“If I understand aright,” spoke Simonides, shrewdly, “our case is such there’s little left worth betraying.”
“Not badly put,”—again Themistocles pressed his forehead, while Glaucon stood as passive as hard marble. Then the admiral suddenly began to rain questions like an arrow volley.
“You come from the king’s camp?”
“Yes.”
“And have heard the plans of battle?”
“I was not at the council, but nothing is concealed. The Persians are too confident.”
“Of course. How do their ships lie?”
“Crowded around the havens of Athens. The vassal Ionians have their ships on the left. The Phœnicians, [pg 291]Xerxes’s chief hope, lie on the right, but on the extreme right anchor the Egyptians.”
“How do you know this?”
“From the camp-followers’ talk. Then, too, I rowed by the whole armada while on my way to Salamis. I have eyes. The moon was shining. I was not mistaken.”