“Yes, in a way,” replied the man.

“Please to explain what you mean,” said Callias, who was getting a little heated by these mysterious remarks.

“Well,” said the merchant, “King Pausanias is encamped outside the city in some place that they call the Grove of Academus, I think. Do you know it?”

Callias assented with a nod.

“And Lysander has a hundred and fifty ships off the Piraeus. Still I think that you will be able to get in. The blockade is not kept very strictly.”

“Had I best go by night?”

“Perhaps it would be better.”

“Can you help me to a boat?”

“Certainly; but you will have to pay the boatman pretty highly, for, of course, it is a risk, though it can be done.”

“Will you make the arrangements if I pay you the money in advance?