"Are you captain?"
"No," replied Hanno, pointing to me; "there is our captain."
The Kardooks stared in astonishment.
I was dressed in my ordinary naval attire; but as the Assyrians always associate dignity of place with costliness of apparel, they could only account for my appearance by conjecturing that I was in disguise.
"You wish to see Belesys?" said the guard; and having entered the tent, returned again immediately with permission for us to be admitted.
The Assyrian commander-in-chief was at the farther extremity of the tent, surrounded by a number of officers and slaves, and was reclining, or rather lolling, upon a luxurious couch; he was superbly dressed, but wore no armour. Armed men stood on both sides of him, and two cup-bearers were in attendance holding goblets of wine, of which, however, he was in no need, as he was already very drunk.
With the exception of Bichri, we all made a low bow on entering the tent; but the young archer, who was not always in a conciliating mood, did not feel disposed on this occasion to exhibit any sign of courtesy.
Pushing aside one of the cup-bearers who was obstructing his view, Belesys stared straight at us. He was a tall man, with a great frizzled beard, thick lips, and a heavy jaw, and his hair was glossy with perfumed ointment. A heavy mace which lay by his side was surmounted by the figure of a bull's head. As he gazed at us, he shook his head, screwed up his eyes, and, indeed, distorted all his features; while his attendants, as if to flatter him by imitation, did precisely the same. We waited some time for him to speak, and at last, in a tone that quite confirmed our suspicion that he was intoxicated, he roared out:
"You see those two big fellows? and you see that youngster with the bow? Take them, and give them five-and-twenty lashes apiece; and then put them amongst my archers. I don't dislike the look of them."