tells me alltheir race is silent for ever and the only tales they hear are thoseof Gehenna.
Then arose another shout from many throats,"Sacrifice the witch to the gods of the Sea. Throw her into the seathat they may take her and we may live to look upon to-morrow's sun!"
Next there was a rush toward the afterpart of the trireme where I wasin the cabin. In the waist of the ship appeared the captain, Philo, asI saw watching from between the curtains, and with him a number of thecrew who were Egyptians and faithful to him, perhaps six in all, notmore. In his hands Philo held a bow, and a drawn short-sword wasthrust through his belt.
He shouted to the mob of madmen to stand back, but they would not, andled by one of the guards of Tenes, crept forward. Philo knelt, restinghis back against a water-cask, waiting till the ship steadied herselfa little on the crest of a wave. Then he drew the bow and shot. Verywell and straight did he shoot, for the arrow pierced that leader ofthe guard of Tenes from breast to back, so that he fell down dead.Seeing this, the others grew afraid and stayed where they were,clinging to the bulwarks of the ship or whatever they could grasp withtheir hands.
Tenes appeared among them. They shouted to him and he shouted back tothem, but what they said I could not hear because of the howling ofthe wind.
Philo crept into the cabin and his face was very heavy.
"Holy one," he said, "make ready to join Isis in the heavens. Fearingfor his own life, that dog of a Sidonian king has consented to yoursacrifice and I am come to die with you."
"The goddess thanks you, O great-hearted man, and I, her servant,thank you also," I said, smiling at him. "Yet have no fear, since myspirit tells me that neither I nor you shall die this night. Help menow and let us go forth and talk with these hissing snakes of Sidon."
"But what will you say to them, Holy one?"
"The goddess will teach me what to say," I answered, who in truth didnot know what I should say. All I knew was that some spirit moved meto go forth and to talk with them.
So we went, I leaning upon Philo as it was hard to stand upon my feet,and came to the stump of the broken mast in the midst of the hollowship, all the mob of the crew drawing back before me. Here with onearm I clung to the mast, and beckoned to them with the other in whichI held the sistrum of our worship. They drew near, Tenes among them,his face covered by a cloak.
"Hearken!" I cried. "I learn that you would offer me, the Prophetessof Isis, as a sacrifice to your gods. Fools! Is not Isis greater thanyour gods? O Queen of Heaven! send a sign to show that thou artgreater than these foreign gods!"
So I spoke and stared upward at the moon, for the wind had torn awaymy veil, and waited.
A great billow came and struck the forepart 

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