We closed up fast upon the ironclads. They fell apart to let our
flotilla come between, and as the _Vigilant_ ranged up the rigging of
the ironclads was manned to salute the Shah. And, indeed, that was
something to see. The shrouds, from the decks clear to the trucks, away
up toward the sky, were black with men. On the lower rounds of these
rope ladders they stood five abreast, holding each other’s hands, and so
the tapering shrouds formed attenuated pyramids of humanity, six
pyramids of them towering into the upper air, and clear up on the top of
each dizzy mast stood a little creature like a clothes pin--a mere black
peg against the sky--and that mite was a sailor waving a flag like a
postage stamp. All at once the pyramids of men burst into a cheer, and
followed it with two more, given with a will; and if the Shah was not
impressed he must be the offspring of a mummy.