CHAPTER XVII
THE TRAGEDY OF THE MARSH
It was after midnight when the council ended and the generals returnedto the mercenary camp. Chares and Clearchus had long been slumbering,but Leonidas, feeling his responsibility as leader, had deemed it hisduty not to yield to his fatigue until the camp was still.
The story of what had occurred in the council spread quickly throughthe mercenary army next morning. Memnon had returned in a rage. Hehad warned the satraps of their folly in expecting an easy victory andhad advised them again to fall back, laying waste the country as theywent, so that the Macedonians would be forced to give battle ondisadvantageous terms and when they had been disheartened by privation.
This suggestion had been treated with scorn by the Persians. They hadtaunted Memnon with cowardice and the satrap Arsites had flatly refusedto permit a single house in his province to be destroyed.
"If the Greeks wish to earn their pay without fighting," he had said,"let them stand idly by and see how brave men can conquer."
Thereupon all the Persian nobles had shouted assent and it had beendecided to proceed without delay to crush the invasion by forcing abattle.
This was the news that was told through the camp of the Greeks anddiscussed with bitter comment by groups of soldiers.
"I wish I was back with my wife and children," said a sturdy Locrian."These dogs know nothing of war."
"I shall stay here, no matter what they do," remarked an Athenian, witha shrug. "Hemlock does not agree with me."
"Wait until the phalanx strikes them," said a hoplite from Syracuse."I'll wager that the date-eaters will sing a different song when thesarissa begins to tickle their ribs."
"You would suppose that these fellows would like to see the barbariansbeaten," Chares muttered to Clearchus.
"Hush," said Leonidas. "We know all that we came to learn. What wehave to do now, is to get out as soon as we can. The army cannot befar away and unless we can reach it before it arrives, the day may belost. If we give the Persians time, they may yet change their minds.All depends upon an immediate attack, while their forces are divided.We must get away at once. How are we to manage it?"
"Why, walk away, of course," Chares said. "Who is to stop us?"
"That will not do," Leonidas replied. "You know the order that nobodyshall straggle from the camp. There is too much danger of getting intoa brawl with the Persians."
"If a foraging party is going out, we might join it," Clearchusproposed.
"That is worth trying," the Spartan assented; "wait here until I findour friend, the captain."
It happened that the same foraging party that they had joined the daybefore was going out again. Leonidas asked permission to join it.
"You have not yet been enrolled," the grizzled captain objected, "butcome along if you wish; we may need the big fellow with the stake.I'll leave three of my men behind and you can take their places."
Leonidas breathed more freely when they were out of the camp, with themost dangerous part of the mission accomplished. They were forced tocross the Granicus and to walk five or six miles on the other sidebefore they met with any success in their search for provisions. Atlast they discovered a flock of sheep, of which they took possession.All was in readiness for the return march when Leonidas, Chares, andClearchus approached the captain.
"We have decided that we will not join the army," Leonidas announced."We have seen enough of this war. We are going back to the coast."
"I don't know about that," the captain said, scratching his head.
"We are not enrolled," Leonidas reminded him.
"That is true," said the honest fellow, "but you have been in the camp."
"Well, we are not going back," the Spartan said deliberately. "Are yougoing to try to force us? There are thirteen of you and only three ofus, but if you want a fight, you can have it. We don't intend to riskour lives for such leaders as Arsites. Which shall it be--shall we go,or shall we fight for it?"
"Let them go," interposed one of the soldiers who had drawn near tolearn what the controversy was about. "They saved us yesterday. Ihave half a mind to go with them myself. I would if I had my pay."
"Yes, let them go, if they wish," others chimed in. "They are notenrolled."
"Farewell," Leonidas said, sheathing his sword and extending his handto the captain. "You can say we were killed in a skirmish with thePersians if you like."
"That's it, I'll say you were killed," the captain exclaimed in a toneof relief, clasping the proffered hand. "Only, you will not comeback?" he asked doubtfully.
"Never fear," cried Chares, giving him a slap on the back that almostfelled him to the ground. "If we do, we'll swear you told the truth."
So they turned north and passed on, while the remainder of the partydrove in the sheep to camp.
It was mid-afternoon when they separated from the mercenary company,and they had no means of knowing how many miles they would have totravel before they fell in with the Macedonian army.
"Now for it," cried Leonidas, swinging his shield over his shoulder."Come on!"
Before they had gone far, they found themselves descending a long slopetoward what seemed to be a wide stretch of marshland extending as faras they could see. It was covered with long, dry rushes, which rustledand bent before the strong breeze. The brown expanse apparently hadonce been a lake, for in the distance they could catch the gleam ofwater; but the greater part of the basin had dried, and the reeds hadsprung up as the water receded.
"It looks like a swamp," Clearchus said, anxiously scanning the plain."How are we to pass?"
"It seems dry enough now," Leonidas replied. "We will cross it if wecan find no better way; but let us look first for a road."
Facing to the east, they skirted the edge of the rushes for more than amile without finding an opening or coming within sight of the end.
"I'm afraid we shall have to try to get through," Leonidas said atlast, halting on a tongue of land which extended some distance into themarsh. "We can't afford to waste much more time."
The question was decided for them in a manner that left them no choice.As they stood in doubt, shouts came from their rear, and turning, theysaw a company of horsemen at the top of the slope, half a mile away,bearing down upon them at a breakneck gallop. Their long lances andflowing garments showed them to be Persians.
"You were right in saying that we had no time to waste, Leonidas,"Chares exclaimed. "What are you going to do about this? I am anxiousto take orders."
For answer, the Spartan set off at a run for the marsh. It was evidentthat the Persians had seen them and were aiming to attack them at adistance from the camps, where the affair would remain undiscovered.
With the wind blowing in their faces, the three young men plunged inamong the reeds. The dry stalks met above their heads and whistledabout their ears.
"Go first!" commanded Leonidas, standing aside for Chares to pass.
The Theban took the lead, tearing like a wild bull through thecrackling stems. Clearchus followed at his heels and Leonidas broughtup the rear, retaining for himself the post of danger. Although theirfigures were hidden, they knew their pursuers would have no trouble infollowing them, for they left a broad trail, and, moreover, theelevation of the backs of their horses would enable the barbarianseasily to mark their progress by the waving of the rushes.
For a mile and two miles the race continued without a word beingspoken. The Persians had ridden headlong into the marsh after them andwere slowly gaining upon them, although the speed of their horses waschecked by the rushes, which caused them to stumble, and by thesoftness of the ground, into which their hoofs sank to the fetlock atevery stride.
Clearchus was panting for breath and he heard Leonidas breathing hardbehind him. Sweat streamed from the face and neck of Chares, who brokethe path. The Athenian knew that the pace could not be maintained muchlonger.
Still another half mile they struggled on with the endless brown
wallsof reeds before them and around them. Long ago they had cast awaytheir javelins and their shields, which caught in the reeds andhindered them. Even if they could find a barrier behind which to makea stand, they knew they would have no chance for their lives againstthe enemy, who outnumbered them six to one and had the advantage ofbeing mounted.
Clearchus thought of Artemisia, and his temples throbbed with anguishas he nerved himself to fresh effort. Was he never to see her again?His bones would bleach in the middle of that vast morass and she wouldnot know. He thought of the high-spirited young king who had sent themto obtain information that might save his army from destruction and thehopes of Greece from ruin. On them alone might depend the result ofthe battle that was to be fought and the destiny of two nations.
He saw Chares stumble once and again. His own muscles were benumbed bythe long strain. The shouting at their backs was growing louder andmore near and he could hear the thudding of the hoofs upon the spongy,black soil.
"Stop!" Leonidas gasped behind him, and looking over his shoulder,Clearchus saw that the Spartan had fallen to his knees.
"Back, Chares," he shouted. "The end has come!"
The Theban halted and they both ran back to Leonidas, drawing theirswords with a fierce determination to defend themselves to the last.
"Beat down the rushes!" Leonidas cried hoarsely. "Let in the wind!"
They saw that he held his flints in his hands and that a tiny blaze wasflickering up from a heap of rushes which he had crushed into atinder-like mass.
They understood his plan and hope returned to them. Like madmen, theytrampled the reeds to the right and left. A puff of wind came throughand caught the darting tongue of fire. It leaped upward so suddenlythat the Spartan's hair was singed before he had time to draw back. Inan instant, it seemed, a sheet of flame flung itself into the air abovethe reed-tops, casting off a thin swirl of bluish smoke. Withincredible swiftness the fire swept from them straight down upon theirpursuers, leaving behind it a rapidly widening wake of black.
"Scatter it!" cried Leonidas, seizing the blazing reeds and throwingthem in every direction. The others followed his example, spreadingthe fire as far as they could to the right and left so as to make itimpossible for the Persians to evade it by avoiding its path.
As soon as the barbarians saw the first smoke, they halted, hesitatedfor a moment, and then turned wildly back in the hope of escaping bythe way they had come. The Greeks had taken a position on the charredground, where they themselves were safe from the flames, and wereawaiting the result, sword in hand.
The conflagration, as it gathered headway, seemed to become a monsteranimated by a living spirit. One broad sheet of flame swept high intothe air, roaring like a hungry beast, and throwing up clouds of smokethat hid the southern sky. With deadly swiftness it devoured the lakeof reeds before it, leaving behind a bare and level plain of ashes fromwhich here and there rose smoky spirals. It seemed to create ascorching gale stronger even than the wind that had fanned it intolife. It rushed forward by great leaps and bounds, pausing now andthen over some especially tempting thicket of reeds, and then startingup far in advance.
In vain the three young men tried to learn what had become of thepursuers upon whom Leonidas had let loose their terrible ally.Grasping their swords, they stood back to back amid the drifting smoke,striving to look beyond the flaming wall. The wave of fire reached theslope from which they had fled, lingered there for a few moments, andthen vanished as quickly almost as it had sprung into existence. Thesmoke blew away over the uplands in a bellying cloud. Gazing throughits rifts, they could see nothing of the Persians. They seemed to havedisappeared as completely as though the earth had swallowed them.
"Where are they?" exclaimed Clearchus in bewilderment.
"They must have escaped," Leonidas replied.
"No, by Zeus, I see them!" Chares cried, pointing to a group ofblackened mounds about halfway from where they stood to the edge of themarsh.
One of the mounds stirred as he spoke, and they saw that he was right.It was one of the horses. The animal tried to raise itself on its forelegs, gave a scream of agony, and fell back among the cinders.
Without a word, the three Companions turned away. While the fire hadfled rapidly before the wind, it had made little progress in otherdirections. It was still eating into the rushes behind them and oneither side and they were surrounded by it, excepting where it hadswept back to the slope. To return in that direction would be to runnew risk of capture. They were prisoners.
They looked at each other. Their faces and garments were black withsmoke and ashes.
"What would they say if they could see you in the Agora in Athenslooking like that?" Chares asked of Clearchus.
"They would ask me the price of charcoal, I suppose," the Athenianreplied, laughing.
They moved slowly after the receding fire, choosing their path withcaution and halting every few yards to wait until the ground had cooled.
"We shall not get out in time!" Leonidas groaned.
"Don't be too sure," Clearchus cried. "Look at that." He extended hishand, upon which a drop of water had fallen.
"Rain!" cried the Spartan, joyfully. "The Gods be thanked!"
It was rain, indeed. The drops were falling all around them, makinglittle puffs in the hot ashes and hissing on the embers. The windshifted further to the east and brought a refreshing dampness to theirfaces, crimsoned by the stifling atmosphere which they had been forcedto breathe. There was a muttering of thunder, then a nearer crashoverhead, and they saw the storm striding across the plain in a long,sweeping curve. They lifted their faces to it and drew deep breaths,letting the water trickle through their hair and down their bodies.Steam rose from the blackened expanse all about them. Gaps began toappear in the hissing circle of fire. The red tongues flickered andwent out.
"There is yet time," Leonidas cried, and in a few moments they wereonce more among the reeds, heading for the northern margin of the swamp.