"All right, kid!" crooked-nose called after him with a laugh. "You tell us! We don't know nuffin, don't need ya either. Have a nice rest o' yer life!" Baldie chuckled with him, and the two of them -- proud of having twisted around the kid's dreams for a laugh -- continued their earlier discussions, to quickly forget him. The kid was just like all the others, after all: big talk, no follow-through.

The sun was beginning to set; the sky was turning shades of pink and purple, yellow and orange, like a painting behind the furled sails and the waving flags and streamers. A cloud was descending upon the city, gently frosting the distant buildings, though it threatened to grow thicker. People on the streets seemed little more than shadows. A fire truck whistled by in the distance. Seagulls spiraled overhead, fighting over the last remains of the festival. The janitor had stopped working, and was leaning on the rail staring out into the blazing sky thoughtfully. A thin black dog with a glimmering collar raced after the seagulls with a growl and a jumping bark and began to devour the leftovers for itself.

Something whizzed past Nils' ear and grazed his hair. It was a little flighty thing, looked like a red and black bat at first, flapping hard toward the dock. When it screeched it sounded like a chirruping squirrel -- and when it slowed, it looked like a snake with wings and claws. It swung around and beat at the languid sailors' heads where they sat on the dock, scratching at their hair and snapping its little jaws. Baldie and Crooked-Nose flung their arms at it, shouted at it to get lost, until the little creature circled again and flew up and over the rail of the ship itself, where it began tormenting the sailors onboard. A few minutes passed, and finally the creature appeared again, chattering, and it soared and circled round and round the docked ship.