Swords From the Sea (92 page)
Read Swords From the Sea Online
Authors: Harold Lamb
Tags: #Action & Adventure, #Short Stories (Single Author), #Fiction, #Fantasy, #Suspense, #Adventure Fiction, #Adventure Stories, #Short Stories, #Sea Stories
Lamb knew many languages: by his own account, French, Latin, ancient Persian, some Arabic, a smattering of Turkish, a bit of ManchuTatar, and medieval Ukrainian. He traveled throughout Asia, visiting most of the places he wrote about, and during World War II he was on covert assignment overseas for the U.S. government. He is remembered today both for his scholarly histories and for his swashbuckling tales of daring Cossacks and crusaders. "Life is good, after all," Lamb once wrote, "when a man can go where he wants to, and write about what he likes best."
The following stories were originally published in Adventure magazine: "His Excellency the Vulture," October 1, 1917; "Forward!" October Jo, 1924; "The Sword of Honor," November 20, 1924; "The Snow Driver," March 20, 1925.
The following stories were originally published in Collier's magazine: "The Night Bird Flies," July 25, 1931; "Wolf Meat," June 25, 1932; "The Bear's Head," March 17, 1934; "Longsword," April 14, 1934; "The Golden Empress," October 6, 1934; "Berzerk," December 13, 1941; "Elf Woman," November 21, 1942; "St. Olaf's Day," February 6, 1943; "Passage to Cathay," June 26, 1943.
The following stories were originally published in Pictorial Review: "The Corsair's Raid," July 1932; "Flower Girl," July 1933•
The following stories were originally published in The Saturday Evening Post: "The Lady and the Pirate," April 29, 1948; "Among the Missing," February 7, 1953.
"The Drub-Devil March" was originally published in Blue Book, December 1949.
*In the end of the fifteenth century the Pope decided the conflicting claims of the two monarchs in question by totaling 18o degrees of longitude to each.
*De Galna, Albuquerque, Cortez, and Magellan were opening up the gold and spice routes for rival princes. In this dawn of the age of discovery it was still believed that America lay near to Cathay. Cathay (China) had not been reached, and was thought to be the heart of the Indies.
*Map of the world.
'The Spaniards and Portuguese were supreme on the high seas in this age and called shipmasters of all other nations rovers.
*John Cabot's maps perished with him. There was a dearth of charts in England at this time, except for the Sebastian Cabot "Mappe Munde" of 1544.
'This upsea or "opzee" Dutch beer seems to have originated the phrase "seasover" or "half seas over."
*Easterlings-Lapps, Finns, and Tatars.
*The Equator.
*A year after Sir Hugh set out, Philip of Spain came into the Thames escorted by a hundred ships, to marry Mary. There ensued the short and calamitous reign known as that of "Bloody Mary," when the queen to satisfy her husband caused to be put to death the innocent Lady Jane Grey and her husband. Elizabeth, though imprisoned, was spared-a circumstance that the Spaniards had reason to regret later.
`Sail east.
*No explanation has been reached as to why Sir Hugh's journal ceased some three months before his death. By the date of the other paper, his will, found by him, it appears that the knight was living in December 1554. One other fact has escaped the attention of his chroniclers. On the outside of his journal was scribbled a memorandum: "Our shippe being at anker in the harborough called Sterfier in the Island Losoote-" an island on the west coast of Norway, several hundred miles from the Arzina River in Lapland where Sir Hugh and his men perished. Evidently, his globe misled him from the first.
*Archangel.
'Malbrouk, he's gone off to war-Who knows when he'll be back?
'The Emperor's City-Petersburg.
'The Crimea.
*An outrider-a daring fellow, not a farmer.
*Reprinted from The Bookman, March 1930, vol. 71, no. i.
Table of Contents
"Faith, my lord duke," smiled the king, "the Spaniards and Portugals have left us nowhither else to
But Edward's eyes were on the passing ships wistfully. Here were men faring from the known seas into
"Your father, sirrah, is Master Robert Thorne, who once rendered yeoman aid to his country by bringi
"Por estas honradas barbas!" cried D'Alaber, drawing himself up in his first flash of temper. "You r
"The notable navigant, Messer John Cabot, did draw a true and fair mappamundi; where is it to be see
"Fulke," he added to the innkeeper who came up rubbing his hands, aglow with curiosity, "a stable kn
"Master Cabot," put in Durforth with a slight smile, "doth believe that the open sea extends north o
"Nay," the cosmographer corrected him, "I said you must guard against the cold. Our fathers held tha
"We have tasks to perform, sir, and may not sit at ease. Can you not understand? Renard is chancello
"Thankee, Master Dickon, thankee! If we weigh with a southeast sun*
At this point, on the eighteenth day of September, the journal of Sir Hugh Willoughby ended.*
He entreating them courteously, they made report in the villages of the Muscovites of the arrival of
"Two of the tribesmen wait upon the upper deck. They will tell thee that the Bashkirs of the plain a
"Know then, 0 favored of Allah, that I went to Tsargrad!
"Aye," went on the Cossack slowly, "I rode with Paul Jones from Petersburg, the city of the empress.