And he put his hands upon my shoulders and long and keenly scrutinised my face.
"Tell me two things," I said; "where am I? and what has brought you here?"
Ethbaal seemed full of surprise; but said:
"Come, come; you are laughing at me. You must know well enough where you are."
I assured him that I was in earnest in what I said, and repeated my assertion that I was by no means aware of where I was; and when Himilco informed him that we had come from a place where the Cabiri could not be seen at all, and where the sun shone on the wrong side of us, he looked as if he thought we had taken leave of our senses. Nor did he appear to understand much better when Himilco went on to expatiate upon having once drunk fish-oil, and having had no wine for many months together.
"Mysterious!" muttered Ethbaal to himself; "here is Mago, close to the entrance of the Sea of Reeds, only six days' voyage from Ophir, and yet he comes from the south, after sailing four years ago westward to Tarshish! Strange!"
He pondered awhile, and then addressed himself to me:
"Yes; you are close to the Sea of Reeds."
I uttered an exclamation of delight, and turning to my people cried triumphantly:
"Was I not right? Did I not tell you that we were on our way to Egypt? Lucky we did not turn back from the Fortunate Islands!"