presents to the heroes.

And Medea, looking into the clear eyes of Queen Arete, knew that she
was the woman of whom Circe had prophesied, the woman who knew nothing
of enchantments, but who had much human wisdom. She was to ask of her
what she was to do in her life and what she was to leave undone. And
what this woman told her Medea was to regard. Arete told her that she
was to forget all the witcheries and enchantments that she knew, and
that she was never to practice against the life of any one. This she
told Medea upon the shore, before Jason lifted her aboard the Argo.

VII. THEY COME TO THE DESERT LAND

And now with sail spread wide the Argo went on, and the heroes rested
at the oars. The wind grew stronger. It became a great blast, and for
nine days and nine nights the ship was driven fearfully along.

The blast drove them into the Gulf of Libya, from whence there is no
return for ships. On each side of the gulf there are rocks and shoals,
and the sea runs toward the limitless sand. On the top of a mighty tide
the Argo was lifted, and she was flung high up on the desert sands.

A flood tide such as might not come again for long left the Argonauts
on the empty Libyan land. And when they came forth and saw that vast
level of sand stretching like a mist away into the distance, a deadly
fear came over each of them. No spring of water could they descry; no
path; no herdsman's cabin; over all that vast land there was silence
and dead calm. And one said to the other: "What land is this? Whither
have we come? Would that the tempest had overwhelmed us, or would that
we had lost the ship and our lives between the Clashing Rocks at the
time when we were making our way into the Sea of Pontus."

And the helmsman, looking before him, said with a breaking heart: "Out
of this we may not come, even should the breeze blow from the land, for
all around us are shoals and sharp rocks--rocks that we can see
fretting the water, line upon line. Our ship would have been shattered
far from the shore if the tide had not borne her far up on the sand.
But now the tide rushes back toward the sea, leaving only foam on which
no ship can sail to cover the sand. And so all hope of our return is
cut off."

He spoke with tears flowing upon his cheeks, and all who had knowledge
of ships agreed with what the helmsman had said. No dangers that they
had been through were as terrible as this. Hopelessly, like lifeless
specters, the heroes stra