sand, and sought for any little rill of fresh water that might
be running towards the sea.

Before the two days were spent, they grew very weary of this
kind of life; for the followers of King Ulysses, as you will
find it important to remember, were terrible gormandizers, and
pretty sure to grumble if they missed their regulars meals, and
their irregular ones besides. Their stock of provisions was
quite exhausted, and even the shellfish began to get scarce, so
that they had now to choose between starving to death or
venturing into the interior of the island, where perhaps some
huge three-headed dragon, or other horrible monster, had his
den. Such misshapen creatures were very numerous in those days;
and nobody ever expected to make a voyage, or take a journey,
without running more or less risk of being devoured by them.

But King Ulysses was a bold man as well as a prudent one; and
on the third morning he determined to discover what sort of a
place the island was, and whether it were possible to obtain a
supply of food for the hungry mouths of his companions. So,
taking a spear in his hand, he clambered to the summit of a
cliff, and gazed round about him. At a distance, towards the
center of the island, he beheld the stately towers of what
seemed to be a palace, built of snow-white marble, and rising
in the midst of a grove of lofty trees. The thick branches of
these trees stretched across the front of the edifice, and more
than half concealed it, although, from the portion which he
saw, Ulysses judged it to be spacious and exceedingly
beautiful, and probably the residence of some great nobleman or
prince. A blue smoke went curling up from the chimney, and was