Tarsus, being a great metropolis, the seat of important schools of learning, and the meeting-place of many peoples and races, might prove a fertile field for sowing the seed of the New Faith. Amabel entered heartily into the plan. Though the birthplace of Saulus, it was beyond the reach of the Judean persecutions.
The Salapiæ was a Phœnician vessel, commanded by a Roman named Vivian, of favorable reputation and experience. She was staunch and large, having a tonnage of about eight hundred tons, and rigged after the Phœnician pattern, with a ponderous mast carrying a very large mainsail upon a long yard. A much smaller triangular foresail was rigged upon a bowsprit, which projected over the stem of the vessel forward. She carried various carved images and symbols designed to insure the favor of the gods, including a finely wrought Grecian statue of a favorite goddess, which was placed upon the stem-post at the bow.
The hour for setting sail arrived, and everything betokened a prosperous voyage. The decks were noisy with the final bustle of preparation, and with much effort the heavy anchors were weighed and secured in their places. A light favoring breeze was blowing from the south, and at length a lusty command rang out to “hoist all sail;” and soon the canvas began to fill, and the good ship drew steadily away upon her northward course.
Serenus and Amabel stood upon the upper deck, and with mingled emotions looked back upon the picturesque shore of Samaria which was slowly receding. Though [pg 253]exiles from the Holy City, the world was before them, and they were happy. Without the enjoyment of freedom of soul, even native land was but a prison.
The day wore away, the white towers and roofs of Cæsarea faded from sight, and the bold range of Mount Carmel, which formed the rim of the eastern horizon, grew dim and distant.
The voyage was pleasant and uneventful, and upon the fourth day they made the harbor of Salamis on the eastern end of the island of Cyprus, where vessels from the south usually touched on the way to Tarsus. This was a large commercial city, made especially conspicuous by its important temple of the Salaminian Jupiter. Beyond the temple and city was a rich plain, encircled by hills, and watered by the abundant streams of Pediæus. As in other cities where the Jews of the Dispersion had settled, there were several synagogues. During the day, over which the Salapiæ remained, Serenus visited two or three of them, making known the New Faith, and restoring some sick-folk through the orderly working of the divine power within him. He was cordially received by the more liberal of the Hellenistic Jews, and they were sorrowful at his departure.
Early the next morning the Salapiæ again set sail, and it was expected that, with favoring winds, Tarsus would be reached on the third day.
Everything went well until after they had rounded the point of the promontory of Dinaretum, at the northeastern extremity of the island, when with almost no warning, the vessel was suddenly struck by a tempest of great violence, throwing her nearly upon her beam-ends. It [pg 254]came with so little premonition that the sailors had barely begun to lower the great clumsy mainsail when it was rent in twain by the force of the wind. This eased the vessel except for a list to the leeward, caused by the shifting of the cargo. Shrieks, cries, imprecations, and prayers to the gods were mingled with the roar of the storm. So great was the panic that the master found it difficult to maintain any semblance of order among a crew which was made up of a mixture of different races and tongues.
The air was thick with blinding spray, and the stricken ship, like a wounded animal, staggered onward, laboring and straining in the boiling sea. Heavy waves washed the decks, and the soaking mass of shattered canvas swung to and fro, its tattered shreds no longer resisting the wind, which howled through them with a thunderous roar.
“By Hercules!” quoth master Vivian; “if it must come, the gods were merciful in rending the sail, else she would have foundered at the first stroke!”