The Golden Hope: A Story of the Time of King Alexander the Great. Fuller Robert Higginson

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      "They have carried her off," Tolman said, "and Philox, the steward, is slain!"

      "Horses, Cleon! Bring swords and armor!" Clearchus shouted.

      "Who has done this?" Chares asked.

      "I know not," Clearchus replied; "we were forewarned; but it would be better for them had they never been born."

      "Fetch me a jar of water," Chares cried, pushing aside the guests, who had left their places and were crowding around Clearchus to learn the news. When a slave brought a jar of cold water, the Theban plunged his head into it to clear his brain and shook off the drops from his yellow hair. "Now my armor!" he said.

      Leonidas was already occupied in putting on the light accoutrement of a horseman, and, although he said nothing, there was a look of expectant joy on his harsh face.

      Thais, who had drawn to one side, stood for a moment, and then seeing that she had been forgotten, slipped away unnoticed. Some of the guests hastened to their homes to arm themselves and follow the three friends, while others remained behind to discuss the event. Clearchus said a hasty farewell, and in a few moments from the arrival of the slave the three young men, followed by Cleon, were racing down to the city gate.

      Into the open country they dashed, Clearchus leading the way, while the others spurred madly in their effort to keep pace with him. The sun had not yet risen when they wheeled into the gateway and drew rein at Melissa's villa. The place seemed deserted, for the terrified servants had closed and barred the doors, fearing a renewal of the attack. It was several minutes before they were able to gain an entrance.

      The frightened women pressed around Clearchus, wailing and beating their breasts and trying all at once to tell him the story of what had happened. The young man waved them aside and ran to the room where Philox lay. The faithful old steward had received a dagger thrust in the breast and was unconscious. Clearchus then sought Melissa; but in the extremity of her fright she had locked herself in her apartments and refused to open the door.

      Finding that nothing was to be learned in that quarter, Clearchus sternly commanded the women to be silent and answer his questions. Trembling, they obeyed, and he managed to make them tell how the marauders had scaled the walls of the house with a ladder and how Philox had fallen while trying to prevent them from admitting their confederates. They had pillaged the house of everything that they could carry. Artemisia had fainted when they laid their hands upon her to take her away, but they had placed her in a litter which they seemed to have ready for the purpose. As nearly as the women were able to judge, they had gone southward, and as soon as they were out of sight, Tolman had ridden to the city to give the alarm.

      "They are making for the harbor," Leonidas cried. "We shall catch them yet!"

      Clearchus felt two small cold hands clasp his own, and glancing down he saw Proxena, one of Artemisia's little slave girls, with her tear-stained face upturned to his.

      "Please, master," she sobbed, "bring back our mistress, Artemisia!"

      The young Athenian could not speak, but he lifted the child quickly and kissed her. In another moment they were off in the pursuit.

      CHAPTER VI

      SYPHAX EARNS HIS REWARD

      Clearchus led the way through brake and thicket and across tilled fields, bearing off slightly to the southwest so as to avoid the Long Walls that joined the city to the Piræus, where he knew the robbers would not dare to venture. They crossed the winding Cephissus by the Sacred Way, skirting the hills that overlook the harbor. It seemed hours to the young man before they emerged upon the brow of a slope that fell away to the rocky beach.

      Directly below them was a small inlet from which a boat filled with men was putting out toward a weather-beaten galley that lay a short distance offshore.

      "There she is!" Chares cried, pointing to a blotch of white in the bow of the boat.

      "We are too late!" Clearchus groaned, as he measured with his eye the widening gap between the boat and the shore. Despair and helpless rage surged up in his heart as they dashed recklessly down the slope.

      "Come back!" he shouted desperately. "Twenty talents of ransom!"

      The distance was too great for his words to be distinguished, although his voice evidently reached the boat. Artemisia heard it and stretched her arms toward him. She struggled to rise, but the sailors held her in her seat. The steersman turned his bearded face toward the shore and shouted out a rough command. The boat continued on toward the galley, whose sails were already spread for flight.

      "They are not all gone!" Leonidas cried eagerly. "See there!"

      A second boat lay in the inlet with its nose in the sand, while its crew hurriedly stowed away the litter. As Clearchus looked, they completed this task and prepared to push off.

      The three young men leaped from their horses, but the boat was now launched. One of the mariners waded into the water, pushing at her stern to give her headway, while the others got out their oars.

      "You come too late, idlers!" the seamen cried mockingly as their pursuers leaped down over the rocks to the narrow strip of sand that fringed the inlet. "You should rise earlier in the morning."

      The man who had been pushing at the stern of the boat was up to his waist in water. "Pull me in, lads, she has way enough!" he said; but as he gathered himself to spring, Leonidas plunged in after him and clutched him by the ankle. Paying no more attention to his struggles than he would have given to those of some fish that he had taken, the Spartan dragged the spluttering wretch back to the beach. The crew of the boat hesitated for a moment as though doubtful whether to attempt a rescue, but Leonidas settled their doubts by thrusting his sword into the man's throat.

      A cry of rage and a volley of threats came from the boat as the sailors witnessed the fate of their comrade. In giving vent to their indignation, they lost valuable seconds of time. So narrow was the inlet that the boat was still within easy javelin cast of the shore. Clearchus ran along the beach abreast of it, promising a fabulous reward to the men who should bring back the captive.

      "Seek the girl in the slave markets," was all the reply that he could get, "and see that you come not too late a second time!"

      "I promise that you shall not be punished!" the Athenian cried in despair. "At least lend us your boat, or take us with you to the galley."

      "If you want our boat, come out and get it!" one of the sailors cried in derision.

      The words were still on his lips when a great stone fell into the water close beside the prow, dashing the spray into the faces of the crew. Clearchus looked up in astonishment and saw Chares standing on the crest of the ledge of rock that rose behind the strip of sand. The Theban held another huge and jagged missile poised above his head. With a mighty effort he hurled it at the boat. Uttering cries of terror the sailors attempted to sheer out of the way, but in their confusion, their splashing oars neutralized each other. The great stone, which a man of ordinary strength could not have moved, turned ponderously in the air and struck the gunwale amidships with a crash that tore out the planks in splinters. In an instant the boat filled and went down, leaving the crew struggling among the floating fragments of the litter.

      Several of the men, who seemed unable to swim, disappeared beneath the surface. Others struck out for the beach, only to meet death on the swords of Chares and Clearchus on one side, and of Leonidas, who had run around to the opposite shore of the bay to intercept those who sought to escape in that direction.

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