CHAPTER V.
PHARAOH ARRIVES TOO LATE.
We shortly hove in sight of what is known as the Tanitic mouth ofthe Nile, beyond which, in the distance, could be discerned thetall obelisks of the City of Tanis. The deposit brought down by theriver itself, combined with the action of the wind and surf upon thetwo headlands of the bay, has a perpetual tendency to block up thisoutlet of the Nile; and when the _Cabiros_, which had been sent onahead to explore the bar, returned with the intelligence that thewater was too shallow to permit a safe passage to the _Melkarth_, Idetermined to push on a little further to the Mendezian mouth, whichis considerably wider, and which leads, moreover, direct to Memphis.Night was coming on, so that I would not venture to stem the somewhatrapid current of the river in the dark, but brought my ships toanchor within a bowshot of the shore.
Hazael came to me and asked permission to pass the night with hisfriend Bodmilcar. I was equally surprised at his request, and at thesubmissive manner in which he made it; but after ascertaining thatthe Ionian was in her cabin, and that Abigail was with Chamai ondeck, I allowed him to go.
Remembering that we had arrived at a land of strangers, with whomhitherto we had held no communication, I doubled the watch, and gaveHannibal special directions to keep a sharp look-out. The order inwhich our ships were arranged was this: on the right, furthest to thesouth, was the _Cabiros_; the _Ashtoreth_ was moored to some pilesabout half a bowshot behind; the _Melkarth_ and the _Dagon_ werestationed on the opposite bank, where the water was deeper. One ofthe small barques was with me, the other with the _Melkarth_.
Anchored higher up the river were several Egyptian vessels, and aconsiderable number was drawn up upon the shore. I wondered why thereshould be so many at a spot where there was no regular anchorage,but I subsequently learnt that Pharaoh was about to send forth asquadron for the purpose of putting down a revolt that had brokenout at Pelusium. Two officers, accompanied by a troop of soldiers,some armed with battle-axes, and some with bows, had already boardedmy ship to inquire who we were and what we wanted, and had retiredsatisfied with my explanation. As the shades of night deepened, wecould observe the lights of two galleys cruising about in the openchannel, and shortly afterwards another Egyptian came on board andordered my own lights to be extinguished, a direction which wasinstantly obeyed.
The night was intensely warm, and the scorching east wind, ladenwith the sand of the desert, blew from time to time in dry andunrefreshing gusts. The sky was overcast, and although the nightwas not black it was so dark that little could be distinguishedexcept the gleam from the fires of a large camp pitched on the rightbank, and the inconstant lights of the distant villages on eithershore. Close in front of us were still burning the torches of thetwo galleys I have mentioned; but besides these, there was only theoccasional flicker from some little boat that moved upon the stream.
Towards midnight, five or six hours after our anchoring, I resignedmy watch to Himilco, intending to take some rest. On my way to myberth I cast my eye towards the right bank, and through the gloom Icould see indistinctly that there was a crowd of vessels there; buteverything was silent, and I went below.
I had not been asleep for more than a half-an-hour when I was roughlyaroused by Himilco.
"We are adrift!" he exclaimed.
In an instant I was upon my feet, and rushed to examine our moorings.They were cut asunder.
"All hands on deck! lights! light the lamps!" I cried with all mymight; and at the same time I noticed lights appearing on the left,and heard a distant voice hailing the _Ashtoreth_ with the cry,"Our moorings have been cut, and we are all adrift." I shouted inreply that they should come over to us; it was only too evident thatanother of our ships was in the same dilemma as ourselves.
Meantime my crew had come on deck, and had lighted several signals. Iordered the rowers to their benches, and made them backwater gentlyso as to keep us steady until the other ship should join us. At thedistance of about four bowshots behind, I made out the _Cabiros_hoisting her lights, and could hear the voices of the crew in greatexcitement. Almost immediately there was a splash of oars, andthe _Dagon_ came alongside of us. I shouted to Hasdrubal, who wasstanding on board:
"Where's the _Melkarth_?"
Getting no satisfactory reply, I immediately ordered the three shipson to the left bank. The _Dagon_ went straight across the river; Ifollowed, taking an oblique course, and the _Cabiros_, hasteningahead, went a little way south, and then turned back due north,keeping as close as possible to the shore.
During the time we were getting across, Hannibal had just put all hismen under arms, as it occasioned us much surprise that while therewas this commotion amongst ourselves the Egyptians had made no signnor sound; their lights were out, and their cruisers no longer tobe seen. The _Cabiros_ rejoined us, and reported that she had seennothing; nor even after we had descended the river a couple of stadiawas a single Egyptian vessel visible, and it was not until we werewithin hearing of the roar of the waves at the river's mouth that wealmost ran against some black mass that loomed through the darkness.
"Back to your moorings, Phœnicians! no leaving the river atnight!" shouted a voice, in Egyptian.
"We don't want, I can tell you," I replied, "to be running away likea set of thieves. We have been cut adrift, and one of our ships hasdisappeared."
"Then get fresh moorings," was the answer: "you must wait tillmorning. By Pharaoh's orders, you cannot leave to-night."
There was no help for it but to obey; and sending some men on shorein the small boat with torches, we succeeded in finding an anchorage.But scarcely had we settled in our places, when our attention wasarrested by a voice from the middle of the river gasping out inPhœnician, "Help! help!"
We put off a boat in the direction of the sound; the cry was repeatedstill closer to us, and in a few minutes the boat returned alongside,and one of my sailors, dripping with water, was hoisted on to thedeck of the _Ashtoreth_. He was in a pitiable condition, his face allbleeding, and his head gashed open in several places.
"Treason, treason! we are betrayed by Bodmilcar!" was all he couldutter, as he staggered and fell senseless on the deck. I orderedhim to be laid upon a piece of carpet, whilst Abigail chafed hisface with ointment, and Himilco put some wine to his lips. I hadascertained quite enough to put me on my guard, and consequently hadour lights extinguished, permitting only one lamp and one torch toeach ship: and I gave directions to the watch to keep a keen look-out.
Meanwhile the poor fellow had recovered his consciousness, andHanno, Hannibal, Himilco, Chamai, and myself, pressed round him togather what he had to say. One of our sailors supported his head tofacilitate his power of speech, and Abigail and the Ionian kneltbeside him, with the wine and ointment.
"I went this evening," began the man, "to visit a friend of mineon board the _Melkarth_. You know the crew are nearly all Tyrians.Bodmilcar has tampered with them all. He has had an interview withPharaoh's general, and told him that you are spies in league with theinsurgents at Pelusium; he said, too, that you had a slave on boardyour ship, whom he was bringing to Pharaoh, but who had escaped.His people urged me to join the conspiracy, and when I refused theyall threatened to kill me. I jumped overboard. An Egyptian boatpursued me. I was twice struck on the head by an oar. I dived beneaththe water. I suppose they thought I had sunk; as they gave up thepursuit. Orders have been given to seize us all to-morrow. We are tobe attacked in the morning, and carried off to Pharaoh. I can tell nomore."
The exertion of telling all this had been too much for the bravefellow, and he fainted away again. My first impulse was to rush tomy cabin for the King's letters, but to my amazement they had alldisappeared; they had evidently been stolen during my absence atJerusalem We were overwhelmed with consternation. Hanno was thefirst to speak:
"All is plain enough," he said; "Bodmilcar is the thief. Hazael, youknow, has the King's signet ring; and the rascals have opened thepapers, altered their purport, and closed them again with the
royalseal. Bodmilcar has carried them and presented them; he representshimself as leader of the expedition, and denounces you as a traitor.He gets believed: and what is the result? why, sure as fate, we shallbe made prisoners, and only too likely we shall be put to death.Abigail, of course, will be sent to Pharaoh."
"Not while I have a sword to defend her," said Chamai, stamping withrage.
"Yes," continued Hanno, coolly; "no doubt Abigail will be handed overto Pharaoh, and the fair Chryseis will be awarded to Bodmilcar as arecompense for his service."
Hanno groaned aloud, and Hannibal furiously twirled his moustache.
"I have no doubt, Hanno," I said, "that all your conjectures areright. But it's rather soon to despair. Perhaps you haven't been withus old mariners long enough to learn our seamen's song about theEgyptians?"
I began to whistle an air, and Himilco, with a merry laugh, broke outwith the gay refrain:
"The bull-head tribe, with all their skill, Must catch the man they fain would kill."
The effect was instantaneous. My whole party almost smothered mein their delight. Hanno threw himself at my knees and grasped oneof my hands; Abigail seized the other, and covered it with kisses;Hannibal caught hold of my cuirass on one side; Chamai lugged at meon the other. Altogether, I was in a fair way of being strangled. TheIonian, who partially comprehended my meaning, could only expressher gratitude by the bright glance of her soft eyes.
As soon as I had extricated myself from the embraces of theenthusiastic group, I pointed out to them a confused mass of Egyptianboats, now just visible in the dawn.
"If there were only half-a-dozen of those fresh-watertortoise-shells," said I, "our three ships could soon show them theway to the bottom of the Nile; but there is such a lot of them!Besides, they have forces on land, and the river isn't wide enoughfor us to get out of their reach. Bodmilcar, too, will lend them ahelping hand, and he is an old stager; his ship, it is true, is notmuch in fighting trim, but it is manned with Tyrians. However, wemustn't give up! Patience! Trust yourselves to me!"
"Yours we are to the death!" cried Hanno; while Hannibal, with histeeth set, growled out, that if any one disobeyed my orders it shouldbe the worse for him. Chamai, almost beside himself with excitement,clasped Abigail in his arms, and vowed he would bring her the headand spoils of the first foe he should meet, even if it were Pharaohhimself.
Hamilcar and Hasdrubal, with his pilot Gisgo, now came on board formy orders.
"I never trusted that Tyrian," said Hamilcar; "and I am glad to havethe chance of fighting it out with him; and my men are as delightedas myself."
"Ha, ha! Himilco," laughed Gisgo the earless, "we shall have somesport now."
"Yes, old Celt," replied Himilco, "we will teach the rascals to swim."
I shook hands heartily with all three men, and they returned totheir ships. It was now broad daylight, and casting my eye towardsthe river, I reconnoitred the enemy's position. Below-stream theEgyptian galleys were under way; opposite to us, on the left bank,were about forty small boats, each manned with four rowers and fivesoldiers, and a troop of nearly a hundred bowmen were assemblinghastily on the right-hand shore. Looking up-stream, I could count asmany as six galleys about two stadia away; two large heavy ships,with hanging decks, were sailing down the left bank; and mid-channelI recognised the towering sides and rounded prow of the _Melkarth_,her oars shipped, and her sails furled, being towed by a low,open rowing-boat. The camp, of which we had noticed the fires inthe darkness, was much too far off to be visible by daylight. Theshore on either side was perfectly flat and treeless, but coveredwith fields of clover and of corn that was nearly ripe, as theharvest-time was drawing nigh. On the left bank, about two bowshotsfrom the water, a steep dyke, surmounted by a causeway, had beenthrown up as a protection during the annual inundation. Far away tothe south, the white buildings of a city could be distinguished; andin the north could be seen the yellowish-whitey waters of the riverbar, with the broad green surface of the sea beyond.
We were hardly six stadia from the mouth of the river; the strongeast wind and the current were both in our favour, and once out atsea we should have little to fear. I determined, therefore, to makean attack upon the Egyptians before the _Melkarth_ could get aheadof us, for I knew that once in front of us, her very bulk would be aformidable obstacle to our retreat, and that she could overwhelm uswith a storm of missiles; while the superior height of her deck wouldnot only prevent our men from boarding her, but, on the contrary,would give her men every facility for boarding us.
My first manœuvre was to slip my moorings, and to take up myposition in the middle of the channel, so as to be out of reachof the archers on the shore. The _Dagon_ had shifted her prow tothe north, and lay half a bowshot below me; the _Cabiros_ was tomy left, her prow southward. The sails were all furled, the rowerswere ordered to backwater very gently so as to just keep the vesselsin their places, and each pilot took his stand by the side of thehelmsman. Hannibal posted his archers fore and aft, and groupedhis soldiers round the mast. Hanno and I mounted the prow, and mytrumpeter followed. The gigantic Jonah remained with Hannibal; hecould not be persuaded either to put on a cuirass or to take a lance,but stood, clarion in hand, watching all our preparations with acurious eye.
The scorpions had already been supplied with missiles, and eachvessel was provided with a number of earthenware pots filled withsulphur and pitch. We improvised, also, a quantity of fire-ships,formed of small planks, into which spikes were driven, to which werefastened well-greased goat-skins charged with combustibles.
We had not long to wait. Very soon were heard the shrill notes of thesmall Egyptian trumpets, and the decks of the ships were seen mannedwith troops. I could discern the smooth brown faces of the soldiers,and make out that they were armed with battle-axes and largetriangular shields; and I could see that the archers, with their legsbare, and poignards in their girdles, were ranged along the sidesof the ships. The rowers, more than half-naked (clothed merely by astrip around their loins), plied their paddles, according to theircustom, standing. On board the _Melkarth_, Bodmilcar was easilydistinguished; he was in a state of great excitement and activity,and apparently giving some explanation to an Egyptian officer, a mandressed in green and wearing a large wig, with his face and armspainted with cinnabar, in accordance with the common fashion of theirmen of rank.
The soldiers that manned the small boats were nearly as slightlyclad as the rowers; they carried poignards in their girdles, andwere armed with axes and staves pointed at both ends, in the use ofwhich the Egyptians are notoriously skilful. Although all appeared inconsiderable commotion, not one of the vessels made any attempt toadvance, and there seemed a general state of expectation.
The solution of all this was soon apparent. A large boat was seen todetach itself from the general mass, and make its way down-streamtowards us. Eight rowers stood paddling on the raised bow and stern;twelve soldiers, with square plates of bronze strapped on theirbreasts, and armed with lances, daggers, and short scimitars, werein the middle; and amongst them was an Egyptian officer of highrank. He was arrayed in two tunics of striped gauze, crossed oneover the other upon his breast; a girdle ornamented with enamelplates was round his waist, and a large gold and enamelled bird withoutstretched wings was suspended by a gold chain from his neck. Hishead was covered with a tall cap, bearing an enamel plate inscribedwith the name of Pharaoh in hieroglyphics; his beard was enclosedin a casing of red cloth; and in his hand was a gilt battle-axe,elaborately inlaid with figures of animals and other symbols. Onone side of this sumptuous personage was a closely-shorn priest orscribe, habited entirely in white, and holding an inkhorn and somepapyrus in his hand; on the other, in full Syrian armour, was our oldfriend Hazael. I could not resist a smile as I caught sight of a pileof chains and manacles lying in the boat.
On the Egyptian officer shouting that he wanted to come on board andspeak to me, I gave permission for his boat to come alongside the_Ashtoreth_, and, followed by his scribe and five of t
he soldiers,with the greatest arrogance he stepped on deck. Hazael had thediscretion to remain behind, where he was. I received the magnatewith all courtesy, and saluted him after the fashion of his owncountry, but instead of acknowledging it in any way, he began withthe most overbearing insolence to exclaim:
"DOWN, YOU PH?'NICIAN THIEVES!" _To face page 85._]
"Down, down, you Phœnician thieves, and sue for Pharaoh's mercy!"
Finding that such was the tone he took, I answered sternly:
"No thieves are we, nor have we injured Pharaoh; so far fromimploring Pharaoh's mercy, we have a right to demand Pharaoh'sprotection."
"Out upon your falsehoods!" retorted the enraged Egyptian; "have younot this very night been attempting your escape?"
"No," I said emphatically; "we were cut adrift. The real thieves areamongst you. That rascal Bodmilcar and that vile eunuch stole theroyal letters that they brought to you."
"Silence!" shouted the Egyptian in impetuous fury; "too well weunderstand your frauds. Out with your hands! the handcuffs are readyhere, and you and the slave that you have stolen must come along toPharaoh. Never fear but ample justice shall be done!"
The scribe was opening his inkhorn for the purpose of taking down ournames, when I burst out into a roar of laughter.
"Do you take us for fools?" I said; "why on earth should we leave ourships to go and hear a slanderous catalogue of lies alleged againstus? No, no, sire, we remain where we are."
The Egyptian literally stamped with rage. "Villains! pirates!thieves!" he cried; "every one of you shall die a death of torment."
THE SOLDIERS RAPIDLY CROSSED THEIR LANCES. _To face page 86._]
Throughout this interview I had taken care never for a moment to losesight of the fleet above-stream; and seeing that the ships were nowin motion, without paying the least regard to the continued ravingsof the grand official, I ordered my trumpeter to sound an alarm. TheEgyptian, followed closely by his scribe, hurried towards his boat;his soldiers, to cover his retreat, rapidly crossed their lances.Chamai, Hannibal, and Hanno, mistaking the movement, and supposingthey were making an attack on me, fell upon them with drawn swords;and the huge Jonah, throwing down his trumpet, rushed into the fray,and wresting a lance from one of the soldiers' hands, took him bythe shoulders and dashed his head twice or thrice against theside of the ship. It is a popular belief that the Egyptians are ahard-headed race, but I avow that this fellow's skull cracked like aripe water-melon.
Meanwhile, Hannibal had cut the throat of another of the soldiers,and Chamai had plunged his sword into the body of a third. I wasstruggling to wrench the lance from the grasp of a fourth, whentaking alarm at the number of my men, he turned about, and followingthe example of his sole remaining comrade, sprang overboard and swamlike a frog. But they were not to escape so easily; Bichri, who wasstanding near the wale of the vessel, hit one of them with an arrow,and the rowers stunned the other by blows with their oars. Thus thewhole five were entirely disposed of; but the real conflict was yetto come.
As soon as the Egyptians were aware of the fray, one of their galleysfrom the right bank drew rapidly towards us, and the whole bevy ofsmall boats that had gathered round kept up a continuous flight ofarrows, every one of which, however, either stuck in the ship's sideor went whistling over our heads.
A single glance was sufficient to reveal to me the enemy's tactics.Just as I had anticipated, the _Melkarth_ was being towed down thestream towards the right, obviously with the design to pass us andget below, so as to cut off our retreat. Their immediate design wasto divert our attention from this manœuvre, and for this purposetwo large ships were ordered to bear down upon us, and a flotillaof small boats was sent to keep up a storm of arrows. Hannibalimmediately, by my directions, set his catapults to work, and avolley of stones and pots full of pitch and sulphur was discharged,right over the _Cabiros_, on to the approaching vessels. I thenordered the _Cabiros_ and the _Dagon_ to move simultaneously, rightand left of me, but in opposite directions: the _Cabiros_ northwardstowards the galleys that were obstructing our way, the _Dagon_straight down upon the boat that was towing the _Melkarth_. I couldsee Bodmilcar upon the prow of the great gaoul, wildly endeavouringto make the Egyptians understand their danger, and urging the rowersto get their oars into the water; but he was too late. Our movementshad taken them completely by surprise. The _Dagon_, cutting her wayfull speed through the crowd of small boats, crushed or capsized allthat came in her course; the _Ashtoreth_, liberated by the departureof the _Cabiros_, effectually kept in check the ships that weretrying to pass down the stream; and the _Cabiros_, that had gonenorthward, by sending out a number of fire-floats that drifted on inadvance, completely discomfited the two galleys that were guardingthe mouth of the river.
Our tactics were a perfect success. One of the Egyptian ships wasrun into by the _Ashtoreth_ with such violence that it was cutasunder, and sank immediately; and the other, harassed by the potsof combustibles, and alarmed at the eddy caused by the founderingof its consort, purposely ran aground. The _Dagon_, after stavingin the towing-boat like a piece of rotten wood, had returned tome; and as we had the satisfaction of seeing Bodmilcar's crew cuttheir tow-rope, we both turned our attention to the galley whichwas retiring from the attack and falling back upon the _Melkarth_.Simultaneously passing it quite close, one on each side, we swept offboth its tiers of oars, and hurling down upon it a final shower ofarrows, we filed off to join the _Cabiros_, which was still engagedin discharging its missiles and fire-floats at the other two galleys.
The contest had been sharp but short. In less than an hour we hadrendered the _Melkarth_ incapable of action; had sunk two Egyptianvessels; had sent a third aground; and had crushed or capsized atleast fifteen small boats.
The surface of the water was covered with the _débris_, and not afew men could be seen drifting along in the current. Thrown intoutter confusion by our unlooked-for attack, the rest of the Egyptianvessels floundered about in each others' way, and totally preventedthe _Melkarth_ from obtaining another tug-boat. Finding, therefore,that those need give me no concern, I gave my attention to thegalleys in front, and sent adrift a dozen or more fire-floats, whichthe crew of the _Cabiros_ sent down-stream with their boathooks.The galleys gave way; and, feeling that there was no immediateimpediment, I proceeded towards them calmly to the north, leavingour assailants confounded by their disaster, and Bodmilcar ravingfuriously on the poop of his helpless ship. Bichri lamented that hecould not let fly an arrow at him, but it was utterly useless, as wewere already too far away.
"A drawn battle!" said the brave archer, coming forward from thestern.
"Yes," said I; "the rascal has had bad luck this morning; but he willwatch his opportunity. We haven't done with each other yet."
"I hope not," said Hanno, vindictively.
Presently there was a movement among the Egyptian ships, and three ofthem, having extricated themselves from the maze of confusion, hadcommenced a pursuit of us, accompanied by a number of little boats.At the same moment I espied a troop of horsemen galloping along theshore; and raising my eyes to the causeway on the top of the dyke,I observed a cloud of dust, from the midst of which broke ever andagain the gleam of a row of bronze and gilded chariots. There was noroom for doubt; evidently the King himself was approaching with theintention of being a witness of our capture.
But the mighty Pharaoh had come too late!
Out of forty or fifty fire-ships which we had set afloat, two at lasthad run foul of one of the galleys, which was now in flames, and theterrified crew were fain to resort to the usual naval manœuvreof the Egyptians, and run their ship aground. The vessels that hadstarted in pursuit of us were still at least two stadia in our rear,so that we had ample time to tackle with the single galley thatremained ahead to bar our progress.
"Board her! board her! Let us board her!" shouted Hannibal, Hanno,and Chamai, with unanimous accord.
"We have no time, and she's not worth the trouble," I replied; "we
will sink her."
"Down she goes, then, like a stone," cried Himilco.
The _Cabiros_, without meeting with any resistance beyond a fewchance stones and straggling arrows, now slipped quietly under thevery prow of the galley, and with unfurled sail was making off tosea. The _Dagon_ was about to follow her, but at a signal from me,Hasdrubal bore down upon the galley's stern, whilst I simultaneouslydrove straight against her flank, and between us we literally cut herin two. Down sank the galley in a whirlpool of foam; and our lastobstacle being thus removed, we hoisted our sails and rode out tosea, our trumpets sounding out a flourish of victory.
Behind us rose a discordant howl of maledictions. We were out ofreach. It was utterly impossible for our enemies in their littlenut-shells of vessels to follow where our victorious prows were nowcleaving the foamy billows; and when we were fairly out at sea,steering due west, I could see, as I looked along the low flatcoast, that the Egyptian masts were quite motionless. It was evident,therefore, that Bodmilcar had advised them to abandon their pursuit.
Fifteen of our men were wounded, nearly all of them slightly, and twohad been killed; whilst the loss of the enemy, including those slainby the archers, burnt by the fire-ships, or drowned by the waters oftheir own sacred Nile, must have been nearly three hundred.
It did not take long to repair whatever damage we had sustained.Some broken oars on board the _Ashtoreth_, and a few more on boardthe _Dagon_, were replaced from the reserves; the decks were washeddown, the stays strengthened, some broken ropes spliced, and thearrows that had lodged in the rigging and ship's sides removed. Allour wounded had been carried below; and the bodies of the threeEgyptians, having been stripped of any spoil of value, were thrownoverboard. The bodies of our own two men were also committed tothe waves with an invocation on their behalf to Menath, Hokk, andRhadamath, the judges of the infernal regions[30]. In less than threehours everything was as much in order as though nothing had happened.Chryseis and Abigail, who had all along rendered what assistance theycould, were rejoicing in their freedom; Hanno, whose nerve had neverfailed him, and Chamai fully sharing in their delight.
[30] The Minos, Eacus, and Rhadamanthus of the Greeks.
I sent for Hasdrubal to come on board, that he might join Himilco andmyself in a council of war. When we were alone together, I said:
"Listen to me. There is no shadow of doubt that we shall be pursued.Ascending the eastern outlet of the river, the Egyptians will comedown by the western; they may come either by the Canopic or Phaniticbranch; and at both Pharos and Canope there is no question but thatthe King has ships in readiness. They can anticipate us there;couriers by land can arrive by early morning; we, with our utmostspeed, could not arrive till long beyond midday. Somewhere or otherwe must of necessity put in to shore again; our supply of water isall but gone."
To Himilco's suggestion that we had wine enough to meet our need,I vouchsafed no other reply than a shrug of the shoulders, andcontinued:
"My intention was to take in a fresh supply this very evening, butthis skirmish has frustrated everything. Go ashore we must; and thisis the scheme that I propose; we will re-enter the river by theSebennitic mouth, which is nearest to us now; they will never suspectus of venturing on land so soon; probably they will not be there atall; if they are, we must use main force; but water we must have."
My companions approved my plan, but expressed their anxiety as towhat was to happen afterwards.
"I do not think," I said, "that because we have lost the gaoul thatwe need at all contemplate abandoning our expedition. Failing to findus at either Canope or Pharos, the Egyptians will watch for us allalong the coast; and at last Bodmilcar, who knows our destination,will get reinforcements from Pharaoh and will chase us right on toTarshish. Sooner or later we shall be pretty sure of falling in withhim; but for the present, at least, we can elude him thoroughly. Hereis my project. The wind is north-east and favourable; by steering bythe sun in the daytime, and by keeping the Cabiros a little to ourleft at night, I do not fear but that in five days at most we mightreach the shores of the great island, Crete."
Himilco and Hasdrubal stared at me in mingled admiration and surprise.
"From Egypt to Crete! Across the open sea! An unheard-of thing! Canit be possible?"
Such were the exclamations with which they heard my proposition.
"Aye, harder things than that may be done," I continued; "the windisn't likely to change till next new moon; but even should it changeand we happen to miss Crete, we shall only run upon the mainland, oron one of the islands of the Archipelago. Thence we can get roundCape Malea to Sicily, from Sicily to Carthage, from Carthage directto Tarshish. That's our course, now."
"By our goddess Ashtoreth, your scheme is beautiful!" cried Hannibal;"and meanwhile the Egyptian rascals will be floundering about theSyrtes."
"And rough enough they'll find them," said Himilco. "I was well-nighdrowned there two years back; and let us hope that Bodmilcar and hisTyrian sneaks, bad luck to them! may come to grief. How I should liketo hang them all like a string of fishes, fastened by their gills!"
We were not long in reaching the little town of Sebennys. The_Cabiros_ was first sent ashore, and returned with the tidings thatall was quiet. I paid the customary dues to the Egyptian governorof the place, and despatched a number of our sailors to procure therequisite supply of water; they took the opportunity of purchasingseveral baskets of onions and some good fresh meat. Before the endof the day we had turned our backs upon the land, and were making ourventurous way north-west.
"And now, for our dishes and platters," I cried; "I am frightfullyhungry."
We seated ourselves in the stern, and joined by Chryseis and Abigail,we formed a large and merry group. The sailors and soldiers all wereserved with a ration of wine in honour of the morning's victory.
"I see we have changed our course," said Hanno; "are we making forCrete?"
"Yes," I replied; and added that I supposed it was a place alreadyknown to the fair Chryseis.
Chamai inquired whether it was not the same as Chittim.
"No, not the same," I answered; "_this_ island is full of mountains,upon which are goats with spreading horns like those of Arabia; thepeople are famous for their skill as archers."
"Bichri, then, may find his match," said Chamai. "But to what nationdo they belong?"
"They are Phrygians and Dorians," I told him; "fair, tall men, withhandsome faces and well-formed limbs; they have built towns in whichsome of our Sidonian merchants have recently settled, getting thereby way of Chittim and Rhodes. Chryseis speaks the same language asthe Dorians."
Chamai, ever full of interest in Chryseis, expressed his pleasure athearing that she was about to go amongst a people kindred to herself,and was inquiring whether they were a martial race, when Chryseisinterposed, and with Hanno's assistance explained that the Dorians,like the Ionians of the Isles, and the Achaians on the mainland, wererenowned warriors, and that the fame of their conquests had spreadfar and wide.
"How large, how vast the world must be!" exclaimed Hannibal; "here isa people, famed in war, whose very name I scarcely know. But is itnot from Crete that we get our Chalcidian swords?"
Smiling at his mistake, I made him understand that Chalcidianswords were made of copper from the island of Chalcis, and that thePhœnicians could not elsewhere procure copper that would take sofine a temper.
Hannibal went on to ask Hanno to inquire of Chryseis what were themilitary tactics of the Ionians, and how they paid their soldiers.
"Do you expect us women to know such things as these?" asked Abigail,with a merry laugh; "a woman knows well enough that her countrymencan fight, and she knows how to prize the spoils they bring her fromthe battle-field; but what can she know of the art of war?"
Chryseis seemed amused at her maid's vivacity, and proceeded toenumerate the most illustrious military leaders of her land. I heardher name Achilles, and Ajax, and a certain king called Agamemnon; andI understood her to rela
te that two kings in her country, named Jasonand Ulysses, were renowned for the voyages they had made.
"Voyages!" cried Himilco, scornfully; "I can guess what their voyageswere: creeping along and hugging the shore; making perhaps a stadiuma day; never looking at a star. And then, what ships they had! I amglad I haven't to trust myself in one of them from Sidon to Chittim."
Chryseis owned that, as to ships, she had never seen anything in herown country that could be compared to the ships of the Phœnicians,adding that she thought that the mariners of Phœnicia must be truesea-gods.
"And you must be their goddess," said Hanno, with enthusiasm.
"Ah, young man," yawned out Hannibal, "you should put your finespeeches in Ionian; the lady does not understand you."
The lady, however, bent her head gracefully, and raised a laugh bysaying in good Phœnician that she perfectly understood what hadpassed.
"Trust a woman for understanding a compliment," was Hannibal's remark.
"I should like to see the effect," said Himilco, "of one of Hanno'spretty speeches upon Gisgo's wife; her Celtic dialect is somethinglike the croaking of Bodmilcar's ravens."
It was now getting dark, and as he spoke, Himilco moved off to hispost upon the prow, and I took up my watch upon the stern. Allthat night, and all the following day, the wind freshened till itblew a gale; being all in our favour, its violence caused me noalarm, but well-nigh all on board, conscious of being far awayfrom land, and beholding nothing but sea and sky, were filled withterror; and as the ship at one moment was carried high upon thecrests of the enormous waves, and at another was sunk low in whatseemed an unfathomable abyss, they became almost paralysed withalarm; they lost their appetites entirely, and were incessant intheir invocations to their gods. The gale next night increased to ahurricane, and on the morning shifted to the south, driving us to thenorth at the rate of 1800 stadia in a day.
Happily, although our ships were thus flying over the sea, they keptwell together. Towards evening the wind dropped a little, and on themorning of the fourth day it was comparatively calm; the sky was veryclear, and, to our vast delight, the man on watch at the top of themast announced that land was in sight. I joined Himilco on the prow,and both of us could plainly distinguish in the sunlight the peaksof some snow-capped mountains. By the afternoon the view of land wasplain to every one on board, and before the stars had risen, we wereskirting a coast that seemed so rocky as to be inaccessible.
It was long past midnight before we could discover any anchorage atall; at last we found a small exposed bay where a river coursingalong a bottom of white sand entered the sea. Towards the east,masses of thick woods could be made out, with snowy peaks of higherridges rising up behind them. The _Cabiros_ was hauled up on shoreclose to the river's mouth, and, the water in the bay being foundsufficiently deep, the two galleys were moored to some of the greatboulder-stones upon the beach. The coast was quite desolate, andthere was no sign of human habitation.
Les aventures du Capitaine Magon. English Page 7