Asad considered him with eyes of wonder. So much effrontery, so much
ease after their last scene together seemed to the Basha a thing
incredible, unless, indeed, it were accompanied by a conscience entirely
at peace.

"It has been proposed to me that I shall do more than bless this
expedition--that I shall command it," he answered, watching Sakr-el-Bahr
closely. He observed the sudden flicker of the corsair's eyes, the only
outward sign of his inward dismay.

"Command it?" echoed Sakr-el-Bahr. "'Twas proposed to thee?" And he
laughed lightly as if to dismiss that suggestion.

That laugh was a tactical error. It spurred Asad. He advanced slowly
along the vessel's waist-deck to the mainmast--for she was rigged with
main and foremasts. There he halted again to look into the face of
Sakr-el-Bahr who stepped along beside him.

"Why didst thou laugh?" he questioned shortly.

"Why? At the folly of such a proposal," said Sakr-el-Bahr in haste, too
much in haste to seek a diplomatic answer.

Darker grew the Basha's frown. "Folly?" quoth he. "Wherein lies the
folly?"

Sakr-el-Bahr made haste to cover his mistake. "In the suggestion that
such poor quarry as waits us should be worthy thine endeavour, should
warrant the Lion of the Faith to unsheathe his mighty claws. Thou," he
continued with ringing scorn, "thou the inspirer of a hundred glorious
fights in which whole fleets have been engaged, to take the seas upon so
trivial an errand--one galeasse to swoop upon a single galley of Spain!
It were unworthy thy great name, beneath the dignity of thy valour!" and
by a gesture he contemptuously dismissed the subject.

But Asad continued to ponder him with cold eyes, his face inscrutable.
"Why, here's a change since yesterday!" he said.

"A change, my lord?"

"But yesterday in the market-place thyself didst urge me to join
this expedition and to command it," Asad reminded him, speaking with
deliberate emphasis. "Thyself invoked the memory of the days that
are gone, when, scimitar in hand, we charged side by side aboard the
infidel, and thou didst beseech me to engage again beside thee. And
now...." He spread his hands, anger gathered in his eyes. "Whence this
change?" he demanded sternly.

Sakr-el-Bahr hesitated, caught in his own toils. He looked away from
Asad a moment; he had a glimpse of the handsome flushed face of Marzak
at his father's elbow, of Biskaine, Tsamanni, and the others all staring
at him in amazement, and