Three men dressed similarly chased after Lykon almost the instant that he was pushed out of the temple by Mefres and found himself on the empty street. The men had hidden not far from the door through which the Greek issued, and at first let him pass freely. But soon one of them noted something suspicious in his hand, so they followed.
A wonderful thing! Lykon though in a trance felt, as it were, the pursuit; he turned quickly into a street full of movement, then to a square where a multitude of people were circling about, and then ran to the Nile by Fisher Street. There, at the end of some alley, he found a small boat, sprang into it and began to cross the river with a speed which was remarkable.
He was a couple of hundred yards from the shore when a boat pushed out after him with one rower and three passengers. Barely had these left land when a second boat appeared with two rowers and three passengers also.
Both boats pursued Lykon with stubbornness. In that which had only one rower sat the overseers of the labyrinth, looking diligently at their rivals, as far as was permitted by the darkness, which came soon after sundown.
"Who are those three?" whispered they among themselves. "Since the day before yesterday they have been lurking around the temple, and today they are pursuing Lykon. Do they wish to protect him from us?"
Lykon's small boat reached the other shore. The Greek sprang from it and went swiftly toward the palace garden. Sometimes he staggered, stopped, and seized his head, but after an instant he went forward again, as if drawn by some incomprehensible attraction.
The overseers of the labyrinth landed also, but they were preceded by their rivals.
And a race began which was unique in its kind: Lykon was hurling toward the palace, like a swift runner; after him were the three unknown men, and the three overseers of the labyrinth.
A few hundred steps from the garden the pursuing groups came together.
It was night then, but clear.
"Who are ye?" asked one of the labyrinth men of the others.