Fat lights hung low above the water, describing the envelopes of great 
ships, sliding past each other as their
parallax shifted with the steady progress of the boat. They had come to a place 
near the mouth of the estuary but not on the usual shipping lanes, where ships 
lay at anchor awaiting shifts in tides, winds, or markets. One constellation of 
lights did not move but only grew larger as they drew toward it. Experimenting 
with shadows and examining the pattern of light cast upon the water from this 
vessel, Hackworth concluded that the lights were being deliberately shone into 
their faces so that they could not make any judgments about the nature of the 
source.