"This is my cave," said he, with all three mouths at once; "and no man shall enter it but I." "I only want my cattle," said Hercules. "Bring them out to me." "Cattle?" asked the ogre. "There are no cattle here. I swear it by the head of my mother." "And who was she," asked Hercules, "that her head is an oath to swear by?" "I am Cacus, the son of the Gorgon Medusa," answered the ogre, "and I swear----" But before he could finish his oath, there came such a bellowing from within the cave that the very cattle seemed as if they could not endure such falsehood, and were proclaiming that Cacus lied. "I am sorry," said Hercules. "I am weary of traveling, and of monsters, and of giants, and of ogres, and of liars, and of thieves. I really do not want to kill any more. You are not one of my labors, and I have had enough trouble. Still, if you had as many heads as the Hydra and as many arms as Briareus, I should have to fight you rather than lose one of the cattle I was bidden to bring." Cacus laughed. "Do you see those bones?" he asked. "They are all that is left of people who have looked for what they have lost in my cave." "Then," said Hercules, "either you shall add mine to the heap, or I will add yours." And presently the bones of Cacus the Robber were added to the heap, and Hercules, having got his cattle back, at last reached Mycenæ. * * * * * Eurystheus almost forgot to be frightened in his joy at becoming the owner of such flocks and herds. He listened with interest to the story of his cousin's travels, and, having heard it to an end, said-- "So you crossed the great Libyan desert until you reached the ocean which surrounds the world? Why, then, you must have found the way to the gardens of the Hesperides--the gardens of golden fruit which the great sleepless dragon guards, and which our forefather Perseus saw when he turned Atlas into stone. Did you also see those gardens?" "No," said Hercules. "Then," said Eurystheus, "go and see them at once. Go and bring me some of the Golden Apples--as many as you can." PART VIII.--HIS ELEVENTH LABOR: THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES. So Hercules, without being allowed any time for rest, had to go back the whole way he had come, without any certain knowledge of where the golden-fruited gardens of the Hesperides were to be found, except that it was somewhere in Africa. Somebody must know, however, or else the gardens would never have been heard of, for travelers never told anything but the truth in those days. He therefore diligently asked everybody he met where the gardens were to be found, and, among others, some nymphs whom he met on the banks of the river Po, while he was passing through Italy. "We cannot tell you," said they; "but we know who can--old Nereus, the sea-god, if you can only get him to tell." "And why should he not tell?" asked Hercules. "Because he never will tell anybody anything, unless he is obliged."