"Exactly," agreed the Baron eagerly. "That is where the Roman triremes
were caught. They were driven ashore in a little bay in what is now
Italian territory. Their vessels were wrecked, but they saved the loot
they had taken from the Sabaeans. The nature and value of that loss can
hardly be estimated in these days, but you can draw your own
conclusions when you learn that the city of Saba is more familiar to us
under its Biblical name, Sheba. It was thence that the famous queen
came who visited Solomon. Nearly a thousand years later, when the Roman
legion sacked it with fire and sword, it was at the height of its
glory."

Von Kerber, fairly launched in a recital glib on his lips, regained the
dominance of manner which the attitude of his subordinates had
momentarily imperiled. Increased composure brought with it a certain
hauteur, and he paused again--perhaps to gratify the actor's instinct
in him rather than observe the effect of his words. But the break was
unfortunate. Tagg removed the cigar he was half chewing, half smoking,
and said oracularly:

"The Queen o Sheba! I once knew a ship o' that name. D'ye remember her,
cap'n?"

"Shall I ever forgit 'er?" granted Stump, "I wish them Romans had
looted _her_. W'en I was goin' down the Hooghly, she was comin' up, in
tow. Her rope snapped at the wrong moment, an' she ran me on top of the
James an' Mary shoal. Remember 'er, damn 'er!"

The Austrian, winced at this check to his story. These stolid mariners
had no imagination. He wished to enthuse them, to fire them with the
vision of countless wealth, but they had side-tracked ideality for some