A Pale Gloiv in the East 27 



Now there is feverish activity and a great hurrying hither and 

 yon in the belly of the ship. Men call back and forth in a variety of 

 guttural tongues; there is the clatter of iron, the squeak of wood on 

 wood, the falling of heavy things, and a great running. As if by 

 magic the two great blood-red sails stagger and flap, then move 

 around together, and again come taut, filled with wind but stand- 

 ing at another angle. The waves now roar on one side but fall silent 

 on the other. The helmsman pushes mightily against the steering 

 timber, calling for others to assist him. Half a hundred heads crowd 

 to the high bulwarks on the steering side. They shout; they gesticu- 

 late; and they point off across the sea. 



Then an immensely bearded one, full six feet in height, comes 

 clambering up a ladder to the poop deck and, shading his eyes from 

 the blaze of the rising sun, scans the heaving ocean. He calls in a 

 tremendous bass voice to the lean one at the prow; the lean one an- 

 swers in a foreign tongue and points off to the northwest. Another 

 man appears, running up the rigging to the masthead. He looks 

 small like an Indian ape as he clambers hurriedly into the web of 

 ropes lashed to the great cross-spar of the mainsail. He too shades 

 his eyes and scans the sea. Then he calls down to the captain, and 

 the captain calls to the helmsman, and the helmsman shouts at the 

 four slaves who have joined him at the timber, and together they 

 shove slowly across the deck. The mighty vessel veers creakingly 

 away from the wind towards the north. 



Meanwhile, small open boats have appeared from under the litter 

 upon the bosom of the great well deck. Groups of seminaked men 

 toil at them, casting aside loose objects, freeing the oars, and un- 

 lashing little masts. Hurriedly they carry these boats to the bul- 

 warks and hoist them up on the rail. Others run aloft and cast 

 down ropes which are made fast to these skiffs. Primitive blocks 

 creak and the skiffs are hoisted overboard to dangle above the rush- 

 ing waves, bumping against the ship's hull. 



Not too far ahead now a great number of black shining things 

 may be seen welling up from the deep, puffing, splashing, and then 

 descending again among the waves. Every now and then one breaks 

 clear of the surface, raising a pool of white foam. They are large 

 ones, rather than great ones, but they are many. The captain spies 

 them, and his dark eyes light and his heavy brows descend. He in- 



