Читать книгу The Golden Hope - Robert H. Fuller - Страница 15

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.

One man only, a fellow of powerful frame, seeing the fate that awaited him on land, swam boldly for the open sea, preferring to take his chance of being picked up there rather than face death upon the sand.

"Leave him to me!" Chares cried, stripping off his chiton.

Without hesitation, he plunged into the sea, holding his sword in his left hand and swimming with his right.

"Take him alive!" Clearchus shouted. "We may learn something from him!"

The chase was short, for although the Theban carried a weapon, the sailor was encumbered by his garments.

"Wait, my friend, I have something to say to thee," Chares said, pricking the man with his sword point.

Like a wild beast, the sailor turned in desperation as though to make a struggle for his life. He looked with bloodshot eyes into the Theban's smiling face.

"You have only one chance of seeing to-morrow's sun," Chares said coolly. "Swim before me to the shore and make up your mind on the way to tell all that you know of what has happened."

"Will you spare my life?" the man asked.

"That depends," Chares replied, "but I promise you that I will not spare it unless you obey without question."

"There is no help for it," the man muttered, and he swam sullenly back to the beach, where Leonidas quickly secured his arms behind him.

"There is still a chance of capturing the galley," the Spartan said to Clearchus. "Ride quickly to the Piræus and hire a vessel to put out after her. We will bring this fellow in."

Clearchus dashed away toward the harbor, but, as it happened, there was no vessel that could take up the chase with any chance of success. The galley was running before a fresh southwest wind, and although still visible, she was already distant. Of the ships in port, some were newly arrived and were heavily laden, while others were discharging their cargoes. Clearchus offered any price to the captain who should overtake the fugitive and bring Artemisia back, but the offer was made in vain. The best that he could do was to charter six of the swiftest ships that were available to take up the pursuit as soon as they could be made ready.

While he was concluding these arrangements, Chares and Leonidas arrived with the prisoner. The man said that the galley had just returned from a piratical cruise on the coast of Lucania and was under the command of Syphax. He had joined the crew at Locri, he said, and knew nothing about the abduction excepting that they were all to be well paid for it. He was unable to tell what port the galley expected to make after leaving Attica.

Although he was examined later under torture, the man could reveal no more. He was thrown into prison to be used as a witness against his companions should they be caught. The last of the vessels that Clearchus sent on the chase was out of the harbor before nightfall, and the young man, feeling that he had done all that he could do, rode back to the city overwhelmed by his loss. Chares and Leonidas sought in vain to comfort him. His self-reproach at having left Artemisia unguarded after the warning of the dream was too poignant. He shut himself up to avoid the acquaintances who flocked about him to offer their sympathy and to learn the details of his sorrow. They questioned the slaves when they found the doors closed against them and then ran to tell what they had learned in the baths, the barber shops, and the gaming houses, greedy of gossip. Ariston, after making certain that his part in the plot had not been discovered, came to visit his nephew and was admitted.

"We have no defence against the will of the Gods when it falls heavily upon us save one," he said.

"What is that?" Clearchus asked.

"Patience," the old man responded.

"Patience!" Clearchus exclaimed, striding back and forth with clenched fists. "Yes, I will have patience! I will have patience to seek Artemisia to the ends of the world until I have found her! And I will have patience until every man who is concerned in this attack upon us has paid for it with his life. I will be patient!"

Ariston blanched at this outburst, but immediately recovered himself. "Alas! What can you do alone?" he asked mournfully.

"He will not be alone, for Chares and I will be with him," Leonidas said quietly. "We have sworn it."

"I will not advise against it," Ariston said with a sigh. "But it may be that the galleys you have sent out will bring the robbers back. You must not forget that you have duties to the State. The times are troubled and your fortune is great."

"My own affairs must come first at present," Clearchus said bluntly. "As for my fortune, of what use is it to me without Artemisia? I must ask you to take charge of it once more for me. I shall give you full power, and if I come not back I desire that it shall be devoted to the public good as you may see fit."

"I am an old man," Ariston said, with mock hesitation, "but I cannot refuse the trust under the circumstances if you require it of me. Yet, why dost thou leave Athens?"

"How can I remain here?" Clearchus exclaimed. "My suffering is too great. But I knew you would not refuse me," he added in a calmer voice, clasping his uncle by the hand.

"Doubtless they have carried her to some one of the Eastern cities," Ariston said reflectively. "That is where this Syphax would most naturally go, as it seems his hope is to get money. I will write to such friends as I have there to be on the watch."

Clearchus groaned. "It will be too late, I fear, before thy letters can reach them," he said. "I know not what to do nor where to turn."

"Here is Aristotle; let us consult him," Chares said as the philosopher entered.

Aristotle listened attentively while Clearchus and his friends related all the circumstances of Artemisia's abduction. He asked many questions regarding the particulars of the dream of warning that had preceded the attack.

"Some things we know and others we can guess," he said at last. "Only the Gods know all. The world is wide. I pity thee, Clearchus, my friend, with all my heart, and I wish that I might aid thee. It is clear that the warning came from Artemis. I advise thee to seek counsel from Phœbus, her brother. Thou art not an unworthy disciple of his, for thy heart is pure and thy hands are clean. Thou lovest the poets and music. Go to him with faith and perhaps he will aid thee."

Hope appeared upon the face of the young Athenian. "I will go," he said. "The great God himself loved Daphne and lost her. He may take compassion on me. Chares shall remain here and set all things in order so that we may act quickly if a sign should be given. Will you come with me, Leonidas, to Delphi?"

"I will," said the Spartan, "and let us go at once; for I can see that thy heart is sick."