as often as he got a knock-down blow, up he started again, stronger,
fiercer, and abler to use his weapons, than if his enemy had let him
alone, Thus, the harder Hercules pounded the giant with his club, the
further be seemed from winning the victory. I have sometimes argued
with such people, but never fought with one. The only way in which
Hercules found it possible to finish the battle, was by lifting Antaeus
off his feet into the air, and squeezing, and squeezing, and squeezing
him, until, finally, the strength was quite squeezed out of his enormous
body.

When this affair was finished, Hercules continued his travels, and went
to the land of Egypt, where he was taken prisoner, and would have been
put to death, if he had not slain the king of the country, and made his
escape. Passing through the deserts of Africa, and going as fast as he
could, he arrived at last on the shore of the great ocean. And here,
unless he could walk on the crests of the billows, it seemed as if his
journey must needs be at an end.

Nothing was before him, save the foaming, dashing, measureless ocean.
But, suddenly, as he looked towards the horizon, he saw something, a
great way off, which he had not seen the moment before. It gleamed very
brightly, almost as you may have beheld the round, golden disk of the
sun, when it rises or sets over the edge of the world. It evidently
drew nearer; for, at every instant, this wonderful object became larger
and more lustrous. At length, it had come so nigh that Hercules
discovered it to be an immense cup or bowl, made either of gold or
burnished brass. How it had got afloat upon the sea, is more than I can
tell you. There it was, at all events, rolling on the tumultuous
billows, which tossed it up and down, and heaved their foamy tops
against its sides, but without ever throwing their spray over the brim.