the Malwa ship hailed them again. His voice sounded angry.
"You can outsail them?" demanded Eon.
Endubis sneered. "That Malwa tub?" He disdained any further answer, beyond the orders he shouted at his seamen.
An hour later, the officer commanding the Malwa vessel broke off the pursuit.
He was practically gibbering.
Some of his rage was due to the superior seaworthiness of the Ethiopian ship. Most of it was due to the bare black ass hanging over the stern of the Axumite vessel, defecating. And the great, gleaming grin on the face above it.
* * *
A week later, in the port at Tamralipti on India's opposite coast, another Malwa naval officer grinned with sheer delight. As well he should. He had made more money that day than in the previous three months put together.
His lieutenant was grinning, too. His own cut of the nobleman's bribe was enough for a lavish spree in the Bay of Bengal's most notorious harbor district.
The
"You can outsail them?" demanded Eon.
Endubis sneered. "That Malwa tub?" He disdained any further answer, beyond the orders he shouted at his seamen.
An hour later, the officer commanding the Malwa vessel broke off the pursuit.
He was practically gibbering.
Some of his rage was due to the superior seaworthiness of the Ethiopian ship. Most of it was due to the bare black ass hanging over the stern of the Axumite vessel, defecating. And the great, gleaming grin on the face above it.
* * *
A week later, in the port at Tamralipti on India's opposite coast, another Malwa naval officer grinned with sheer delight. As well he should. He had made more money that day than in the previous three months put together.
His lieutenant was grinning, too. His own cut of the nobleman's bribe was enough for a lavish spree in the Bay of Bengal's most notorious harbor district.
The