eral
years, while he himself would marry the Queen of the South. And again
the pirates cheered, for often they had seen seacoast Bombasharna, and
had always envied its opulence from the sea.

So they set all sail, and often altered their course, and dodged and
fled from strange lights till dawn appeared, and all day long fled
southwards. And by evening they saw the silver spires of slender
Bombasharna, a city that was the glory of the coast. And in the midst
of it, far away though they were, they saw the palace of the Queen of
the South; and it was so full of windows all looking toward the sea,
and they were so full of light, both from the sunset that was fading
upon the water and from candles that maids were lighting one by one,
that it looked far off like a pearl, shimmering still in its haliotis
shell, still wet from the sea.

So Captain Shard and his pirates saw it, at evening over the water,
and thought of rumours that said that Bombasharna was the loveliest
city of the coasts of the world, and that its palace was lovelier even
than Bombasharna; but for the Queen of the South rumour had no
comparison. Then night came down and hid the silver spires, and Shard
slipped on through the gathering darkness until by midnight the
piratic ship lay under the seaward battlements.

And at the hour when sick men mostly die, and sentries on lonely
ramparts stand to arms, exactly half-an-hour before dawn, Shard, with
two rowing boats and half his crew, with craftily muffled oars, landed
below the battlements. They were through the gateway of the palace
itself before the alarm was sounded, and as soon as they heard the
alarm Shard's gunners at sea opened upon the town, and before the
sleepy soldiery of Bombasharna knew whether the danger was from the
land or the sea, Shard had successfully captured the Queen of the
South. They would have looted all day that silver sea-coast city, but
there appeared with dawn suspicious topsails just along the horizon.
Therefore the captain with his Queen went down to the shore at once
and hastily re-embarked and sailed away with what loot they had
hurriedly got, and with fewer men, for they had to fight a good deal to
get back to the boat. They cursed all day the interference of those
ominous ships which steadily grew nearer. There were six ships at
first, and that night they slipped away from all but two; but all the
next day those two were still in sight, and each of them had more guns
than t