But the sailors had wheeled the carved chair close to the marble steps, and they went on speaking—
"To-night upon the sea we go,
And you with us must sail.
Step in; the tide is up, and we
Must start off without fail."
And the girl found herself in the chair, which the sailors pushed down to the beach.
On the sea was a fine boat, with silken sails and a crimson flag.
The boat had a gilt figure-head, and its sides were painted blue and gold. A red velvet carpet was spread upon the deck, and the sailors, having hoisted the girl in the chair up the side of the vessel, placed her upon the velvet carpet, and she found herself sailing fast away from the land before she had time to think of how she had got there.
The sailors were all standing at one end of the deck playing upon various musical instruments, and the tune they played seemed to answer back the beautiful music that she had heard for so many days floating in the air. Also the sailors sang—
"Away it sails, the music-ship,
Over the moonlit sea,
And the trumpet that the captain blows
Is the only rudder the vessel knows,
As we sail so merrily,
The fiddles, and fifes, and drums, and horns
All carry the ship along,
It shapes its course by the cymbal clash
To the land of music and song."
"on a couch lay the master of the castle" ([p. 297]).
The girl did not quite understand what the sailors meant by their strange song. It did not seem to be altogether sense to her, but she supposed that they knew where they were going. Still she asked—