A dead hush followed this defiance, and all eyes were turned upon the Persian in expectation of an outbreak; but Orontobates merely smiled upon her as though she were a petulant child and turned again to the study of the maps spread out before him.
CHAPTER XXII
THE VISION OF DANIEL, THE VICEROY
Silent and thoughtful in the midst of the swarthy Arabian guard commanded by Nathan the Israelite, who bore Memnon's letters to the Great King, Clearchus and Chares rode out of the eastern gate of Halicarnassus. Even the Theban's buoyant nature for once was subdued. They were going to what seemed certain death, and they were leaving behind them those they loved most on earth.
To Clearchus this thought was unbearable. He cared not what happened, now that the last hope of rescuing Artemisia was gone. What would become of her? Who could aid her now? He rode with his head sunk on his breast, seeing and hearing nothing of what went on around him. A low fever filled his veins, dulling his senses and leaving him only half conscious of their situation. At times he imagined it was all a dream, from which he would awake, still free to continue the search for his lost love. Then a realization of the truth would return to him, and he groaned aloud in his despair.
The response of the oracle of Delphi, which had supported him, now seemed like a mockery. It had been fulfilled, he thought, when in truth he found Artemisia in the track that Alexander's army was to follow. The Gods had made him their sport, and he fancied them smiling down from the heavens upon his agony. The light of the sun became hateful to him.
So he rode, mile after mile and day after day, in listless and inert abandonment to his fate. Who could resist the will of the Gods? He ate almost nothing, and his strength wasted visibly, while lines of suffering deepened on his face.
In vain Chares sought to rouse him. He returned patient answers to the arguments of the Theban, but his power of effort was gone. In the first stages of their journey Chares watched over him constantly to prevent him from destroying himself in his despair.
Through Lycia, Pisidia, and Cilicia they passed, finding fresh relays of horses at each station along the great highway that had been established by the predecessors of Darius. Through the Amanic Gates they galloped at last, and paused at Thapsacus, on the banks of the mighty Euphrates, where, more than a century and a half before, the Ten Thousand had halted in their desperate dash upon Babylon.