And, catching sight of the King of the Dorians, who had come with a herd of oxen, he shouted to him:
"Yes, you too; give me a bullock, and I will knock you down. Give me two, and I will break every bone in your skin."
"Silence, fool!" I cried, hoping to bring him to his senses. The King did not understand Phœnician, and asked what the man was saying; but I did not think it necessary to enlighten him.
Jonah continued muttering and grumbling to himself: "Why should I not fight them, if they like it? If I were to challenge a man of the tribe of Dan or Judah, I should soon find a knife in my ribs! But here they like it, and give me a calf. Fine country this!"
That evening the wind blew briskly from the north-north-west, but not with violence enough to make us hesitate about taking our departure next morning. The Dorians were full of surprise at our determination to put to sea, and owned that nothing would induce them to face the peril of such a wind.
"Can it really be," asked one of the chiefs, "that you intend to start upon your voyage with this gale in your very teeth?"
Upon my assuring him that I had fully made up my mind, he continued:
"And that, too, with the recollection so fresh of the terrific storm in which you came? Truly, you are demi-gods indeed!"
"Aye, yes," I said; "children of Ashtoreth we are; and we rode the seas that night in a way that was worthy of our fame!"