"Pour out, now, the drink-offering, my lord the King, and send me on my way. Now do I bid you farewell, for ye have given me all that my heart desired, noble gifts and escort to my home. May the gods give me with them good luck, and grant, also, that I may find my wife and my friends in my home unharmed! And may ye abide here in joy with your wives and children, and may ye have all manner of good things and may no evil come near you." Then spake the King to his squire: "Mix, now, the bowl, and serve out the wine, that we may pray to Zeus, and send the stranger on his way." So the squire mixed the wine, and served it out; and they all made offering, and prayed. Then Ulysses rose in his place, and placed the cup in the hand of Arete, the Queen, and spake: "Fare thee well, O Queen, till old age and death, which no man may escape, shall come upon thee! I go to my home; and do thou rejoice in thy children and in thy people, and in thy husband, the King." When he had so said, he stepped over the threshold. And Alcinous sent with him a squire to guide him to the ship, and Arete sent maidens, bearing fresh clothing, and bread and wine. When they came to the ship, the rowers took the things, and laid them in the hold. Also they spread for Ulysses a rug and a linen sheet in the hinder part of the ship, that his sleep might be sound. When these things were ended Ulysses climbed on board, and lay down; and the men sat upon the benches, and unbound the hawser. And it came to pass that so soon as they touched the water with the oars, a deep sleep fell upon him. As four horses carry a chariot quickly over the plain, so quick did the ship pass over the waves Not even a hawk, that is the swiftest of all flying things, could have kept pace with it. And when the star that is the herald of the morning came up in the heaven, then did the ship approach the island. There is a certain harbour in Ithaca, the harbour of Phorcys [Footnote: Phor'-cys], the sea-god, where two great cliffs on either side break the force of the waves; a ship that can win her way into it can ride safely without moorings. And at the head of this harbour there is an olive tree, and a cave hard by which is sacred to the nymphs. Two gates hath the cave, one looking towards the north, by which men may enter, and one towards the south, which belongeth only to the gods. To this place the Phaeacians guided the ship, for they knew it well. Half the length of the keel did they run her ashore, so quickly did they row her. Then they lifted Ulysses out of the stern as he lay in the sheet and the rug which the Queen had given him. And still he slept. They took out also the gifts which the princes of the Phaeacians had given him, and laid them in a heap by the trunk of the olive tree, a little way from the road, lest some passer-by should rob him while he slept. After this they departed homeward.