The Adventures of Captain Mago

"And would you believe," interposed the man who was at the helm, "that I have seen the heads of Scylla shatter a whole fleet with such violence that the admiral was pitched clean over there into the jaws of the volcano?"

Himilco, of course, could not allow himself to be outdone by the men, and proceeded to say:

"I have been nearer to Scylla than any of you. One cloudy night I was at the prow, vainly endeavouring to make out the Cabiri, when all at once I felt her foamy mouth open gently, close behind me, and snap off my cap – lucky it wasn't my head too – and before I could turn round, Charybdis had swallowed a whole bottle of my best Berytos and three whole cheeses!"

Jonah, who was looking on intensely interested, said:

"And what did you do, pilot? I know what I should have done. I should have given her a good crack across her muzzle."

"O, it was no good my saying anything to her; she wouldn't have understood me; the only language she can comprehend is that of the Lœstrigonians."

He could hardly speak for laughing; but Aminocles cowered down upon the deck, and covered his head with his loose tunic, the other six Phocians scampering off in dismay to secrete themselves in the hold.

CHAPTER X

GISGO THE EARLESS RECOVERS HIS EARS

Notwithstanding the strong and rapid current which bears down upon the promontory to the right, and which has given rise to the marvellous stories with which sailors delight to awaken the fears of the inexperienced, we passed through the strait without the slightest difficulty; and so well did I know the channel, and so manageable were our ships, that we had no necessity to diminish our ordinary speed. The coast on either hand was covered with fine wooded hills, surmounted by jagged grey rocks, rising up almost perpendicularly, like the battlements of a fortress; there was good anchorage everywhere, and more especially in the bay on the side of the island in the strait itself. I did not, however, lay to, but hastened on with as much speed as possible, in order that before nightfall I might reach the roadstead in front of the promontory of Lilybœum, to which our countrymen are accustomed to pay periodical visits for the purpose of purchasing sulphur and lava-stones. The Siculians have a few cabins on the margin of the roadstead, and are on the whole less savage than their countrymen in the south and west of the island, more frequent intercourse with strangers having tended to soften their manners; but the ever-increasing immigration of the Latins is so continuously overwhelming their numbers, that in my opinion they will before long have entirely disappeared.

Rounding the cape, I steered due west along the shore of the island, leaving the Æolian peaks to our right, and by evening had reached the anchorage upon which I had settled, and where I found good moorings about two bowshots from the beach. I did not feel altogether sure of my quarters, so that I would not land any of my merchandise that night, and I resolved, moreover, to hold no communication of any kind with the natives till the morning. Some men came with torches to the water's edge and made signs of friendly intentions, but I merely told them that they might bring what sulphur, coral, or mother-of-pearl they could on the next day; and finding that I was resolute in my refusal to negotiate with them then, they went away.

They had not been gone very long, when Himilco pointed out to me some shoals of tunny-fish within reach, and asked permission to try and catch some. As it was some time since our men had tasted fresh fish, I could not refuse, but allowed him to make up a party of the most experienced fishermen he could select. A lot of harpoons and tridents were lowered into a boat, into which got Bichri and two archers, carrying some lines to be attached to the harpoons to haul up the fish that were hit. Jonah, ever on the alert when food was in question, asked permission to join the party, and was allowed to go under condition that he brought his trumpet and some torches to attract the fish. It had been ascertained that Aminocles was a skilful hand at this pursuit; and as soon as he was satisfied that there was no fear of his encountering any of the monsters of which he had heard so much, he was induced to accompany them.

"How was it," he said to Himilco, "that we escaped Scylla and Charybdis so completely? I looked out once or twice, but I saw nothing alarming."

"Neither did I," said Himilco, gravely. "The truth is, the old monster does not show herself every day, or, maybe, something scared her; perhaps Hannibal's red crest, or perhaps Jonah's big trumpet. Anyhow, there's no accounting for the freaks of these monsters."

"She was quite right in keeping out of my way," said Jonah; "now I have seen Nergal's kitchen, I have courage enough for anything."

Aminocles was still not quite easy in his mind, and with reference to the volcanoes, asked whether we were quite out of the reach of the flames.

"Out of reach!" repeated Himilco; "why, the flames are six hundred stadia away from where you saw them; you only saw the reflection in the clouds."

"Nergal's kitchens, all of them!" said Jonah; "plenty of them! nice and hot! He can fry and he can bake! He's a capital cook!"

The sailors were immensely amused at all this talk; and when Himilco, with imperturbable seriousness, proceeded to interpret Jonah's remarks to the credulous and timid Aminocles, their laughter became perfectly uproarious.

The fishing was a great success. Several good hauls were made; and before daylight the boat returned, and the men retired to their well-earned rest.

In good time next morning the natives whom we had seen the previous evening, came with a considerable increase in their number, and one of them swam boldly out from the shore, and was received on board the Ashtoreth. He was a man that might be regarded as a fair type of the Siculians; tall, with a low forehead, thin nose and lips, beardless chin, and copper-coloured complexion. He addressed us in the Latin tongue, and was eager to tell us that the Latins were now in possession of the eastern portion of the island, and were the bitterest enemies of the Siculians. I replied that I was a Phœnician, and that Italian Latins, or Italian Samnites, Umbrians, or Sabellians were all the same to me; what I wanted was coral, sulphur, and lava; and if the Siculians could bring me these, they should have a liberal price in return. He replied:

"We are subjects of King Morgesh, who will only permit us to transact business inland. Come with us to yonder mountains; we have plenty of the commodities you want. There we may make our exchanges."

The persistency with which he urged our going on shore with our goods aroused my suspicions; but without exhibiting any sign of mistrust I pretended to acquiesce in his proposal, and at once proceeded to land my bales of merchandise and sixty armed men, taking the precaution, moreover, of placing all my archers on board the Cabiros, which, with her machines ready for action, was moored within a few cubits of the shore.

"What need to bring so many men?" asked the Siculian, when we had landed; "we can carry your packages to the mountains."

When I replied that I did not intend to go inland at all, and that if they wanted to effect any bartering with us they must bring their own merchandise down to the beach, the man was evidently very much disconcerted, and went away to consult his companions. While he was absent, I availed myself of the opportunity of replenishing all our water-casks from the copious brook that flowed into the bay.

On the man's return, he was accompanied by two of his colleagues.

"Do not be afraid of the fatigue of ascending the mountain," they urged; "we will not only convey your property, but we will carry all of you too, if you like. Only come."

And with repeated solicitations, they assured me I should be pleased with the bargains I should be able to make.

I represented the impossibility of my yielding to their wishes. It was my determination to set sail again that very evening; consequently there was no leisure for us to quit the shore. While I was talking, I made my people unfold to the view of the savages some specimens of my wares – glass beads and trinkets, bottles and bright caldrons, and some parti-coloured stuffs. These proved too much for their cupidity, and unable to stand out any longer, and convinced of my inflexible purpose of remaining where I was, they hurried off to fetch their own commodities.

Rough and brutal in their manners, they haggled over every item; and whenever they saw anything that especially attracted their fancy, they tried to snatch it from our hands; or, if small enough, they would endeavour slyly to pilfer it; but we kept a sharp look-out, and as fast as I completed my purchases, I despatched them either to the Dagon or to my own ship. The throng of the Siculians gradually grew larger and larger, and in proportion as their numbers increased, their demands became more and more encroaching; so much so, that fearing some outbreak of violence, I thought it prudent to send for Chamai, Bichri, Himilco, and a score of men to supplement my body-guard.

All at once, Gisgo, who had been sitting quietly on the beach watching the proceedings, started to his feet, and touching Himilco's shoulder, drew his attention to a sudden stir that had begun amongst the Siculians in the rear. Following with my eye the direction of his finger, I perceived in a moment that some king or chief was passing through the throng, which was falling back to allow him a passage. Before him was carried a number of rods, all painted red, and ornamented with coral, mother-of-pearl, and other glittering substances. From the end of the longest of these rods dangled some ill-defined objects, which to my unpractised eye looked like nothing so much as strings of faded leaves. But Gisgo was better informed.

Pointing to the rods, and with a voice almost choked with excitement, he said:

"Captain, there are my ears!"

"Your ears! What do you mean?"

"There, there! on that stick! strung together! I know what they are well enough."

And he muttered to himself: "A man knows his own ears."

It was all in vain that I strained my eyes to see which of the shapeless and withered cartilages Gisgo maintained were his: I could make out nothing to distinguish one pair of ears from another.

"Never mind," said Gisgo; "I recognise them; and I recognise something else; that chief is the blackguard who cut them off."

The impropriator of my pilot's ears had now advanced to me, and commenced negotiating in person. He sold me a quantity of sulphur, and appeared to be conducting his transaction in a friendly and equitable manner; but just as I was about, as usual, to embark my purchase, he declared that in addition to the stipulated price, he must have a cuirass like Hannibal's. I told him peremptorily that he could not have anything beyond the contract, whereupon he caught hold of the cuirass that Hannibal was wearing, and tried to drag it from him by main force. Hannibal, however, was too strong for him, and repelled him with a blow so violent that he stumbled and fell to the ground. In a moment, doubtless at a preconcerted signal, we were assailed by a shower of stones and lances. I was quite prepared; my measures of defence had all been arranged, and at a sign from me, the Cabiros set her catapults at work, and discharged a volley of missiles over our head into the throng of the enemy, whilst Hannibal and Chamai, each with his own troop, charged right and left.

But Gisgo was beforehand with any of us. Before the chief could regain his feet, the pilot rushed at him, and with the help of Himilco (who drew his sword, and hurried to his assistance) he had split open the chief's skull, and laid two of his staff-bearers dead, or as good as dead, by his side.

My fighting-men meanwhile succeeded in driving back the foremost Siculians half a stadium from the water's edge, and as soon as our boats were loaded and ready to start, I sounded the signal for retreat. Finding themselves no longer pursued, the Siculians faced about and followed us back at a safe distance, trying to harass us by stones and javelins; but I made my people embark a few at a time, and when there were only about fifteen of us remaining, just enough for one boat's load, I was congratulating myself that we had been so little molested; but at that very instant a large party of the Siculians made a dash towards us, and if it had not been that the Cabiros skilfully protected us by her engines, we must inevitably have fallen into their hands. As it was, we all managed to embark; and although they pursued us with hideous yells as far as they could into the water, we got right away, the Cabiros slipping her moorings and following us without sustaining any injury.

One of our Phocians had been killed, and another seriously wounded, and eight of our own people had received slight cuts and contusions; but we had obtained fifteen hundred shekels of coral, mother-of-pearl, and sulphur, so that on the whole I considered we had come out of the affair without much to regret. I rejoiced that my prudence and resolution had spared us from falling into any ambush of the treacherous foe.

Gisgo was in high spirits; he considered himself amply avenged, and came on board the Ashtoreth to show me his trophies; he brought two rods that he had captured, to each of which he had affixed a pair of bleeding ears, freshly cut from the skulls of his fallen adversaries. With regard to his own ears, nothing could convince him but that he had found them amongst the string of others, and the pair he selected was ever afterwards preserved most carefully in his leather purse.

During the night we passed through the group of the Ægades, which lie off Lilybœum, and where the Phœnicians have established a naval station. After hailing one of the guard-ships, we directed our course south-west, hoping that we might, with a calm sea and a light wind from the east, succeed by the following afternoon in reaching the fine bay which encloses, on the one hand, the roadstead of Utica, the metropolis and arsenal of our Libyan settlements, and on the other the harbour of Bozrah, its newly-built rival.

Eager to catch sight of the first important place at which they were to rest awhile, my people next morning were up betimes. Hannibal was especially interested; he had long wished to visit both Utica and Carthage, and asked me if it were true that Carthage had formerly been called Bozrah, and had not been known as Carthage for more than twenty years.

I replied that his impression about Carthage was quite correct; it had originally been Bozrah, which means "the citadel;" but Utica had been in existence for more than a century. He would find it a noble city; its Cothôn, or war-port, contained sixty dry-docks, above each of which was erected a magazine, and the whole place landwards was rendered impregnable by a triple wall.

Before disembarking, I satisfied myself that my prisoners were all in good condition, and after they had been well washed I ordered them to be supplied with double rations. The Rasennæ generally are very superstitious, and my captives were no exceptions. My proceedings with regard to them caused them much misgiving; they imagined that the extra food and cleansing implied that their last hour was come, and that they were about to be offered in sacrifice to the gods. Every moment in the dim light of the hold they fancied they could hear the winged Turms coming to conduct their souls to the shades, and they even went so far as to persuade themselves and each other that they could make out the shrieks of the tortured who were being scourged below. I was glad to relieve them of their fears. When I made them aware that the object of my preparations was to make them ready for sale in a fine city, where they would be employed according to their abilities; would be well fed and well clothed; and where, if they conducted themselves meritoriously, they would have a claim to the spoils of war, they were full of glee, and fell to their double portions of meat with a double relish. One only regret they acknowledged; they mourned their removal from their Hestia, or hearth-goddess, but they soon consoled themselves with the reflection that as the gods are everywhere, they might fairly hope to find a Hestia in their new country.

The Phocians had carried off the body of their comrade who had been killed by the Siculians and had conveyed it on board. I promised to try and procure them a piece of ground where they might bury him according to their own rites; and so gratified were they by my endeavour to meet their wishes in this respect, that they declared they would encounter any perils by sea now that they found it did not deprive them of their rites of sepulture. Another circumstance which had some little effect of reconciling them to their position was that Himilco, although he had great difficulty in bringing them to believe what he said, explained to them that the Siculians, with whom they had just had an engagement, were really the Lœstrigonians that they had so much dreaded.

CHAPTER XI

OUR HEADS ARE IN PERIL