until the moment of peril
to take the course which all of them had demanded should be taken when
first they had heard of the neighbourhood of that hostile ship. In lines
three deep they stood ranged along the ample fighting platform of the
prow; in the foremost line were the archers, behind them stood the
swordsmen, their weapons gleaming lividly in the darkness. They crowded
to the bulwarks of the waist-deck and swarmed upon the rat-lines of
the mainmast. On the poop three gunners stood to each of the two small
cannon, their faces showing faintly ruddy in the glow of the ignited
match.

Asad stood at the head of the companion, issuing his sharp brief
commands, and Sakr-el-Bahr, behind him, leaning against the timbers of
the poop-house with Rosamund at his side, observed that the Basha
had studiously avoided entrusting any of this work of preparation to
himself.

The steersmen climbed to their niches, and the huge steering oars
creaked as they were swung out. Came a short word of command from Asad
and a stir ran through the ranks of the slaves, as they threw forward
their weight to bring the oars to the level. Thus a moment, then a
second word, the premonitory crack of a whip in the darkness of the
gangway, and the tomtom began to beat the time. The slaves heaved,
and with a creak and splash of oars the great galeasse skimmed forward
towards the mouth of the cove.

Up and down the gangway ran the boatswain's mates, cutting fiercely with
their whips to urge the slaves to the very utmost effort. The vessel
gathered speed. The looming headland slipped by. The mouth of the cove
appeared to widen as they approached it. Beyond spread the dark steely
mirror of the dead-calm sea.

Rosamund could scarcely breathe in the intensity of her suspense. She
set a hand upon the arm of Sakr-el-Bahr.

"Shall we elude them, after all?" she asked in a trembling whisper.

"I pray that we may not," he answered, muttering. "But this is the
handiwork I feared. Look!" he added sharply, and pointed.

They had shot clear to the headland. They were out of the cove, and
suddenly they had a view of the dark bulk of the galleon, studded with a
score of points of light, riding a cable's length away on their larboard
quarter.

"Faster!" cried the voice of Asad. "Row for your lives, you infidel
swine! Lay me your whips upon these hides of theirs! Bend me these dogs
to their oars, and they'll never overtake us now."

Whips sang and thudded be