drifted past the end of the isle, and on with the current, and so all
day.

A weary day she had, for the boy was full of play, and was like to
capsize the chest. She gave him some wine and water, and presently he
fell asleep, and Danae watched the sea and the distant isles till night
came again. It was dark, with no moon, and the darker because the chest
floated into the shadow of a mountain, and the current drew it near the
shore. But Danae dared not hope again; men would not be abroad, she
thought, in the night. As she lay thus helpless, she saw a light moving
on the sea, and she cried as loud as she could cry. Then the light
stopped, and a man's shout came to her over the water, and the light
moved swiftly towards her. It came from a brazier set on a pole in a
boat, and now Danae could see the bright sparks that shone in the drops
from the oars, for the boat was being rowed towards her, as fast as two
strong men could pull.

Being weak from the heat of the sun that had beaten on her for two days,
and tired out with hopes and fears, Danae fainted, and knew nothing till
she felt cold water on her face. Then she opened her eyes, and saw kind
eyes looking at her own, and the brown face of a bearded man, in the
light of the blaze that fishermen carry in their boats at night, for the
fish come to wonder at it, and the fishermen spear them. There were many
dead fish in the boat, into which Danae and the child had been lifted,
and a man with a fish spear in his hand was stooping over her.

Then Danae knew that she and her boy were saved, and she lay, unable to
speak, till the oarsmen had pulled their boat to a little pier of stone.
There the man with the fish spear lifted her up lightly and softly set
her on her feet on land, and a boatman handed to him the boy, who was
awake, and was crying for food.

'You are safe, lady!' said the man with the spear, 'and I have taken
fairer fish than ever swam the sea. I am called Dictys; my brother,
Polydectes, is king of this island, and my wife is waiting for me at
home, where she will make you welcome, and the boy thrice welcome, for
the gods have taken our only son.'

He asked no questions of Danae; it was reckoned ill manners to put
questions to strangers and guests, but he lighted two torches at the
fire in the boat, and bade his two men walk in front, to show the way,
while he supported Danae, and carried the child on his shoulder. They
had not far to go, for Dictys, who lo