It was a cruel thing to do.  The three pirate vessels, two large triremes and the yacht, discharged all their enginery.  Heavy stones crashed down upon the soldiers, crushing several men together.  Huge arrows tore through shield and armour, impaling more than one body.  It was impossible to miss working havoc in so close a throng.  The troops, impotent to make effective reply, turned in panic and fled toward the upper terraces to get beyond the decimating artillery.  The pirates raised a great shout of triumph that shook the smoke-veiled skies.  A fresh boat, pulling out from one of the vessels, rescued the captain and Agias; and soon the two cousins were safe on board the trireme Demetrius used as his flagship.

The pirates swarmed on the decks and rigging and cheered the escape of their commander.  On shore the burning buildings were still sending up their pillars of flame.  The water and sky far out to sea were red, and beyond, blackness.  Again the pirates shouted, then at the order of their commander the cables creaked, the anchors rose, hundreds of long oars flashed in the lurid glare, and the three vessels slipped over the dark waves.

Demetrius remained on the poop of his ship; Agias was below in the cabin, bending over Artemisia, who was already smiling in her sleep.

III

When Cornelia awoke, it was with Fabia bending over her at the bedside.  The portholes of the cabin were open; the warm, fresh southern wind was pouring in its balmy sweetness.  Cornelia pressed her hands to her eyes, then looked forth.  The cabin ceiling was low, but studded with rare ornamental bronze work; the furniture glittered with gilding and the smooth sheen of polished ivory; the tapestry of the curtains and on the walls was of the choicest scarlet wool, and Coan silk, semi-transparent and striped with gold.  Gold plating shone on the section of the mast enclosed within the cabin.  An odour of the rarest Arabian frankincense was wafted from the pastils burning on a curiously wrought tripod of Corinthian brass.  The upholsteries and rugs were more splendid than any that Cornelia had seen gracing the palace of Roman patrician.

Thus it came to pass that Fabia repeated over and over again to Cornelia the tale of recent happenings, until the latter’s sorely perturbed brain might comprehend.  And then, when Cornelia understood it all:  how that she was not to go to Greece with Phaon; how that she was under the protection of a man who owed his life to Sextus Drusus, and hated the Ahenobarbi with a perfect hatred; how that Demetrius had sworn to carry her to Alexandria, where, safe out of the way of war and commotion, she might await the hour when Drusus should be free to come for her—­when, we repeat, she understood all this, and how it came to pass that the Vestal herself was on the vessel,—­then Cornelia strained Fabia to her breast, and laid her head on the elder woman’s shoulder, and cried and cried for very relief of soul.  Then she arose and let the maids Demetrius had sent to serve her—­dark-skinned Hindoos, whose words were few, but whose fingers quick and dexterous —­dress her from the very complete wardrobe that the sea prince had placed at her disposal.