war trumpets, carrying form ship to the other, signaling fleet movements. Message flags, doubltless repeating the message of the trumpets, were being run from the decks on their halyards to the heights of the stem castles. Although I could not yet see the decks, I had no doubt that there was a flurry of activity there. Bowmen were setting their weapons; helmets, weapons and shields were being brought up from below decks. Fires were being stoked to heat pitch and stones; bundles of tarred javelins would be shaken out near the springals and light catapults. In a few moments hides, soaked overside, would be spread over good portions of decks and bulwarks; and bags of sea water, for putting our fires, would be drawn and placed about the ships. In about ten Ehn the decks of the treasure fleet, save for the paraphernalia of war, would be clear, and her hatches would be secured. Similar preparations, of course, were taking place on my own ships.
"Quarter of maximum!" I called down to the oar-master, some feet below me. I did not wish to approach the fleet too rapidly.
The treasure fleet would have no way of knowing that I definitely knew her size and composition.
For all the knew I might be astonished at the force on which I had come. I listened for a while, chuckling, to the brave tunes being put forth by my flutists and drummers.
Then, when I saw the perimeter ships of the treasure feelt swinging about toward me, I motioned for the musicians to discontinure their performance. When they were silent, I could hear the flutes and drums from the enemy ships. I called down to the oar-master to rest oars.
I wanted it to appear that I was suddenly undecided as to whether or not to attack, as though I was confused, startled.
I signaled my trumpeter to transmit the command "Rest oars." The same message was run up the halyard to the height of the stem castle.
Over the faint music coming from the distant ships, now approaching, I could hear her war trumpets and, with the glass, observe her flags. Whereas I did not know exactly the codes employed by the treasure fleet, I had little doubt that our hesitation was being signaled about the fleet, and then I heard other trumpets, and saw the round ships drawing apart, and tarn ships streaking between them, fanning out in our direction.
I slapped shut the glass of the builders and laughed. "Excellent!" I cried. Thurnock, near me, the tooth missing on his upper right side, grinned. "Helmsmen about," I said. "Oar-master, half beat."
I did not even, following my plan, signal this move to my other ships. I wished to appear that we were turning, suddenly fearing, in flight. I wanted it to appear that the other ships must take their cue to action from our own, as though, in fear and confusion, we had not even signaled them. I heard more trumpets from across the water. Some of these were from the enemy fleet. Others, brief notes, interrogations, demands for clarification, were from my own ships. They had good commanders. I listened to the flutes and drums of the ram-ships of the treasure fleet. A javelin, with tarred, buring blade, fell hissing into the water, some hundred yards away.
I snaped open the builder's glass again.
I counted, clearly, some twenty ships, fanned out in a long enveloping line moving toward us.
The Dorna had now come about and, at half beat, was moving southeast, directly away from the pursuing ships.