Page:Thotharomance00nichgoog.djvu/52

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THE MIGHT OF SKILL.
47

vessel moves without sail or oars. To me it seems like wicked magic."

"We are going," he replied, "to a country in which, if thou wilt, thou shalt be a great queen; and there is no magic, but simply human skill which moves the ship, though it would be tedious to explain the matter more fully."

Then Daphne mused for a time on the strangeness of her situation, and at length, after gazing fixedly at the Egyptian, she said, "Grant me one more promise." And he said, "If it is possible, I will grant it."

"Already when we were still at Athens," she said, "I noticed thou toldest the other maidens things that thou knewest to be false, taking advantage of their ignorance. Now I am altogether in thy power and at thy mercy, and I am prepared for my fate, having escaped