Hal grinned. "I will speak to Aboli."
When he came up on deck again at the beginning of the first dog watch, the ship was silent and dark. He made his rounds, stopping for a few minutes to speak to Aboli who was the watch-keeper. Then he went to stand alone by the rail, gazing up at the heavens, lost in wonder at the glory of the stars.
Suddenly he heard an alien sound and, for a moment, thought that it came from the ship. Then he realized that it was human voices speaking a language that he did not know. He moved swiftly to the stern and the sounds were closer and clearer. He heard the creak of rigging and the squeak and splash of oars.
He ran forward again and found Aboli. "Assemble an armed boarding-party. Ten men," he whispered. "No noise. Launch the longboat."
It took only minutes for Aboli to carry out the order. As the boat touched the water they dropped into it and pulled away. Hal was at the tiller and steered into the darkness, groping towards the unseen island.
After several minutes he whispered, "Avast heaving!" and the rowers rested on their oars. The minutes drifted by, then suddenly close at hand they heard something clatter on a wooden deck, and an exclamation of pain or annoyance. Hal strained his eyes in that direction and saw the pale set of a small lateen sail against the starlight.
"All together. Give way!" he whispered, and the boat shot forward. Aboli stood in the bows with a grappling hook and line. The small dhow that emerged abruptly out of the darkness dead ahead was not much taller at the rail than the longboat. Aboli hurled the hook over her side and leaned back on the line.
"Secured!" he grunted. "Away you go, lads."
The crew dropped the oars and, with a bloodcurdling chorus of yells, swarmed up onto the deck of the strange craft. They were met by pathetic cries of dismay and terror. Hal lashed the tiller over, seized the hooded lantern and rushed up after his men to restrain their belligerence. When he opened the shutter of the lantern and flashed it around he found that the crew of the dhow had already been subdued, and were spreadeagled on the deck. There were a dozen or so half-naked dark-skinned sailors, but among them an elderly man dressed in a full-length robe whom Hal at first took to be the captain.
"Bring that one here," he ordered. When they dragged the captive to him, Hal saw that he had a flowing beard, which reached almost to his knees, and a cluster of Coptic crosses and rosaries dangling down onto his chest. The square mitre on his head was embroidered with gold and silver thread.
"All right!" he cautioned the men who held him. "Treat him gently. He's a priest." They released their prisoner with alacrity. The priest rearranged his robes and brushed out his beard with his fingertips, then drew himself up to his full height and regarded Hal with frosty dignity.
"Do you speak English, Father?" Hal asked. The man stared back at him. Even in the uncertain lantern light, his gaze was cold and piercing. He showed no sign of having understood.
Hal switched into Latin. "Who are you, Father?"
"I am Fasilides, Bishop of Aksum, confessor to his Christian Majesty Iyasu, Emperor of Ethiopia," he replied, in fluent, scholarly Latin.
"I humbly beg your forgiveness, your grace. I mistook this ship for an Islamic marauder. I crave your blessing." Hal went down on one knee. Perhaps I am pouring too much oil, he thought, but the Bishop seemed to accept this as his due. He made the sign of the cross over Hal's head, then laid two fingers on his brow.
"In no mine patris, et filii, et spirit us sancti," he intoned and gave Hal his ring to kiss. He seemed sufficiently mollified for Hal to press the advantage.
"This is a most providential encounter, your grace." Hal rose to his feet again, "I am a Knight of the Temple of the Order of St. George and the Holy Grail. I am on a voyage to place my ship and its company at the disposal of the Prester John, the Most Christian Emperor of Ethiopia, in his holy war against the forces of Islam. As His Majesty's confessor, perhaps you could lead me to his court."
"It may be possible to arrange an audience," said Fasilides importantly.
However, his aplomb was shaken and his manner much improved when the dawn light revealed the power and magnificence of the Golden Bough, and he became even more amenable when Hal invited him aboard and offered to convey him on the rest of his journey.
Hal could only guess at why the Bishop of Aksum should be creeping around the islands at midnight in a small, smelly fishing dhow, and Fasilides became remote and haughty again when questioned. "I am not at liberty to discuss affairs of state, either temporal or spiritual."
Fasilides brought his two servants aboard with him, and one of the fishermen from the dhow to act as a pilot for Hal. Once on board the Golden Bough, he settled comfortably into the small cabin adjoining Hal's. With a local pilot on board Hal was able to head on towards Mitsiwa with all dispatch, not even deigning to shorten sail when the sun set that evening.
He invited Fasilides to dine with him and the good Bishop showed a deep affinity for Llewellyn's wine and brandy. Hal kept his glass filled to the brim, a feat that called for sleight of hand. Fasilides" dignity lowered in proportion to the level in the brandy decanter, and he answered Hal's questions with less and less reserve. "The Emperor is with General Nazet at the monastery of St. Luke on the hills above Mitsiwa. I go to meet him there," he explained.
"I have heard that the Emperor has won a great victory over the pagan at Mitsiwa?" Hal prompted him.
"A great and wonderful victory!" Fasilides enthused. "In the Easter season, the pagan crossed the narrows of the Bah El Mandeb with a mighty army, then drove northwards up the coast seizing all the ports and forts. Our Emperor Caleb, father of Iyasu, fell in battle and much of our army was scattered and destroyed. The war dhows of El Grang fell upon our fleet in Adulis Bay and captured or burned twenty of our finest ships. Then when the pagan arrayed a hundred thousand men before Mitsiwa it seemed that God had forsaken Ethiopia." Fasilides" eyes filled with tears and he had to take a deep draught of the good brandy to steady himself. "But He is the one God and true to his people, and he sent us a warrior to lead our shattered army. Nazet came down from the mountains, bringing the army of the Amhara to join our forces here on the coast, and bearing in the vanguard the sacred Tabernacle of Mary Mother of God. This talisman is like a thunderbolt in Nazet's hand. Before its advance the pagan was hurled back in confusion."