traitor Melanthius," he
whispered; "now have we need of prompt action, or we are all undone."

Odysseus had now recovered his courage, and he issued his orders
without losing another moment. "Go thou with the neatherd," he said to
Eumaeus, "and seize that villain before he has time to return. Bind him
hand and foot, and come back with all speed to the hall"

At the side of the hall, close to the platform where Odysseus and his
party were stationed, there was a door leading into the passage
already mentioned. Through this the two men passed, and made their way
stealthily to the armoury. There they waited on either side of the
door for Melanthius, whom they heard moving within. Before long he
came out, bearing in one hand a helmet, and in the other an old
battered shield, once the property of Laertes. Together they fell upon
him, dragged him down by the hair, and having bound him tight with a
long cord they hauled him up to a beam of the roof and left him
hanging. "Long and sweet be thy slumbers, goatherd!" said Eumaeus as he
contemplated his work, "thou hast a soft bed, such as thou lovest.
Rest there till the morning light shall call thee to make breakfast
for the wooers."

When they returned to the hall they found that a new ally had joined
their party, in the person of Mentor, the old friend of Odysseus. No
one saw when he came thither; but there he was, and right glad they
were to see him. Very different were the feelings of the wooers when
they saw their enemies thus reinforced, and one of them, named
Agelaus, cried out upon Mentor, and threatened him, saying: "Give
place, rash man, or thou wilt bring destruction on thyself and all thy
house."

When he heard that, Mentor was wroth, and rebuked Odysseus as slow of
hand and cold of heart. "Why standest thou idle?" he cried. "Get thee
to thy weapons, and finish the work which thou hast to do, if thou art
verily that Odysseus who wrought such havoc among the Trojans in the
nine years' war."

With these words the supposed Mentor vanished as mysteriously as he
had appeared, and a little swallow was seen darting hither and thither
among the smoke-blackened beams of the roof.

The wooers understood not in whose presence they had been, and,
thinking that Mentor had fled before their threats, they took courage
again, and prepared to make a fresh assault. Agelaus now took the
lead, and at his command six of them advanced and hurled their spears.
But they were all dazed