CONTENTS PART I THE LAST GALLEY THE CONTEST THROUGH THE VEIL AN ICONOCLAST GIANT MAXIMIN THE COMING OF THE HUNS THE LAST OF THE LEGIONS THE FIRST CARGO THE HOME-COMING THE RED STAR PART II THE SILVER MIRROR THE BLIGHTING OF SHARKEY THE MARRIAGE OF THE BRIGADIER THE LORD OF FALCONBRIDGE OUT OF THE RUNNING DE PROFUNDIS THE GREAT BROWN-PERICORD MOTOR THE TERROR OF BLUE JOHN GAPPART I. THE LAST GALLEYMutato nomine, de te, Britannia, fabula narratur.It was a spring morning, one hundred and forty-six years before thecoming of Christ. The North African Coast, with its broad hem of goldensand, its green belt of feathery palm trees, and its background ofbarren, red-scarped hills, shimmered like a dream country in the opallight. Save for a narrow edge of snow-white surf, the Mediterranean layblue and serene as far as the eye could reach. In all its vast expansethere was no break but for a single galley, which was slowly making itsway from the direction of Sicily and heading for the distant harbour ofCarthage.Seen from afar it was a stately and beautiful vessel, deep red incolour, double-banked with scarlet oars, its broad, flapping sailstained with Tyrian purple, its bulwarks gleaming with brass work. Abrazen, three-pronged ram projected in front, and a high golden figureof Baal, the God of the Phoenicians, children of Canaan, shone upon theafter deck. From the single high mast above the huge sail streamed thetiger-striped flag of Carthage. So, like some stately scarlet bird, withgolden beak and wings of purple, she swam upon the face of the waters–athing of might and of beauty as seen from the distant shore.
