One of the rowers was a beautiful young woman , named Atalanta , who had been nursed among the mountains by a bear . So light of foot was this fair damsel , that she could step from one foamy crest of a wave to the foamy crest of another , without wetting more than the sole of her sandal . She had grown up in a very wild way , and talked much about the rights of women , and loved hunting and war far better than her needle . But in my opinion , the most remarkable of this famous company were two sons of the North Wind -LRB- airy youngsters , and of rather a blustering disposition -RRB- who had wings on their shoulders , and , in case of a calm , could puff out their cheeks , and blow almost as fresh a breeze as their father . I ought not to forget the prophets and conjurors , of whom there were several in the crew , and who could foretell what would happen to-morrow or the next day , or a hundred years hence , but were generally quite unconscious of what was passing at the moment . Jason appointed Tiphys to be helmsman because he was a star-gazer , and knew the points of the compass . Lynceus , on account of his sharp sight , was stationed as a look-out in the prow , where he saw a whole day 's sail ahead , but was rather apt to overlook things that lay directly under his nose . If the sea only happened to be deep enough , however , Lynceus could tell you exactly what kind of rocks or sands were at the bottom of it ; and he often cried out to his companions , that they were sailing over heaps of sunken treasure , which yet he was none the richer for beholding . To confess the truth , few people believed him when he said it . Well ! But when the Argonauts , as these fifty brave adventurers were called , had prepared everything for the voyage , an unforeseen difficulty threatened to end it before it was begun . The vessel , you must understand , was so long , and broad , and ponderous , that the united force of all the fifty was insufficient to shove her into the water . Hercules , I suppose , had not grown to his full strength , else he might have set her afloat as easily as a little boy launches his boat upon a puddle . But here were these fifty heroes , pushing , and straining , and growing red in the face , without making the Argo start an inch . At last , quite wearied out , they sat themselves down on the shore exceedingly disconsolate , and thinking that the vessel must be left to rot and fall in pieces , and that they must either swim across the sea or lose the Golden Fleece . All at once , Jason bethought himself of the galley 's miraculous figure-head . `` O , daughter of the Talking Oak , '' cried he , `` how shall we set to work to get our vessel into the water ? '' `` Seat yourselves , '' answered the image -LRB- for it had known what had ought to be done from the very first , and was only waiting for the question to be put -RRB- , -- `` seat yourselves , and handle your oars , and let Orpheus play upon his harp . '' Immediately the fifty heroes got on board , and seizing their oars , held them perpendicularly in the air , while Orpheus -LRB- who liked such a task far better than rowing -RRB- swept his fingers across the harp . At the first ringing note of the music , they felt the vessel stir .
Orpheus thrummed away briskly , and the galley slid at once XXXXX the sea , dipping her prow so deeply that the figure-head drank the wave with its marvelous lips , and rising again as buoyant as a swan .
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