"Because tomorrow night she'll have picked you or me for yard duty, and the night after the other of us, and so on.
Moreover, we're now within sight of the coast. Another night we may be out of sight of land."
"What good doth the sight of the coast do us?" grumbled Gendu. "We cannot walk on water, as some Terran god is reputed to have done."
"We'll swim."
"Great Qondyor! Belike you Terrans can swim that monstrous distance; but I cannot swim at all. No proper sailor swims. If a man fall overboard in a storm, he's dead in any case."
"You see that hatch grating?" Reith pointed up. "Aye. What oft?"
"When they open the hatch to let us come up, they lean it upright against the mast stays. If we could throw it overboard and jump in after it, we could use it as a raft."
"Ye be mad, Ertsu! I know somewhat of rafts, and yon thing's too small to bear one of us, let alone four."
"We won't ride upon it. We'll hold it by the edge, to keep our heads out of water, and swim with our legs, pushing it ahead of us."
"The thing must weigh above a hundred Qiribo pounds. Think ye one of us could lift it and cast it forth?"
"I think two could."
"But if I jump over the side, being no swimmer, I shall be dead as soon as I strike water!"
"We'll catch you and pull you to the raft."
Alicia asked: "On the water, how can we keep headed in the right direction? We can't take the ship's compass with us."
"Alicia, with three moons and a sky full of stars to steer by, even I could keep track of our course," Reith replied.
Gendu spoke: "What of the other Ertsu?"
"When Tondi hears the disturbance, she'll come boiling out, and Marot will come, too. We'll call to him, and he'll know what to do."
" 'Twill never work. Ye haven't even named a way to get us to the main deck. Think ye these villains'll stand about quietly whilst we ascend to the deck and make off with their hatch cover? Belike wishing us a pleasant voyage?"
"All right, what do sailormen fear most at sea?"
Gendu pondered. "A fire. A storm ye can ride out, if your ship be sound and well-handled. But if ye bum, that's the end of you. Therefore the first rule of the sea, for pirate and honest merchantman alike, is: no smoking below decks!"
"And if this ship developed a fire in the hold, what would the crew do?"
"Saw ye not that row of buckets along the bulwark? The sailors'd form a line coming down into the hold here and hand buckets of water along to quench the blaze."
"Well then," said Reith. "We'll set the ship afire. When the smoke rises through the hatch and they hear us yelling, the crew will raise the hatch and lower the ladder. The first who come down will have a surprise awaiting them. Then up we go, and in the confusion we'll throw the hatch cover over the side and dive after it. I ought not to say 'dive,' because one should jump off feet first. If you hit your head on the raft, that might be your finish."
"And what's to hinder the fire from burning us up, or the smoke from smothering us, whilst we await the ladder?"
"I think they'll move lively enough. Anyway, that's a chance we'll have to take."
"A terrible chance indeed. And even if we can swim that distance, a gvam or a saferir may swallow us at a gulp."
"That's just one more chance—"
"Chance, chance! When ye add these chances, that of survival is like unto that of slaying a yeki with your bare hands. 'Tis a mad scheme. Why not quietly await your ransoms?"
"We have places to go and things to do; and I doubt if the plan's any riskier than life on this craft, with its murderous mistress. No more argument; pick a sword! You, too, Alicia."
Reith chose a sword of medium length and weight. Alicia picked the lightest weapon with a good edge. Gendu gloomily handled the remaining swords and chose one with a curved blade, twice as heavy as most. He swished it through the air, saying:
"Those pretty needle-pointed things serve well enough on land, where the footing is solid. But on a rolling deck, a man hath no use for fancy fencing; his thrusts and lunges go agley. What ye need is something that'll cut deep, whithersoever ye swing it!"
When full darkness came, slightly mitigated by moonlight through the grating, Reith examined his lighter. "Damn!" he muttered. "I forgot I used the last charge of tinder to light the lamp this morning, and I don't have my tinderbox."
Alicia: "These gauzy clothes might do."
"Splendid! Help me to cut some little pieces."
An hour later, the three had laid half a dozen small fires about the hold and piled combustibles around them. For kindling, they used scrolls from the chest of documents and slivers of wood from the chest itself, which Gendu whittled off with his cutlass.
"Ready?" said Reith. "Here goes!"
He snapped the lighter. The fluff of cloth in the chamber caught and blazed up ruddy yellow. With his other hand he touched the end of one of the scrolls to the flame. When the scroll caught fire, he handed his torch to Alicia, who darted away to set one of the blazes. He handed another flaming scroll to Gendu. He lit a third for his own use; but by the time he had it going, his companions had started all six fires.
Reith pressed his sword into Alicia's hand. "Stand behind me now and keep this sticker out of sight until I reach back for it." He coughed in the gathering smoke. "Ready, everyone? Yell Fire!' "
The cry of "Fire!" was echoed from the deck above, which soon resounded to the drumming of naked feet. Amid a babel of voices, the grating was raised, letting the full light of the moons into the hold. The ladder slanted down. Reith looked up to see a ring of worried Krishnan faces, tinged yellow by the flames below, which crackled and waxed larger by the second.
"Hurry with those buckets!" screamed Reith, as if in mortal terror. He heard rumblings and splashings and shouts. Presently a pirate backed down the ladder, holding a bucket in one hand.
"Hasten!" shouted Reith, reaching behind him. Alicia thrust the sword hilt into his hand.
The first pirate reached the floor of the hold and stared goggle-eyed at the circle of fires. When a glance assured Reith that the second pirate was halfway down, Reith thrust his sword into the firstcomer's belly, twisted the blade, and tore it loose. The bucket crashed to the deck.
Reith's blade took the second pirate in the ribs. As the Krishnan, with a yell, fell off the last two steps of the ladder, Reith's sword was nearly wrenched from his grasp. Seizing the hilt with both hands, he pulled the weapon free.
Reith then scampered up the ladder. Above him loomed the backside of another sailor. Hugging one upright with his sword arm, Reith caught the Krishnan's ankle with his free hand and plucked the pirate from his perch. The Krishnan tumbled past him with a shout, spilling his bucket over Alicia; but his yell was cut short by the chopping sound of Gendu's cutlass.
When Reith reached the topmost rung, he found a pirate, holding a bucket, standing agape before him. Reith ran the Krishnan through and sprang out on deck. The other prisoners followed. The unarmed pirates scattered before the three swords, screaming to one another to get weapons from the armory.
A naked, potbellied Tondi flung open the door of the captain's cabin and bellowed commands. Golden tongues of flame licked up above the hatch coaming.
"Get the grating!" panted Reith. "Guard our backs, Alicia! Aristide! Where in hell are you?"
"Here!" came a voice. In his ragged undershorts, Marot, carrying something in a sack, shoved Tondi aside and ran towards Reith and Gendu, who struggled with the grating. When a pirate barred his way, the Frenchman swung his bag and smote the Krishnan over the head. The pirate fell to his knees, clasping his skull.
With straining muscles, Reith and Gendu turned the grating at right angles to the bulwark and heaved it up. Marot set a hand under the lower edge and heaved, so that the structure was balanced on the rail. Then over it went with a great splash. Marot's tossed his sack after the grating, on which it landed with a clank.