Page:The book of wonder voyages (1919).djvu/56

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34
The Book of Wonder Voyages

crown; and so, the songs say, the soul of good Cyzicus was appeased and the heroes went on their way in peace.

But when Cyzicus' wife heard that he was dead, she died likewise of grief; and her tears became a fountain of clear water, which flows the whole year round.

Then they rowed away, the songs say, along the Mysian shore, and past the mouth of Rhindacus, till they found a pleasant bay, sheltered by the long ridges of Arganthus, and by high walls of basalt rock. And there they ran the ship ashore upon the yellow sand, and furled the sail, and took the mast down, and lashed it in its crutch. And next they let down the ladder, and went ashore to sport and rest.

And there Hercules went away into the woods, bow in hand, to hunt wild deer; and Hylas, the fair boy, slipped away after him, and followed him by stealth, until he lost himself among the glens, and sat down weary to rest himself by the side of a lake; and there the water-nymphs came up to look at him, and loved him, and carried him down under the lake to be their playfellow, forever happy and young. And Hercules sought for him in vain, shouting his name till all the mountains rang; but Hylas never heard him, far down under the sparkling lake. So while Hercules wandered searching for him, a fair breeze sprang up, and Hercules was nowhere to be found; and the Argo sailed away, and Hercules was left behind, and never saw the noble Phasian stream.

Then the Minuai came to a doleful land, where