So Captain Shard and his pirates saw it, at evening over the water,
and thought of rumours that said that Bombasharna was the loveliest
city of the coasts of the world, and that its palace was lovelier even
than Bombasharna; but for the Queen of the South rumour had no
comparison. Then night came down and hid the silver spires, and Shard
slipped on through the gathering darkness until by midnight the
piratic ship lay under the seaward battlements.
And at the hour when sick men mostly die, and sentries on lonely
ramparts stand to arms, exactly half-an-hour before dawn, Shard, with
two rowing boats and half his crew, with craftily muffled oars, landed
below the battlements. They were through the gateway of the palace
itself before the alarm was sounded, and as soon as they heard the
alarm Shard's gunners at sea opened upon the town, and before the
sleepy soldiery of Bombasharna knew whether the danger was from the
land or the sea, Shard had successfully captured the Queen of the
South. They would have looted all day that silver sea-coast city, but
there appeared with dawn suspicious topsails just along the horizon.
Therefore the captain with his Queen went down to the shore at once
and hastily re-embarked and sailed away with what loot they had
hurridly got, and with fewer men, for they had to fight a good deal to
get back to the boat.
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