"You have a sharp fellow here, Mago," said Adonibal to me, smiling as he spoke; "but, come now, we must all drink wine together. I have much to tell about Bodmilcar, and presently I shall hope to see as many of your people as you please, seated at my own table."
Thanking him for his hospitable offer, I made Hanno write down a list of my officers, which was delivered to one of the guards. Wine, meanwhile, had been brought in, and Adonibal himself handed us each an ivory goblet with a rim of Tarshish silver. While we were drinking, he observed that he took it for granted we had not come to Utica empty-handed.
"I am quite aware," he said, "that the bulk of your cargo is for King David; but I reckon that you are rather too old a sailor not to be doing a little business on your own account. What have you got to dispose of?"
I told him that I had brought some sulphur and lava-stones, articles which always used to command a ready sale in Libya.
"And so they do now," he said; "you will be sure to get a good price for them. But what else have you?"
"Well, my lord suffect, you know I have been in three little skirmishes off Ionia and Sicily. You must naturally suppose I have managed to pick up a trifle or two."
"Ha! ha!" he laughed; "you are a genuine Sidonian. Out with it, man!—how many have you got?"
"Sixty-one," I answered; "and fine sturdy fellows they are—as fine a lot as one could wish to see. Perhaps the council might like to purchase them. I would take any reasonable sum, and should prefer selling them in bulk rather than in separate parcels. I hope the republic may be induced to take them off my hands."
"Good—good, my friend," said Adonibal; "it is worth consideration. We have had some rough encounters lately with the Libyans, and must replace our soldiers. Your Hellenes may be a good investment. Under Phœnician generals they often do very well in the forts, and if they get killed, the loss is not very serious. I think I can arrange to take the lot. I can put them with a batch of Egyptians that I bought of Bodmilcar, and send them off in divisions; some into garrison, some to the works, and some to fell trees. The Egyptians are good hands at building."
"Do I understand you aright?" I asked, "have you purchased Egyptians from Bodmilcar? There seems no limit to the scoundrel's treachery. Those Egyptians were lent him by Pharaoh to go in pursuit of us. Some of their ships were wrecked off Crete."