osses and waiting for the crows."

But a violent screech came from Lampaxo, who had just comprehended the
fate awaiting.

"_Ai! ai!_ save me, fellow-Hellenes!" she bawled toward the penteconter,
"a citizeness of Athens, the most patriotic woman in the city, slaughtered
by Barbarians--"

"Silence the squealing sow!" roared Hasdrubal. "They'll hear her on the
war-ship. Aft with her and overboard at once."

But as they dragged Lampaxo on the poop, her outcry rose to a tempest till
Lars the Etruscan clapped his hand upon her mouth. Her screaming stilled,
but his own outcry more than replaced it. In a twinkling the virago's hard
teeth closed over his fingers. Two ran from the oars to him. But the
woman, conscious that she fought for life or death, held fast. Curses,
blows, even a dagger pried betwixt her lips--all bootless. She seemed as a
thing possessed. And all the time the Etruscan howled in mortal agony.

The thin dagger, bent too hard, snapped betwixt her teeth. Lars's clamour
could surely be heard on the penteconter. Again the breeze was falling.

They seized the fury's throat, and pressed it till she turned black, but
the grip of her jaw only tightened.

"_Attatai! attatai!_" groaned the victim, "forbear. Don't throttle her.
Her teeth are iron. They are biting through the bone. If you strangle her,
they will never relax. _Attatai! attatai!_"

"Nip him tight, little wife," called Phormio, for once regarding his
spouse with supreme satisfaction. "It's a dainty morsel you have in your
mouth. Chew it well!"

Lampaxo's attackers paused an instant, uncertain how to release the
Etruscan. To their threats of torture the woman was deaf as the mainmast,
and still the Etruscan screamed.

Glaucon had stood perfectly passive during all this grim by-play. Once
Phormio saw his fellow-captive's face twist into a smile, but in the
excitement of the moment the fishmonger as well as the Carthaginians
almost forgot the Isthmionices, and Hib relaxed his grip and guard. Lars's
finger was streaming red, when Hasdrubal threw away the steering-paddle in
a rage.

"Silence her forever! The axe, Hib. Split her skull open!"

The axe lay at the Libyan's feet. One instant, only one, betook his hands
from the athlete's wrists to seize the weapon, but in that instant the
yell from all the crew drowned even the howls of Lars. Had any watched,
they might have seen all the muscles in the Alcmaeonid's glorious body
contract, might have see