s were busily
overhauling their gear, filling water casks, calking dried-out seams,
and sluicing opening decks with copious streams of water, just as they
were used to do in the palmy days when Red Jabez kept them gorged with
pillage.

Milo hurried faster, for he feared they too had sighted his ship, and
sprang down to the shore to accost surly Caliban.

"Here, Milo old buck, stick yer beak into this, lad!" screamed Caliban,
thrusting forward a brimming horn of wine. The giant declined
impatiently, waving a hand toward the activity afoot.

"What, won't drink luck, hey?" cried the dwarf, emptying the horn
himself. "Ain't got the news yet, hey?"

"News? What news can such as thee have that I am not told?" demanded
Milo contemptuously. Caliban scowled viciously at his tone, but the
giant's hands were strong, and the little ruffian loved his warped life.
He flung down his horn and retorted: "We're to windward o' ye this time,
Milo me lad. Th' queen bade us be ready for a lamb headed this way, an',
sure enough, there comes a craft now, a'most in sight from here. Small
fish, true, but sweet after so long a spell o' famine."

Milo knew that the ship he had seen could not possibly have been
detected from the village. It must be yet another craft, and, without a
word, he bounded back up the cliff and scanned the waters closer
inshore. There, sure enough, lay a beautiful white schooner, her paint
dazzling to the eye, her decks flashing with metal, her canvas faultless
in fit and set and whiteness. She was still five miles distant and
slowly edging along the coast, as if indifferent to her tardy progress.
The giant noted her exact position, then presented himself to Dolores.

The girl was luxuriously submitting to the skilful attentions of
Pascherette; her wealth of lustrous hair enveloped her like a veil,
rendering almost superfluous the filmy silken robe she had donned. But
at sight of Milo all her feline contentment fled, and she thrust the
maid from her and stood up to receive his report.

"A ship?" she flashed.

"Two, Sultana. The men make ready now."

"The men? Dolt! Did I not tell thee to keep such news for me?"

"They saw the small vessel while I was beyond the Tongue. They have not
seen the ship I saw, nor have I told them. It is a great ship, lady;
theirs is but a small, poor thing."

"I will see it." Dolores suddenly remembered the maid, whose presence
she had ignored. Pascherette stood apart, a small, fair