I professed myself quite ready to pay anything that was due, but said that I was very much amazed to learn that I was in his debt.
"It is a mere trifle," said Adonibal, in his usual facetious way; "it will not ruin you. I should not mention it at all, only you know it is a matter of principle with a true Phœnician to keep his accounts straight. The truth is, it is a little fine. Some of your men have been half-killing a couple of my Ligurians. The knaves are down in the dungeon sleeping off the effects of their drinking-bout; but just pay their fines, and I will give you an order for their release, and, if you like, you may go yourself and fetch them out."
"Ah," said I, laughing, "you wanted to show off the efficiency of your police."
I could not help asking him whether the circumstance did not remind him of the time when I was his helmsman, and he had himself come to liberate me from the prison in Chittim, where I had been locked up for smashing the skull of the grand merchant from Seir.
"You mean when I was captain of the Achmon—and a noble ship she was," said Adonibal. "Yes, to be sure—I remember it perfectly: we were both of us younger then than we are now. When I was a youngster I was always getting into scrapes as often as I went on shore with a purse-full of money; now I am only a poor hulk, dismasted and stranded here on the shore. Such is life! while we are young we entertain ourselves with breaking each other's heads, and when we are old we busy ourselves with cutting them off."
"But, seriously, how have my men been committing themselves?" I asked.
"As far as I understand the matter," replied the suffect, "they took it into their heads to play pranks with one of the priests of Dionysos; they treated him to some wine, made him perfectly tipsy, smeared his face all over with red and blue paint, and then insisted upon making him dance. Some of my Ligurian soldiers, seeing what was going on, tried to protect the priest—an interference that your men were not in the mood to allow. They had tripped up two of the soldiers, when the Admiralty-guard came to the rescue, and quietly walked off four of your drunken fellows to me. I sent them to the dungeon, but I have not had them flogged; I am generally as indulgent as possible in the case of a sailor's spree. I am an admiral now, and old in the service, but I do not forget that I was once a young pilot."
The subterranean vaults to which I now descended were very dark: most of them were used as armouries or storehouses, but a few were set apart for prisons. The turnkey opened the door of one of these, and by the light of his torch I could distinguish Bichri and three of my sailors, all looking very sheepish, and I had some difficulty in repressing my inclination to laugh. However, I assumed a serious air, gave them a severe reprimand, and sent them out with a notice that they were not to quit their ships. They did not wait for any second bidding to be off; the Admiralty dungeons are no enviable quarters, and those who find their way into them rarely leave except for the cross or the gallows.
Returning to the quay, I passed along the subterranean passage to the arsenal, and spent the remainder of the day in directing the repairs of my ships. By the evening everything was finished; and I was so gratified by the rapidity with which the work had been done, that in my good humour I not only forgave my four men who were in disgrace, but allowed them, on promise of good behaviour, to have another holiday on the following day.
For myself, I resolved to spend that day in an expedition to a small temple of Baal-Hamon, a short distance from the city, and to take with me no companion whatever except my friend Barca's old Libyan slave.