The Golden Hope. Robert H. Fuller
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