The officer, obediently, one by one, began to release my fellow slaves.

I regarded the oar-master. "You are a good oar-master," I said. "But now there are injured men to attend to."

He turned away, to aid those who had been hurt in the shearing.

I reached under my rowing bench. There, dented, its contents half spilled, itself floating in an inch or two of sea water, not yet drained down to the cargo hold, I found my pan of bread, onions and peas.

I sad down on my bench and ate.

From time to time I glanced out of my thole port. The Rena was now hemmed in by the eight ships, and two, heavy-cla.s.s galleys, from the a.r.s.enal, were drawing alongside. No missiles were being exchanged.

Then I heard Captain Tenrik, from above decks, call out not to offer resistance.

In a moment I heard someone board the Rena, and then two others, and then several more.

I put down the pan, having finished its contents. And I walked up the steps, carrying the officer's sword.

"Captain!" cried Thurnock.

Near him grinning, were c.l.i.tus and Tab.

There were cheers from the cl.u.s.tered ships of Port Kar. I lifted my blade to them, acknowledging their salute.

I turned to Captain Tenrik.

"My thanks," said I, "Captain."

He nodded his head.

"You have impressed me," I said, "as being an excellent captain."

He looked at me, puzzled.

"And your crew seems skilled," I said, "and he ship is a good ship."

"What will you do with us?" he asked.

"The Rena," I said, "will need repairs. Doubtless you can give her the attention she will need either in Cos or Tyros."

"We are free?" he asked, disbelievingly.

"It would ill repay the hospitality of a captain," said I, "for his pa.s.senger to refused churlishly to return to him his vessel."

"My thanks," said he, "Bosk, Captain of Port Kar."

"The slaves, of course," said I, "are freed. They come with us. Your crew, under sail or oar, doubtless, will make do."

"We shall be all right," he said.

"Bring those who were slave," I said, "whether injured or not, aboard our ships.

Within the Ahn I wish to set course for Port Kar."

c.l.i.tus barked orders to my seamen.

"Captain," I heard a voice.

I turned, and saw at my side, the oar-master.

"You are worthy," said I, "of calling stroke on a ram-ship."

"I was your enemy," said he.

"If you wish," said I, "serve me."

"I do," said he. "And I will."

I turned to Thurnock and Tab.

"I carried peace to Cos and Tyros," I said, "and for this I was awarded the chains of a slave in the galleys."

"When," asked Tab, "do we sail against the ships of Cos and Tyros?"

I laughed.

"Surely now," laughed he, "Cos and Tyros have injured you."

"Yes," said I, "they have, and now we may sail against them!"

There were cheers from the men about, who felt that too long had the ships of Bosk surrendered the seas to those of Cos and Tyros.

"The Bosk," laughed Thurnock, "has been angered."

"It has," said I.

"Then let Cos and Tyros beware!" roared Thurnock.

"Yes," said I, turning to the captain, "let them beware."

Captain Tenrik nodded his head, curtly.

"What shall we do now, Captain," asked c.l.i.tus, of me.

"Return to Port Kar," I said. "As I recall, I have waiting for me there a galley, heavy cla.s.s, for my work in Cos."

"True!" said Thurnock.

"An when he have come to Port Kar, what then?" asked Tab.

I looked at him evenly. "Then," said I, "paint my ships green."

Green, on Tha.s.sa, is the color of pirates. Green hulls, sails, oars, even ropes.

In the bright sun reflecting off the water, green is a color most difficult to detect on gleaming Tha.s.sa. The green ship, in the bright sun, can be almost invisible.

"It will be done," cried Tab.

There were more cheers from the men about.

Seeing the officer whose sword I had, I laughed and flung the weapon into the deck at his feet. "Sir," I said, "your sword."

Then I vaulted over the rail of the Rena onto the deck of the heavy-cla.s.s a.r.s.enal galley.

I was followed by my men, who loosened the grappling hooks and ropes that bound our ships to the Rena.

"Now," said I, "to Port Kar!"

"To Port Kar!" cheered my men. "To Port Kar!"

And thus it was that the ships to Bosk, he of Port Kar, came to be painted green.

Within the month, supplied and outfitted, the ram-ships of Bosk, a light galley, two of medium cla.s.s, and one of heavy cla.s.s, made their first strike on Tha.s.sa.

By the end of the second month the flag of Bosk, carried by one ship or another, was known from Ianda to Torvaldsland, and from the delta of the Vosk to the throne rooms of Cos and Tyros.

My treasures were soon increased considerably, and the number of ships in my fleet, by captured prizes, was readically augmented, so much so that I could not begin to wharf them within the lakelike courtyard of my holding. With gold won by sword at sea I purchased extensive wharf.a.ge and several warehouses on the western edge of Port Kar. Even so I found myself pressed and, to ease the difficulties of wharf.a.ge and mooring right, I sold many a round ship taken, and some of the inferior long ships. My round ships, as much as possible, I engaged in commerce, usually acting on the advice of Luma, the slave girl, my chief accountant; the ram-ships I sent against Cos and Tyros, usually in twos and threes; I myself commonly commanded a fleet of five ram-ships, and spent much time searching the seas for larger prey.

But in all this time I had not forgotten the treasure fleet which was due to sail from Tyros to Cos, bearing precious metals and jewels for her coffers, and a lovely lady, Vivina, to grace the couch of her Ubar.

I put spies in Tyros and Cos, and in many of the other ports of Tha.s.sa.

I think I knew the shipping, the cargos and the schedules of those two islands Ubarates, and several of their allies, as well or better than many of the members of their own high councils.

It was, accordingly, no accident that I, Bosk, from the marshes, in the Fifth Pa.s.sage Hand of he yeard 10,120 from the founding of the city of Ar, four months after the unsuccessful coup of Henrius Sevarius in the city of Port kar, stood admiral on the stern castle of my flagship, the Dorna of Tharna, in command of my fleet, eighteen ships of my own and twelve consigned from the a.r.s.enal, at a given place at a given time on gleaming Tha.s.sa.

"Fleet off the port beam!" came the cry from the man in the basket, circling the masthead above.

I turned to Tab.

"Remove the mast," said I, "from the mast well. Lash it and it's yard to the deck. Store the sail. We are going into battle."

14 How Bosk Conducted Business Upon Tha.s.sa

It must be understood that the ship itself it the weapon.

The Dorna, a tarn ship, is not untypical of her cla.s.s. Accordingly I shall, in brief, describe her. I mention, however, in pa.s.sing, that a great variety of ram-ships ply Tha.s.sa, many of which, in their dimensions, their lines, their rigging and their rowing arrangements, differ from her considerably. The major difference, I would suppose, is that between the singly-banked and the most doubly- or trebly-banked vessel. The Dorna, like most other tarn ships, is single-banked; and yet her oar power is not inferior to even the trebly-banked vessels; how this is I shall soon note.

The Dorna, like most tarn ships, is a long, narrow vessel of shallow draft. She is carvel-built, and her planking is fastened with nails of bronze and iron; in places, wooden pegs are also used; her planking, depending on placement, varies from two to six inches in thickness; also, to strengthen her against the shock of ramming, four-inch-thich wales run longitudinally about her sides. She carrieds a single, removable mast, with its long yard. It is lateen rigged. Her keep, one hundred and twenty-eight feet Gorean, and her beam, sixteen feet Gorean, mark her as heavy cla.s.s. Her freeboard area, that between the water line and the deck, is five feet Gorean. She is long, low and swift.

She has a rather straight keel, and this, with her shallow draft, even given her size, makes it possible to beach her at night, if one wishes. It is common among Gorean seamen to beach their craft in the evening, set watches, make camp, and launch again in the morning.

The Dorna's ram, a heavy projection in the shape of a tarn's beak, shod with iron, rides just below the water line. Behind the ram, to prevent it from going too deeply into an enemy ship, pinning the attacker, is, shaped like the spread crest of a tarn, the shield. The entire ship is built in such a way that the combined strength of teh keel, stempost and strut-frames centeres itself at the ram, or spur. The ship is, thus, itself the weapon.

The bow of the Dorna is concave, sloping down to meet the ram. Her stern describles what is almost a complete semicircle. She has two steering oars, or side rudders. The sternpost is high, and fanlike; it is carved to represent feathers; the actual tail feathers of a tarn, however, would be horizontal to the plane, not vertical; the prow of the tarn ship resembles the ram and shield, though it is made of painted wood; it is designed and painted to resemble the head of a tarn.

Tarn ships are painted in a variety of colors; the Dorna, of course, was green.

Besides her stem and stern castles the Dorna carried two movable turrets amidships, each about twenty feet high. She also carried, on leather-cushioned, swivel mounts, two lihgt catapults, two chain-sling onagers, and eight springals. Shearing blades, too, of course, were a portion of her equipment.

These blades, mentioned before, are fixed on each side of the hull, abaft of the bow and forward of the oars. They resemble quarter moons of steel and are fastened into the frames of the ship itself. They are an invention of Tersites of Port Kar. They are now, however, found on most recent ram-ships, of whatever port of origin.

Although the Dorna's true beam is sixteen feet Gorean, her deck width is twenty-one feet Gorean, due to the long rectangular rowing frame, which carrieds the thole ports: the rowing frame is slightly higher than the deck area and extends beyond it, two and one half feet Gorean on each side; it is supported by extensions of the hull beams; the rowing frame is placed somewhat nearer the stem that the sternpost; the extension of the rowing frame not only permits greater deck area but, because of the size of the oars used, is expedient because of matters of work s.p.a.ce.

The size and weight of the oars used will doubtless seem surprizing, but, in practice, they are effective and beautiful levers. The oars are set in groups of three, and three men sit a single bench. These benches are not perpendicular to the bulwarks but slant obliquely back toward the stern castle. Accordingly their inboard ends are father aft than their outboard ends. This slanting makes it possible to have each of the three oars in an oar group parallel to the others.

The three oars are sometimes of the same length, but often they are not. The Dorna used oars of varying lengths; her oars, like those of many tarn ships, varied by about one and one-half foot Gorean, oar to oar; the most inboard oar being the longest; the outblard oar being the shortest. The oars themselves usually weigh about one stone a foot, or roughly founds pounds a foot. The length of those oars on a tarn ship commonly varies from twenty-seven to thirty foot Gorean. A thirty-foot Gorean oar, the most inboard oar, would ommonly weigh thirty stone, or about one hundred and twenty pounds. The length and weight of these oars would make their operation impractical were it not for the fact that each of them, on its inboard end, is weighted with lead. Accordingly the rower is relieved of the weight of the oar and is responsible only for its work. This arrangement, one man to an oar, and oars in groups of tree, and oars mounted in the rowing frame, long and beautiful sweeps, had been found extremely practical in the Gorean navies. It is almost universal on ram-ships. Thie rowing deck, further, is open to the air, thereby differing from the rowing holds of round ships. This brings many more free fighting men, the oarsmen, into any action which might be required. They, while rowing, are protected, incidentally, by a parapet fixed on the rowing frame. Between eacy pair of benches, behind the parapet, is one bowman. The thole ports in a given group of three are about ten inches apart and the groups themselves, center to center, are a bit less than four feet apart. Then Dorna carried twenty groups of three to a side, and so used one hundred and tweny oarsmen.

From this account it may perhaps be conjectured why the oar power of a single-banked ram-ship is often comparable or superior to that of a doubly- or trebly-banked ship. The major questions involve the number and size of oars that can be practically mounted, balanced against the size of ship required for the differing arrangements. The use of extended rowing frame, permitting the leverage necessary for the great oars, and teh seating of several oarsmen, each with his own oar, on a given bench, conserving s.p.a.ce, are important in this regard. If we suppose a trebly-banked ship with one hundred and twenty oarsmen, say, in three banks of twenty each to a side, I think we chan see she would have to be a rather large ship, and a good deal heavier than the single-decked, three-men-to-a-bench typ, also with one hundred and twenty oarsmen. She would thus, also, be slower. And this does not even take into consideration the longer, larger oar possible with the projecting rowing frame. To be sure, they are many factors involed here, and one might suppose triple banks following the model of the single-banked, three-men-oars-to-a-bench type, and so on, but, putting aside questions of the size of vessel required for such arrangements, we may simply note, without commenting further, that the single-banked, three-men-three-oars arrangement is almost universal in fighting ships on Tha.s.sa. The other type of ship, though found occasionally, does not seem, at least currently, to present a distinct challenge to the low, swift, single-banked ships. In questions of ramming, I suppose the heavier ship would deliver the heaviest blow, but, even this might be contested for the lighter ship would, presumably, be moving more rapidly. Further, of course, the chances of being rammed by a lighter ship are greater than those of being rammed by a heavier ship, because of the greater speed and maneuverablit.i.ty of the former.

Other disadvantages to the double- and triple-banked systems, of course, are that many of your oarsmen, if not all, are below decks and thus unable to enter into necessary actions as easily as they might otherwise do; further, in case of ramming or wreck, it is a good deal more dangerous to be below decks than above decks. At any rate, whatever the reasons or rationale, the single-banked tarn ship, of which the Dorna is an example, is the dominant type on Tha.s.sa.

I had, at my disposal, thirty ram-ships, eighteeen of my own, and twelve on consignment from the a.r.s.enal. The treasure fleet, with her escort, consisted of seventy ships; forty were ram-ships and thirty round ships. Of the forty ram ships, twenty-five were heavy cla.s.s, and fifteen medium cla.s.s. Of my thirty ram-ships, twenty were heavy cla.s.s, and ten medium cla.s.s. There were no light galleys in either fleet.

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 princ.i.p.al 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 compet.i.tive in the markets of Tha.s.sa. 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 Tha.s.sa, 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 gla.s.s 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.