l and
lofty and so fur away from all fear, and ez tho' he hedn't a thot of
failin', thet ther men, yo' see, tuk on ther same state o' mind, and ter
fight 'em war no use. If the fust bullet we fired hed killed thet
General, we would a-scooped the hull army by four o'clock. Thet's what
I mean when I say: 'They ain't much in men, thar's everything in a man!'"

"I understand you fully, and you are right, Jordan," said his friend.

Jordan continued "War it not 'round yere somewhar' thet ther Greeks
lived?"

"Yes, north of this sea, ahead of us, and to the left," said Sedgwick.

"They wur the ones that fit Marathon and Thermoperlee, and it wur from
ther thet big Aleck cum?" asked Jordan.

"Yes," was the reply. "It was only a little country, but had many states,
The Spartans and Thespians, mostly the Spartans, fought at Thermopylae.
Marathon was fought mostly by Athenians, and Alexander was Phillip's son,
of Macedonia."

"'Zactly," said Jordan. "Athens wur the boss place, wur it not? It had
ther best talkers, and best public schools, and wur it not thar thet the
woman Frina kept house?"

"Yes, Phryne was an Athenian, I believe, a woman of a good model, but not
a model woman," said Sedgwick, with a faint smile.

"I reckon yo' wur right, Jim," said Jordan, "but it wur not singular she
bested them fellers in her law-suit. Her showin' would ha' brought a
Texas jury every time, sho', in spite of any 'structions, no matter how
savage, from ther court."

Then he continued, "Thar wur another bad one 'round here, somewhar. Don't
yo' reclect readin' 'bout her and ther Roman? They got spoony on one
another. He neglected his family and business, he wur thet fur gone;
finally got hisself killed, and then she pizened herself with a sarpent,
not a moccasin nor rattler, but a little short blue-brown scrub snake not
a foot long."

"You mean Antony and Cleopatra," said Sedgwick.

"'Zactly, Cleopatra," said Jordan. "She wer ther one. I never liked her,
not half so well as the one with yaller ha'r thet they called Helen. One
wur bad on her own account; the other, as I calcerlate, wus bad jest
because she hed er disposition to be entertainin' and agreeable. One wur
naterally bad; t'other wur a lady by instinct but her edecation had been
neglected."

Still he ran on: "Wur it not on this water thet old Solomon fitted out
ships for ther Ophir diggings?"

"I do not know," was the reply. "It probably was, if, as is believed, a
canal co