Mago Barca

“ All praise to Ashtoreth! you are just the man I want. I have a commission from the King to fit out ships for Tarshish; I am captain of the expedition, and here at once I can appoint you my second in command. My pilot is Himilco; and here is Hanno, my scribe; we are on our way to the temple of the goddess, and are going in her presence to draw up the covenants."
"Joy, joy, dear Mago!" ejaculated Bodmilcar; "may the gods be gracious to you, and repay your goodness! I shall not regret my disaster at the hands of the Chaldeans, if it ends in a voyage to Tarshish with you. ”

“ Hasdrubal Gisgo, who, next to the Barcine family, was the greatest and most brilliant general that held command in this war, was encouraged by Mago to renew hostilities. He left Gades, and traversing Further Spain, raised a force of 50,000 infantry and 4500 cavalry. As to the strength of his cavalry the authorities are generally agreed, but some writers assert that the infantry force which he led to Silpia amounted to 70,000 men. ”

“ Could it be so difficult to deal a blow at that ship’s rudder, to board the drifting barque and to pull it at last into the haven of freedom and peace, there to be freshly fitted and manned for a happier voyage in the future?
Magus, of course, was the hero of the hour. He was loaded with thanks and praises, his master embraced him warmly, and gifts were showered upon him; but the honest fellow seemed hardly to understand why so much was made of his achievement. ”

“ PORT MAHON
Mahon, so named from Mago, the brother of Hannibal, is the chief town of the island of Minorca. It is beautifully situated at the northwest extremity of one of the most secure and spacious harbours in the world. This port, since the first introduction of a U. S. naval force in the Mediterranean, subsequent to the war with the free-booters of Barbary, has, with few exceptions, been the winter rendezvous of our squadrons stationed in that sea. ”

“ Shortly after entering the port, the most critical moment of all Magalhães’s life comes, and one which he has perhaps, dreaded from the beginning of the expedition. This is the mutiny headed by Juan de Cartagena, captain of one of the vessels, and other malcontents, who hate Magalhães because he is a Portuguese. The latter, however, proves equal to the emergency, and by his prompt [15] action and the punishments tempered by mercy that he inflicts, quiets the trouble. João Serrão, captain of the “Santiago” is sent to explore the coast, but is shipwrecked, although all the crew are saved. ”

“ Barca. Will you walk on?
Ard. Yes, come.
Barca. [Listening] What's that?
A noise below!
Ard. Some one from Banissat!
I'll not be taken!
Barca. Come aside, my lady.
Here is good hiding.
[They go behind a great rock half hidden by cedars. Bertrand enters below. Ardia steps out and stands before him. He kneels]
Ber. Spirit, hast come for me? I'll join thee, love,
When I have climbed this peak and met the sword
That sets my honor free.
Ard. Nay, rise, my lord.
Ber. [Rising] Thy living self? Here in the night alone?
Ard. Barca is here, and Gaina. ”

“ Mago, my son, Hanno your scribe has undertaken to transmit to me, in writing, an account of whatever he may see rare or wonderful in the far-off lands to which you go; his genius seems bright and quick, but his youth renders him wild and unstable as a kid. ”

“ AT the foot of the great stone stairway, known in Italian as La Scalinata and in English as the Spanish Steps, which leads down from the Church of the Trinita de' Monti, to the Piazza di Spagna lies the singular fountain called La Barcaccia. The design of this fountain is that of a quaintly conventionalized boat, fast sinking under the water which is pouring into it. To this effect it owes its name; for "barca," being the Italian for boat, and "accia" a termination of opprobrium, Barcaccia means a worthless boat. ”

“ On their acknowledging the act, he set his army in motion, and gave the command of it to Amasis, while a fleet at the same time was entrusted to Badres, and both proceeded to take vengeance of the assassins. After a long and ineffectual siege, Barca was entered by treachery: and Amasis, who had passed his word to spare the lives of the Barceans, gave them over to the vengeance of Pheretime; by whom all who were concerned in the murder of her son were put to death in the most inhuman manner. ”

“ Barca. God gave her eyes, and Sir Vairdelan is good to see. When I look at him I feel somehow as if the sun were just up and everybody had another chance.
Gaina. A man who lets his sword rust at home while he goes about tootle-de-rooling on a flute! And she could be the princess of Avesta if she'd look in the right place. Well, if she had my eyes!
Barca. What! You would have your mistress marry Banissat? An unbeliever?
Gaina. A prince is a prince,—and I'd say the same if my mistress were my own daughter.
Barca. And you a Christian!
Gaina. A Christian of Corinth, I'd have you know. ”

“ We gazed out into the night, out and across the sea. At the same moment, out there on the terrible Ba, a blue light sprang up, revealing the yacht and even its people on board. She was leaning well over to one side, her masts gone, and the spray dashing over her.
"Come!" cried Maggie, "there is no time to lose. We can guide their boat to the cave. Come, cousin!"
I felt dazed, thunderstruck. Was I to take active part in a forlorn hope? Was Maggie—how beautiful and daring she looked now!—to assume the rôle of a modern Grace Darling? So it appeared. ”

“ The ship reeled to and fro like a drunken man, and the passengers, as usual in such cases, performed various involuntary evolutions, cutting right angles, sliding, spinning round, and rolling over, as if Oberon's magic horn were playing an occasional blast amidst the roaring winds; whilst the stewards alone, like Horace's good man, walked serene amidst the wreck of crockery and the fall of plates. Driven from our strong hold on deck, indiscriminately crammed in below like figs in a drum ”

“ These are, of course, the letters referred to by Barros and other historians, which were given to Gama when he left Portugal. Correa’s story, that Vasco and his brother Paulo concocted the letters whilst off Calecut, and forged the king’s signature, is therefore quite incredible. Nor is Gama made to say in the “Roteiro” that he had been sent with a fleet of fifty ships, and that the voyage took two years (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 168, 173) . The “grand” Vasco has many sins to answer for, and we ought not, without good proof, to fasten upon him the charge of forgery. ”

“ And Magus himself was a living picture among the motionless figures on the wall—a little old man, dressed in a shabby overcoat, a silk waistcoat, renewed twice in a score of years, and a very dirty pair of trousers, with a bald head, a face full of deep hollows, a wrinkled, callous skin, a beard that had a trick of twitching its long white bristles, a menacing pointed chin, a toothless mouth, eyes bright as the eyes of his dogs in the yard, and a nose like an obelisk—there he stood in his gallery smiling at the beauty called into being by genius. ”

“ But his prudence was not to be thus deceived. A bold pirate, named Timoja, by linking together eight vessels full of men and covered with green boughs, thought to board him by surprise. But Gama's cannon made seven of them fly; the eighth, loaded with fruits and provision, he took. The beautiful island of Anchediva now offered a convenient place to careen his ships and refresh his men. While he stayed here, the first minister of Zabajo, king of Goa, one of the most powerful princes of India, came on board, and, in the name of his master, congratulated the admiral in the Italian tongue. ”

“ It was not very likely to be so with the wind rising out of the northeast; and ere long the Petrel’s topmast was sent down, and a double reef put in her mainsail. Until midnight it blew hard with a fast rising sea, and a mist as thick as a hedge. After this, it was ugly weather all the way home, and as they passed Ailsa Craig the wind changed to full north, and fetched the sea down with it.
“The waves come high down the Frith,” said Maggie to the owner of the yacht, a hardy young fellow who leaned against the taffrail, and watched his boat hammering through the heavy seas. ”

“ Maggie could see nothing from her perch but the sea, and the opposite cliff upon which Ripon House stood. A few wheeling sea-gulls, and a small fishing-boat, beating out of the harbor, were the only living objects in the view. The waves, crest over crest, hurried toward the headland, and beat into foam at her feet. Her mind was soothed by watching the torn waters, as each wave dashed out its life, in a thousand swirls and white bubbles of foam.
Suddenly she was startled from her reverie by hearing Geoffrey call her name, and she saw him on the rocks below her. ”

“ The most complete, and, probably, the only good account of the navigation of the Strait of Magalhaens is contained in the narrative of Don Antonio de Cordova, who commanded the Spanish frigate Santa Maria de la Cabeza, on a voyage expressly for the purpose of exploring the strait. It was published under the title of 'Ultimo Viage al Estrecho de Magallanes.' That voyage was, however, concluded with only the examination of the eastern part, and a subsequent expedition was made, under the command of the same officer, the account of which was appended to the Cabeza's voyage ”

“ A wind sprang up. The sails were spread. The captain called Peter. The men ran everywhere searching for him, could not find him, and at length were reluctantly obliged to sail without him. On reaching Provence the captain was unwilling to retain the goods of the lost man, and so gave them to the holy woman who ministered to the sick in the hospital she had built on a tiny islet off the coast. One day when Maguelone was short of salt she went to fetch some from the barrels given her by the ship's captain, and to her amazement found under the salt an incalculable treasure. ”

“ The crew, terrified at the tumultuous seas, prayed da Gama to turn back.
[32] “We cannot pass this awful cape!” they cried.
“If God preserve us,” answered da Gama boldly, “we will pass the cape and make our way to Cathay. For that honour will be given us, and we shall get much wealth.”
But, though he thus appealed to their cupidity, the crew were not to be calmed; and their dissatisfaction gave rise to conspiracy. They intended to mutiny, and force da Gama to turn back, or else kill him out of hand, and then do what they wanted to do. ”

“ Barcus inquired.
"To get rid of the lady," Alan announced firmly. "Those must be her people aboard that fisherman; and if we let her stop aboard she's certain to do something to cripple us—if she hasn't already; and if that boat ever overhauls us, I'm as good as done for—murdered. It sounds insane, but it's so."
"It doesn't sound insane to me, my friend," said Mr. Barcus ruefully, "not after the last half hour."
"Then take the wheel."
"What are you going to do?"
"Make the fisherman a present. You don't mind parting with the dory—if I pay for it?"
"Take it for nothing," Barcus grumbled. ”

“ This expedition had for its object new discoveries, but the arrival of Magalhaens prevented his request from being granted, and he only obtained the subaltern position of pilot. His disaffection was further increased by the thought of his serving under a Portugese. In the course of the night he conspired with the other Spaniards on board the ship. They put in irons and even wounded the captain, Alvaro de Meschita, the cousin-german of the captain-general, and carried him to Spain. ”

“ But Mayo, who knew the souls of mariners, understood. Under their hard shells there is imagination that has been nurtured in long, long thoughts. In the calms under starlit skies, in the black darkness when tossing surges swing beneath the keel, in the glimmering vistas of sun-lighted seas, sailors ponder while their more stolid brothers on land allow their souls to doze.
“You are right, Captain Candage. That's why I almost hate to go out to the Conomo. Those infernal ghouls of junkmen will be tearing her into bits instead of trying to put the breath of life back into her.” ”

“ The pirates, full-fed, with pipes in mouths, were inclined to be affable and jocular. "Feeding the animals," as Slinker called it, seemed to afford them much agreeable diversion. Even Magnus had lost in a degree his usual sullenness, and was wreathed in simian smiles. The intense terror and revulsion which he inspired in me kept my unwilling eyes constantly wandering in his direction. Yet under all the terror was a bedrock confidence that there was, there must be somehow in the essence of things, an eternal rightness which would keep me safe from Captain Magnus. ”

“ Is the Barca harbor shallow?"
"Ten, fifteen feet at low tide," she informed him. "We're having a sort of dredge made there. Something to go down into the sea, take pictures, get samples of the bottom, and then come up again. There's an oceanographic ship due in Manila shortly, by the way. ”

“ Being animated by an ardent desire to continue the work initiated by the Infante and our predecessors, and being assured that Vasco da Gama, a gentleman of our household, was well qualified for rendering us this service, and would disregard the perils to his person and the risk of life which he ran in accomplishing the task set him, we sent him to India as captain-major of our fleet, and with him Paulo da Gama, his brother, and Nicolau Coelho, likewise a gentleman of our household. ”