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The good-natured Nymphs had the helmet, with its dark tuft of waving
plumes, all in readiness to put upon his head. And now there happened
about as wonderful an incident as anything that I have yet told you.
The instant before the helmet was put on, there stood Perseus, a
beautiful young man, with golden ringlets and rosy cheeks, the crooked
sword by his side, and the brightly polished shield upon his arm,–a
figure that seemed all made up of courage, sprightliness, and glorious
light. But when the helmet had descended over his white brow, there was
no longer any Perseus to be seen! Nothing but empty air! Even the
helmet, that covered him with its invisibility, had vanished!

“Where are you, Perseus?” asked Quicksilver.

“Why, here, to be sure!” answered Perseus, very quietly, although his
voice seemed to come out of the transparent atmosphere. “Just where I
was a moment ago. Don’t you see me?”

“No, indeed!” answered his friend. “You are hidden under the helmet.
But, if I cannot see you, neither can the Gorgons. Follow me,
therefore, and we will try your dexterity in using the winged slippers.”

With these words, Quicksilver’s cap spread its wings, as if his head
were about to fly away from his shoulders; but his whole figure rose
lightly into the air, and Perseus followed. By the time they had
ascended a few hundred feet, the young man began to feel what a
delightful thing it was to leave the dull earth so far beneath him, and
to be able to flit about like a bird.

It was now deep night. Perseus looked upward, and saw the round,
bright, silvery moon, and thought that he should desire nothing better
than to soar up thither, and spend his life there. Then he looked
downward again, and saw the earth, with its seas, and lakes, and the
silver courses of its rivers, and its snowy mountain-peaks, and the
breadth of its fields, and the dark cluster of its woods, and its cities
of white marble; and, with the moonshine sleeping over the whole scene,
it was as beautiful as the moon or any star could be. And, among other
objects, he saw the island of Seriplius, where his dear mother was.
Sometimes, he and Quicksilver approached a cloud, that, at a distance,
looked as if it were made of fleecy silver; although, when they plunged
into it, they found themselves chilled and moistened with gray mist. So
swift was their flight, however, that, in an instant, they emerged from
the cloud into the moonlight again. Once, a high-soaring eagle flew
right against the invisible Perseus. The bravest sights were the
meteors, that gleamed suddenly out, as if a bonfire had been kindled in
the sky, and made the moonshine pale for as much as a hundred miles
around them.

As the two companions flew onward, Perseus fancied that he could hear
the rustle of a garment close by his side; and it was on the side
opposite to the one where he beheld Quicksilver, yet only Quicksilver
was visible.

“Whose garment is this,” inquired Perseus, “that keeps rustling close
beside me, in the breeze?”

“O, it is my sister’s!” answered Quicksilver. “She is coming along
with us, as I told you she would. We could do nothing without the help
of my sister. You have no idea how wise she is. She has such eyes,
too! Why, she can see you, at this moment, just as distinctly as if you
were not invisible; and I’ll venture to say, she will be the first to
discover the Gorgons.”