nd a sword in either hand. And she
leapt into the ditch with her hounds, and they ate and drank their fill,
while Jason and Orpheus trembled, and Medeia hid her eyes. And at last
the witch queen vanished, and fled with her hounds into the woods; and
the bars of the gates fell down, and the brazen doors flew wide, and
Medeia and the heroes ran forward and hurried through the poison wood,
among the dark stems of the mighty beeches, guided by the gleam of the
golden fleece, until they saw it hanging on one vast tree in the midst.
And Jason would have sprung to seize it; but Medeia held him back, and
pointed shuddering to the tree foot, where the mighty serpent lay,
coiled in and out among the roots, with a body like a mountain pine. His
coils stretched many a fathom, spangled with bronze and gold; and half
of him they could see, but no more; for the rest lay in the darkness
far beyond.

And when he saw them coming, he lifted up his head, and watched them
with his small bright eyes, and flashed his forked tongue, and roared
like the fire among the woodlands, till the forest tossed and groaned.
For his cry shook the trees from leaf to root, and swept over the long
reaches of the river, and over AEetes's hall, and woke the sleepers in
the city, till mothers clasped their children in their fear.

But Medeia called gently to him; and he stretched out his long spotted
neck, and licked her hand, and looked up in her face, as if to ask for
food. Then she made a sign to Orpheus, and he began his magic song.

And as he sung, the forest grew calm again, and the leaves on every tree
hung still; and the serpent's head sank down, and his brazen coils grew
limp, and his glittering eyes closed lazily, till he breathed as gently
as a child, while Orpheus called to pleasant Slumber, who gives peace to
men, and beasts, and waves.

Then Jason leapt forward warily, and stept across that mighty snake, and
tore the fleece from off the tree trunk; and the four rushed down the
garden, to the bank where the Argo lay.

There was a silence for a moment, while Jason held the golden fleece on
high. Then he cried: "Go now, good Argo, swift and steady, if ever you
would see Pelion more."

And she went, as the heroes drove her, grim and silent all, with muffled
oars, till the pine wood bent like willow in their hands, and stout Argo
groaned beneath their strokes.

On and on, beneath the dewy darkness, they fled swiftly down the
swirling stream; un