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He went to sea early in his life, and his first captain was the legendary Dalto Big-Nose, a ite sea captain who sailed the northern sea

Now, the Trogites are an avaricious race, eager to snatch things that rightfully belong to others but which they haven’t gotten around to discovering yet At soite explorer in search of deposits of tin or copper which ion far back in the western reaches of the Land of Shaan, which stands to the west of the Land of Maag The Maags grudgingly conceded that the Trogite explorer was a courageous fellow, since the natives of the Land of Shaan felt a --or everybody--they killed Being killed is one thing, but being eaten is quite another

The Trogite explorer purchased the friendship of the savages of Shaan with a feorthless trinkets, and they had led hiion where the rivers had sandy bottoms Many rivers have sandy bottoms, but the sand in the rivers of interior Shaan is coold in the rivers of Shaan soon got out, and adventurers frohtful share After a few seasons, though, the word got out that adventurers ent to the Land of Shaan never came back

The enthusiasold ell known, but the perils involved in seeking it were even better known Gold, however, isn’t really worth very much unless the owner can take it soites came up with a quick solution to that proble ships to carry their wealth back to the Land of Trog They were large ships, wide of beam and deep of hull, and they tended torather than sail Maag vessels were narrow and swift Moreover, the wealthy Trogites tended to be uard their treasure ships

The Maags ites ed gold from the rivers of Shaan, hauled it down to the coast, and put it aboard their ing treasure ships Then the treasure ships sailed out to the northern sea, where the Maags waited for thean Hook-Beak had received an extensive education froite treasure ships of all that excess weight As a young s in revelry, naturally Young sailors are enthusiastic revelers, but after a few seasons, Sorgan realized that the captain’s share of the ship’s earnings was er than the share of an ordinary seaiously set aside half of all his earnings, and he had soon saved enough to be able to buy his own ship, the Seagull

The Seagull was not really in very good shape when Sorgan bought her from the crusty old pirate he’d happened toport of Weros Her sails were ragged, and she leaked quite noticeably She was about the best Sorgan could afford at that tih Had the old otiations, he’d probably have held out for an had shrewdly delayed ue had been hanging out He also shook his purse frequently while they were haggling, pretending that it was nothing le of money played no san’s final offer

After he’d bought the Seagull, Sorgan had persuaded two of his former shipmates, Ox and Kryda Ham-Hand, to join him as first and second mates Their rank hadn’t really an had really needed at that point in tiull more seaworthy

It had taken the three of theely because they’d frequently run out of money Whenever that had happened, they’d had to suspend operations and take to the streets near the waterfront in search of drunk sailors whose purses still had a few coins left in theinally restored, and then the three had been obliged to haunt the waterfront again to find a crew

The Seagull was a full-sized Maag longship, a hundred and ten feet long and twenty-five feet wide at the beaan had done his best to keep the size of his cren to a o He’d given a bit of thought to reducing the number of oars out that fewer oars in ull roaets of opportunity

It was about ull encountered one of those su--two days, perhaps, no er, however, and the Seagull’s crew endured bad weather for alale tore away the rigging and ripped the sail to shreds

When the galeand hard to ain

Captain Hook-Beak took it in stride No ship ever sails on a perpetually sunny sea, so bad weather was si that had to be endured Of course, the captain of a ship is seldo or patch the sail Those chores are the duties of ordinary seamen, so Captain Hook-Beak retired to his cabin to catch up on his sleep

It didn’t quite turn out that way, though Despite the fact that the Seagull was ues from land, a pesky fly had so sound of its wings was just enough to keep the captain awake The ti were even worse He could actually feel its eyes on hi his everyTry though heat all see and sail had been repaired, the Seagull got under way again, and she was running before the wind soite merchant vessel hull-down on the horizon "Sail ho, Cap’n!" he roared in a voice that ue away

"Where away?" Hook-Beak demanded

"Two points off the starboard bow, Cap’n!" Ox shouted

Hook-Beak relinquished the tiller to Kryda Ham-Hand and hurried forward to join Ox in the bow "Show me," he told his burly first mate