"For Aristeides." The apparition seemed holding out something in his hand.
"That"s not the watchword. Give it, or I must arrest you."
"For Aristeides."
"Zeus smite you, fellow, can"t you speak Greek? What have you got for our general?"
"For Aristeides."
The stranger was hoa.r.s.e as a crow. He was pushing aside the spear and forcing a packet into Hippon"s hands. The latter, sorely puzzled, whistled through his fingers. A moment more the locharch of the scouting division and three comrades appeared.
"Why the alarm? Where"s the enemy?"
"No enemy, but a madman. Find what he wants."
The locharch in earlier days had kept an oil booth in the Athens Agora and knew the local celebrities as well as Phormio.
"Now, friend," he spoke, "your business, and shortly; we"ve no time for chaffering."
"For Aristeides."
"The fourth time he"s said it,-sheep!" cried Hippon, but as he spoke the newcomer fell forward heavily, groaned once, and lay on the roadway silent as the dead. The locharch drew forth the horn lantern he had masked under his chalmys and leaned over the stranger. The light fell on the seal of the packet gripped in the rigid fingers.
"Themistocles"s seal," he cried, and hastily turned the fallen man"s face upward to the light, when the lantern almost dropped from his own hand.
"Glaucon the Alcmaeonid! Glaucon the Traitor who was dead! He or his shade come back from Tartarus."
The four soldiers stood quaking like aspen, but their leader was of stouter stuff. Never had his native Attic shrewdness guided him to more purpose.
"Ghost, traitor, what not, this man has run himself all but to death. Look on his face. And Themistocles does not send a courier for nothing. This packet is for Aristeides, and to Aristeides take it with speed."
Hippon seized the papyrus. He thought it would fade out of his hands like a spectre. It did not. The sentinel dropped his spear and ran breathless toward Plataea, where he knew was his general.
CHAPTER x.x.xVIII
THE COUNCIL OF MARDONIUS
Never since Salamis had Persian hopes been higher than that night. What if the Spartans were in the field at last, and the incessant skirmishing had been partly to Pausanias"s advantage? Secure in his fortified camp by the Asopus, Mardonius could confidently wait the turn of the tide. His light Tartar cavalry had cut to pieces the convoys bringing provisions to the h.e.l.lenes. Rumour told that Pausanias"s army was ill fed, and his captains were at loggerheads. Time was fighting for Mardonius. A joyful letter he had sent to Sardis the preceding morning: "Let the king have patience. In forty days I shall be banqueting even in Sparta."
In the evening the Prince sat at council with his commanders. Xerxes had left behind his own war pavilion, and here the Persians met. Mardonius sat on the high seat of the dais. Gold, purple, a hundred torches, made the scene worthy of the monarch himself. Beside the general stood a young page,-beautiful as Armaiti, fairest of the archangels. All looked on the page, but discreetly kept their thoughts to whispers, though many had guessed the secret of Mardonius"s companion.
The debate was long and vehement. Especially Artabazus, general of the rear-guard, was loud in a.s.serting no battle should be risked. He was a crafty man, who, the Prince suspected, was his personal enemy, but his opinion was worth respecting.
"I repeat what I said before. The h.e.l.lenes showed how they could fight at Thermopylae. Let us retire to Thebes."
"Bravely said, valiant general," sneered Mardonius, none too civilly.
"It is mine to speak, yours to follow my opinion as you list. I say we can conquer these h.e.l.lenes with folded hands. Retreat to Thebes; money is plentiful with us; we can melt our gold cups into coin. Sprinkle bribes among the hostile chiefs. We know their weakness. Not steel but gold will unlock the way to Sparta."
The generalissimo stood up proudly.
"Bribes and stealth? Did Cyrus and Darius win us empire with these? No, by the Fiend-Smiter, it was sharp steel and the song of the bow-string that made Eran to prosper, and prosper to this day. But lest Artabazus think that in putting on the lion I have forgotten the fox, let the strangers now come to us stand forth, that he and every other may know how I have done all things for the glory of my master and the Persian name."
He smote with his commander"s mace upon the bronze ewer on the table.
Instantly there appeared two soldiers, between them two men, one of slight, one of gigantic, stature, but both in Grecian dress. Artabazus sprang to his feet.
"Who are these men-Thebans?"
"From greater cities than Thebes. You see two new servants of the king, therefore friends of us all. Behold Lycon of Sparta and Democrates, friend of Themistocles."
His speech was Persian, but the newcomers both understood when he named them. The tall Laconian straightened his bull neck, as in defiance. The Athenian flushed. His head seemed sinking betwixt his shoulders. Much wormwood had he drunk of late, but none bitterer than this,-to be welcomed at the councils of the Barbarian. Artabazus salaamed to his superior half mockingly.
"Verily, son of Gobryas, I was wrong. You are guileful as a Greek. There can be no higher praise."
The Prince"s nostrils twitched. Perhaps he was not saying all he felt.
"Let your praise await the issue," he rejoined coldly. "Suffice it that these friends were long convinced of the wisdom of aiding his Eternity, and to-night come from the camp of the h.e.l.lenes to tell all that has pa.s.sed and why we should make ready for battle at the dawning." He turned to the Greeks, ordering in their own tongue, "Speak forth, I am interpreter for the council."
An awkward instant followed. Lycon looked on Democrates.
"You are an Athenian, your tongue is readiest," he whispered.
"And you the first to Medize. Finish your handiwork," the retort.
"We are waiting," prompted Mardonius, and Lycon held up his great head and began in short sentences which the general deftly turned into Persian.
"Your cavalry has made our position by the Asopus intolerable. All the springs are exposed. We have to fight every time we try to draw water.
To-day was a meeting of the commanders, many opinions, much wrangling, but all said we must retire. The town of Plataea is best. It is strong, with plenty of water. You cannot attack it. To-night our camp has been struck.
The troops begin to retire, but in disorder. The contingent of each city marches by itself. The Athenians, thanks to Democrates, delay retreating; the Spartans I have delayed also. I have persuaded Amompharetus, my cousin, who leads the Pitanate _mora_,(15) and who was not at the council, that it is cowardly for a Spartan to retreat. He is a sheep-skulled fool and has believed me. Consequently, he and his men are holding back. The other Spartans wait for them. At dawn you will find the Athenians and Spartans alone near their old camping ground, their allies straggling in the rear. Attack boldly. When the onset joins, Democrates and I will order our own divisions to retire. The phalanxes will be broken up. With your cavalry you will have them at mercy, for once the spear-hedge is shattered, they are lost. The battle will not cost you twenty men."
Artabazus rose again and showed his teeth.
"A faithful servant of the king, Mardonius,-and so well is all provided, do we brave Aryans need even to string our bows?"
The Prince winced at the sarcasm.
"I am serving the king, not my own pleasure," he retorted stiffly. "The son of Gobryas is too well known to have slurs cast on his courage. And now what questions would my captains ask these Greeks? Promptly-they must be again in their own lines, or they are missed."
An officer here or there threw an interrogation. Lycon answered briefly.
Democrates kept sullen silence. He was clearly present more to prove the good faith of his Medizing than for anything he might say. Mardonius smote the ewer again. The soldiers escorted the two h.e.l.lenes forth. As the curtains closed behind them, the curious saw that the features of the beautiful page by the general"s side were contracted with disgust.
Mardonius himself spat violently.
"Dogs, and sons of dogs, let Angra-Mainyu wither them forever. Bear witness, men of Persia, how, for the sake of our Lord the King, I hold converse even with these vilest of the vile!"