Book excerpt: Grammardog Teacher's Guide contains 16 quizzes for this mystery thriller at sea. All sentences are from the short story. Figurative language creates a dark tone, suspicion and suspense (The ship was a "slumbering volcano." The slaves sat "sphinx-like" while chanting low like "bag-pipers playing a funeral march."). Allusions support the theme of mystery and secrecy ("Gordian knots," "Guy-Fawkes," "freemason" "and dark satyr in a mask").