3. A RIVAL NAVY
Now, when we came up with the coasts of Atlantis, though Tob, withthe aid of his modern instruments, had made his landfall with mostmarvellous skill and nearness, there still remained some ten days' morejourney in which we had to retrace our course, till we came to that armof the sea up which lies the great city of Atlantis, the capital.
The sight of the land, and the breath of earth and herbage which cameoff from it with the breezes, were, I believe, under the Gods, themeans of saving the lives of all of us. For, as is necessary with longcross-ocean voyages, many of our ships' companies had died, and stillmore were sick with scurvy through the unnatural tossing, or (as somehave it) through the salt, unnatural food inseparable from shipboard.But these last, the sight and the smells of land heartened up inextraordinary fashion, and from being helpless logs, unable to move evenunder blows of the scourge, they became active again, able to help inthe shipwork, and lusty (when the time came) to fight for their livesand their vessels.
From the moment that I was deposed in Yucatan, despite Tatho'sassurances, there had been doubts in my mind as to what nature wouldbe my reception in Atlantis. But I had faced this event of the futurewithout concern: it was in the hands of the Gods. The Empress Phorenicemight be supreme on earth; she might cause my head to be lopped from itsproper shoulders the moment I set foot ashore; but my Lord the Sun wasabove Phorenice, and if my head fell, it would be because He saw bestthat it should be so. On which account, therefore, I had not troubledmyself about the matter during the voyage, but had followed out my calmstudy of the higher mysteries with an unloaded mind.
But when our navy had retraced sufficiently the course that had beenoverrun, and came up with the two vast headlands which marked theentrance to the inland waters, there, a bare two days from the Atlantiscapital, we met with another navy which was, beyond doubt, waiting togive us a reception. The ships were riding at anchor in a bay which lentthem shelter, but they had scouts on the high land above, who criedthe alarm of our approach, and when we rounded the headland, they werestanding out to dispute our passage.
Of us there were now but five ships, the rest having been lost instorms, or fallen behind because all their crews were dead from thescurvy; and of the strangers there were three fine ships, and threegalleys of many oars apiece. They were clean and bright and black; ourships were storm-ragged and weather-worn, and had bottoms that were foulwith trailing ocean weed. Our ships hung out the colours and signs ofTatho and Deucalion openly and without shame, so that all who lookedmight know their origin and errand; but the other navy came on withoutbanner or antient, as though they were some low creatures feeling shamefor their birth.
Clear it seemed also that they would not let us pass without a fight,and in this there was nothing uncommon; for no law carries out over theseas, and a brother in one ship feels quite free to harry his brotherin another vessel if he meets him out of earshot of the beach--moreespecially if that other brother be coming home laden from foray ortrading tour. So Tob, with system and method, got our vessel intofighting trim, and the other four captains did the like with theirs,and drew close in to us to form a compact squadron. They had no wish tosmell slavery, now that the voyage had come so near to its end.
Our Lord the Sun shone brilliantly, giving full speed to the machines,as though He was fully willing for the affair to proceed, and the twonavies approached one another with quickness, the three galleys holdingback to stay in line with their consorts. But when some bare hundredship-lengths separated us, the other navy halted, and one of thegalleys, drawing ahead, flew green branches from her masts, seeking fora parley.
The course was unusual, but we, in our sea-battered state, were no navyto invite a fight unnecessarily. So in hoarse sea-bawls word was passed,and we too halted, and Tob hoisted a withered stick (which had to doduty for greenery), to show that we were ready for talk, and wouldrespect the person of an ambassador.
The galley drew on, swung round, and backed till its stern rasped on ourshield rail, and one of her people clambered up and jumped down uponour decks. He was a dandily rigged-out fellow, young and lusty, and allhealthy from the land and land victual, and he looked round him with asneer at our sea-tatteredness, and with a fine self-confidence. Then,seeing Tob, he nodded as one meets an acquaintance. "Old pot-mate," hesaid, "your woman waits for you up by the quay-side in Atlantis yonder,with four youngsters at her heels. I saw her not half a month ago."
"You didn't come out here to tell me home news," said Tob; "that I'll besworn. I've drunk enough pots with you, Dason, to know your pleasantriesthoroughly."
"I wanted to point out to you that your home is still there, with yourwife and children ready to welcome you."
"I am not a man that ever forgets it," said Tob grimly; "and becauseI've got them always at the back of my mind, I've sailed this ship overthe top of more than one pirate, when, if I'd been a single man, I mighthave been e'en content to take the hap of slavery."
"Oh, I know you're a desperate enough fellow," said Dason, "and I'm freeto confess that if it does come to blows we are like to lose a fewmen before we get you and your cripples here, and your crazy shipscomfortably sunk. Our navy has its orders to carry out, and the cause ofmy embassage is this: we wish to see if you will act the sensible partand give us what we want, and so be permitted to go on your way home,with a skin that is unslit and dry?"
"You have come to the wrong bird here for a plucking," said Tob with aheavy laugh. "We took no treasure or merchandise on board in Yucatan. Westayed in harbour long enough to cure our sea victual and fill with foodand water, and no longer. We sail back as we sailed out, barren ships.You will not believe me, of course; I would not have believed you hadour places been changed; but you may go into the holds and search ifyou choose. You will find there nothing but a few poor sailormen half inpieces with the scurvy. No, you can steal nothing here but blows, Dason,and we will give you those with but little asking."
"I am glad to see that you state your cargo at such slender value," saidthe envoy, "for it is the cargo I must take back with me on the galley,if you are to earn your safe conduct to home."
Tob knit his brows. "You had better speak more plain," he said. "I am acommon sailor, and do not understand fancy talk."
"It is clear to see," said Dason, "that you have been set to bringDeucalion back to Atlantis as a prop for Phorenice. Well, we others findPhorenice hard enough to fight against without further reinforcements,and so we want Deucalion in our own custody to deal with after our ownfashion."
"And if I do the miser, and deny you this piece of my freight?"
The spruce envoy looked round at the splintered ship, and the batterednavy beside her. "Why, then, Tob, we shall send you all to the fishesin very short time, and instead of Deucalion standing before the Godsalone, he will go down with a fine ragged company limping at his heels."
"I doubt it," said Tob, "but we shall see. As for letting you have myLord Deucalion, that is out of the question. For see here, pot-mateDason; in the first place, if I went to Atlantis without Deucalion, myother lord, Tatho, would come back one of these days, and in his hands Ishould die by the slowest of slow inches; in the second, I have seenmy Lord Deucalion kill a great sea lizard, and he showed himself such aproper man that day that I would not give him up against his will, evento Tatho himself; and in the third place, you owe me for your share inour last wine-bout ashore, and I'll see you with the nether Gods beforeI give you aught till you've settled that score."
"Well, Tob, I hope you'll drown easy. As for that wife of yours, I'vealways had a fancy for her myself, and I shall know how to find a usefor the woman."
"I'll draw your neck for that, you son of a European," said Tob; "andif you do not clear off this deck I'll draw it here. Go," he cried, "youfather of monkey children! Get away, and let me fight you fairly, or bymy honour I'll stamp the inwards out of you, and make your silly crewwear them as necklaces."
Upon which Dason went to his galley.
Promptl
y Tob set going the machine on our own "Bear," and bawled hisorders right and left to the other ships. The crew might be weak withscurvy, but they were quick to obey. Instantly the five vessels were allstarted, and because our Lord the Sun was shining brightly, got soon tothe full of their pace. The whole of our small navy converged, singlingout one ship of their opponents, and she, not being ready for so swiftan attack, got flurried, and endeavoured to turn and run for room,instead of trying to meet us bows on. As a consequence, the whole of ourfive ships hit her together on the broadside, tearing her planking withtheir underwater beaks, and sinking her before we had backed clear fromthe engage.
But if we thus brought the enemy's number down to five, and so equal toour own, the advantage did not remain with us for long. The three nimblegalleys formed into line: their boatswains' whips cracked as the slavesbent to their oars, and presently one of our own ships was gored andsunk, the men on her being killed in the water without hope of rescue.
And then commenced a tight-locked melee that would have warmed the heartof the greatest warrior alive. The ships and the galleys were forcedtogether and lay savagely grinding one another upon the swells, asthough they had been sentient animals. The men on board them shot theirarrows, slashed with axes, thrust and hacked with swords, and hurled thethrowing fire. But in every way the fight converged upon the "Bear." Itwas on her that the enemy spent the fiercest of their spite; it was tothe "Bear," that the other crews of Tatho's navy rallied as their ownvessels caught fire, or were sunk or taken.
Battle is an old acquaintance with us of the Priestly Clan, and forthose of us who have had to carve out territories for the new colonies,it comes with enough frequency to cloy even the most chivalrousappetite. So I can speak here as a man of experience. Up till that time,for half a life-span, I had heard men shout "Deucalion" as a battlecry,and in my day had seen some lusty encounters. But this sea-fightsurprised even me in its savage fierceness. The bleak, unstable elementwhich surrounded us; the swaying decks on which we fought; the throwingfire, which burnt flesh and wood alike with its horrid flame; thegreat gluttonous man-eating birds that hovered in the sky overhead;the man-eating fish that swarmed up from the seas around, gnawing andquarrelling over those that fell into the waters, all went to make up acircumstance fit to daunt the bravest men-at-arms ever gathered for anarmy.
But these tarry shipmen faced it all with an indomitable courage, andnever a cry of quailing. Life on the seas is so hard, and (from thebeasts that haunt the great waters) so full of savage dangers, thatDeath has lost half his terrors to them through sheer familiarity.They were fellows who from pure lust for a fray would fight to a finishamongst themselves in the taverns ashore; and so here, in this desperatesea-battle, the passion for killing burned in them, as a fire stonefrom Heaven rages in a forest; and they took even their death-woundslaughing.
On our side the battle-cry was "Tob!" and the name of this obscureship-captain seemed to carry a confidence with it for our own crews thatmany a well-known commander might have envied. The enemy had adozen rallying cries, and these confused them. But as their othership-commanders one by one were killed, and Dason remained, activewith mischief, "Dason!" became the shout which was thrown back at us inresponse to our "Tob!"
However, I will not load my page with farther long account of thisobscure sea-fight, whose only glory was its ferocity. One by one all theships of either side were sunk or lay with all their people killed, tillfinally only Dason's galley and our own "Bear" were left. For the momentwe were being mastered. We had a score of men remaining out of all thosethat manned the navy when it sailed from Yucatan, and the enemy hadboarded us and made the decks of the "Bear" the field of battle. Butthey had been over busy with the throwing fire, and presently, as weraged at one another, the smoke and the flame from the sturdy vesselherself let us very plainly know that she was past salvation.
But Tob was nothing daunted. "They may stay here and fry if theychoose," he shouted with his great boisterous laugh, "but for ourselvesthe galley is good enough now. Keep a guard on Deucalion, and come withme, shipmates!"
"Tob!" our fellows shouted in their ecstasy of fighting madness, and Itoo could not forbear sending out a "Tob!" for my battle-cry. It was achange for me not to be leader, but it was a luxury for once to fightin the wake of this Tob, despite his uncouthness of mien and plan. Therewas no stopping this new rush, though progress still was slow. Tob withhis bloody axe cut the road in front, and we others, with the lust ofbattle filling us to the chin, raged like furies in his wake. Gods! butit was a fight.
Ten of us won to the galley, with the flames and the smoke from the poor"Bear" spurting at our heels. We turned and stabbed madly at all whotried to follow, and hacked through the grapples that held the vesselsto their embrace. The sea-swells spurned the "Bear" away.
The slaves chained to the rowing-galley's benches had interest neitherone way nor the other, and looked on the contest with dull concern, savewhen some stray missile found a billet amongst them. But a handful ofthe fighting men had scrambled desperately on board the galley after us,preferring any fate to a fiery death on the "Bear," and these had to bedealt with promptly. Three, with their fighting fury still red-hot inthem, had most wastefully to be killed out of mischief's way; five, whohad pitched their weapons into the sea, were chained to oar looms, inplace of slaves who were dead; and there remained only Dason to have afate apportioned.
The fight had cooled out of him, and he had thrown his arms to the sea,and stood sullenly ready for what might befall; and to him Tob went upwith an exulting face.
"Ho, pot-mate Dason," cried he, "you made a lot of talk an hour agoabout that woman of mine, who lives with her brats on the quay-side inAtlantis yonder. Now, I'll give you a pleasant choice; either I'lltake you along home, and tell her what you said before the whole ship'scompany (that are for the most part dead now, poor souls!), and I'llleave her to perform on your carcase as she sees fit by way of payment;or, as the other choice, I'll deal with you here now myself."
"I thank you for the chance," said Dason, and knelt and offered his neckto the axe. So Tob cut off his head, sticking it on the galley's beak asan advertisement of what had been done. The body he threw over the side,and one of the great man-eating birds that hovered near, picked it upand flew away with it to its nest amongst the crags. And so we werefree to get a meal of the fruits and the fresh meats which the galleyoffered, whilst the oar-slaves sent the galley rushing onwards towardsthe capital.
There was a wine-skin in the after-castle, and I filled a horn andpoured some out at Tob's feet in salutation. "My man," I said, "you haveshown me a fight."
"Thanks," said he, "and I know you are a judge. 'Twas pretty whilst itlasted; and, seeing that my lads were, for the most, scurvy-rotten, Iwill say they fought with credit. I have lost my Lord Tatho's navy, butI think Phorenice will see me righted there. If those that are againsther took so much trouble to kill my Lord Deucalion before he could cometo her aid, I can fancy she will not be niggard in her joy when I putDeucalion safe, if somewhat dented and blood-bespattered, on the quay."
"The Gods know," I said, for it is never my custom to discuss policieswith my inferiors, even though etiquette be for the moment loosened,as ours was then by the thrill of battle. "The Gods will decide whatis best for you, Tob, even as they have decided that it is best that Ishould go on to Atlantis."
The sailor held a horn filled from the wine-skin in his hand, and Ithink was minded to pour a libation at my feet, even as I had done athis. But he changed his mind, and emptied it down his throat instead."It is thirsty work, this fighting," he said, "and that drink comes veryuseful."
I put my hand on his blood-smeared arm. "Tob," I said, "whether I stepinto power again, or whether I go to the block to-morrow, is anothermatter which the Gods alone know, but hear me tell you now, that if achance is given me of showing my gratitude, I shall not forget the wayyou have served me in this voyage, and the way you have fought thisday."
Tob filled another brimming ho
rn from the wine-skin and splashed it atmy feet. "That's good enough surety for me," he said, "that my woman andbrats never want from this day onward. The Lord Deucalion for the block,indeed!"