person whom Ledscha had directed him to deliver alive into her
power.

The pirate had surrendered the wrong captive to the woman he loved and,
as Bias declared, to his serious disadvantage; for, though Hanno and
the Biamite girl were husband and wife, no one could help perceiving the
cold dislike with which Ledscha rebuffed the giant who read her every
wish in her eyes. Finally, the captain of the pirate ship, a silent man
by nature, often did not open his lips for days except to give orders
to the crew. Frequently he even refused to be relieved from duty, and
remained all night at the helm.

Only when, at his own risk, or with the vessels of his father and
brother, he attacked merchant ships or defended himself against a war
galley, did he wake to vigorous life and rush with gallant recklessness
into battle.

A single man on the Hydra was little inferior to him in strength and
daring--the Gaul Lutarius. He had been enrolled among the pirates, and
when Hanno was wounded in an engagement with a Syrian war galley,
was elected his representative. During this time Ledscha faithfully
performed her duty as her young husband's nurse, but afterward treated
him as coldly as before.

Yet she devoted herself eagerly to the ship and the crew, and
the fierce, lawless fellows cheerfully submitted to the sensible
arrangements of their captain's beautiful, energetic wife. At this
period Bias had often met Ledscha engaged in secret conversation with
the Gaul, yet if any tender emotion really attracted her toward any one
other than her husband, Myrtilus would have been suspected rather than
the black-bearded bridge-builder; for she not only showed the sculptor
the kindest consideration, but often entered into conversation with
him, and even persuaded him, when the sea was calm, or the Hydra lay at
anchor in one of the hidden bays known to the pirates, to practise his
art, and at last to make a bust of her. She had succeeded in getting
him clay, wax, and tools for the purpose. After asking which goddess
had ill-treated the weaver Arachne, she commanded him to make a head of
Athene, adorned with the helmet, modelled from her own. During this time
she frequently inquired whether her features really were not beautiful
enough to be copied for the countenance of a goddess, and when he
eagerly assured her of the fact, made him swear that he was not
deceiving her with flattery.

Neither Bias nor Myrtilus had ever been allowed to remain on