who were worth, at the current market
prices of the day, ten thousand ducats apiece; Leonidas would have
given his own skin for them any day!

Full of great hopes, he had embarked the two children at Stambul (the
tanned hides were only a secondary consideration); and lo! now, just
when he was reaching his goal, the curse of Kasi Mollah overtook him.

Two long-boats fully manned had made an attempt to reach the shore, in
order that they might from thence haul the ship off the sand-bank, and
both boats had been seized before his very eyes by the breakers, and
dashed to pieces against the steep rocks; so there was nothing for it
but to remain behind and perish on the sand-bank.

One wave after another drove the hulk deeper and deeper down; those
who still remained aboard wrung their hands and prayed or cursed,
according as temperament or habit urged them.

As for Leonidas, he did both--he prayed and cursed at the same time;
for it seemed quite clear to him that praying or cursing separately
was of not the slightest use. The two children, meanwhile, holding
each other tightly embraced, sat beside the broken stump of the mast
and seemed to mock at the terrible tempest.

Not a sign of fear was visible on their faces. This roaring wind,
these foam-churning waves, seemed to afford them a pleasant pastime.
The black-and-white storm-birds sitting on the towering billows were
swimming there all round the doomed ship, merrily flapping the water
with their wings. Oh, those sea-swallows were having a fine time of
it!

The two children had agreed between themselves, some time before, that
if the ship went down, they would fling themselves into the water and
swim ashore. That would be a mere trifle to them, of course.

Full of despair, the merchant rushed towards them, and embracing them
with both his arms, he exclaimed, looking bitterly at the sky,
"Merciful Heaven! ten thousand ducats!"

The children fancied that terror had made the merchant mad, and they
tried to comfort him with kind words:

"Don't distress yourself, dear foster-father; we will not perish here,
and we will not leave you to perish either. As soon as the ship goes
down, we'll swim for the shore. We both of us know very well how to
cleave the waves with our strong arms, and we will fasten you to our
girdles and save you along with ourselves."

The merchant kissed the two dear children, and embraced them tenderly.
An hour later the last planks of the fine s