Cape Dire! The sea was reached; and there rose the obelisks, the
shafts, the pillars of Sesostris, whose sacred writings immortalized
the remembrance of the passage of the Egyptian world-ruler who for
nine years had linked conquest to conquest, even to Arabia, even to
Bactriana, even to India. And Caleb approached Lucius with a smile
and said:
"Most noble lord, I wished to keep it for you as a surprise and
would not tell you before, but this little diversorium at Cape Dire,
overlooking my beloved native land, belongs to us, to Ghizla and me,
and is a small branch of our great Hermes House at Alexandria; and
to-night you need no longer sleep in a tent, but will have a worthy
apartment and sleep on a soft couch of skins. For, though you are
still without your own furniture and your sumptuous utensils and
treasures of art and though this little guest-house is not to be
compared with our big diversorium, it is nevertheless comfortable and
clean and it has bathrooms and kitchens and we built it here for the
accommodation of any noble lords who travel from Alexandria to the
pillars of Sesostris or from the pillars of Sesostris to Alexandria."
And Caleb, swaggering gaily and elegantly on the tips of his red boots,
led the travellers into his guest-house; and Lucius, for the first
time for weeks, bathed not in a rustling stream but in a bathroom,
where his slaves rubbed and kneaded his body.
Caleb stood on the cape, with his hand above his eyes, and looked
out in astonishment. He was surprised that the quadrireme, with Uncle
Catullus on board, had not arrived from the Gulf of Acathantus, nay,
was not even in sight. Could there have been an accident? He told
his fears to no one but Thrasyllus; and the two stood looking long
on the point of Cape Dire, gazing into the distance, each with his
hand above his eyes.
But at last, when night began to fall, the great, graceful sea-monster
appeared on the horizon, with her prow erect like a swan's neck and her
hundreds of slender legs moving in unison; and the rose-yellow sails
bellied in the breeze; and the silver statue of Aphrodite shot forth
its silver spark of light; and the rowers' long, melancholy chant,
the soft, monotonous accompaniment of tiring work, was borne long
and wistfully over the sea, together with the cheerful song of the
sailors. And the travellers, who now all stood on the cape waiting
for the ship, saw the figures of Uncle Catullus, of the stewards
Vettius and Rufus, of the master and the steersman.
And they waved again and again; and Cora, with her harp pressed to
her bosom, sang the song of welcome to the ship; and her voice sounded
jubilant and clear, full of happiness and full of gladness. The ropes
were flung ashore, the ship lay moored....
But what was the anxiety that covered the faces of all on board, who
were now preparing to walk across the gangway to the jetty? Why did
Uncle Catullus lift his hands on high and shake his head, pinned round
so comically in his travelling-veil? And what was it that Vettius
and Rufus were saying to each other with much gesticulation and why
did they now all land with such embarrassed faces?
"Well, Lucius," said Uncle Catullus, embracing him, "you're looking
splendid, my dear fellow, splendid, brown and bronzed as a Nimrod;
and your arms feel hard and your eyes are bright and your mouth is
laughing happily and you look very different from what you were when
we left Baiae.... Ah, my dear, dear Lucius! Fortune is blind and fate
is a riddle and we poor mortals are the playthings of the cruel gods;
and we never know, in the midst of our delight and gladness, what
is hanging over our heads ... especially when travelling, dear boy:
my dear boy, especially when travelling!"
"But why especially when travelling, my dear uncle?" asked Lucius,
laughing.
And he led his uncle into the diversorium; and his uncle was now
weeping; and his slaves unpinned his travelling-veil for him and
relieved him of his travelling-cloak; and Vettius and Rufus also
looked so strange and so gloomy and solemn; and it was as though the
air were filled with dread.
"But, Uncle Catullus," said Lucius, "what has happened?"
"My dear, dear boy," Uncle Catullus kept on tediously repeating,
"I ... I really can not tell you."
And he wrung his hands and wept; and Thrasyllus turned pale and Cora
turned pale and Rufus looked gloomy.
"No," repeated Uncle Catullus, "I really can not tell Lucius. You
tell him, Vettius, you tell him."
"My Lord Catullus," said Vettius, at last, in despair, "how can I tell
my Lord Lucius? If I do, he will fly into a passion and kill me; but,
perhaps, if Rufus will tell him ..."
"I will not, I will not," said Rufus, warding off the suggestion with
both hands. "By all the gods, Vettius, I will not tell him."
"Nor will I," said Uncle Catullus, moaning and weeping.
Lucius now knitted his brows and said:
"But I must know, Vettius. I order you to tell me what has
happened--for something has happened--I order you to tell me and I
swear not to kill you.... Has it to do with the quadrireme, a mutiny
among the rowers?"
"Worse than that, my lord!" wailed Vettius.
"Has there been a theft of our baggage or jewels or plate?"
"Worse, my lord, much worse!"
"Has there been a fire at our insula in Rome? Is the villa burned
down?"
"Worse, worse, my lord!" Vettius and Rufus now cried in chorus.
And they flung themselves at Lucius' feet and embraced his knees;
and Uncle Catullus fell sobbing on Thrasyllus' breast.
"But what is it? By all the gods, speak up!" cried Lucius, in a
fury. "What is it? Speak up, or I will have you whipped till you do!"
"We will tell you, my lord!" Vettius and Rufus now cried.
And Uncle Catullus cried:
"Yes, tell him, tell him; after all, he must be told."
"Are we alone, my lord?" whined Vettius. "Are there no slaves listening
at the doors and is Caleb out of hearing?"
Cora opened the doors and peeped out:
"There is no one there," she said. "I will withdraw, my lord."
"No, stay," commanded Lucius.
She stayed.
"Speak up," Lucius commanded Vettius, lifting him up.
"My lord," said Vettius, again falling at Lucius' feet, "if I must
tell you, let me do so on my knees. For I have not the strength left
to tell you, my lord, if I stand face to face with your anger."
"Speak!" roared Lucius, in a voice of thunder.
"My lord," said Vettius, at last, clasping Lucius' knees in his hands
and kissing them continually, "my lord, our gracious emperor, Augustus
Tiberius, is wroth with you, we know not for what reason, and...."
"Well?" shouted Lucius.
"And he has confiscated all your possessions, O my lord, everything
that you possess: all your insula in Rome, your villa, your estates and
domains, your horses and chariots and cattle, your slaves and treasures
of art, your library and your jewels ... and has attached all the sums
which you had lodged with your bankers and money-changers in various
towns! You are penniless, my lord, for you own nothing except what
your ship contains; and, if I had not succeeded in keeping Tiberius'
displeasure secret by means of a precipitate flight and by continuing
to drift about in the Great Sea and the Arabian Gulf, your quadrireme
also would have been seized at Alexandria and you would now have been
without your ship, without your rowers, without your slaves, without
a single penny. By bribing the authorities at Pelusium with the money
that remained in my hands, I managed secretly to pass through the
Nechao Canal to Arsinoe; and at Berenice we met your Uncle Catullus
and informed him of the terrible news. My lord, do not slay me and
do not be wroth with me, for I have saved for you what I could!"
And Vettius writhed at Lucius' feet and sobbed; and they all sobbed:
Uncle Catullus, Thrasyllus, Rufus and Cora....
And Caleb, who had been listening at the door, turned very pale.
For there was still a long, long, long papyrus scroll of a bill
awaiting payment, for the big hunts in the Ethiopian forests!