t morning they bade Perseus be of good hope. He
burnished and polished the shield, and covered it with the goat's skin,
he put on the Shoes of Swiftness, and belted himself with the Sword of
Sharpness, and placed on his head the Cap of Darkness. Then he soared
high in the air, till he saw the Gorgons' Isle, and the table-shaped
mountain, a speck in the western sea.

The way was long, but the shoes were swift, and, far aloft, in the heat
of the noon-day, Perseus looked down on the top of the table-mountain.
There he could dimly see three bulks of strange shapeless shape, with
monstrous limbs that never stirred, and he knew that the Gorgons were
sleeping their midday sleep. Then he held the shield so that the shapes
were reflected in its polished face, and very slowly he floated down,
and down, till he was within striking distance. There they lay, two of
them uglier than sin, breathing loud in their sleep like drunken men.
But the face of her who lay between the others was as quiet as the face
of a sleeping child; and as beautiful as the face of the goddess of
Love, with long dark eyelashes veiling the eyes, and red lips half
open. Nothing stirred but the serpents in the hair of beautiful Medusa;
they were never still, but coiled and twisted, and Perseus loathed them
as he watched them in the mirror. They coiled and uncoiled, and left
bare her ivory neck, and then Perseus drew the sword Herpe, and struck
once.

In the mirror he saw the fallen head, and he seized it by the hair, and
wrapped it in the goat-skin, and put the goat-skin in his wallet. Then
he towered high in the air, and, looking down, he saw the two sister
Gorgons turning in their sleep; they woke, and saw their sister dead.
They seemed to speak to each other; they looked this way and that, into
the bright empty air, for Perseus in the Cap of Darkness they could not
see. They rose on their mighty wings, hunting low, and high, and with
casts behind their island and in front of it, but Perseus was flying
faster than ever he flew before, stooping and rising to hide his scent.
He dived into the deep sea, and flew under water as long as he could
hold his breath, and then rose and fled swiftly forward. The Gorgons
were puzzled by each double he had made, and, at the place where he
dived they lost the scent, and from far away Perseus heard their loud
yelps, but soon these faded in the distance. He often looked over his
shoulder as he flew straight towards the far-o