Part 43 (1/2)

”Who are you?” she deesture toward the sea that took in a whole quarter of the coure

238

”Are you a merman, that you rise up out of the sea?” she asked, confused by the candor of hisgaze, though she was accustomed to admiration

Before he could reply, a quick step sounded on the boards, and the ers twitching at sword-hilt”Who the devil are you, sirrah?” this one demanded in no friendly tone”I am Conan,” the other answered imperturbably Sancha pricked up her ears anew; she had never heard Zingaran spoken with such an accent as the stranger spoke it

”And how did you get aboard rated with suspicion

”I swa, would you jest with ht of land Whence do you come?

”Conan pointed with a old by the lifting sun

”I caarded hieyes, and the thin lip lifted unpleasantly

”So you are one of those dogs of the Barachans

A faint smile touched Conan's lips

”And do you knoho I am?” his questioner demanded

”This shi+p is the Wastrel ; so you rim vanity that the h of leaner build Framed in his steel morion his face was dark, saturnine and hawk-like, wherefore araran grandee His hand was never far froaze he bent on Conan Little love was lost between the Zingaran

239renegades and the outlaho infested the Baracha Islands off the southern coast of Zingara

Theseof other nationalities They raided the shi+pping, and harried the Zingaran coast towns, just as the Zingaran buccaneers did, but these dignified their profession by calling themselves Freebooters, while they dubbed the Barachans pirates They were neither the first nor the last to gild the nah Zaporavo's mind as he toyed with his sword-hilt and scowled at his uninvited guest Conan gave no hint of what his own thoughts ht be He stood with folded arms as placidly as if upon his own deck; his lips s here?” the Freebooter demanded abruptly

”I found it necessary to leave the rendezvous at Tortage before ht,” answered Conan ”I departed in a leaky boat, and rowed and bailed all night Just at dawn I saw your topsails, and left the miserable tub to sink, while I made better speed in the water”

”There are sharks in these waters,” growled Zaporavo, and was vaguely irritated by the answering shrug of the lance toward the waist showed a screen of eager faces staring upward A ould send the up on the poop in a stor-er looked to be

”Why should I burden abond the sea casts up?”snarled Zaporavo, his look andthan his words

”A shi+p can always use another good sailor,” answered the other without resent the truth of that assertion He hesitated, and doing so, lost his shi+p, his coirl, and his life But of course he could not see into the future, and to him Conan was only another wastrel, cast up, as he put it, by the sea He did not like the iven hih rather more confident than Zaporavo liked to see

”You'll work for your keep,” snarled the Hawk ”Get off the poop And remember, the only law here is my will”

The smile seemed to broaden on Conan's thin lips Without hesitation but without haste he turned and descended into the waist He did not look again at Sancha, who, during the brief conversation, had watched eagerly, all eyes and ears

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As he caarans, all of thearer-hilts They were eager for the tier Here he would be tested, and his future status in the crew decided Up on the poop Zaporavo had apparently already forgotten the stranger's existence, but Sancha watched, tense with interest She had beco would be brutal and probably bloody

But her familiarity with such matters was scanty compared to that of Conan He s figures pressing truculently about hi inscrutably, his cos If he had attacked the captain, the whole creould have been at his throat, but they would give hiainst the one selected to push the brawl