IN THE CAMP OF THE MERCENARIES
Sometimes running and sometimes walking, Leonidas led Clearchus and
Chares all night through the foot-hills of Mount Ida. It was not until
day was breaking and they were thoroughly exhausted that he halted at a
spot well advanced upon the northeastern slopes of the great mountain.
They found themselves at the bottom of a rocky ravine, shaded by
evergreens, through which trickled a shallow brook.
"Let us eat and sleep," Leonidas said, and in ten minutes they were
lying wrapped in their cloaks in the shelter of a thicket.
Leonidas was awake and had aroused his friends before noon. Although
the country was wild and thinly settled, they pushed forward with
caution, fearing that they might stumble upon some Persian outpost.
For the same reason, they skirted the hillsides instead of keeping to
the valleys, where it would have been easier to advance, and the wisdom
of this precaution was made manifest before they had gone far. The
keen eyes of Leonidas caught a drift of smoke above the tree-tops.
Advancing cautiously along a ridge, they found an abrupt declivity
which permitted them to look down upon a camp-fire about which were
gathered twenty or thirty men.
From the variety of their weapons and costumes, the Spartan judged them
to be shepherds and farmers who had been sent out by the Persian
commanders as scouts. They were under the command of an officer who
wore a conical cap, linen trousers, and a flowing garment of yellow and
blue, with wide sleeves. In his hand he carried a whip of rawhide, and
his only other weapon was a dagger which he wore at his waist. The
party had evidently halted for its midday meal.
Seeing that the Persians did not suspect their presence, the three
spies crept behind a huge bowlder which had fallen from the face of the
cliff behind them and hung poised on a ledge above the camp. They
hoped to learn something from the talk of the men around the fire, but
their conversation seemed to be carried on in a dialect with which they
were not familiar. While Leonidas and Clearchus were watching, one on
either side of the rock, Chares, crouched behind it, began idly to
examine the mass of stone. It was taller than the stature of a man and
shaped like a rough sphere. Ferns grew from its crevices and around
its base, showing that it had hung there for years. It was separated
from the cliff by a narrow passage, and its outer side overhung the
ledge upon which it had been caught.
Chares measured the great rock with his eye and then quietly stretched
himself down upon the ledge behind it, with his feet against the cliff
and his shoulders against the stone. As he put forth his enormous
strength, slowly a crack appeared in the earth at the base of the
stone. The delicate plumes of fern that grew from the moss on its
summit began to nod gently, although the air was still. The crack
widened and there was a sound of the snapping of slender roots.
Clearchus and Leonidas, intent upon the scene below, noticed nothing.
Suddenly the great bowlder seemed to start forward of its own motion.
It hung balanced for an instant and then plunged from the ledge,
bounding down the steep hillside with long leaps, rending everything in
its path.
With shouts of alarm, the soldiers scattered in every direction, but
their leader tripped on the long skirt of his gaudy robe and fell face
downward beside the fire. Before he could rise, the great stone was
upon him. It rolled over his prostrate form and came to rest.
Leonidas turned to discover what had happened and saw Chares lying with
his head in the hole where the stone had been, shaking with laughter.
Without losing a moment, the Spartan dragged him to his feet and ran
swiftly back along the way they had come. It was impossible to avoid
being seen. There was a cry from below, and half a dozen arrows struck
against the cliff about them as they passed. Luckily, they succeeded
in gaining shelter in safety.
The Spartan's face was pale with anger. "If you had done that in my
country, nothing could save you!" he said to Chares.
"Why? What have I done?" the Theban asked in surprise.
"You have endangered the safety of the whole army and run the risk of
bringing the expedition to failure," Leonidas answered hotly. "I say
nothing of ourselves, but we have been seen, and what you have done to
no purpose may cost us our lives."
"That is true," the Theban said, filled with remorse. "I didn't stop
to think."
"You made me leader," Leonidas continued bitterly. "If I am to lead,
you must obey my orders. If not, lead on yourself, and I will show you
how to obey."
Clearchus peered down into the ravine and saw the Persians gathered
about the motionless body of their chief, debating with many
gesticulations.
"They are not thinking of pursuit," he said. "Come, I will answer for
Chares that he will be more careful in future. Let it pass. We have
no time to lose."
The Spartan made no reply, but turned and led the way once more toward
the east. They did not halt again until the mountain was at their
backs, its peaks cutting a giant silhouette of purple in the crimson
evening sky. After a brief rest they struck out along a water-course
which brought them at daybreak to a larger stream that they judged to
be the Granicus.
As they advanced, the hills became smaller and the country more open.
They met several companies of the Persians, some with wagon trains and
some on foraging expeditions; but when they explained that they were
Greek mercenaries on their way to join Memnon, they were permitted to
pass unmolested, since it was extremely unlikely that any of the
Macedonians could have advanced so far inland. Finally, late in the
afternoon, they reached an opening between the hills which gave them
sight of a broad, rolling plain, through which the river ran like a
band of silver. Far away they could see the tents of the Persian camp,
spread out like a white city, and, a little to the right, a dark
square, which they took to be the earthwork surrounding the camp of the
Greek mercenaries. Although the Persians made use of the Greeks, they
were so jealous of them that they always made them camp apart.
Encounters between them were not uncommon, even when they were fighting
in the same cause.
Descending to the plain, the three friends lost sight of the camp, but
they took the river for their guide, knowing that it must bring them to
their destination. They passed farms and cottages, from which the
women peeped curiously at them, the men having been drafted into the
army. They were emerging from a pasture behind a farm-house rather
larger and more prosperous-looking than its neighbors, when they heard
a commotion in which they distinguished the shouting of Greeks.
Running forward, they found two foraging parties from the rival camps
in angry dispute for the possession of a drove of cattle. The Greeks
had found the cattle and were about to drive them away when the Persian
party came up and demanded them.
Words led to blows. The Greeks were heavily outnumbered, and although
they fought stubbornly, it was clear that they would be unable to hold
their ground.
"Here is our chance," Leonidas cried. "Memnon! Memnon!"
He drew his sword and rushed into the conflict, with Clearchus and
Chares behind him, shouting at the top of their lungs. The Greeks,
encouraged by their unexpected succor, made a stand, while the
Persians, not knowing how large a force was upon them, ceased to follow
up their advantage.
"Drive in the sheep with the cattle," Chares cried, catching up a heavy
stake from a hayrick and swinging it around his head with both hands.
"Don't let them escape!" He brought the stake down upon the Persian
heads like a gigantic flail.
Leonidas and Clearchus forced themselves into the thick of the fight,
thrusting and hewing with their swords. The Greek foragers, regaining
their courage, ran in after them. The Persians were unable to
withstand the charge. They broke and fled down the road toward their
camp in disorder, leaving half a dozen of their number upon the field.
"Praise be to Zeus, the Preserver!" said the lochagos, or captain, who
was in command of the mercenaries. "Where did you come from?"
"From Antandrus," Leonidas replied promptly, "to join the army of
Memnon."
"By the horn of Dionysus, you came in time!" the captain cried, wiping
his sword. "But I have been long away from home. Is it the fashion
there now to fight with stakes for weapons?"
He looked at Chares, whose mighty onslaught had aroused the admiration
of the soldiers.
"It is the fashion there, as it always has been, to fight with whatever
comes to hand when Greeks are in danger," Chares said with dignity.
"But do you suppose, now, that there is a skin of wine in that house?"
"No harm in looking," the captain replied. "Get the cattle together if
you expect to eat before you sleep," he added to his men and led the
way into the house.
There were only women inside--the farmer's wife and two daughters, all
in a flutter of fear. Chares, ignorant of their language, began by
kissing each of them, which served somewhat to dispel their alarm.
When the captain produced a bag of gold pieces and announced that he
would pay for everything they took, they became quite at ease and
readily brought the skin of wine that Chares demanded.
Having finished the wine in great good humor and settled their account,
the party set off to the camp, driving the cattle before them. Around
their camp-fire that night the three Companions learned all there was
to know of the Persian army. Under Memnon, there were nearly twenty
thousand Greek mercenaries drawn from the entire Hellenic world and
including thieves, fugitives, murderers, and runaway slaves. The
Persian force was equal in number to the army of Alexander and
consisted mainly of cavalry. It was made up of picked men, the best
troops of the empire. With the satraps Arsites and Spithridates were
many of the great nobles of the realm, among them Atizyes, satrap of
Greater Phrygia, Mithrobarzanes, hipparch of Cappadocia, Omares, and
others who were renowned for their bravery and high standing with the
Great King.
"They think it will be a holiday affair," the honest captain said
contemptuously. "We Greeks know better. They are encumbered with wine
and women for the feast that they intend to celebrate after they have
won their victory, and they are already quarrelling among themselves
for places at the board; but their greatest contention is over what
shall be done with Alexander when he is led before Darius, loaded with
chains, to answer for his boldness. They have invented more new
punishments than would destroy the entire army."
"Why are they so certain of winning?" Clearchus asked. "I have heard
the Macedonians are good fighters."
"So they are," the captain replied heartily; "but the best troops of
Persia are here, and the young nobles cannot bring themselves to
believe that common men can stand against them. Why, they are even
predicting that the army of Alexander will run away before a blow has
been struck."
"You don't seem to care over much for our friends," Chares remarked
with a yawn.
"Nor they for us," the captain said. "You saw what happened this
afternoon. They think they can get along without us and they do not
intend to let us have any share in the victory if they can help it. I
believe we shall win if it is true that Alexander has only half as many
men as we; but they will never win without our assistance."
"I suppose we shall fight in the centre," Clearchus suggested.
"I don't know," the captain exclaimed. "Nobody seems to know. If they
take Memnon's advice, they will not risk all on a battle now. There is
no need of it. All we have to do is to fall back, leaving nothing to
eat behind us, and the Macedonians will starve to death. But the
nobles will not listen to reason. They want glory, and so they insist
upon a battle where the advantage will be all with the other side.
They called Memnon a coward in the council this afternoon for proposing
to retreat, and now they are at it again over yonder."
He pointed to a gayly colored pavilion in the middle of the Persian
camp, where the council feast was being held. It looked like a
strange, gigantic mushroom, glowing with interior light.
"They even jeer at us for throwing up breastworks," the captain added
bitterly. "They have left their own camp defenceless, to show how
brave they are. Perhaps they will be glad enough to take refuge in
ours before they are through!"
"We must find out what the decision of the council is," Leonidas
whispered, as they rolled themselves in their cloaks, "and then the
next thing will be to get away."