And all the pirates cheered, for they wanted to set their feet on land
again somewhere where the hangman would not come and jerk them off it
at once; and bold men though they were, it was a strain seeing so many
lights coming their way at night. Even then...! But it swerved away
again and was lost in the mist.
And Captain Shard said that they would need to get provisions first,
and he, for one, intended to marry before he settled down; and so they
should have one more fight before they left the ship, and sack the
sea-coast city of Bombasharna and take from it provisions for several
years, while he himself would marry the Queen of the South. And again
the pirates cheered, for often they had seen seacoast Bombasharna, and
had always envied its opulence from the sea.
So they set all sail, and often altered their course, and dodged and
fled from strange lights till dawn appeared, and all day long fled
southwards. And by evening they saw the silver spires of slender
Bombasharna, a city that was the glory of the coast. And in the midst
of it, far away though they were, they saw the palace of the Queen of
the South; and it was so full of windows all looking toward the sea,
and they were so full of light, both from the sunset that was fading
upon the water and from candles that maids were lighting one by one,
that it looked far off like a pearl, shimmering still in its haliotis
shell, still wet from the sea.
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