"All sorts of curious characters have assembled in this fearsome fastness. Not only discontented Qiribuma, but also tailed men from Za and the Koloft Swamp, and even Earth-men and other creatures from the deeps of space. When 'Avasp died, the new chief chosen in his room was one of these— a scaly, odious horror from a planet called Osiris: a towering monstrosity named Sheafase who, 'tis said, maintains a rule of iron by a dreadful power of fascination. And this Sheafase had far and wide outspread the tentacles of his, enterprise, until he does amass the wealth of Dakhaq by the drug to Earthmen selling…"
Despite the. queen's harrying, they did not sail the next day, nor yet the day after that.
For one thing, half the crew disappeared when they learned the real object of the expedition, so that new men had to be signed on and broken in. One of these, a bright young fellow named Zanzir, followed Barnevelt around asking questions. Barnevelt, flattered, gave the youth a good deal of his time until Tangaloa warned him against favoritism. Thereafter Barnevelt tried to treat the others with equal cordiality.
He also hired a new boatswain, Chask: a thickset, gnarly, snag-toothed man with his green hair faded to pale jade. Chask took hold of the crew and soon welded them into an effective rowing and sailing unit. All went well until one day while Barnevelt was in the cabin and the men were practicing evolutions on deck, he heard the sound of a scuffle. He went out to find Chask nursing a knuckle on the catwalk and Zanzir a bloody nose in the scuppers.
"Come here," he said to Chask. When the latter was in the cabin he gave him a dressing down: "… and my crew are to be treated like human beings, see? There shall be no brutality on my ship."
"But Captain, this young fellow disputes my commands, saying he knows better than I how to do what I've spent my life…"
"Zanzir's an intelligent boy. He's to be encouraged rather than suppressed. You're not afraid hell take your job away, are you?"
"But sir, with all respect, ye cannot run a ship like a social club, with all entitled to a voice in deciding each maneuver.
And if those in command let common sailors think they're as good as them, and entitled every order to discuss, then when comes the pinch…"
Despite inner qualms, Barnevelt felt he must show a firm front. "You have your order, Chask. We're running this ship my way."
Chask went out muttering. Thereafter the sailors seemed happier but also less efficient.
CHAPTER XVI
When the Shambor finally put forth from the harbor of Damovang with Barnevelt and Zakkomir aboard—and Tanga-loa, surrounded by Amazons, waving his good arm from the pier—Barnevelt had accumulated several items of special equipment which, he hoped, would somewhat ease his task. There were smoke bombs made by a local manufacturer of pyrotechnics from yasuvar-spores, and a light sword with a hinge in the middle of the blade so that it could be folded and slipped down inside one of the expressman's boots. As a weapon it was inferior to a regular rapier, the hinge constituting a weak spot and the hilt lacking a proper guard. Barnevelt, however, doubted that the pirates would admit him to their inner circle fully armed.
He also bore a chest of gold and gewgaws, as a present from Queen Alvandi to Sheafase, and a letter asking for terms for Zei's release. A Krishnan quadrant, simple but rugged and fairly accurate, would give him his latitudes.
Zakkomir, similarly clad and looking quite different without his face paint, waved a similar sticker, saying: "My lord Snyol, will you teach me to wield a sword in practiced style? For under our laws have I never had a chance for such instruction. 'Twas simple happenstance I wasn't spitted during the raid. Ever have I nursed a perverse wish to be a woman—that is, not like the women of your land, or the men of mine, but a woman of mine, and to swear and swagger with rough muliebrity. Would I'd been hatched in your land, where custom to the male such part assigns!"
At least, thought Barnevelt, the kid's willing to learn.
The first leg of the trip was easy, for they ran free before the prevailing westerly along the coast of the Qiribo peninsula, where dark stunted trees overhung rocky promontories on which the spray broke. Zakkomir had a couple of days of seasickness, then snapped out of it. They stopped at Hojur to top off supplies.
Barnevelt studied his navigational guide and familiarized himself with the workings of the Shambor. Not far in the future all three moons would be in conjunction at full, which meant a real high tide—something that occurred only once in several Krishnan years.
In hull and rudder, the ship compared well with the yachts he'd sailed on Earth. The sail, though, was something else: a lateen sail of the high-peaked asymmetrical type used in these waters, in contrast to the symmetrical lateen sail of Maj-bur and the lug and square sails of the more boistrous northern seas. He learned that a lateen sail, however pretty, had but weak powers of working to windward. In fact, it combined many of the disadvantages of a square sail and a fore-and-aft sail with few of the advantages of either.
Chask explained; "Captain, there be six ways of tacking with a lateen sail, all impractical. Now, had we one of them Majburo rigs, with the two short sides equal, we could pay out the tack and haul in the vang, so that the low corner rises and the high one falls, meanwhile wearing ship. But with this rig must ye either lower sail altogether and re-rig on't'other side of the mast, or put half the men on the tack and haul aft to up-end the yard and twist it round the mast. Still, in the region of variables and calms whither we're bound, that high peak'll prove its worth in catching light airs."
At last they reached the end of the peninsula, where the Zogha sloped down to the sea like the spinal scutes of some stegosaurine monster. They turned to starboard and headed south with the wind abeam. Barnevelt gave his men only an occasional turn at the oars, enough to keep them hardened but not enough to tire them. He'd need their strength later. The water was too rough for effective rowing anyway.
Then the emerald waters turned to slate, the wind fell, and they spent a day rowing in a fog through which a warm drizzle fell unceasingly. They spread a canvas tank to catch the rain for drinking water.
Barnevelt was standing in the eyes of the ship, peering into the mist, when the Shambor lurched suddenly as if she had struck bottom. Yells rose from the men aft.
On the port side of the ship, in the water, an elongated body was moving away. Covered with flint-gray leather, it might have been part of the barrel of a finback whale or a sea serpent. As it slipped through the water, the particular coil or loop that was arched up next to the ship sank down out of sight.
A scream jerked Barnevelt's attention to the stern. There in mid-air, its means of support hidden by the fog, appeared a crocodilian head with jaws big enough to down a man at a gulp. The head tilted to one side and swooped down onto the deck, a colossal neck coming into view behind it. Clomp! went the jaws, and a screaming sailor was borne back into the mist.
Barnevelt, caught by surprise, did not spring into action until the victim was on his way into the sea. Then he caught up a spare oar and ran to the stern, but too late. The shrieks of the victim were cut off as the dreadful head disappeared beneath the water.
"Row!" yelled Chask, and the oarsmen dug in their blades.
Barnevelt unhappily gave orders to mount a deck watch with pikes in case of another such attack. He went back to the bow for a while, then started back for the deckhouse.
He was just opening the door when a shuffle of feet and a clearing of throats behind him made him look around. There were Zanzir and three other sailors.