"John Norman - Gor 16 - Guardsman of Gor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norman John)

"What do you think, Jason?" asked a man.
 "Let us hope, fervently," I said to him, "that it holds."
"But do you think it will?" asked a man.
"No," I said.
"We must flee," said a man.
"Would you surrender the river to men such as Policrates and Ragnar Voskjard?" I asked.
"No," he said.
"Is that you, Jason?" called Callimachus.
"It is," I responded.
The Tina then, in a few Ehn, came abeam of the chain. We threw lines up to her.


III
THE CHAIN HAS BEEN BROKEN IN THE NORTH


The long galley, some eighty feet Gorean, sped toward the chain. Its bow as lifted,
unnaturally, from the water, did not even touch the water.
"Superb!" cried Callimachus, commending the enemy.
"What is it?" I called up to the stem castle.
"They have redistributed the ballast," called Callimachus. "Splendid!"
The vessel continued to approach the chain. I could hear the stroke of the hortator's hammer
even on the Tina. Such a speed could be continued for only a few moments. I saw more of the hull,
and its keel, dripping, lifting out of the water.
"Are they mad?" I called.
"It is their intention to ride over the chain," said Callimachus.
I clutched the rail, in wonder. Every bit of sand in the lower hold must have been thrust to the
stern of the vessel. Gear, too, and catapult stones, had been slid to the stern deck. Even the crew,
other than oarsmen, their weapons ready, had congregated there.
Then the concave prow of the vessel had cleared the chain. There was a great scraping as the
chain tore at the keel. Then the galley, half on the chain and half off, moved eccentrically, teetering,
like a ship caught on a bar, stranded and buffeted, assailed by conflicting currents.
"Out oars!" called Callimachus. "Ready!"
We saw another galley from the west, too, its prow high, speeding toward the chain.
The first galley, its oars stroking, slashing at the Vosk, its hull twisting, careened forward and
to the side.
"It will clear the chainl" I cried.
"Two points to portl" cried Callimachus. "Stroke!" His officer, by hand signals, conveyed his
message to the helmsmen and oar master at the stern.
"It is clearing the chain!" I cried.
Already the Tina was speeding toward the intruder. I flung myself to the deck. We took her in
the starboard bow, as she slid, grinding and splintering, from the chain.
"Back oars!" called Callimachus.
The impact had slid me back on the deck for a dozen feet.
"Back oars!" called Callimachus.
The Tina, shuddering, backing, with a splintering of wood, freed her ram.
I, crouching, peered over the side. The forward deck of the enemy was already awash.
I saw men there, in water to their knees, clinging to rails. The catapult on the enemy's stern
castle had broken loose from its large, rotating mount. Its ropage hung down, dangling in the wind.
The strands seemed narrow, from the distance from which I viewed them. The largest, however,