They saw the sightless face of Polyphemus working horribly, his mouth opening and shutting like a dying fish as he looked heavenwards and implored his mighty father’s aid.
And after a space of mourning for the brave dead the heroes set out again over the sad grey seas, seeking Ithaca.
But the heart of King Ulysses was sick and weary, for he dreaded the wrath to come, and most of all he longed for home.
THE SECOND EPISODE
The Adventure of the Palace in the Wood
Ulysses slowly mounted the wooded hill. The path which rose towards the summit wound in and out through thick undergrowth, and his feet made no sound upon the green moss of the track.
He had his spear ready for any game that he might chance on, but for half a day he saw no living thing save a few mailed lizards that lay open-eyed upon a stone.
No birds twittered in the forest on the mountainside, only the wild bees sang in the stillness like jewels with voices.
How beautiful the wood was! and how mysterious also. Ulysses felt a quickening of the pulses which did not come from fear, and a strange excitement possessed him which arose from he knew not what cause.
The trees in the forest were very old and grew thickly together. The trunks were painted delicate greens, greys and browns by lichens, and the foliage overhead met and made a roof of bright leaves. Beneath this canopy there was a sort of twilight like the gloom in the temple of Zeus at Sparta.