In the Grip of the Minotaur by Arthur G. Brodeur & Farnham Bishop

Author:Arthur G. Brodeur & Farnham Bishop [Brodeur, Arthur G. & Bishop, Farnham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Dog Books
Published: 2012-04-17T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter XIX

The Cares of Minos

Minos paced angrily up and down the floor of the audience-chamber, his scowling brows forming a black bar above his stern eyes. From time to time he glanced up impatiently with a muttered interjection. At last a graceful figure appeared in the doorway, and Ariadne, radiant and smiling, bent over and kissed the king’s hand.

“You sent for me, my father,” she said in tones of dutiful submission.

“And you were long enough in coming,” retorted Minos, wrinkling the skin between his eyes into two deep furrows, a symptom of rising anger with him.

Ariadne looked at him with gentle reproach.

“I could not appear before the great king unbecomingly attired,” she said demurely, smoothing the elaborate ruffles of her new dress with a slender hand.

“It is both as king and as father that I would speak to you now, girl,” Minos began severely. “You are no doubt interested in last night’s happenings.”

He paused and looked at her searchingly. She met his gaze with a look of serene innocence.

“You heard the tumult—I believe I saw you in the corridor among your women, clad only in a nightrobe; a proper sense of your position should have restrained your curiosity till you were fittingly dressed.

“You know what happened: how the barbarians mysteriously escaped from their prison, overcame the guard and took their leader with them, killing ten of my guardsmen, and severely wounding seven others. Moreover, more than thirty of the palace guard were drowned in the wreck of my barge—for the most part, nobly born young men.”

He paused, and the veins in his temples swelled, while his face flushed angrily.

“Now these barbarians could not have escaped without aid, for their leader was in the deepest dungeon in the palace, to which there is no entrance save from the top, and his men were safe behind lock and key. The guard was changed at dawn, and the relief reported the night-watch drunken with wine, contrary to my edict that no soldier on duty should touch strong drink. But the prisoners were still in their cells when the guard was changed; their escape was none so quiet as to leave us in the dark on that score. Now the sentry who was posted at the entrance to the corridor has disappeared, and it may be that he had a hand in the matter. What think you?”

He bent a piercing look on the girl, who returned his gaze unfalteringly,

“It is very like, my father,” she replied in tones of purest simplicity.

“Yes, very like,” the king continued drily. “But if he did, the plan was not his own, for the prisoners were hardly in a position to bribe him, since he must have known that they had little chance to get clear of our galleys in the harbor. He could not know that this accursed tempest would arise in time to save them by sinking some six of my swiftest ships.”

Ariadne, well prepared as she was for this interview, felt strangely apprehensive. Here was a more serious matter than the loss of a few popinjays of the palace-guard.

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