shore; but,
on the whole, the slave protested, Myrtilus's health, thanks to the pure
sea air on the Hydra, had improved, in spite of the longing which
often assailed him, and the great excitements to which he was sometimes
exposed.

There had been anxious hours when Hanno's father and brothers visited
the Hydra to induce her captain to make money out of the captive
sculptor, and either sell him at a high price or extort a large ransom
from him; but Bias had overheard how resolutely Ledscha opposed these
proposals, and represented to old Satabus of what priceless importance
Myrtilus might become to them if either should be captured and
imprisoned.

The greatest excitements, of course, had been connected with the battles
of the pirates. Myrtilus, who, in spite of his feeble health, by no
means lacked courage, found it especially hard to bear that during the
conflicts he was locked up with Bias, but even Ledscha could neither
prevent nor restrict these measures.

Bias could not tell what seas the Hydra had sailed, nor at what--usually
desolate-shores she had touched. He only knew that she had gone to
Sinope in Pontus, passed through the Propontis, and then sought booty
near the coasts of Asia Minor. Ledscha had refused to answer every
question that referred to these things.

Latterly, the young wife had become very grave, and apparently
completely severed her relations with her husband; but she also
studiously avoided the Gaul and, if they talked to each other at all, it
was in hurried whispers.

So events went on until something occurred which was to affect the lives
of the prisoners deeply. It must have been just beyond the outlet from
the Hellespont into the AEgean Sea; for, in order to pass through the
narrow straits leading thither from Pontus, the Hydra had been most
skilfully given the appearance of a peaceful merchant vessel.

The slave's soul must have been greatly agitated by this experience, for
while, hitherto, whenever he was interrupted by Hermon he had retained
his composure, and could not refrain from occasionally connecting a
practical application with his report, now, mastered by the power of
the remembrance, he uttered what he wished to tell his master in an
oppressed tone, while bright drops of perspiration bedewed the speaker's
brow.

A large merchant ship had approached them, and three men came on board
the Hydra--old Satabus, his son Labaja, and a gray-haired, bearded
seafarer of tall statu