Arachne | Page 7

who called her
back.
Ledscha reluctantly fulfilled his wish, but she soon regretted it, for
though what he had to say was doubtless kindly meant, it contained a
fresh and severe offence: the slave represented to her the possibility
that, so long as the daughter of Archias remained his guest, Hermon
might rebuff her like a troublesome beggar.
Then, as if sure of her cause, she indignantly cut short his words: "You
measure him according to your own standard, and do not know what
depends upon it for us. Remind him of the full moon on the coming
night and, though ten Alexandrians detained him, he would escape
from them to hear what I bring him."

With these words Ledscha again turned her back upon him, but Bias,
with a low imprecation, pushed the boat from the shore and rowed
toward the city.
CHAPTER III.
When Ledscha heard the strokes of the oars she stopped again and, with
glowing cheeks, gazed after the boat and the glimmering silver furrow
which it left upon the calm surface of the moonlit water.
Her heart was heavy. The doubts of her lover's sincerity which the
slave had awakened tortured her proud soul.
Was Hermon really only trifling mischievously with her affection?
Surely it was impossible.
She would rather endure everything, everything, than this torturing
uncertainty.
Yet she was here on the Owl's Nest to seek the aid of old Tabus's magic
arts. If any one could give her satisfaction, it was she and the demons
who obeyed her will, and the old woman was glad to oblige Ledscha;
she was bound to her by closer ties than most people in Tennis knew.
Ledscha had no cause to be ashamed of her frequent visits to the Owl's
Nest, for old Tabus had no equal as a leech and a prophetess, and the
corsair family, of which she was the female head, stood in high repute
among the Biamites. People bore them no ill-will because they
practised piracy; many of their race pursued the same calling, and the
sailors made common cause with them.
Ledscha's father, too, was on good terms with the pirates, and when
Abus, a handsome fellow who commanded his father's second ship and
had won a certain degree of renown by many a bold deed, sought the
hand of his oldest daughter, he did not refuse him, and only imposed
the condition that when he had gained riches enough and made Ledscha
his wife, he would cease his piratical pursuits and, in partnership with

him, take goods and slaves from Pontus to the Syrian and Egyptian
harbours, and grain and textiles from the Nile to the coasts of the Black
Sea.
Young Abus had yielded to this demand, since his grandmother on the
Owl's Nest thought it wise to delay for a time the girl's marriage to him,
the best beloved of her grandsons; she was then scarcely beyond
childhood.
Yet Ledscha had felt a strong affection for the young pirate, in whom
she saw the embodiment of heroic manhood. She accompanied him in
imagination through all his perilous expeditions; but she had been
permitted to enjoy his society only after long intervals for a few days.
Once he remained absent longer than usual, and this very voyage was
to have been his last on a pirate craft--the peaceful seafaring life was to
begin, after his landing, with the marriage.
Ledscha had expected her lover's return with eager longing, but week
after week elapsed, yet nothing was seen or heard of the ships owned
by the Owl's Nest family; then a rumour spread that this time the
corsairs were defeated in a battle with the Syrian war-galleys.
The first person who received sure tidings was old Tabus. Her grandson
Hanno, who escaped with his life, at the bidding of his father Satabus,
who revered his mother, had made his way to her amid great perils to
convey the sorrowful news. Two of the best ships in the family had
been sunk, and on one the brave Abus, Ledscha's betrothed husband,
who commanded it, had lost his life; on the other the aged dame's
oldest son and three of her grandchildren.
Tabus fell as if struck by lightning when she heard the tidings, and
since that time her tongue had lost its power of fluent speech, her ear its
sharpness; but Ledscha did not leave her side, and saved her life by
tireless, faithful nursing.
Neither Satabus, the old woman's second son, who now commanded
the little pirate fleet, nor his sons, Hanno and Labaja, had been seen in

the neighbourhood of Tennis since the disaster, but after Tabus had
recovered sufficiently to provide for herself, Ledscha returned to
Tennis to manage her father's great household and supply the mother's
place to her younger sister,