Les aventures du Capitaine Magon. English

by David-Léon Cahun

  CHAPTER X.

  GISGO THE EARLESS RECOVERS HIS EARS.

  Notwithstanding the strong and rapid current which bears downupon the promontory to the right, and which has given rise to themarvellous stories with which sailors delight to awaken the fearsof the inexperienced, we passed through the strait without theslightest difficulty; and so well did I know the channel, and somanageable were our ships, that we had no necessity to diminishour ordinary speed. The coast on either hand was covered with finewooded hills, surmounted by jagged grey rocks, rising up almostperpendicularly, like the battlements of a fortress; there was goodanchorage everywhere, and more especially in the bay on the side ofthe island in the strait itself. I did not, however, lay to, buthastened on with as much speed as possible, in order that beforenightfall I might reach the roadstead in front of the promontory ofLilybœum, to which our countrymen are accustomed to pay periodicalvisits for the purpose of purchasing sulphur and lava-stones. TheSiculians have a few cabins on the margin of the roadstead, and areon the whole less savage than their countrymen in the south and westof the island, more frequent intercourse with strangers having tendedto soften their manners; but the ever-increasing immigration of theLatins is so continuously overwhelming their numbers, that in myopinion they will before long have entirely disappeared.

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

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

  "How was it," he said to Himilco, "that we escaped Scylla andCharybdis so completely? I looked out once or twice, but I sawnothing alarming."

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  All at once, Gisgo, who had been sitting quietly on the beachwatching the proceedings, started to his feet, and touching Himilco'sshoulder, drew his attention to a sudden stir that had begun amongstthe Siculians in the rear. Following with my eye the direction ofhis finger, I perceived in a moment that some king or chief waspassing through the throng, which was falling back to allow him apassage. Before him was carried a number of rods, all painted red,and ornamented with coral, mother-of-pearl, and other glitteringsubstances. From the end of the longest of these rods dangled someill-defined objects, which to my un
practised eye looked like nothingso much as strings of faded leaves. But Gisgo was better informed.

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

  "Captain, there are my ears!"

  "Your ears! What do you mean?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  During the night we passed through the group of the Ægades, which lieoff Lilybœum, and where the Phœnicians have established a navalstation. After hailing one of the guard-ships, we directed our coursesouth-west, hoping that we might, with a calm sea and a light windfrom the east, succeed by the following afternoon in reaching thefine bay which encloses, on the one hand, the roadstead of Utica, themetropolis and arsenal of our Libyan settlements, and on the otherthe harbour of Bozrah, its newly-built rival.

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

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

  Before disembarking, I satisfied myself that my prisoners were all ingood condition, and after they had been well washed I ordered themto be supplied with double rations. The Rasennæ generally are verysuperstitious, and my captives were no exceptions. My proceedingswith regard to them caused them much misgiving; they imagined thatthe extra food and cleansing implied that their last hour was come,and that they were about to be offered in sacrifice to the gods.Every moment in the dim light of the hold they fancied they couldhear the winged Turms coming to conduct their souls to the shades,and they even went so far as to persuade themselves and each otherthat they could make out the shrieks of the tortured who were beingscourged below. I was glad to relieve them of their fears. WhenI made them aware that the object of my preparations was to makethem ready for sale in a fine city, where they would be employedaccording to their abilities; would be well fed and well clothed; andwhere, if they conducted themselves meritoriously, they would havea claim to the spoils of war, they were full of glee, and fell totheir double portions of meat with a double relish. One only regretthey acknowledged; they mourned their removal from their Hestia, orhearth-goddess, but they soon consoled themselves with the reflectionthat as the gods are everywhere, they might fairly hope to find aHestia in their new country.

  The Phocians had carried off the body of their comrade who had beenkilled by the Siculians and had conveyed it on board. I promisedto try and procure them a piece of ground where they might buryhim according to their own rites; and so gratified were they by myendeavour to meet their wishes in this respect, that they declaredthey would encounter any perils by sea now that they found it did notdeprive them of their rites of sepulture. Another circumstance whichhad some little effect of reconciling them to their position was thatHimilco, although he had great difficulty in bringing them to believewhat he said, explained to them that the Siculians, with whom theyhad just had an engagement, were really the Lœstrigonians thatthey had so much dreaded.