"Caleb's advice is excellent. It is the only thing to do. If I delay, Tiberius' minions will discover where I am and take the last remnant of my belongings from me. Caleb, I will do as you say. I will sign the document certifying that the ship is your property, together with the slaves, the rowers, the furniture, the jewels, the very valuable plate...."
But Caleb did not move. He continued to stand in the solemn, rapt attitude of his oath, with his eyes and hands raised to heaven. And he now said, slowly:
"I thank you, my lord, for your confidence. It will certainly not be abused. If I do not render you an equitable account in whatever place of exile you may be, may the awful jaws of Typhon, whose tongue is a serpent and whose teeth are blazing flames, swallow me and devour me!"
And Caleb himself trembled at his terrific oath and then fell on his knees before Lucius--a thing which he, a free Sabæan, had never yet done--and kissed the foot of the suddenly impoverished noble lord!
Near the pillars of Sesostris, near the little diversorium, there lay moored, beside the quadrireme, a merchant trireme, which was sailing past Ophir to the Persian Gulf and which was to go up the Euphrates to Babylon. And Lucius asked to speak to the master and said:
"Master, can I have room in your ship for myself, my father, my young wife and my little black slave? I am a sculptor; and I am on my way to Babylon."
And he pointed to Thrasyllus, Cora and Tarrar, who approached, each carrying a small bundle of luggage.
"Certainly," said the master. "My one cabin is still unoccupied. It is small and perhaps inconvenient; but people like you, who are sculptors, are not accustomed to luxury, I dare say, and will be prepared to make shift."
Lucius answered that, if the cabin was suitable for his wife and his father, he and the little slave would do the best they could on the half-deck or in the hold; and he beckoned to his family to come on board and paid the passage-money.
For Caleb had advanced him a goodly sum on the value of the quadrireme, for the immediate needs of the voyage; and Caleb himself had set out, with a great following, for his dear Saba, first because he wanted to forget his love-sickness in the pleasures of Arabia Felix and then to make a start by selling many of Lucius' slaves and jewels, his ornaments and furniture at Mariaba, the capital, because it was safer to get this done as quickly as possible. The sale of the great ship herself would be difficult enough.