CHAPTER XI.
While Hanno was discussing these considerations, he rowed the boat pastthe landing place from which the "garden" with the Alexandrian's tentcould be seen.
The third hour after midnight had begun. Smoking flames were stillrising from the pitch pans and blazing torches, and long rows oflanterns also illumined the broad space.
It was as light as day in the vicinity of the tent, and Biamite huntsmenand traders were moving to and fro among the slaves and attendants asthough it was market time.
"Your father, too," Hanno remarked in his awkward fashion, "willscarcely make life hard for us. We shall probably find him in Pontus.He is getting a cargo of wood for Egypt there. We have had dealings withhim a long time. He thought highly of Abus, and I, too, have alreadybeen useful to him. There were handsome young fellows on the Pontinecoast, and we captured them. At the peril of our lives we took them tothe mart. He may even risk it in Alexandria. So the old man makesover to him a large number of these youths, and often a girl intothe bargain, and he does it far too cheaply. One might envy him theprofit--if it were not your father! When you are once my wife, I'll makea special contract with him about the slaves. And, besides, since thelast great capture, in which the old man allowed me a share of my own,I, too, need not complain of poverty. I shall be ready for the dowry. Doyou want to know what you are worth to me?"
But Ledscha's attention was attracted by other things, and even afterHanno, with proud conceit, repeated his momentous question, he waited invain for a reply.
Then he perceived that the girl was gazing at the brilliantly lightedsquare as if spellbound, and now he himself saw before the tent a shedwith a canopied roof, and beneath it cushioned couches, on which severalGreeks--men and women--were half sitting, half lying, watching witheager attention the spectacle which a slender young Hellenic woman waspresenting to them.
The tall man with the magnificent black beard, who seemed fairlydevouring her with his eyes, must be the sculptor whom Ledscha commandedhim to capture.
To the rude pirate the Greek girl, who in a light, half-transparentbombyx robe, was exhibiting herself to the eyes of the men upon apedestal draped with cloths, seemed bold and shameless.
Behind her stood two female attendants, holding soft white garmentsready, and a handsome Pontine boy with black, waving locks, who gazed upat her waiting for her signs.
"Nearer," Ledscha ordered the pirate in a stifled voice, and he rowedthe boat noiselessly under the shadow of a willow on the bank. But theskiff had scarcely been brought to a stop there when an elderly matron,who shared the couch of an old Macedonian man of a distinguished,soldierly appearance, called the name "Niobe."
The Hellene on the pedestal took a cloth from the hand of one of thefemale attendants, and beckoned to the boy, who obediently drew throughhis girdle the short blue chiton which hung only to his knees, andsprang upon the platform.
There the Greek girl manipulated in some way the red tresses piled highupon her head, and confined above the brow by a costly gold diadem,flung the white linen fabric which the young slave handed to her overher head, wound her arm around the shoulders of the raven-locked boy,and drew him toward her with passionate tenderness. At the same timeshe raised the end of the linen drapery with her left hand, spreading itover him like a protecting canopy.
The mobile features which had just smiled so radiantly expressed mortalterror, and the pirate, to whom even the name "Niobe" was unfamiliar,looked around him for the terrible danger threatening the innocentchild, from which the woman on the pedestal was protecting it withloving devotion.
The mortal terror of a mother robbed by a higher power of her childcould scarcely be more vividly depicted, and yet haughty defiancehovered around her slightly pouting lips; the uplifted hands seemednot only anxiously to defend, but also to defy an invisible foe withpowerless anger.
The pirate's eyes rested on this spectacle as if spellbound, and theman who in Pontus had dragged hundreds of young creatures--boys andgirls--on his ship to sell them into slavery, never thinking of thetears which he thereby caused in huts and mansions, clinched his roughhand to attack the base wretch who was robbing the poor mother of herlovely darling.
But just as Hanno was rising to look around him for the invisibleevildoer, the loud shouts of many voices startled him. He glanced towardthe pedestal; but now, instead of the hapless mother, he found therethe bold woman whom he had previously seen, as radiant as if some greatpiece of good fortune had befallen her, bowing and waving her hand tothe other Greeks, who were thanking her with loud applause.
The sorely threatened boy, bowing merrily, sprang to the ground; butHanno put his hand on Ledscha's arm, and in great perplexity whispered,"What did that mean?"
"Hush!" said the girl softly, stretching her slender neck toward theilluminated square, for the performer had remained standing upon thepedestal, and Chrysilla, Daphne's companion, sat erect on her couch,exclaiming, "If it is agreeable to you, beautiful Althea, show us Nikecrowning the victor."
Even the Biamite's keen ear could not catch the reply and the purportof the rapid conversation which followed; but she guessed the point inquestion when the young men who were present rose hastily, rushed towardthe pedestal, loosed the wreaths from their heads, and offered them tothe Greek girl whom Chrysilla had just called "beautiful Althea."
Four Hellenic officers in the strong military force under Philippus,the commandant of the "Key of Egypt," as Pelusium was justly called,had accompanied the old Macedonian general to visit his friendArchias's daughter at Tennis; but Althea rejected their garlands with anexplanation which seemed to satisfy them.
Ledscha could not hear what she said, but when only Hermon and Myrtilusstill stood with their wreaths of flowers opposite the "beautifulAlthea," and she glanced hesitatingly from one to the other, as if shefound the choice difficult, and then drew from her finger a sparklingring, the Biamite detected the swift look of understanding which Hermonexchanged with her.
The girl's heart began to throb faster, and, with the keen premonitionof a jealous soul, she recognised in Althea her rival and foe.
Now there was no doubt of it; now, as the actress, skilled in everywile, hid the hand holding the ring, as well as the other empty one,behind her back, she would know how to manage so that she could use thegarland which Hermon handed her.
Ledscha's foreboding was instantly fulfilled, for when Althea held outher little tightly clinched fist to the artists and asked Myrtilus tochoose, the hand to which he pointed and she then opened was empty, andshe took from the other the ring, which she displayed with well-feignedregret to the spectators.
Then Hermon knelt before her, and, as he offered Althea his wreath,his dark eyes gazed so ardently into the blue ones of the red-hairedGreek-like Queen Arsinoe, she was of Thracian descent--that Ledscha wasnow positively certain she knew for whose sake her lover had so baselybetrayed her.
How she hated this bold woman!
Yet she was forced to keep quiet, and pressed her lips tightly togetheras Althea seized the white sheet and with marvellous celerity wound itabout her until it fell in exquisite folds like a long robe.
Surprise, curiosity, and a pleasant sense of satisfaction in seeingwhat seemed to her a shameless display withdrawn from her lover's eyes,rendered it easier for Ledscha to maintain her composure; yet she feltthe blood throbbing in her temples as Hermon remained kneeling beforethe Hellene, gazing intently into her expressive face.
Was it not too narrow wholly to please the man who had known how topraise her own beauty so passionately? Did not the outlines of Althea'sfigure, which the bombyx robe only partially concealed, lack roundnesseven more than her own?
And yet! As soon as Althea had transformed the sheet into a robe,and held the wreath above him, Hermon's gaze rested on hers as thoughenraptured, while from her bright blue eyes a flood of ardent admirationpoured upon the man for whom she held the victor's wreath.
This was done with the upper portion of her body bending very
farforward. The slender figure was poised on one foot; the other, coveredto the ankle with the long robe, hovered in the air. Had not the wingswhich, as Nike, belonged to her been lacking, every one would have beenconvinced that she was flying--that she had just descended from theheights of Olympus to crown the kneeling victor. Not only her hand, hergaze and her every feature awarded the prize to the man at her feet.
There was no doubt that, if Nike herself came to the earth to make thebest man happy with the noblest of crowns, the spectacle would be asimilar one.
And Hermon! No garlanded victor could look up to the gracious divinitymore joyously, more completely enthralled by grateful rapture.
The applause which now rang out more and more loudly was certainlynot undeserved, but it pierced Ledscha's soul like a mockery, like thebitterest scorn.
Hanno, on the contrary, seemed to consider the scene scarcely worthlooking at. Something more powerful was required to stir him. He wasparticularly averse to all exhibitions. The utmost which his relativescould induce the quiet, reserved man to do when they ventured into thegreat seaports was to attend the animal fights and the games of theathletes. He felt thoroughly happy only when at sea, on board of hisgood ship. His best pleasure was to gaze up at the stars on calm nights,guide the helm, and meanwhile dream--of late most gladly of making thebeautiful girl who had seemed to him worthy of his brave brother Abus,his own wife.
In the secluded monotony of his life as a scar over memory had exaltedLedscha into the most desirable of all women, and the slaughtered Abusinto the greatest of heroes.
To win the love of this much-praised maiden seemed to Hanno peerlesshappiness, and the young corsair felt that he was worthy of it; foron the high seas, when a superior foe was to be opposed by force andstratagem, when a ship was to be boarded and death spread over her deck,he had proved himself a man of unflinching courage.
His suit had progressed more easily than he expected. His father wouldrejoice, and his heart exulted at the thought of encountering a seriousperil for the girl he loved. His whole existence was a venture of life,and, had he had ten to lose, they would not have been too dear a priceto him to win Ledscha.
While Althea, as the goddess of Victory, held the wreath aloft, and loudapplause hailed her, Hanno was thinking of the treasures which he hadgarnered since his father had allowed him a share of the booty, and ofthe future.
When he had accumulated ten talents of gold he would give up piracy,like Abus, and carry on his own ships wood and slaves from Pontus toEgypt, and textiles from Tennis, arms and other manufactured articlesfrom Alexandria to the Pontine cities. In this way Ledscha's father hadbecome a rich man, and he would also, not for his own sake--he neededlittle--but to make life sweet for his wife, surround her with splendourand luxury, and adorn her beautiful person with costly jewels. Many astolen ornament was already lying in the safe hiding place that even hisbrother Labaja did not know.
At last the shouts died away, and as the stopping of the clatteringwheel wakes the miller, so the stillness on the shore roused Hanno fromhis dream.
What was it that Ledscha saw there so fascinating that she did noteven hear his low call? His father and Labaja had undoubtedly left hisgrandmother's house long ago, and were looking for him in vain.
Yes, he was right; the old pirate's shrill whistle reached his ear fromthe Owl's Nest, and he was accustomed to obedience.
So, lightly touching Ledscha on the shoulder, he whispered that he mustreturn to the island at once. His father would be rejoiced if she wentwith him.
"To-morrow," she answered in a tone of resolute denial. Then, remindinghim once more of the meaning of the signals she had promised to give,she waved her hand to him, sprang swiftly past him to the prow of theboat, caught an overhanging bough of the willow on the shore, and, asshe had learned during the games of her childhood, swung herself aslightly as a bird into the thicket at the water's edge, which concealedher from every eye.