When the old dame and her peacock were
out of sight, Jason set forward on his journey.
After travelling a pretty long distance, he came
to a town situated at the foot of a mountain,
and not a great way from the shore of the sea.
On the outside of the town there was an im-
mense crowd of people, not only men and wo-
men, but children too, all in their best clothes,
and evidently enjoying a holiday. The crowd
was thickest towards the sea shore; and in that
direction, over the people's heads, Jason saw a
wreath of smoke curling upward to the blue
sky. He inquired of one of the multitude what
town it was, near by, and why so many persons
were here assembled togther.

"This is the kingdom of lolchos," answered
the man, "and we are the subjects of King Pe-
lias. Our monarch has summoned us together,
that we may see him sacrifice a black bull to
Neptune, who, they say, is his majesty's father.
Yonder is the king, where you see the smoke
going up from the altar."

While the man spoke he eyed Jason with
great curiosity; for his garb was quite unlike that
of the loiohians, and it looked very odd to see a

[[283]]

p282 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p283w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p284

v?