And
there they wandered starving for many a weary day, ere they could launch
their ship again, and gain the open sea. And there Canthus was killed
while he was trying to drive off sheep, by a stone which a herdsman
threw.
And there, too, Mopsus died, the seer who knew the voices of all birds;
but he could not foretell his own end, for he was bitten in the foot by
a snake, one of those which sprang from the Gorgon's head when Perseus
carried it across the sands.
At last they rowed away toward the northward, for many a weary day,
till their water was spent, and their food eaten; and they were worn out
with hunger and thirst. But at last they saw a long steep island, and a
blue peak high among the clouds; and they knew it for the peak of Ida,
and the famous land of Crete. And they said, "We will land in Crete, and
see Minos the just king, and all his glory and his wealth; at least he
will treat us hospitably, and let us fill our water casks upon the
shore."
But when they came nearer to the island they saw a wondrous sight upon
the cliffs. For on a cape to the westward stood a giant, taller than any
mountain pine; who glittered aloft against the sky like a tower of
burnished brass. He turned and looked on all sides round him, till he
saw the Argo and her crew; and when he saw them he came toward them,
more swiftly than the swiftest horse, leaping across the glens at a
bound, and striding at one step from down to down.
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