"I am sure they were Bodmilcar's!" he insisted; "creatures with long tails; they took him away; he never would have gone with them of his own accord."
Nothing I could do served to calm him; he would not be pacified until I allowed him to take some men and go out again in search of his lost favourite; but in the evening they all returned worn out with fatigue, only to announce, as might have been expected, that their search had been fruitless. There was no doubt the monkey had been delighted to join the troop of his own tribe that was gambolling in the woods. Bichri was very inadequately consoled for his loss by bringing back a great black monster, which, after he had wounded it, the men that were with him, in spite of the huge brute's desperate defence, had succeeded in despatching with their pikes. It certainly was a most formidable-looking creature, and I subsequently had it stuffed, and it may now be seen in the temple of Ashtoreth in Sidon. Bichri told us that after it had six or seven arrows in its body it snapped a pike-staff in two as easily as if it had been a reed; upon which Hannibal remarked that the strength that could break asunder a pike-handle made of oak of Bashan must be prodigious.
To face [page 301].
We were obliged to depart without finding any vestige of Gebal. After sailing on for about a fortnight, our supplies again ran short, and as we were discussing what steps we should take in consequence, Hannibal interrupted us by shouting:
"A gaoul ahead!"
Every eye was bent in the direction to which we were pointed, and sure enough there was a gaoul of Phœnician build; but on farther scrutiny it was evident that it was all dismantled, and drifting at the mercy of the waves.
"May be a ruse of Bodmilcar's," suggested Himilco.
Taking his hint, we approached very cautiously, and it was not until we had thoroughly satisfied ourselves that there was no one on board to answer our signals that we ventured close alongside. It was perfectly deserted.