Les aventures du Capitaine Magon. English

by David-Léon Cahun

  CHAPTER VIII.

  AN AFFAIR WITH THE PHOCIANS.

  Having entrusted Bodachmon with various commissions, and especiallywith the duty of delivering a letter from myself to King Hiram, Itook my leave of him and his companions. In the afternoon, the breezebeing favourable, we resumed our voyage to Italy. In order to passbetween the islands of Cephallenia and Leucas, it was necessary todeviate somewhat to the north, after which we should have to steernearly due east for the south of the great Iapygian gulf.

  The _Cabiros_ was about ten stadia ahead, and consequently so far inadvance that she was lost to sight as she rounded the southern capeof Cephallenia; but she had hardly disappeared beyond the headland,when it struck me that I could hear her trumpet sounding signals ofdistress. Having sounded an alarm, I put my men in readiness for anyemergency, and it was well I did so; for when we had rounded thepromontory far enough to get her within view, we saw her not onlysurrounded by nearly twenty large boats of the Hellenes, but theobject towards which some fifty other boats were making their waywith the greatest speed.

  UNAWARES IN AN AMBUSH. _To face page 132._]

  The fact was, that while we had been coasting along the east ofthe island the enemy had made their way by the west, and thus the_Cabiros_, rounding the headland, had found herself unawares in anambush, which, with her superior sailing power, it would have beenquite easy to escape if there had been any previous warning. As itwas, she was completely taken by surprise; and her tonnage being toolight to allow her to carry a copper beak for attack, she could onlyavoid being boarded by the expedient of rapidly making her way roundand round in a circle.

  There was not a moment to be lost. The _Dagon_ put on all speed andmade her way direct towards the promiscuous cluster of boats thatwas coming up beyond, whilst I hastened to secure the rescue of theimperilled _Cabiros_.

 

  The antagonists with which the _Dagon_ had to contend did not appearto be of a very formidable character. A very cursory glance at theunmartial appearance of most of the crews, and at the cargoes,which consisted mainly of agricultural produce and implements, madeit evident that we had come into collision with some convoy ofemigrants. Hannibal had manifestly come to the same conclusion thatthere was nothing to cause him any alarm for I noticed that afterhaving given his men a sign that there was no occasion to draw theirbows, he made a considerable sweep to leeward, and then dashedfuriously in upon the crowded craft.

  But my more serious attention was demanded in another quarter. Theadversaries that I had to face were less numerous, but far moreformidable, being all armed men. It was in vain that I hurriedforward with all the speed at my command; before I could get withintwo stadia of the _Cabiros_ she was already boarded, and the deckof the gallant little ship was becoming the scene of a desperatestruggle. From the midst of a whirl of lances I could distinguishHamilcar, protecting himself with his shield in one hand, and dealingtremendous blows with his sword in the other; whilst Gisgo stoodwith his back supported by the top of the poop, and had just raisedthe battle-axe with which he had cloven the skull of one of hisassailants. To prevent us from rendering any assistance, five orsix large boats advanced towards us to obstruct our progress, andI could hear the shrill voices of the warriors on board chantingtheir exciting war-cry, "Io Pœan! Io Pœan!" A fine-built man,who seemed to be chief in command, was standing at the prow of thehighest boat; he had a crested helmet; his shield and greaves werefaced with copper, and he was brandishing his long lance like amaniac. I was about to point him out to Bichri, but he, ever onthe alert, was already upon one knee with his arrow to his bow,watching his opportunity, and no sooner were we within range than thebowstring was up to his ear, the arrow whizzed through the air, andthe chief, throwing both hands aloft, fell head foremost into thewater.

  "Now, men, now's your time!" I shouted; "down upon the savages! Downupon them! Quick!"

  With a tremendous spurt, the _Ashtoreth_ dashed violently into theboat, which sank instantly in an eddy of foam, our magnificentsuccess setting us at liberty to concentrate our attention uponanother boat which was harassing us on the right.

  In their eagerness to be ready to climb up into our ship the crewof this boat had inconsiderately crowded altogether to one side.Knowing the unscientific build of the Hellenic boats, and how easilythey are overturned when heavily laden, I tacked round suddenly tothe opposite side, and putting on full speed, capsized it without theslightest difficulty.

  But the need, meanwhile, was becoming more and more urgent that weshould reach the _Cabiros_, although she was holding out with avigorous defence. I had to manœuvre by taking a long semicircularsweep to get beyond the reach of the boats around me, but the delayhad its advantage in giving Hannibal opportunity to arrange his men.He very judiciously placed the archers in the stern, and dividedhis remaining force into two companies; one of them under his ownleadership to be prepared to follow him on to the deck of the_Cabiros_, the other to remain and protect their own ship from beingboarded.

  About the _Dagon_ I had little or no anxiety. I could see that shewas not only holding her own, but that by dashing backwards andforwards amongst the medley of boats around her, she was crushingor sinking all that she came athwart, and by discharging volleys ofarrows and pots of combustibles, she succeeded in distressing themen on board to such a degree that we could hear their howlings ofmingled rage and dismay.

  Hannibal's instructions to his soldiers were very brief; tellingthose whom he left behind that they were to obey Chamai's orders, andthat he trusted them to do their duty, he turned to those under hisown command, and said:

  "Soldiers! the fight before you is a fight hand-to-hand; no room forlances! Draw your swords, stand ready at the prow!"

  I gave orders to the rowers to pull steadily ahead; but they hadscarcely laid themselves out to their work, when we fouled two ofthe boats which had detached themselves from the others, and wereendeavouring to get alongside of us.

  "Quick! to the engines!" I cried; "and, archers, draw your bows!"

  In an instant Bichri's men were at the scorpions, and a perfecttorrent of stones, arrows, and combustibles, fell on either hand.Hannibal's men did not stir from their attitude of readiness, andChamai kept his detachment grouped close around the mast, abidingthe time for a charge to be ordered. Bichri's party laid aside theirbows, and drew their knives and swords; and Jonah, laying his trumpeton the deck, armed himself with the ponderous handspike usuallyemployed for heaving the anchor, and which two ordinary men couldscarcely carry.

  "Come on, Dodanim!" he shouted; "if you can afford a calf for alittle shaking, perhaps you will pay better still if I lay this rodacross your shoulders. I should like a few bullocks and a good skinof wine. I am quite ready to begin pounding away, like Samson at themill."

  The time for action had come, and I gave the word of command to pushahead, straight at the foe. A dash and a crash! and cries of mingledwrath and consternation rose from beneath our prow as it made itsway in a vortex of foam. We rushed past the first boat, leaving ithopelessly far astern; we disabled a second that was designing anattack upon our starboard, and we capsized a third that was comingon our left; and when our men drew breath after their paroxysm ofexertion we were within half a bowshot of the _Cabiros_. So closewe were, that I could see Hamilcar with his head all bleeding, andGisgo, with dishevelled hair, laying about him desperately with hishatchet, whilst a dozen sailors who had retreated to the stern, weremaking a vain effort to repel the invaders, who continued to maketheir way on board.

  "Help! Mago, help!" shouted Hamilcar, imploringly, as he saw usdrawing near.

  "Cheer up, mate!" I replied; "we shall soon be with you."

  I made a rapid survey of our position, and having instructed thehelmsman to bear up hard to starboard, I called to the oarsmen:

  "Now, men, once again, a good strong pull with might and main; thenship your oars, and we shall be right alongside!"

  So vehemently did they put forth their strength that our prow waslifted high
above the flood, and the impetus given to our speed wasso great that another of the opposing boats was cut clean in two.In another minute we had gained the side of the _Cabiros_. Hannibalseized a rope and sprang upon the deck; and followed by his men wasquickly in the midst of the mortal struggle.

  I had no time to watch the issue of their intrepid venture. They hadhardly left our deck when I was startled by the urgent voice of Hanno:

  "Look, captain! they have us now!"

  And turning round I was face to face with a throng of the Hellenes,who had not only brought their boats into close quarters with the_Ashtoreth_, but had forced their way on to her stern. Into thebreast of the foremost man, who was rushing towards me with upliftedlance, I thrust my sword well-nigh to its hilt; and Hanno showed howwell he had profited by the fencing lessons he had had on board; heparried a blow with his left hand, and almost in the same instantfelled an opponent by driving his weapon into his shoulder with hisright. Sometimes bending himself down, sometimes rearing himselfto his fullest height, Chamai wielded his sword with the mostextraordinary dexterity: three men set upon him at once; one of themsoon reeled and fell heavily at his feet; a second, grasping hissides in agony, was seen to stagger back amongst his comrades; whilstthe other, putting his head between his hands, cowered down to theground, the blood trickling through his fingers.

  Bichri also, single-handed, had to engage quite a little group ofantagonists. It seemed a desperate fray; but, strange to tell, he gotthe better of them all, and retired triumphant, his blood-stainedsword in one hand, his dagger in the other. Nor did good fortune failHimilco; closely pressed as he was by his adversary, he succeeded incatching him by the throat, and, holding him back firmly against themast, he thrust his sword into his heart.

  But for rendering effective service no one surpassed the redoubtableJonah. Such wholesale slaughter was never seen. Skulls werefractured; limbs smashed; ribs broken in; back-bones, breast-bones,collar-bones, shoulder-blades contused, crushed, splintered, asthe ponderous handspike, swinging backwards, forwards, upwards,downwards, made the very air reverberate.

  "Room, I want! give me room!" roared the giant, as he brandished hisenormous weapon; "bring me bullocks, sheep, calves, cakes, wine,anything, and I'll earn my dinner honestly." And striking out morefuriously than ever he roared again, "Room, room! elbow-room, I say!"

  Three or four of the Hellenes now made a simultaneous attack uponmyself. I succeeded in slashing the face of one of them who hadknocked my shield out of my hand with his lance, but in a momentI felt myself grasped round the throat by another, who forced mebackward, and was about to cut off my head with his scimitar, whenHanno caught him by the wrist and plunged his sword beneath hisarmpit. The two of them came down heavily upon me, and we were allthree rolling on the deck together; a third man darted forward, andI could see the gleam of a lance as it pointed to Hanno's breast,when Chamai rushed to the rescue, and dealing a powerful blow, sentthe fellow staggering back. Hanno rose, and placing his foot uponthe dead man's neck found it taxed all his strength to withdrawthe sword with which he had slain him. As I regained my footing, Icaught sight of Chryseis standing near her cabin-door; her hands weretightly clasped, and her face was deadly pale, but she had not losther self-command. Abigail was close beside her; like a true daughterof Judah, she had seized a sword which she was pointing defiantlyagainst a soldier who had lost his lance, and who, as though scaredat being challenged by a woman, was cowering behind his shield.

  Chamai's keen eye soon discerned what was passing, and followed byHanno, he rushed like a wild bull through the crush, knocking downfriends and foes alike, as he made his way to the protection of thewomen.

  Meanwhile Himilco and fifteen of the sailors, cutlass and hatchetin hand, forced their way along and grouped themselves close to me.Telling them that now was their chance, I led them forwards andsucceeded in effectually clearing the whole fore-ship, the Hellenesstumbling over ropes and rigging in their precipitous retreat. Onreaching the prow I turned, to make the reassuring discovery thatHanno and Chamai had been equally successful in clearing the stern,and that they were closing in towards Bichri and his men at the mast,where they were engaged in repelling a fresh contingent of the enemy.Above the mass of heads and shields I could see Jonah's handspikeswinging to and fro, and above the confusion of cries and yells Icould hear his sonorous shout of defiance:

  "Come on, Dodanim! I am your man. Let me earn my dinner. Come on!Come on!"

  With such determination did Bichri and his supporters beat back theassailants, that ere long the middle deck was as clear as prow andstern, and there rose a frantic cheer of triumph. The _Ashtoreth_ wasfree from her enemies.

  The cry of success was followed by a shout of welcome to the _Dagon_,which at that moment came dashing up at a prodigious speed, sinking aboat as it approached, and discharging a volley of arrows amongst theboats that still persevered in hanging around us.

  I now signalled to my helmsman to hold himself ready, and sent myrowers down the hatchways to their oars; they found some Hellenesskulking in the hold, but they soon despatched them; and it wasthe work of only a few minutes to get clear of the remnant of theattacking boats, and to bring the _Ashtoreth_ sharply round untilshe was in a position on one side of the _Cabiros_ correspondingwith that of the _Dagon_ on the other. Hannibal had returned to us,and gave us whatever assistance was in his power. Yet another boatwas sunk; and the crews of two more, overwhelmed in terror, leapedoverboard and swam after the fugitives, who, under a shower ofarrows, were making their way off.

  No longer called upon to act upon the defensive, we next turned ourattention to the main company of the convoys, of which three alreadyhad been abandoned by their crews and were drifting helplessly onthe waves. As we were steering towards them, I chanced to lookastern, and to my surprise I found that the boat we had in tow wascrowded with armed men, who had evidently got into it with the designof boarding us, and had not been able to make their escape withtheir comrades. I made Bichri come on to the poop with a party ofhis bowmen, and he succeeded in hitting one of the Hellenes in theshoulder just as he was about to sever the tow-rope with his scimitar.

  "Lay down your arms!" I shouted in Ionian.

  But the man was not daunted. He renewed his effort to cut the ropeasunder, an attempt in which he was foiled by receiving a secondarrow in his throat.

  "Shall we shoot them all?" asked Bichri.

  "No; wait a bit!" I said; "they look sturdy fellows, and ought tofetch a good price at Carthage; we may as well do an extra stroke ofbusiness."

  Again I called to them to lay down their arms and to surrender, butthey made no sign of submission. One of them hurled his lance at me,just grazing my shoulder; but another, apparently convinced that thecase was desperate, jumped overboard, and as we were a long distanceout at sea, was probably drowned.

  HANNO AND CHRYSEIS BESPEAK THEIR ATTENTION. _To face page 140._]

  Fifteen men still remained, and I made Hanno and Chryseis bespeaktheir attention in their own language, and thus succeeded inbringing them to terms. Hanno, by my instruction, promised them thattheir lives should be spared, and that they should be conveyed to aland where they might earn good pay as soldiers of a king, and havegood treatment besides. After a while they yielded, and laid downtheir arms, which were immediately hauled up on deck; and then a ropewas thrown down, and one by one the men, crestfallen and agitated,climbed on board.

  The remainder of our assailants were now flying in complete disorder.Night was coming on, and to them a voyage in the darkness wasscarcely less terrible than a second battle. Although some of theboats were quite uninjured, we could see that several of them hadsustained so much damage that they could hardly make any progress,and that more than one had been set on fire by the combustiblesdischarged by the _Dagon_. From the distant shore we could hear thelamentations of the women bewailing the fate of the drowned and slain.

  Hamilcar and Hasdrubal obtained my leave to go in pursuit of thefugitives, and I told off thirt
y men under Bichri and Chamai to gowith them. While they were absent I sent some men to take in tow thetwo boats that had been abandoned by their crews, and found that theycontained a number of dead bodies, the whole of which I had strippedand thrown into the sea. The two ships returned very shortly,bringing three prizes and twenty-two prisoners.

  I deferred making any detailed examination of the spoils until themorrow, and tired as we were, I should have been glad of repose formyself and my men; but it was absolutely necessary that we should atonce wash the decks, collect the scattered armour, and do somethingto repair the disorder inevitable after so hard a conflict. Thecorpses of the Hellenes who had been killed and about twelve of thewounded were thrown overboard. Of our own men, twenty-three had beenwounded and eleven killed; the bodies of these were wrapped in clothand laid side by side on the fore-deck, that they might be committedto the sea in the morning, with the rites and invocations of theirreligion.

  As the _Dagon_ had sustained less injury than any of our ships, I hadall the captives, including my own fifteen, sent on board her andfastened securely in the hold.

  Our losses were very serious. The _Cabiros_ had eight killed and tenwounded; the _Dagon_, three killed and seven wounded; making, withthe casualties on my own ship, a total of twenty-three dead, andforty wounded. Here was a melancholy proof that we had been matchedwith no mean opponents; and to confess the truth, their courage andenergy were such, that if they had had any practical notion of navaltactics, and if their boats had been more manageable, and theirweapons not so ill-adapted for this character of warfare, our chancesof success would have been very small.

  Both Hamilcar and Gisgo had sustained serious though by no meansdangerous wounds. Hanno had a gash across his shoulder, Chamaia lance-cut in the arm, and Himilco a large bruise on the head,but neither of the three was incapacitated from going on with hisaccustomed duty. Our senior seaman, Hadlai, was among the killed.Jonah had five lance-wounds, which he regarded as mere scratches; andafter he had smeared himself all over with ointment, he declared thatthe day's proceedings had not only given him a tremendous appetite,but had made him desperately thirsty.

  It was impossible accurately to estimate the losses of the Hellenes;but they must have amounted to several hundred; thirty-six deadbodies had been found lying on the deck of the _Ashtoreth_ alone, andthe _Cabiros_ had thrown overboard thirty-eight more.

  We contrived to get some brief repose before morning, but it wasstill quite early when under a fair east wind we started again on ourway to Italy. The eight prizes were all taken in tow, and in orderto make our progress more easy I sent a few men into each of them,either to put up a sail or to work them with oars.

  Our ships were hung with black in honour of the dead, and the usualinvocations were made to the gods of the departed. There were severalbullocks amongst the booty we had captured, and I ordered one ofthem to be hoisted upon each vessel and slain for a sacrifice. Onboard the _Ashtoreth_, Hanno recited the prescribed petitions tothe goddess, and after the slaughter of our beast, the fat and aportion of the flesh were set apart to be smoked and dried, therest being allotted to the funeral feast. The children of Israel,meanwhile, after their own fashion, were sacrificing a sheep to theirGod, El-Adonai. As soon as the sacrifices were finished, I made adistribution of wine; but before this was allowed to be tasted, thetrumpets were sounded, and the bodies of the dead solemnly committedto the deep. The black hangings were then removed; and we gatheredtogether for the general repast. Every one's spirits revived underthe influence of food and drink. Weariness and wounds were soonforgotten, and the men, one to the other, were cheerfully recountingtheir own experiences of the fight.

  "Hannibal," I said, "you, as captain of the guard, and your menunder you, have acquitted yourselves admirably and, according to thecovenants of the charter-party, you are entitled to a share of thespoil."

  "For my part," said Hannibal, "I am quite ready to give up allfurther claim if I can only have a new set of armour; my cuirass isterribly battered about, and my helmet has lost both crest and plume.I have no doubt there is a good suit of Lydian armour on board; letme have that and I shall ask no more."

  "With all my heart!" I answered: "and in addition I shall give you aflask of fine Sareptan wine."

  "Aye, a good thought!" said Himilco; "I, also, shall be only toohappy to dispose of my claim for three skins of Berytos."

  Chamai maintained that he must be entitled at least to a bracelet anda pair of Syrian earrings. "Give them to Abigail," he said, "and Iwill cry quits for my share."

  "And now, sir scribe," I asked, turning to Hanno, "what shall I dofor you? There are sheep, oxen, armour, wines at your command."

  "By Ashtoreth!" he answered; "there is nothing I want. Take myportion and distribute it amongst the wounded; they need it more thanI."

  Struck by this generosity, Hannibal and Chamai shook him heartily bythe hand, and Chryseis showed her approval by the most beaming ofsmiles.

  One of the pilots came to me, as a deputation from the crew, andrequested that I would sell the whole booty in a lump at the firstopportunity, and let them have their shares in money: meanwhile theyhoped that I should not object to make them an advance of what theymight expect. The fact was that the men knew that Phœnician coinwas current at Utica, Carthage and Gades, and reckoned upon goingashore and enjoying themselves at all these ports. I saw no reasonfor refusing the men what they wanted, and accordingly instructedHanno to draw up a list of all the plunder, to every article of whichI appended the price in shekels which I was willing to pay for it.The priced catalogue was affixed to the mast of each ship for thesailors' inspection, and as it gave universal satisfaction, I paidthem the amount to which they were severally entitled that veryevening.

  Chryseis and Abigail spent the night in administering to the wants ofthe wounded.

  Next morning, I sent for the prisoners. They had some rationsserved out to them, and were brought from the _Dagon_ to the_Ashtoreth_, looking downhearted and full of mistrust. I enlistedthe services of Hanno as interpreter, and having selected the mostintelligent-looking of the group, had him questioned as to hisnationality and his home.

  "We are Hellenes," he said, "of the tribe of the Phocians. We have noregular home, but we have been in the country round Mount Parnassus.We left our haunts there at the bidding of Apollo, who told usto depart, and to seek for other settlements. With our wives andchildren we were on our way to join our kinsmen, the Ionians, eitherin Epirus or in Corcyra. We were hoping there to find a happy and asettled residence."

 

  Great tears stood in his eyes, and his companions in adversity couldnot suppress their sobs. I assured him that it was far from my wishto aggravate their misery, and that I really pitied them in theirmisfortune, so that they need not fear any harsh treatment at myhands.

  "If we had been meeting you in regular warfare," he continued,"we should have fought on to the very death, and would have bornedisaster and defeat without a murmur; but now who shall blame us, ifwe weep for our wives and dear ones perished in the waves?"

  "But why, then, did you attack us?" I inquired.

  "Listen, and you shall hear," he answered: "three days ago, wefell in with a great Phœnician ship; it was not alone, but wasaccompanied by several others. The captain hailed us and asked us tosell him some provisions: regarding the Phœnicians as all divine,we were all most ready to oblige them; we sent them oxen, fruit andcorn; my own poor son and many others went besides; but no soonerhad they got the supplies on board, than the pirates hoisted sailand made away. We had no remedy; there was no hope of recovering ourpeople or our property; our boats cannot compete with yours in speed.In our fury we swore that we would be avenged, and vowed we wouldattack the first Phœnicians we should see. You were the first. Nowyou know all."

  "Bodmilcar! by all the gods!" ejaculated Himilco. "It is Bodmilcarthat has involved us in this trouble. To him we owe the death of ourbrave Hadlai, and the loss of all our men! Ten thousand curses onhim! Moloch's bittere
st curse be on his head!"

  Anxious to learn whether this suspicion was well founded, I madeinquiry as to what the Phœnician ship was like, and not onlyascertained that it was large and round and high, but that the menon board were quite different to the men upon the smaller boats, whohad brown faces, and wore dresses of another shape. These boats, too,carried the figure of a goose's head at every prow.

  "The _Melkarth_ and the Egyptians beyond a doubt!" I cried.

  The Phocian looked astonished at my agitation.

  I soon recovered my composure, and asked whether there were any menamongst the captives upon whose courage and discretion he could rely.He informed me that his own brother was one, and that five of theothers were his cousins; he added, moreover, that the wife of one ofthe cousins had been carried off on board the Phœnician ship.

  "Call them forward!" I said; and in a few minutes six young men, allapparently strong and active, stood before me.

  "You would like to see your son again?"

  "My son!" echoed the man. "Restore my son, and you shall be counteddivine indeed."

  I informed him that the Phœnician who had borne him off was myavowed and mortal enemy. "But serve me with fidelity," I added, "andyou may recover your son even yet."

  Turning to Hannibal, I ordered him to provide the seven men withkitonets and arms, and to take them into his own force; the remainderI sent to assist the rowers. It would be easy, I knew, to dispose ofthem all at Utica or Carthage, where there is a constant demand bothfor oarsmen and for mercenaries.

  The seven Phocians kissed my hands, and wept for joy; the remainderwent below with lighter hearts than they had brought on board.