Clearchus picked up a pebble from the street and tossed it at the window. The first trial failed, but at the second the stone entered the opening.
"Back now until we see her!" the Theban said, drawing Clearchus into an angle of the opposite wall.
In a moment a woman's head, with hair unbound, appeared at the window against the light.
"It is Artemisia!" Clearchus cried, unable to control himself in the rush of his joy. He started forward and stood in the full moonlight with his arms outstretched.
"Artemisia!" he called softly.
"Clearchus, my love, is it thou?" she replied, in the same tone.
"Yes, we have come to save thee," he answered. "Canst thou come to us?"
"I will try," she said. "Thais is here with me."
She vanished from the window, and Clearchus advanced eagerly toward the door. Before he had taken three steps a score of men seemed to rise out of the ground around him. The trap set by Phradates had been sprung.
"Seize them!" the Tyrian cried in a shrill voice.