“And who was she,” asked Hercules, “that her head is an oath to swear by?”
“I am Cacus, the son of the Gorgon Medusa,” answered the ogre, “and I swear——”
But before he could finish his oath, there came such a bellowing from within the cave that the very cattle seemed as if they could not endure such falsehood, and were proclaiming that Cacus lied.
“I am sorry,” said Hercules. “I am weary of traveling, and of monsters, and of giants, and of ogres, and of liars, and of thieves. I really do not want to kill any more. You are not one of my labors, and I have had enough trouble. Still, if you had as many heads as the Hydra and as many arms as Briareus, I should have to fight you rather than lose one of the cattle I was bidden to bring.”
Cacus laughed. “Do you see those bones?” he asked. “They are all that is left of people who have looked for what they have lost in my cave.”
“Then,” said Hercules, “either you shall add mine to the heap, or I will add yours.”
And presently the bones of Cacus the Robber were added to the heap, and Hercules, having got his cattle back, at last reached Mycenæ.
Eurystheus almost forgot to be frightened in his joy at becoming the owner of such flocks and herds. He listened with interest to the story of his cousin’s travels, and, having heard it to an end, said—
“So you crossed the great Libyan desert until you reached the ocean which surrounds the world? Why, then, you must have found the way to the gardens of the Hesperides—the gardens of golden fruit which the great sleepless dragon guards, and which our forefather Perseus saw when he turned Atlas into stone. Did you also see those gardens?”
“No,” said Hercules.