I submitted with the best grace I could muster to the insolence of an arrogant Roman harbor master, put my cargo under guard, and gave the mate the job of finding lodgings for my people. Then I set out with Pronax, now a gangling youth, to find Eldagon. At his warehouse, they told me that the boss was not in that day and gave me directions for finding his villa.
I hired a boat to take me across the bay and found Eldagon's villa. The house was a normal upper-class dwelling of the courtyard type, large but not palatial. Around it, however, stretched a remarkable landscape of parks and gardens, like those of a Persian grandee. Here grew trees and shrubs of many exotic kinds. Around the corner of the house I glimpsed a kind of stockade, whence came some curious noises— grunts, whines, and other animal sounds.
The doorman led Pronax and me into the courtyard and bade us be seated while he went to find the master. Eldagon, he said, was "with his beasts." Presently Eldagon himself came in.
Eldagon the son of Balatar was a man of medium height and muscular, broad-shouldered build, with heavy, black brows and a big, hooked beak of a nose. Unlike most Punics in these days, when everybody from Karia to Carthage affects Hellenic dress and manners and shaves his face in imitation of the divine Alexander, Eldagon retained the old-fashioned Punic dress and full beard, beginning to turn from black to gray. He wore an ankle-length gown and a tall felt hat with a low turban wound around it. He clasped his hands together and bowed over them.
"Rejoice, sirs!" he said. 'To whom am I indebted for this visit?"
"I am Eudoxos Theonos, a Kyzikene shipmaster," I said, "You many have heard of me, sir."
"Not the one who sailed to India?"
"Yes, sir."
"By Milkarth's iron yard!" cried Eldagon. "This is indeed an honor. Sit down and tell me all about it. Miknasa! Fetch wine! Our best Campanian!"
A half-chorus of wine and an hour later, I got down to business. "Have you a sailor named Hippalos the Corinthian in your employ?"
Eldagon stared. "How strange that you should ask!"
"Well, have you?"
"Yes; at least, I did have. A few years ago, he signed up as a deck hand. Then he quit to work somewhere in the East. A few months back, he reappeared as a mate on one of my ships. The mate of that ship had fallen off a pier at Peiraieus while drunk and drowned, and Hippalos—who was then the skipper of a merchantman in those parts—persuaded my captain to ship him in the dead man's place. He was so eager to get back to the West, he said, that he would give up a step in rank. My captain had always liked him and knew him for an able mariner."
"Where is he now?"
Eldagon shrugged. "He sailed as first officer on two short coastal voyages from Gades, and then he disappeared again. Why or whither, I know not"
"Did he say anything about having sailed with me to India?"
"Not a word. Do you mean this man had actually been to India with you?"
"On my first voyage."
"But why—why should he be silent about so thrilling an adventure? You Hellenes—no offense meant—are the most garrulous folk on earth, and I cannot imagine a Hellene's keeping mum when he had such a tale to tell."
"I think he had his reasons. Tell me: when he put in here from Peiraieus, had he a woman with him?"
"Now that I think, I believe he did, albeit I never met her. He also had a slave—an elderly little barbarian of some sort. But, Master Eudoxos, you arouse my curiosity to the fever pitch. What is this all about?"
"I have a little matter to settle with Master Hippalos," said I grimly. "Might I speak to some of your officers, to learn if he gave any hint of whither he was going?"
"Thrice evil to evildoers! I have no objection." Eldagon looked closely at me. "Was this woman your daughter?"
"No, but you're close." To change the subject, I asked: "What is that stockade behind your house, whence come those strange bestial noises?"
"Oh, my dear sir!" cried Eldagon. "I must show you my beasts! Come, we shall have plenty of time to see them before dinner. They are my main interest in life. Ships and cargoes and contracts are all very fine, but I chiefly value them because they let me indulge my hobby. Come, and bring the youth, too."
We went out to the stockade. This was actually a number of adjacent inclosures housing various beasts. Pronax gave a little shriek and shrank back as an elephant thrust its trunk between the bars to beg for dainties. Eldagon dug a handful of nuts out of a pocket in his robe and gave one to the huge beast.
"The trouble with such a creature," said Eldagon, "is that it never stops eating. Malik, here; consumes three talents of hay and greens every day, and he is not yet full grown. Tell me: is it true, as many aver, that the elephants of India are larger than those of Africa?"
"That's hard to say," I replied. "I rode on one monster in India, seven or eight cubits tall; but the late King Ptolemaios Evergetes of Egypt had one in his menagerie, from Ethiopia, that was at least as large."
"This one comes from Mauretania," said Eldagon. "King Bocchus got him for me. They seem to be a smaller race, seldom exceeding five cubits. Now, here in this next cage is my most dangerous single beast, a wild bull from the Idubedian Mountains of Spain. This next is the common European lynx. And now, here is one that, I am sure, would like to make your acquaintance. Will you step into the cage with me?"
I followed Eldagon into the cage, with Pronax behind me. At first I saw nothing. A big oak grew in the cage, and something lay in the shade on the far side. The something got up and came towards us, and I saw that it was a lion, not quite full-grown. It trotted over to Eldagon and rubbed its head against his knees, making throaty noises. Eldagon scratched the roots of its scanty young mane as if it were a dog. Then the lion looked me up and down with its big, yellow eyes. I stood my ground. But Pronax backed against the bars, and the lion made for him, stopping a foot from him and looking up at him with a deep, rumbling growl.
Frightened half to death, the poor lad pressed himself against the bars with his eyes goggling. Eldagon pulled the lion back by its mane and spoke sharply to it. The animal let me nervously pat it and wandered back to its patch of shade.
"Hiram loves to frighten people who shrink from him," said Eldagon. "But he has never hurt anyone. In this next cage, I have a pair of gazelles from the African desert ..."
And so it went. Eldagon was still talking about his animals when lengthening shadows reminded him of dinner time. He pressed me to stay, which I did without reluctance.
"You must remain the night, too, best one!" he exclaimed. "Why, I have not even begun to tell you about my rare plants and trees!"
Here, evidently, was a man with a real enthusiasm—or obsession, depending on the point of view. In fact, if given a chance he would talk about his collection of plants and animals until the hearer became deaf or fell asleep. I said:
"This park and its beasts must cost you a pretty obolos to keep up."
"It does that. My wife scolds me for not saving the money to spend on her jewels, or to give to the poor, or anything but a lot of 'ungrateful beasts' as she calls them. But then, what does one live for? My children are ah grown and doing well, so why should I not indulge this harmless passion?"
"No reason at all, sir. Do you show your menagerie to many people?"
"A great many. Twice a year I invite all of Gades to file through and take a look. My main worry is that our dear governor may take it into his head to seize my animals and ship them off to Rome, there to be butchered in those bloody public games. I make handsome gifts to the Roman to keep on his good side."