without injuring any of our ships; and, as was unavoidable, the
great beasts of the sea hunted us with their accustomed
savagery. But only once did we suffer material loss from these
last, and that was when three of the greater sea lizards attacked
the "Bear," the ship whereon I travelled, at one and the same time.

The hour of their onset was during the blazing midday heat,
and the Sun being at the full of His power, our machines were
getting full force from Him. The vessel was travelling forward
faster than a man on dry land could walk. But for the power escape
she might as well have been standing still when the beasts sighted
her. There were three of them, as I have said, and we saw them
come up over the curve of the horizon, beating the sea into foam
with their flappers, and waving their great necks like masts as
they swam. Our navy was spread out in a long line of ships, and in
olden days each of the beasts would have selected a separate prey,
and proceeded for it; but, like man, these beasts have learned the
necessities of warfare, and they hunt in pack now and do not
separate their forces.

It was plain they were making for our ship, and Tob, the
captain, would have had me go into the after-castle, and there be
secure from their marauding. He was responsible to the Lord Tatho,
he said, for my safe conduct; it was certain that the beasts would
contrive to seize some of the ship's company before they were
satiated; and if the hap came to the Lord Deucalion, he (the
captain) would have to give himself voluntarily to the beasts then,
to escape a very painful death at Tatho's hands later on.

However, my mind was set. A man can never have too much