Flying low, early in the afternoon they passed close enough to the Vanikord islands to see hordes of natives watching them from the coral shores.  Numerous smaller islets, gems set in the ultramarine blue of the sea, were also passed within the next hour.  Gulls, ospreys, and other swift-winged seabirds sailed about these pretty outcroppings of the mighty deep, and sometimes the creatures came after the Sky-Bird with shrill cries of challenge, only to be quickly left behind.