GISGO THE EARLESS RECOVERS HIS EARS.
Notwithstanding the strong and rapid current which bears down
upon the promontory to the right, and which has given rise to the
marvellous stories with which sailors delight to awaken the fears
of the inexperienced, we passed through the strait without the
slightest difficulty; and so well did I know the channel, and so
manageable were our ships, that we had no necessity to diminish
our ordinary speed. The coast on either hand was covered with fine
wooded hills, surmounted by jagged grey rocks, rising up almost
perpendicularly, like the battlements of a fortress; there was good
anchorage everywhere, and more especially in the bay on the side of
the island in the strait itself. I did not, however, lay to, but
hastened on with as much speed as possible, in order that before
nightfall I might reach the roadstead in front of the promontory of
Lilybœum, to which our countrymen are accustomed to pay periodical
visits for the purpose of purchasing sulphur and lava-stones. The
Siculians have a few cabins on the margin of the roadstead, and are
on the whole less savage than their countrymen in the south and west
of the island, more frequent intercourse with strangers having tended
to soften their manners; but the ever-increasing immigration of the
Latins is so continuously overwhelming their numbers, that in my
opinion 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 the
anchorage upon which I had settled, and where I found good moorings
about two bowshots from the beach. I did not feel altogether sure
of my quarters, so that I would not land any of my merchandise that
night, and I resolved, moreover, to hold no communication of any kind
with the natives till the morning. Some men came with torches to the
water's edge and made signs of friendly intentions, but I merely told
them that they might bring what sulphur, coral, or mother-of-pearl
they could on the next day; and finding that I was resolute in my
refusal to negotiate with them then, they went away.
They had not been gone very long, when Himilco pointed out to me
some shoals of tunny-fish within reach, and asked permission to try
and catch some. As it was some time since our men had tasted fresh
fish, I could not refuse, but allowed him to make up a party of the
most experienced fishermen he could select. A lot of harpoons and
tridents were lowered into a boat, into which got Bichri and two
archers, carrying some lines to be attached to the harpoons to haul
up the fish that were hit. Jonah, ever on the alert when food was
in question, asked permission to join the party, and was allowed
to go under condition that he brought his trumpet and some torches
to attract the fish. It had been ascertained that Aminocles was a
skilful hand at this pursuit; and as soon as he was satisfied that
there was no fear of his encountering any of the monsters of which he
had heard so much, he was induced to accompany them.
"How was it," he said to Himilco, "that we escaped Scylla and
Charybdis so completely? I looked out once or twice, but I saw
nothing alarming."
"Neither did I," said Himilco, gravely. "The truth is, the old
monster does not show herself every day, or, maybe, something scared
her; 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 I
have seen Nergal's kitchen, I have courage enough for anything."
Aminocles was still not quite easy in his mind, and with reference to
the volcanoes, asked whether we were quite out of the reach of the
flames.
"Out of reach!" repeated Himilco; "why, the flames are six hundred
stadia away from where you saw them; you only saw the reflection in
the clouds."
[Illustration]
"Nergal's kitchens, all of them!" said Jonah; "plenty of them! nice
and 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's
remarks to the credulous and timid Aminocles, their laughter became
perfectly uproarious.
The fishing was a great success. Several good hauls were made; and
before daylight the boat returned, and the men retired to their
well-earned rest.
In good time next morning the natives whom we had seen the previous
evening, came with a considerable increase in their number, and one
of them swam boldly out from the shore, and was received on board
the _Ashtoreth_. He was a man that might be regarded as a fair type
of the Siculians; tall, with a low forehead, thin nose and lips,
beardless chin, and copper-coloured complexion. He addressed us in
the Latin tongue, and was eager to tell us that the Latins were
now in possession of the eastern portion of the island, and were
the bitterest enemies of the Siculians. I replied that I was a
Phœnician, 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, they
should have a liberal price in return. He replied:
"We are subjects of King Morgesh, who will only permit us to transact
business inland. Come with us to yonder mountains; we have plenty of
the commodities you want. There we may make our exchanges."
The persistency with which he urged our going on shore with our goods
aroused my suspicions; but without exhibiting any sign of mistrust I
pretended to acquiesce in his proposal, and at once proceeded to land
my 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 of
the shore.
"What need to bring so many men?" asked the Siculian, when we had
landed; "we can carry your packages to the mountains."
When I replied that I did not intend to go inland at all, and that
if they wanted to effect any bartering with us they must bring their
own merchandise down to the beach, the man was evidently very much
disconcerted, and went away to consult his companions. While he was
absent, I availed myself of the opportunity of replenishing all our
water-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," they
urged; "we will not only convey your property, but we will carry all
of you too, if you like. Only come."
And with repeated solicitations, they assured me I should be pleased
with 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 I
was talking, I made my people unfold to the view of the savages some
specimens of my wares--glass beads and trinkets, bottles and bright
caldrons, and some parti-coloured stuffs. These proved too much for
their cupidity, and unable to stand out any longer, and convinced of
my inflexible purpose of remaining where I was, they hurried off to
fetch their own commodities.
Rough and brutal in their manners, they haggled over every item; and
whenever they saw anything that especially attracted their fancy,
they tried to snatch it from our hands; or, if small enough, they
would endeavour slyly to pilfer it; but we kept a sharp look-out,
and as fast as I completed my purchases, I despatched them either to
the _Dagon_ or to my own ship. The throng of the Siculians gradually
grew larger and larger, and in proportion as their numbers increased,
their demands became more and more encroaching; so much so, that
fearing some outbreak of violence, I thought it prudent to send
for Chamai, Bichri, Himilco, and a score of men to supplement my
body-guard.
All at once, Gisgo, who had been sitting quietly on the beach
watching the proceedings, started to his feet, and touching Himilco's
shoulder, drew his attention to a sudden stir that had begun amongst
the Siculians in the rear. Following with my eye the direction of
his finger, I perceived in a moment that some king or chief was
passing through the throng, which was falling back to allow him a
passage. Before him was carried a number of rods, all painted red,
and ornamented with coral, mother-of-pearl, and other glittering
substances. From the end of the longest of these rods dangled some
ill-defined objects, which to my unpractised eye looked like nothing
so 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 are
well 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 the
shapeless and withered cartilages Gisgo maintained were his: I could
make out nothing to distinguish one pair of ears from another.
"Never mind," said Gisgo; "I recognise them; and I recognise
something else; that chief is the blackguard who cut them off."
The impropriator of my pilot's ears had now advanced to me, and
commenced negotiating in person. He sold me a quantity of sulphur,
and appeared to be conducting his transaction in a friendly and
equitable manner; but just as I was about, as usual, to embark my
purchase, he declared that in addition to the stipulated price, he
must have a cuirass like Hannibal's. I told him peremptorily that
he could not have anything beyond the contract, whereupon he caught
hold of the cuirass that Hannibal was wearing, and tried to drag it
from him by main force. Hannibal, however, was too strong for him,
and repelled him with a blow so violent that he stumbled and fell to
the ground. In a moment, doubtless at a preconcerted signal, we were
assailed by a shower of stones and lances. I was quite prepared; my
measures of defence had all been arranged, and at a sign from me,
the _Cabiros_ set her catapults at work, and discharged a volley of
missiles over our head into the throng of the enemy, whilst Hannibal
and Chamai, each with his own troop, charged right and left.
But Gisgo was beforehand with any of us. Before the chief could
regain his feet, the pilot rushed at him, and with the help of
Himilco (who drew his sword, and hurried to his assistance) he had
split 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 foremost
Siculians half a stadium from the water's edge, and as soon as our
boats were loaded and ready to start, I sounded the signal for
retreat. Finding themselves no longer pursued, the Siculians faced
about and followed us back at a safe distance, trying to harass us
by 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 enough
for one boat's load, I was congratulating myself that we had been
so little molested; but at that very instant a large party of the
Siculians made a dash towards us, and if it had not been that the
_Cabiros_ skilfully protected us by her engines, we must inevitably
have fallen into their hands. As it was, we all managed to embark;
and although they pursued us with hideous yells as far as they
could into the water, we got right away, the _Cabiros_ slipping her
moorings and following us without sustaining any injury.
One of our Phocians had been killed, and another seriously
wounded, and eight of our own people had received slight cuts and
contusions; but we had obtained fifteen hundred shekels of coral,
mother-of-pearl, and sulphur, so that on the whole I considered we
had come out of the affair without much to regret. I rejoiced that my
prudence and resolution had spared us from falling into any ambush of
the treacherous foe.
Gisgo was in high spirits; he considered himself amply avenged, and
came on board the _Ashtoreth_ to show me his trophies; he brought two
rods that he had captured, to each of which he had affixed a pair of
bleeding ears, freshly cut from the skulls of his fallen adversaries.
With regard to his own ears, nothing could convince him but that he
had found them amongst the string of others, and the pair he selected
was ever afterwards preserved most carefully in his leather purse.
During the night we passed through the group of the Ægades, which lie
off Lilybœum, and where the Phœnicians have established a naval
station. After hailing one of the guard-ships, we directed our course
south-west, hoping that we might, with a calm sea and a light wind
from the east, succeed by the following afternoon in reaching the
fine bay which encloses, on the one hand, the roadstead of Utica, the
metropolis and arsenal of our Libyan settlements, and on the other
the harbour of Bozrah, its newly-built rival.
Eager to catch sight of the first important place at which they were
to rest awhile, my people next morning were up betimes. Hannibal was
especially interested; he had long wished to visit both Utica and
Carthage, and asked me if it were true that Carthage had formerly
been called Bozrah, and had not been known as Carthage for more than
twenty years.
I replied that his impression about Carthage was quite correct; it
had originally been Bozrah, which means "the citadel;" but Utica had
been in existence for more than a century. He would find it a noble
city; its Cothôn, or war-port, contained sixty dry-docks, above each
of which was erected a magazine, and the whole place landwards was
rendered impregnable by a triple wall.
Before disembarking, I satisfied myself that my prisoners were all in
good condition, and after they had been well washed I ordered them
to be supplied with double rations. The Rasennæ generally are very
superstitious, and my captives were no exceptions. My proceedings
with regard to them caused them much misgiving; they imagined that
the 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 could
hear the winged Turms coming to conduct their souls to the shades,
and they even went so far as to persuade themselves and each other
that they could make out the shrieks of the tortured who were being
scourged below. I was glad to relieve them of their fears. When
I made them aware that the object of my preparations was to make
them ready for sale in a fine city, where they would be employed
according to their abilities; would be well fed and well clothed; and
where, if they conducted themselves meritoriously, they would have
a claim to the spoils of war, they were full of glee, and fell to
their double portions of meat with a double relish. One only regret
they acknowledged; they mourned their removal from their Hestia, or
hearth-goddess, but they soon consoled themselves with the reflection
that as the gods are everywhere, they might fairly hope to find a
Hestia in their new country.
The Phocians had carried off the body of their comrade who had been
killed by the Siculians and had conveyed it on board. I promised
to try and procure them a piece of ground where they might bury
him according to their own rites; and so gratified were they by my
endeavour to meet their wishes in this respect, that they declared
they would encounter any perils by sea now that they found it did not
deprive them of their rites of sepulture. Another circumstance which
had some little effect of reconciling them to their position was that
Himilco, although he had great difficulty in bringing them to believe
what he said, explained to them that the Siculians, with whom they
had just had an engagement, were really the Lœstrigonians that
they had so much dreaded.