that the strong north wind would bear her ship home with
unexpected speed after the victory. But they were better informed:
palaces have chinks in doors and curtains, and are pervaded by a very
peculiar echo which bears even a whisper distinctly from ear to ear.

The body-slave of the commander-in-chief Seleukus was the principal
spokesman. His master had reached Alexandria but a few hours ago from
the frontier fortress of Pelusium, which he commanded. A mysterious
order from Lucilius, Antony's most faithful friend, brought from
Taenarum by a swift galley, had summoned him hither.

The freedman Beryllus, a loquacious Sicilian, who, as an actor, had seen
better days ere pirates robbed him of his liberty, had heard many new
things, and his hearers listened eagerly; for ships coming from the
north, which touched at Pelusium, had confirmed and completed the evil
tidings that had penetrated the Sebasteum.

According to his story, he was as well informed as if he had been an
eye-witness of the naval battle; for he had been present during his
master's conversation with many ship-captains and messengers from
Greece. He even assumed the air of a loyal, strictly silent servant, who
would only venture to confirm and deny what the Alexandrians had already
learned. Yet his knowledge consisted merely of a confused medley of
false and true occurrences. While the Egyptian fleet had been defeated
at Actium, and Antony, flying with Cleopatra, had gone first to Taenarum
at the end of the Peloponnesian coast, he asserted that the army and
fleet had met on the Peloponnesian coast and Octavianus was pursuing
Antony, who had turned towards Athens, while Cleopatra was on her way to
Alexandria.

His "trustworthy intelligence" had been patched together from a few
words caught from Seleukus at table, or while receiving and dismissing
messengers. In other matters his information was more accurate.

While for several days the harbour of Alexandria had been closed,
vessels were permitted to enter Pelusium, and all captains of newly
arrived ships and caravans were compelled to report to Beryllus's
master, the commandant of the important frontier fortress.

He had quitted Pelusium the night before. The strong wind had driven
the trireme before it so swiftly that it was difficult for even the sea
gulls to follow. It was easy for the listeners to believe this; for the
storm outside howled louder and louder, whistling through the open hall
where th