the decks and rigging and cheered the escape of
their commander. On shore the burning buildings were still sending up
their pillars of flame. The water and sky far out to sea were red, and
beyond, blackness. Again the pirates shouted, then at the order of
their commander the cables creaked, the anchors rose, hundreds of long
oars flashed in the lurid glare, and the three vessels slipped over
the dark waves.

Demetrius remained on the poop of his ship; Agias was below in the
cabin, bending over Artemisia, who was already smiling in her sleep.

III

When Cornelia awoke, it was with Fabia bending over her at the
bedside. The portholes of the cabin were open; the warm, fresh
southern wind was pouring in its balmy sweetness. Cornelia pressed her
hands to her eyes, then looked forth. The cabin ceiling was low, but
studded with rare ornamental bronze work; the furniture glittered with
gilding and the smooth sheen of polished ivory; the tapestry of the
curtains and on the walls was of the choicest scarlet wool, and Coan
silk, semi-transparent and striped with gold. Gold plating shone on
the section of the mast enclosed within the cabin. An odour of the
rarest Arabian frankincense was wafted from the pastils burning on a
curiously wrought tripod of Corinthian brass. The upholsteries and
rugs were more splendid than any that Cornelia had seen gracing the
palace of Roman patrician.

Thus it came to pass that Fabia repeated over and over again to
Cornelia the tale of recent happenings, until the latter's sorely
perturbed brain might comprehend. And then, when Cornelia understood
it all: how that she was not to go to Greece with Phaon; how that she
was under the protection of a man who owed his life to Sextus Drusus,
and hated the Ahenobarbi with a perfect hatred; how that Demetrius had
sworn to carry her to Alexandria, where, safe out of the way of war
and commotion, she might await the hour when Drusus should be free to
come for her--when, we repeat, she understood all this, and how it
came to pass that the Vestal herself was on the vessel,--then Cornelia
strained Fabia to her breast, and laid her head on the elder woman's
shoulder, and cried and cried for very relief of soul. Then she arose
and let the maids Demetrius had sent to serve her--dark-skinned
Hindoos, whose words were few, but whose fingers quick and dexterous
--dress her from the very complete wardrobe that the sea prince had
placed at her disposal.

Never be