"Alexander sent thee back to Tyre," Chares continued, "and he gave thee a message to deliver to thy king, Azemilcus. Hast thou forgotten it? He told thee to bid him prepare the altar in the temple of Heracles, for that he was coming with his army to make sacrifice there. He is on his way."
Chares spoke boldly, and the threat conveyed in his words had an evident effect upon the minds of the men who heard him. Many of them, like Phradates, had seen with their own eyes the impetuous charge of the Macedonians across the Granicus, and they knew in their hearts that the Great King had no troops that could have withstood it. Sardis, Ephesus, Miletus, and all the Carian cities in the north had fallen, and the mutterings of the approaching storm were all about them. Would the great walls of Halicarnassus, upon which they had been toiling, give them shelter? Misgiving seized their minds, and they looked questioningly at each other and at Memnon. None could read what was passing in the thoughts of the wily Rhodian, but no doubt he reflected upon the jealousy of the Persians, his masters, which had forbidden him to lead his Greeks into the battle of the Granicus and which still encompassed him, all the more vigilant because of his promotion. He must have thought, too, of his wife and children, hostages in the hands of Darius. He knew that Clearchus and Chares had told the truth. Would it not be well to have two young men of influence in Greece and on terms of intimacy with Alexander to speak for him in case of need?
With his eyes on Memnon's furrowed face, Clearchus, with the subtle intelligence of an Athenian, divined something of what was passing in his mind.
"Say no more," he whispered to Chares. "He will save us if he can."
Memnon at last raised his head and glanced about him. "I am inclined to think that the story these men tell is true," he said deliberately.
An angry murmur rose from the crowd, and Phradates' face flushed darkly.
"Who was the girl in the litter?" said Ephialtes. "Was she this Artemisia whom they were seeking?"
There was a sneer in the exile's tone that brought the blood to Chares' cheek.
"She was not," he answered. "She was Thais. You may have seen her, Ephialtes, before they drove you from Athens."
"Thais?" Thrasybulus said. "Why not send for her? She may be able to tell whether these speak truth or falsehood."