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40 like the hull of a wrecked ship than a vessel prepared for a long journey.

The maidens in their trepidation were ready to start with alarm at any strange sight, and the black vessel, on which not a man was visible, seemed to them as dismal as the boat with which Charon ferries the souls of the dead over the Styx. They looked back already with longing to the city, and with fear they saw the long shadows cast by the declining sun.

But Daphne was determined to complete the venture, and she prepared to give them the drug.

"This," said she, "is a charm against the plague."

"Perchance," whispered one of the maidens, "it is poisonous."

But Daphne replied, "Nay, that thought of thine is altogether foolish. Why should the