"What did he talk about?"
"Why, he seemed to say nothing except to ask how he could get from here to Tyre."
"Is he going back?"
"No; Bodmilcar has him, and I do not think he will let him go in a hurry."
When we had finished our repast, some slaves appeared with torches to attend us to our ships. We did not quit the palace the same way as we had entered, but after descending the staircase to the next lower floor of the tower, we passed through a door into the sloping gallery of what is called a "curtain;" into this the quarters of the soldiers opened, the chambers themselves being built in the thickness of the outer wall; we then passed into a vaulted hall, whence a corridor brought us to the gate of the palace adjacent to the Admiralty-basin. A private barque was waiting to convey us to our ships, where we found the sailors, who by my orders had not been allowed to leave their posts, making all manner of plans for the next day.
The trumpets on the various vessels were soon heard summoning the crews for the night, and the countless lights in every direction testified to the crowded condition of the harbour; over these, high and bright, were the lights in the city, while in the east the flickerings from the loop-holes of the Admiralty made the building look more sombre and massive than ever.
In the morning I had everything put in readiness for the admiral's promised visit, and before noon I saw his twelve-oar issuing from his private quay. As soon as he had mounted the deck of the Ashtoreth, he turned and glanced impatiently towards the top of the palace.
"Idiots!" he muttered; "how long they are! when I was young an order was executed in half the time."
He had not finished speaking before several men appeared at the summit of one of the towers and fastened a score of heads along the battlemented parapet.
"Right at last!" he said; "it ought to have been done a quarter of an hour ago!"