I tried to hail the nearer of them, but the infernal din of the warning signals drowned my voice. Hundreds of guns covered us, their crews standing ready to hurl destruction upon us.
"Does Tjanath always receive visitors in this hostile manner?" I inquired of Tavia.
She shook her head. "I do not know," she replied. "Had we approached in a strange ship of war, I might understand it; but why this little scout flier should attract half the navy of Tjanath is—Wait!" she exclaimed suddenly. "The design and color of our flier mark its origin as Jahar. The people of Tjanath have seen this color before and they fear it; yet if that is true, why is it that they have not fired upon us?"
"I do not know why they did not fire upon us at first," I replied, "but it is obvious why they do not now. Their ships are so thick about us that they could not fire without endangering their own craft and men."
"Can't you make them understand that we are friends?" she asked.
Immediately I made the signs of friendship and of surrender, but the ships seemed afraid to approach. The alarms had ceased and the ships were circling silently about us.
Again I hailed a nearby ship. "Do not fire," I shouted; "we are friends."
"Friends do not come to Tjanath in the blue death ships of Jahar," replied an officer upon the deck of the ship I had hailed.
"Let us come alongside," I insisted, "and at least I can prove to you that we are harmless."
"You will not come alongside my ship," he replied. "If you are friends you can prove it by doing as I instruct you."