"It is no dream," Chares replied, "but a deed that will be told throughout the army for the Companions to envy. Give me the oars, Nathan; I need exercise."
Nathan yielded the oars, and the tough blades bent as the Theban threw his weight upon them. The boat sped through the water toward a grove of trees that stood like a patch of darker shadow on the other shore. From behind they could hear the clank of levers, and they knew the river-gate was being opened. Boupares had ordered pursuit; but they were a mile away before the first of the biremes shot out from the portal. A few minutes more and they had reached the friendly grove and entered the mouth of one of the numerous canals which formed a network through the plain as complicated as the Cretan labyrinth.
"Now let them search," said Nathan. "I would not stand in Boupares' shoes to-morrow!"
CHAPTER XXIX
THE SLUICE GATE
Cautiously and in silence they threaded their way from one branch of the canal to another, through the fields of grain and vegetables that spread like a vast garden for miles across the low country. Here and there along the banks were farmers' huts, and occasionally they passed through the estate of a Persian landowner who followed agriculture as the noblest pursuit in which a man could engage, according to the teachings of his religion. In many places the canal was shut in on both sides by reeds which reached a height of ten, or even fifteen, feet.
They had proceeded for perhaps two hours and had made so many turns that the Greeks had long ago lost all idea of direction, when they reached a cluster of date-palms. Nathan guided the boat to a landing-place, and they stepped ashore.
"Jonathan, are you there?" he called softly.
"I am here," replied a guarded voice, and from among the trees stood forth the figure of an old man. "Pull your boat ashore and follow me," he said briefly.