song-bird, they flew in
pursuit of Perseus. For many a league they kept up the chase, and
their howling was grim to hear. Across the seas they flew, and over
the yellow sand of the Libyan desert, and as Perseus flew before them,
some blood-drops fell from the severed head of Medusa, and from them
bred the vipers that are found in the desert to this day. But bravely
did the winged shoes of Hermes bear Perseus on, and by nightfall the
Gorgon sisters had passed from sight, and Perseus found himself once
more in the garden of the Hesperides. Ere he sought the nymphs, he
knelt by the sea to cleanse from his hands Medusa's blood, and still
does the seaweed that we find on sea-beaches after a storm bear the
crimson stains.

And when Perseus had received glad welcome from the fair dwellers in
the garden of the Hesperides, he sought Atlas, that to him he might
fulfil his promise; and eagerly Atlas beheld him, for he was aweary of
his long toil.

So Perseus uncovered the face of Medusa and held it up for the Titan
to gaze upon.

And when Atlas looked upon her whose beauty had once been pure and
living as that of a flower in spring, and saw only anguish and
cruelty, foul wickedness, and hideous despair, his heart grew like
stone within him. To stone, too, turned his great, patient face, and
into stone grew his vast limbs and strong, crouching back. So did
Atlas the Titan become Atlas the Mountain, and still his head,
white-crowned with snow, and his great shoulder far up in misty
clouds, would seem to hold apart the earth and the sky.

Then Perseus again took flight, and in his flight he passed over many
lands and suffered weariness and want, and sometimes felt his faith
growing low. Yet ever he sped on, hoping ever, enduring ever. In Egypt
he had rest and was fed and honoured by the people of the land, who
were fain to keep him to be one of their gods. And in a place called
Chemmis they built a statue of him when he had gone, and for many
hundreds of years it stood there. And the Egyptians said that ever and
again Perseus returned, and that when he came the Nile rose high and
the season was fruitful because he had blessed their land.

Far down below him as he flew one day he saw something white on a
purple rock in the sea. It seemed too large to be a snowy-plumaged
bird, and he darted swiftly downward that he might see more clearly.
The spray lashed against the steep rocks of the desolate island, and
showered itself upon a