A few men snickered nervously. Quintus shook his head. "You make a joke, Master. Now let me put it to you square, as man to man. For we are all free comrades now, thanks to you, Master Captain. But we are all outlaws, too. None dare go home, unless they come from a far barbarian land; none of us from civilized parts can ever return, now can we? But we've got this ship, and we've got arms. There are not so many of us yet, but with the first success we can have more like ourselves. And the eastern sea is full of trade; I know those waters myself. There is also many an island around Greece where nobody ever comes, to hide on--and many a lesser port we could sail into to spend our earnings, where no one asks how it was earned--" "Get to the point, you dithering blubberhead!" said Tjorr. "You want to turn sea bandits, is that the way of it?" The Spanish youth shrank back, swayed forward again and chattered: "Pirates, so, pirates, Master Captain. Free companions of the Midworld Sea. There's no other hope for us, not really there isn't. If caught--and many of us would surely be caught, wandering into Egypt by ourselves--we'll die anyhow. This way, if the gods are kind, we'll not die at all. Or if we do, we'll have had good times before!" "Pirates," mumbled the crew. "Pirates. We'll be pirates." Tjorr leaped down to the main deck so it thudded beneath him. He walked forward in a red bristle, his hammer aloft. "You fish-eyed slobberguts!" he roared. "Back to your duty!" The burly man hefted his broken oar. "Now, Master Mate," he said. "Be calm. This was voted on--uh--" "Democratic," supplied Quintus. "So now a ship is to be a republic?" called Flavius from the poop. "I wish you joy of your captaincy, Eodan!" The Cimbrian closed fingers about his sword. He could not feel the anger that snapped from Tjorr; it seemed of no great importance when Hwicca had cloven herself from him. "I do not wish this," he said mildly. Emboldened, the Spaniard stepped close to him. "Oh, Master Captain, there was no thought of mutiny," he exclaimed. "Why, we are your best friends! That was the first thing I said, when we met to talk this over, the captain is our captain, I said, and--" "I have better things to do than skulk about these waters." "But Captain, sir, we'll be your men! We'll do anything you say." The boy grinned confidently, pressing his words in. "Just treat us like men, with some rights of our own, is all we ask." "I'll treat you like an anvil first!" snorted Tjorr. His hammer lifted. "No, wait." Eodan caught the mate's arm as Quintus scuttled back squealing. "Let them have their way." "_Disa!_" said Tjorr with horror. "You'd turn into a louse-bitten pirate, who could be a king of the Rukh-Ansa?" "Oh, no. We shall still leave the ship in Egypt, as we planned. But if they want to take it afterward and go roving, it is no concern of ours." Eodan bent close, muttering, "Until we do get there, we'll need a willing crew."