The Adventures of Captain Mago

Having completed all the business that was practicable, I was preparing to renew our voyage, when one of the Samnites came running up to his associates, and shouted something which appeared to throw them into a state of great excitement.

"What ails the fellows?" said Himilco; "they seem going mad. Is the cock-head Nergal at their heels?"

The commotion was soon explained.

"Pirates! Pirates!" shouted a number of the Samnites in a breath. "Quick, Phœnicians, on your guard! The Tyrrhenians are coming! They are rounding the point! they will be on us directly! Away! Away to the mountains!"

Without losing a minute, I made Jonah sound an alarm and summon our men to their ships. Hannibal donned his helmet and marshalled his men, including the seven Phocians; the overlooker of the rowers, scourge in hand, hurried the oarsmen to their benches, and in a short time we were three stadia from the shore and ready for action. Chamai congratulated himself that although his right arm was disabled he was still capable of doing good execution with his left.

"What new friends are we to have the pleasure of seeing to-day?" asked Bichri, with a smile, as he fastened on his quiver and strung his bow.

I told him that they were Tyrrhenians, or Rasennæ, from the north-west of Italy, who traded a little, but did a good deal more in the way of privateering along the coast; and that, although I was not aware of their having ever hitherto come into collision with Phœnicians, I had very little doubt they carried freight enough to make it worth our while to risk an engagement with them.

"Yes, they are new to me," said Hannibal; "and perhaps we can give them some new lessons in the art of fighting; they may like a taste of the Chaldean mace that King David gave me."

Anxious to understand the true position of things, I sent the Cabiros ahead to reconnoitre, ordering her to keep as close as possible to the shore until she reached the extremity of the headland, whence she could command a view of the whole line of coast; she returned with the intelligence that there were five ships, which seemed of a long build, advancing leisurely towards us by making short tacks to catch the wind, and that in about half an hour they would be in sight.

Whilst I was pondering in my mind what line of action I should follow, my eye fell upon the two boats of the Hellenes which had been spared in the general demolition, and it occurred to me that I could make them of service.

"How about our soundings, Himilco?" I said.

"Ten cubits, and a rocky bottom," was the pilot's prompt reply.

Gisgo was on board the Ashtoreth. He had come to bring the report of the Cabiros.

"Tell me, Gisgo," I said, "how much water do those Tyrrhenian privateers draw? Is it six cubits?"

"Aye, six at the very least; they look low upon the water, but they sink very deep; it is their excessive weight that keeps them from lurching."

"Very well; now go to those two boats, scuttle them, and sink them there, right in front of my ship. There!" I said, pointing with my hand.

Himilco and Gisgo chuckled again with delight as they went to do as they were ordered, and in the course of twenty minutes the boats were both sunk, and formed a regular stockade about three cubits below the surface of the water.

My next proceeding was to direct the Cabiros to lower her sail, and to pretend to be dragging herself with difficulty towards the headland, as though she had sustained some serious injury. I then made the Dagon sheer off about two stadia out to sea, ordering her to make her way back to the Ashtoreth by short tacks, as if she were coming to her assistance. Meanwhile I gave my ship the appearance of being a disabled merchantman; I lowered my sail, made my rowers struggle with their oars without propelling the vessel, and told all my soldiers to slip their shields, and to lie down flat upon the deck so as not to be seen.

"What's up now, Captain?" said Chamai raising his head, with a merry grin.

I told him that I was giving a sprat to catch a mackerel; and that if he would have patience I hoped he would be satisfied with the haul.

It was a very short time now before the Rasennæ caught sight of us. Immediately one of the five ships bore down directly upon the Cabiros; two of them started off in pursuit of the Dagon, which was still out to sea, and the remaining two steered for the Ashtoreth, which, as though perfectly helpless, exhibited no sign of resistance.

When they had come within a stadium of me I had ample opportunity of examining the details of their boats and equipments. Although the boats were long, they were very ill-constructed; they had only a single deck, and were each manned by thirty rowers; the stern was somewhat raised, but the deck was almost level with the sea; on the prow was painted a pair of huge red and white eyes which seemed to stare fixedly at the waves. The men on board were very tall; they had large heads, wide flat faces, reddish complexions and thin beards; although their limbs were muscular and well-developed, their gait was very awkward. They were armed with ponderous lances, hatchets, bucklers, and round helmets which had no crests; whilst their legs were protected either by sandals or by pointed gaiters. Most of them wore tunics of some dark colour, which, though longer than our kitonets, were shorter than those worn by the Syrians. On their arms and throats was a profusion of bracelets and necklaces, and their girdles, which were very wide, were ornamented with plates of polished bronze. After looking at them steadily for a time, Abigail declared that she would rather die than fall into the hands of such revolting creatures.

Coming within hail, the Rasennæ began shouting furiously at us, but we took no heed. Finding that their challenge was unanswered, they sent one of their boats in front of me, whilst the other passed round the stern intending to cut me off from the shore; but they reckoned without their host. The former boat dashed itself violently against the stockade of concealed boats, and after two or three ineffectual efforts to disengage herself, heeled over on her side, and remained with her stern considerably sunk below the sea.

My trumpet sounded, my oars dipped, my warriors started to their feet, and a shout of triumph rang through the air.

Thoroughly taken aback by our sudden revival, the other boat endeavoured to tack about to get out of our way; but so clumsily did she set about the manœuvre, that she only succeeded in running her stern aground, and being thus entirely at my mercy, I poured into her such a shower of missiles as probably her commander and crew had never before conceived possible.

"Here, Tyrrhenians, Rasennæ, or whatever you call yourselves," shouted Hannibal, as he worked away at his scorpions; "here is a heavenly shower of manna for you! If these arrows and Cretan pebbles are not to your taste, we can find you a nice little lot of spiked stakes."

Bichri, too, was quite in his element. With such an immovable mark within bowshot, he selected his victims just as he pleased, and was careful to choose those who wore any article of apparel or any ornament that particularly struck his fancy.

"Look at that fellow," I heard him say, "with the necklace of gold beads inlaid with blue and enamelled with white: I must have him; but I must hit him on the head, or I shall be spoiling that charming bit of embroidery he is wearing."

As our deck was several cubits higher than that of our antagonists, their archers were comparatively powerless; and in order to protect themselves under the incessant discharge of our missiles, they took refuge in their hold. Observing their retreat, Hannibal, Chamai and Bichri, with a few followers, leaped down upon their deck; Jonah, in his impetuous haste to go after them, came sprawling down headlong with a tremendous thud, but rising rapidly to his feet, caught hold of the heels of an unhappy Tyrrhenian who had not had time to make his escape, twirled him round and round in the air like a sling, and dashed out his brains against the side of the vessel. Short work was made with the few who still remained above board, and in a few minutes more, our people, who had forced their way down the hatchway, reappeared, bringing with them twenty men, of whom, to my surprise I found that no less than eleven were Phœnicians. Their costume and physiognomy revealed this at a glance.

Free now to turn my attention from the shore to the sea, I found that the Dagon had already sunk one of the privateers, and in concert with the Cabiros was driving the remaining two fast inland. I joined in the pursuit, and after a short chase, one of the boats, overwhelmed by the volleys of stones which we threw from our engines, found all further resistance useless, and made signs of surrender. The capture of this vessel cost us the lives of two of our men, and while we were engaged in securing our prize, the remaining boat took advantage of our occupation to effect an escape.

We lost as little time as possible in making our way back to the coast towards the prizes we had left there. We were only just in time. The Samnites had been watching the issue of the contest, and were hastening down from the heights to pillage the abandoned vessels; but as I sent some detachments of men to keep guard, they had for the present to keep their distance, and to be content to bide their time before they could enjoy the crumbs of the expected feast.

Our first business now was to empty the boat that had struck upon the sunken stockade; it had already nearly two cubits of water in its hold, and was consequently liable to sink at any moment. There were no prisoners to be made here; during our engagement with the other vessels some of the men had escaped in a small boat, and the rest had swum to shore, but only to be captured by the Samnites. The Cabiros and Dagon, however, had thirty-three prisoners, making, with the nine I had myself taken, a total of forty-two, who were first stripped of everything of any value that was found belonging to them, and then distributed amongst our three crews, who would be entitled to dispose of them to our colonists on the coast of Libya, where no doubt they would be in demand either for soldiers or artisans.

The eleven Phœnicians were highly delighted at what had befallen them; their capture was really a deliverance. They told me that they had formed part of the crew of a Sidonian gaoul which had been wrecked off the coast of Sardinia, and that they had escaped in one of the small boats. They had attempted to reach one of our settlements in the island, but tempestuous weather had frustrated their plan, and they had been carried out to sea, and finally drifted to the mainland. They had next tried to make their way northward to one of the Phœnician marts, established on the coast; and it was more than a week ago since they had fallen into the hands of the Rasennæ, who had sent them to serve on board their privateers. All of them were ragged, and more than half-starved; and their rejoicing seemed unbounded, when I not only provided them with clothes and food, but allowed them to enter my service on an equal footing with the rest of my crews. Amongst them was an experienced helmsman and a master mariner; so that all our losses were to a great extent replaced, especially as the whole of the wounded were in a fair way of recovery.

Stripping the dead, collecting the booty, conveying it on board, and making lists of it all, occupied us till the close of the day, and it was past sunset before we were at liberty to avail ourselves of the wind, which was quite favourable for our coasting along towards the Straits of Sicily. We left the captured boats, and whatever plunder was too heavy or too valueless to be worth carrying away, to the Samnites, who, with shouts of joy, rushed forward to take possession of their unexpected prize.

The evening meal was merry. Our successful negotiations, our victorious skirmish, our release of our countrymen, our valuable booty, were all topics of mutual congratulation. Hannibal was loud in his praises of my stratagem of the stockade.

"Ah! that's an old trick," said Himilco; "we once played it off upon the Carians of Rhodes, and took eleven of their ships and no end of plunder. Old Tarshish mariners are adepts at schemes of that sort."

Chamai held up a pair of twisted bracelets, and a necklace of a similar pattern, ornamented with a large flat crescent.

"Are these solid gold, captain?" he asked me.

"Aye, and of the finest sort," I answered; "it is the gold they get from the Eridanus and the Rhone; you are to be congratulated on your lucky prize."

"Not one man did I either kill or catch," said Hanno; "and I suppose I shall have to be content with my share-and-share-alike portion of the plunder; but I confess I should be very pleased if I might have a vase which I discovered amongst the captured goods; it is exquisitely painted, and I have no doubt that these Rasennæ, ugly as they are themselves, are highly-skilled as artists."

I told him that I saw no difficulty in yielding to his wish, and requested him to submit to me his inventory of the spoil. Casting my eye at it, I was not surprised to find that the articles made of gold were considerably larger in number than those made of silver. I knew that the Tyrrhenians had little or no communication with Tarshish and the other silver-producing countries, whilst they have free access to the sands of the Eridanus, and that by the road made by the Ligurian convicts they could cross the mountains to the Rhone. There were a good many articles of copper which came from Lower Vitalia, and amongst them some figures, which were evidently images of gods.

I sent for Gisgo to come on board and interrogate the prisoners in their own language. In their peculiar muffled accent they informed us that they had come from Populonia, and were subjects of King Tarchnas, who ruled over twenty Tyrrhenian cities. Populonia, they said, was their only sea-port, and thence they always set sail upon their cruises, their ships being manned with Ligurians as oarsmen and sailors, whilst their fighting men were nearly all Rasennæ. Two of their chiefs they mentioned as having been killed in the fight, whose names were Vivenna and Spurinna; Himilco gave it as his opinion that these names were identical with the Vitalian Vibius and Spurius.

Upon being shown the copper images of the gods which had been found amongst the plunder, the prisoners recognised them at once, and told us the names. There were Turms, the Hermes of the Hellenes; Turan, whom I believed to be our Ashtoreth; Sethlans, the same as our Khousor Phtah; Fouflouns the Dionysus of the Hellenes; and another called Menvra, of whom I had never heard, but whom Himilco declared to the Vitalian goddess Minerva.

The Tyrrhenians went on to say that they were allies of the Latins and of the Opsci, or Occi, a name which in our language signifies "workmen;" and that the semi-barbarous Samnites, although of the same race and speaking the same tongue as the Opsci, had committed depredations against them on the river Volturnus, or "the rolling stream;" and had likewise attacked the Latin settlement of Novla, or "the new city." In defence of their allies, the Rasennæ had declared war against the Samnites, and were on their way to attack them when they encountered us, and fell into our power. This was all the information they had to give me, and I sent the men back to the care of the crew, and we all retired to rest.

The day had hardly dawned when I rose, and looking a little to the left, I could see behind us the light, the flames, and the lurid smoke that issued from the crater of Mount Etna. The two women and all the men, who had never before seen such a spectacle, looked on, some in astonishment, some in downright terror. Hannibal was as surprised as anyone, and declared that except he knew to the contrary, he should have taken it for the mouth of hell; adding, that he thought it a great pity that all that mighty force of fire could not be utilised; it would make a splendid apparatus for reducing an obstinate city in a siege. To my inquiry whether he had never seen the burning mountain in Cilicia, he replied that, although he had passed several times, it had never been his good fortune to be there at the time of an eruption.

We passed sufficiently close to Etna to be able most distinctly to hear its roar. The women, really alarmed, betook themselves to their cabin. Hanno asked what was the distance of the volcano from us.

"Sixty stadia at least," I answered; "you seem surprised at our seeing it so plainly, but in the broad daylight it will not be nearly so conspicuous, although it is very lofty. My own reason for coming so close to it now is that we may the more directly steer into the Straits of Sicily."

Jonah, who at first had been terribly alarmed, did not disguise his satisfaction that we were not going any closer to the mountain. "All very well in the distance," he said; "it is the kitchen of Nergal, the old cock, whose head is up in the sky and his feet here on earth. Yes, it is his kitchen; where he roasts his behemoths and leviathans; his smallest platter is a good deal bigger than this deck. But the time is coming when El-Adonai shall demolish him, and the children of Israel shall feast upon him and his dainties!"

"Hold your tongue, you fool!" said Chamai. "None of your idiot stories of Dan, and your fables of the drunken Ephraimites!"

"Neither stories nor fables!" retorted Jonah; "have you not a proof before your eyes that it is all true? What will the people of Eltekeh say when I tell them I have seen Nergal's kitchen?"

"Hush! I say! Shut up!" And as Chamai spoke, he gave the giant a violent blow across his mouth with his open hand.

"Humph!" he growled; "I must hold my tongue, must I?"

We now made rapid headway towards the north, and as we approached the strait, Himilco and his sailors amused themselves by working up Aminocles and the other Phocians to the highest pitch of terror.

"That is the mountain of the Cyclopes that you have been looking at," he said to them; "now's your time to look out sharp to the right and left, and you shall see Scylla and Charybdis. You know who they are. They are the ravenous monsters that swallow up whole ships and all their crews. Listen! you can hear them roaring now; they seem desperately hungry."

"I remember," said one of the sailors, "seeing Charybdis suck in three gaouls and two galleys at one draught, just as easily as I could drain a cup of wine."

"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.