The Adventures of Captain Mago

"By Ashtoreth!" he swore, "what a scoundrel the fellow is!"

After pondering a few minutes, he continued:

"I will tell you what I can do. I will lend you fifty armed men to help you to improve the villain off the face of the earth. I would, if I could, lend you more, as I know how advisable it is for expeditions into the interior to be well guarded; all kinds of people are at work in the mines, and nothing is easier for them than to conspire to overpower a new comer. But I really cannot spare any more. The time will come, I hope, when we shall have reinforcements enough here to make our authority properly felt in the mining districts."

Ziba now mentioned that she had made a contract with one of the Iberian chiefs, named Aitz, by which he had engaged to find porters and labourers to assist the twelve hundred slaves which she had provided to excavate the soil of a new mine; and having explained that she had erected a fortress in which were stationed a hundred soldiers, and put up a residence for an overseer of the works, she said that she was perfectly willing to hand over the contract to me under certain conditions. She was ready to surrender her sole interest, to give me an introduction to her overseer, and to allow me the protection of her little garrison, if I would stipulate to pay her a fifth part of the gross profits.

The suffect seemed to think that the proposal was reasonable; but I demurred to the proportion of the profits which she demanded, and insisted upon her accepting a sixth instead of a fifth.

After a short debate, which ended in Ziba's yielding to my terms, I made Hanno draw out two copies of the agreement which we mutually signed, and then all adjourned to the temple of Ashtoreth, where we offered a sacrifice to the goddess, and made a vow to remain faithful to the various covenants of the contract.

The time of the year was very favourable, and I was anxious to lose no time in starting. Accordingly, four days did not elapse after our arrival at Gades before our ships were again on the sea, making way towards the mouth of the Bœtis, which we reached after two days' easy sailing.

Beyond the Straits of Gades the sea is subject to tides which are even more considerable than those in the Jam Souph, and it was necessary to wait until high-water before we could pass the bar of the river. As soon, however, as the bar was passable, the river presented a very animated scene, and vessels of every description got into motion, both ascending and descending the stream; Phœnician craft, from the ponderous gaoul to the slim fishing-smack; Iberian piroques, carrying their great brown or black sails of woven bark; and the long Celtic coracles, composed of hide. Of all these, none were empty; whatever provisions are consumed in the mining regions have all to be brought from Gades, and the same ships that convey the supplies into the interior always return laden with the ore.

Having crossed the bar, as there was no wind and the current was strong, I lowered my sails and rowed up the river. The yellow waters of the river flow rapidly between banks that are sometimes wooded and sometimes barren flats. The country on both sides is mountainous and wild, and only at long intervals are to be seen any of the Iberian villages, which, consisting of hovels made of mud and branches of trees, are most frequently nothing more than roofs to holes which have been dug in the ground. The miners' villages are very similar, the chief difference being that the huts are higher and more commodious, and in the centre of each community there is a palisade enclosing a redoubt, or embattled fortress built of brick.

"Not particularly lively here," said Hanno; "the getting of silver seems rather a more dreary business than the spending of it."

Hannibal remarked that all the villages seemed to occupy positions that were naturally very strong, observing that the Bœtis itself formed a good line of defence, and that there might be a great deal of hard fighting in such a country.

"I can answer for that," said Himilco; "I know that these Tarshish barbarians would sooner pluck out a man's eye than give him a cup of wine. Here come some of the rascals. Look at them."

Every one looked where Himilco was pointing, and there, walking, or rather shambling, along the bank were rather more than a score of savage-looking creatures evidently watching our ships. They were almost naked, their only covering being a strip of woven bark around their loins, and a sort of turban of the same material on their heads; they had sunburnt skins, black hair, and small black eyes, obliquely set; they were of moderate height, and appeared to be extremely agile. But we observed that some of them seemed to be quite of a distinct race, being very tall and thin, with thick shaggy beards and very revolting countenances. All were armed with long shields, and carried either bludgeons, slings, or strong lances pointed with flint or bone.

I shouted to them, but they made no sign, and continued skulking along the bank.

"Bichri!" cried Himilco, to the archer, who was sitting on the poop with Jonah, both of them playing with the monkey, "Bichri, just put an arrow into one of those scaramouches, will you? they pretend they cannot hear the captain."

He started to his feet, and was in the act of raising his bow, when I interposed:

"Leave them alone; time enough to attack them when they attack us."

Bichri lowered his hand at once.

"Well then," he said, "I may as well go on amusing myself with the monkey; what an entertaining brute it is! he pulls my hair and scratches my face a bit; but I bear it all because he's so clever."

"Aye, aye, go back to your plaything; he's about as good-looking as the Iberians," said Hanno, laughing.

My brave young archer was not much more than eighteen years of age, and in light-heartedness and love of frolic was like a boy of twelve. The monkey, the only creature on board more restless than himself, had taken his fancy immensely, and they were continually vying with one another in feats of agility, trying which could climb the mast the faster, or which could swing the higher at the end of a rope. Another of Judge Gebal's warm admirers was Jonah. The giant seemed to have lost his concern about the land of strange beasts, and to be engrossed with the monkey, which he had admitted into his close friendship, and whose antics he was always rewarding with the choicest tit-bits on which he could lay hands. One of the creature's great delights was to mount the trumpeter's shoulder and clamber by his shaggy hair to the top of his head, where from its elevated perch it would make grimaces, scratch its pate, and grin and gnash its teeth at every one. Bichri, Jonah, and the monkey, thus formed an amicable trio, of which a little rough treatment all round, and a few cuffs and scratches, did not mar the general concord.

Towards evening by my orders we came to a standstill, opposite a miners' village. The overseer came out from his hut to speak to us. He was a coarse, ill-spoken man, rarely opening his mouth without an oath. He was a native of Arvad, and consequently an old acquaintance of Hannibal's.

"By all the infernal gods!" he began, "this is a week of visitors!"

"How so?" I asked.

"Confound me, if we hadn't another Tyrian here five days ago! Bodmilcar was his name; and a rascally set of scamps he brought. Drunken beasts they were; they sacked some houses in the village here, and, by Khousor Phtah! I vow they would have murdered us every one if we had not pounced upon them pretty hard. I have seen blackguards in my time, but never the like of those. And if any one can succeed in swinging up Bodmilcar himself at a rope's end, he will do the world a service."

"Where is he now?" I asked; "can you tell me that? I have a score of my own to settle with him."

"By the gods! you will have some distance to go. He has taken a swarm of Iberians with him into the interior. You had better be careful how you meddle with them: they are dangerous folks to touch; and they are a pretty strong force altogether."

"Never mind their force," said Chamai; "numbers don't matter; only let us get them within reach of our swords."

"All very fine for you, young fellow, to be so cocksure of your game," replied the overseer; and turning to me, he added, civilly enough: "But I see you are determined to risk the consequences. Give me a drink of wine, and by the gods! I will give you some hints that may be useful to you. Silver is silver, you know."

"Yes, and wine is wine," muttered Himilco, always keenly interested upon that topic.

I ordered a skin of good wine to be produced, that he might drink while we talked over our scheme; but the overseer had no wish to be outdone on the score of hospitality; and accordingly he clapped his hands sharply, and when the manager of his slaves appeared in answer to the summons, he gave instructions for one of his finest calves to be killed, and a feast to be laid out for us under an adjacent clump of trees.

After we had given each other the latest news of Phœnicia and Tarshish, the overseer said in his own abrupt way:

"You seem brave enough; but I have a great respect for numbers. Your wine is good stuff, and I like it. I am glad to meet a fellow-townsman. Now, in return for the wine, curse me if I don't do the best I can to help you."

After all, he had not much to tell. He informed us that in the territory adjacent to that of Aitz, who had made his compact with Ziba, there were some exceedingly rich veins of silver; and that, although the Iberians in possession were decidedly disposed to be hostile, they might readily be bought over by some trumpery merchandise, or without difficulty might be subdued by our arms.

"And how near to them can we take our ships?" I asked.

"Within three days' march," he answered. "It is not so much that the distance is great as that there are no roads; and after the ships are left there is no further communication with the river. You have to go through forests, and you have to go on foot. No horses can go; no mules."

"Nice marching that!" said Hannibal, sententiously; "and you say we have to take our own provisions?"

"As to that, I daresay you can get Ziba's overseer to lend you some Iberians; they make capital beasts of burden."

"Very good," said Himilco; "and I think I can undertake to make them trot along at a good pace. Give me a stick, and I will write a few words of their Iberian tongue upon their backs in a way they will perhaps remember."

The overseer seemed to enjoy Himilco's spiteful jest, for he laughed aloud. We emptied our wine-cups, and broke up our meeting.

Betimes next morning we were again on our voyage up the river, and in less than a day had reached Ziba's territory. Her overseer, a native of Utica, lent me two hundred slaves as porters and miners, and I divided them into gangs, which I put under the supervision of my officers. The ships, with just a sufficient portion of their crews, were left under the charge of Hasdrubal; the Dagon and the Ashtoreth descending the river for a short distance to get a better anchorage; the Cabiros, as drawing less water, being left under orders to cruise about, and to keep on collecting a supply of provisions. We had been provided with a guide; and everything being arranged, I set out upon my exploration of the new territory.

We started across an extensive plateau, and having traversed several woods and deep ravines, made our encampment for the night. Very monotonous were the journeys of the following days, over gloomy hills and across deep valleys, and it was not until the middle of the fourth day after leaving the banks of the Bœtis, that we caught sight of an Iberian village. The people were all under arms when we arrived, and inclined to take a defiant attitude, but a few presents had the effect of conciliating the chiefs, and inducing them to give us permission to encamp on a barren knoll, about three stadia off their cluster of huts. Under Hannibal's superintendence we surrounded the encampment with a trench and a palisade, and in two days were ready to commence our digging operations, in which we were directed by an experienced man, who had been sent with us for the purpose.

We were beginning an arduous task. For three long months did our labours proceed without intermission. The Iberians were always distrustful, but never committed any overt act of hostility. Yet, thanks to the favour of Ashtoreth, though our work was long, our success was great. Excavation after excavation turned out prolific, and as the result of our mining, I obtained no less than two thousand shekels of silver. Some of this I refined on the spot, and retained in my own keeping, the rest of the ore being periodically despatched by hired slaves to the Ashtoreth, whence I received back a written acknowledgment of each consignment as it was delivered on board.

At length I felt it was time to re-organise my caravan to return; and under the direction of an Iberian guide, over whom a strict surveillance was kept, we set out upon our way back to the ships, rejoicing to quit the desolation in which we had been sojourning so long.

No sooner were our backs turned upon the encampment than the Iberians rushed towards it, tore down the palisade, and scrambled furiously for any article, however worthless, that we happened to have left behind.

CHAPTER XIV

AN AMBUSCADE

For two days we continued our return march without any interruption, and reached the base of the steep ascent that leads to the plateau overlooking the river.

The mounting of this height was a matter of no little difficulty. We had to climb like goats, clinging to rocks and tufts of brushwood, trampling down branches and dry grass, and hardly succeeded, after all, in following the track which the head of the caravan had opened.

Suddenly, about half-way up the slope, the ground sank abruptly, forming a deep ravine that had to be crossed before continuing the ascent. We paused at its brink to recover our breath. Behind us the long line of our sailors and porters was slowly filing through the thicket; in front, yawned the precipitous ravine itself; and opposite to us rose the mountain-side, to its very summit a mass of sombre woods; several eagles were wheeling round above the chasm.