"Help! Mago, help!" shouted Hamilcar, imploringly, as he saw us drawing near.
"Cheer up, mate!" I replied; "we shall soon be with you."
I made a rapid survey of our position, and having instructed the helmsman to bear up hard to starboard, I called to the oarsmen:
"Now, men, once again, a good strong pull with might and main; then ship your oars, and we shall be right alongside!"
So vehemently did they put forth their strength that our prow was lifted high above the flood, and the impetus given to our speed was so great that another of the opposing boats was cut clean in two. In another minute we had gained the side of the Cabiros. Hannibal seized a rope and sprang upon the deck; and followed by his men was quickly in the midst of the mortal struggle.
I had no time to watch the issue of their intrepid venture. They had hardly left our deck when I was startled by the urgent voice of Hanno:
"Look, captain! they have us now!"
And turning round I was face to face with a throng of the Hellenes, who had not only brought their boats into close quarters with the Ashtoreth, but had forced their way on to her stern. Into the breast of the foremost man, who was rushing towards me with uplifted lance, I thrust my sword well-nigh to its hilt; and Hanno showed how well he had profited by the fencing lessons he had had on board; he parried a blow with his left hand, and almost in the same instant felled an opponent by driving his weapon into his shoulder with his right. Sometimes bending himself down, sometimes rearing himself to his fullest height, Chamai wielded his sword with the most extraordinary dexterity: three men set upon him at once; one of them soon reeled and fell heavily at his feet; a second, grasping his sides in agony, was seen to stagger back amongst his comrades; whilst the other, putting his head between his hands, cowered down to the ground, the blood trickling through his fingers.
Bichri also, single-handed, had to engage quite a little group of antagonists. It seemed a desperate fray; but, strange to tell, he got the better of them all, and retired triumphant, his blood-stained sword in one hand, his dagger in the other. Nor did good fortune fail Himilco; closely pressed as he was by his adversary, he succeeded in catching him by the throat, and, holding him back firmly against the mast, he thrust his sword into his heart.
But for rendering effective service no one surpassed the redoubtable Jonah. Such wholesale slaughter was never seen. Skulls were fractured; limbs smashed; ribs broken in; back-bones, breast-bones, collar-bones, shoulder-blades contused, crushed, splintered, as the ponderous handspike, swinging backwards, forwards, upwards, downwards, made the very air reverberate.