Thais rose and went to the litter, where, from its hiding place among the cushions, she drew forth a bag of leather which she emptied upon the couch. Artemisia uttered a cry of delight. Rubies, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, and gems of turquoise lay spread before her in a glittering heap.
"There is our fortune," Thais said. "We shall not want, at least for the present."
CHAPTER XVI
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.