parvo intervallo, 'a short distance apart,' ablative absolute. See the
note on 34, 1.

5. in medium spatium, 'between them.'

7. quid faciendum esset, 'what was to be done.' The gerundive is used
with _sum_ to denote necessary action. This is called the passive
periphrastic conjugation.

8. sublatis ... solvit, 'weighed anchor and put to sea.' What is the
literal translation? The ablative absolute is often best translated by a
cooerdinate verb, and this requires a change of voice, for the lack of a
perfect active participle in Latin is the reason for the use of the
ablative absolute in such cases. If there were a perfect active
participle, it would stand in the nominative, modifying the subject, as
we have found the perfect participle of deponent verbs doing.

11. recta ... spatium, 'straight between them.'

12. cauda tantum amissa, 'having lost only its tail-feathers.' Notice
that we change the voice, as in line 8, and that the use of the ablative
absolute is resorted to here for the same reason as in that passage. Make
sure at this point that you know three ways in which the ablative
absolute may be translated, as in this passage, as in line 8, and as
suggested in the note on 37, 27.

14. concurrerent, 'could rush together.' See the note on _possent_, 27,
20.

intellegentes, equivalent to _cum intellegerent_.