The Adventures of Captain Mago

Towards evening Hadlai and his party made their appearance, bringing a goodly supply of purchases. Jonah, marching along with a consequential air, and encircled by a crowd who had followed him down from the mountains was carrying a calf upon his back.

"What are you going to do with that calf?" I asked.

"Eat it," he said; "I have earned it."

"How? by blowing your trumpet?"

"No; not by blowing my trumpet, but by wrestling: they matched their strongest against me, and I levelled them all; and so I won my calf. A capital country is this! I will knock them over, every one, if only they will give me a calf every time."

And, catching sight of the King of the Dorians, who had come with a herd of oxen, he shouted to him:

"Yes, you too; give me a bullock, and I will knock you down. Give me two, and I will break every bone in your skin."

"Silence, fool!" I cried, hoping to bring him to his senses. The King did not understand Phœnician, and asked what the man was saying; but I did not think it necessary to enlighten him.

Jonah continued muttering and grumbling to himself: "Why should I not fight them, if they like it? If I were to challenge a man of the tribe of Dan or Judah, I should soon find a knife in my ribs! But here they like it, and give me a calf. Fine country this!"

That evening the wind blew briskly from the north-north-west, but not with violence enough to make us hesitate about taking our departure next morning. The Dorians were full of surprise at our determination to put to sea, and owned that nothing would induce them to face the peril of such a wind.

"Can it really be," asked one of the chiefs, "that you intend to start upon your voyage with this gale in your very teeth?"

Upon my assuring him that I had fully made up my mind, he continued:

"And that, too, with the recollection so fresh of the terrific storm in which you came? Truly, you are demi-gods indeed!"

"Aye, yes," I said; "children of Ashtoreth we are; and we rode the seas that night in a way that was worthy of our fame!"

"And were not the Cabiri considerate for me?" interposed Himilco; "the salt sea made me thirsty, and they sent me a goat-skin full of luscious wine."

Without noticing him, the chief continued:

"Assuredly the Phœnician deities maintain a careful watch to guard their children. I shall not soon forget how I saw their mighty chariot roll above the waves to your assistance."

It was now Himilco's turn to look astonished.

"Chariot upon the waters!" he exclaimed; "what was it like?"

"It was high, and round, and parti-coloured, and had great sea-monsters drawing it over the raging sea."

He spoke with a kind of awe; but it struck me that he might perchance have seen Bodmilcar's gaoul, and that the lightning's glare had given it the variegated effect which he had noticed. I suggested this, in an undertone, to Himilco, who only said:

"If Bodmilcar were the sea-god, I should like to have the chance of getting into the sea-god's chariot and ringing the sea-god's neck."

While we had been talking, I had observed Hamilcar and several others closely scrutinising something that the waves had cast upon the beach. Curious to see what was interesting them, I joined them, and found some fragments of a ship.

"This is no Phœnician work," said Hamilcar, pointing to a bolt still hanging to one of the planks.

"No," I agreed; "and from the thickness of the wood, and from the bolts being driven in without wedges, I have no doubt that it is an Egyptian craft that has been wrecked."

"Look here!" cried Himilco; "here is proof positive; the goose's neck from the prow!"

"It may be," I said, "that some Egyptians accompanied Bodmilcar, and have come to grief in the tempest."

"I hope Bodmilcar has not shared their fate," said Gisgo; "drowning is too good for him; I want him to have a stout rope round his neck. And besides, the rascal has three-quarters of our merchandise that I should like to get back."

"Rather too much to expect, I am afraid," I said; "however, we must now embark. We are bound for Sicily where perhaps you may recover your lost ears."

A grim smile passed over the old pilot's face.

"Until the wind changes," I observed, "we shall have to keep on tacking;" and I moved towards the ships.

At this moment the Dorian King approached me with the air of having something important to communicate; he broke out abruptly:

"You are a Phœnician, a ruler of the sea: I am a Dorian prince, a ruler of my people: so far we are equal. These oxen, these horses, these chariots are all mine; from my thirty villages I can summon twelve thousand men. I am favoured of the gods. I am mighty."

I thought he surely was about to make some demand, but a single glance satisfied me that he was not in a position to exact anything by force; not only were Hanno, Chamai, Bichri and Jonah still on shore, but Hannibal, too, was close at hand, supported by forty of his men, while the King was attended only by about a score and a half of lancers. I made no reply, but waited for him to proceed.

"Ruler of the Phœnicians," he said, "I want you to sell me your pilegech Chryseis: you have only to name your own price for the Ionian, and that price is yours."

Hanno made a start forward, but I held him back.

"King of the Dorians!" I said, "Chryseis is not designed for sale. However, she is free to answer for herself. To us your kindness and courtesy have been great; and I am ready to consent, in return, to give the maiden up to you. But this one condition must be fixed; she must become yours by her own free choice."

Hanno glanced eagerly at Chryseis, and imploringly at me.

The King advanced to where the girl was standing, and proffering his hand, said:

"Daughter of the Helli! kinswoman of our tribe! come and be the Queen of the Dorians of Hellotis!"

She stood with her eyes fastened on the ground, but made no reply.

"Zeus and Apollo guide your choice!" continued the King, "and inspire your answer! Listen and consent. No Dorian maid has ever yet made good her hold upon my heart, although there is not one who would not be proud to be the object of my choice. Honours and luxury await my bride. She shall have slaves to surround her, and do her weaving, and obey her slightest wish; her table shall be spread with the choicest diet, the produce of three hundred goats and fifty cows; and her home shall be full of all the comforts that wealth can buy."

He waited for her to speak, but still she made no sign.

"My house," he went on to plead, "is a house of stone, like the Egyptians', and stored up within it, Chryseis, there are chests, in which are necklaces, and pearls, and golden bodkins for your hair. All shall be yours, and you shall be first and noblest of all the women in Crete."

Chryseis slowly raised her eyes from the ground, and laying her hand upon Hanno's shoulder, in a firm, deliberate, and yet gentle voice, said:

"Our holy Zeus has given me to Hanno, and with Hanno I shall remain."

The Dorian, mortified and excited, literally stamped with rage.

"What!" he cried, "prefer a Phœnician subject to a king of the Hellenes?"

"A Sidonian scribe," said Hanno, "is the equal of any king on earth. I own no superior except my captain and the gods above."

"Though he were the lowliest sailor in the service," declared Chryseis, "my heart is his. His goddess Ashtoreth has delivered me in the hour of peril, and Zeus, my god, pronounces that I am his."