CHAPTER XXXVIIThe last days had been hot and still, so that the gun-smoke hung in a heavy circular cloud, as though St. Angelo had been crowned thereby from a baptism of hell, but the night brought a movement of cooler wind. It was not enough to ruffle the surface of the indolent sea, even when the boat slipped under a shadowy hill and so clear of the harbour-mouth. But it moved the heavy curtains of smoke and parted a low mist that the waters bred, so that there was more light than the boatmen would have chosen to have.
There were four of these men, one who steered and two who pushed at the oars, while a fourth crouched in the bow, being a man whose sight and hearing were keen and who watched for those they were not anxious to meet. They knew that the light Barbary galleys did not cease
