e on the golden armour of the Wanderer.
They were so far off that he could not see clearly what it was that
glittered yellow, but all that glittered yellow was a lure for him,
and gold drew him on as iron draws the hands of heroes. So he bade the
helmsman steer straight in, for the sea was deep below the rock, and
there they all saw a man lying asleep in golden armour. They whispered
together, laughing silently, and then sprang ashore, taking with them
a rope of twisted ox-hide, a hawser of the ship, and a strong cable of
byblus, the papyrus plant. On these ropes they cast a loop and a running
knot, a lasso for throwing, so that they might capture the man in safety
from a distance. With these in their hands they crept up the cliff, for
their purpose was to noose the man in golden armour, and drag him on
board their vessel, and carry him to the mouth of the river of Egypt,
and there sell him for a slave to the King. For the Sidonians, who were
greedy of everything, loved nothing better than to catch free men and
women, who might be purchased, by mere force or guile, and then be sold
again for gold and silver and cattle. Many kings' sons had thus been
captured by them, and had seen the day of slavery in Babylon, or Tyre,
or Egyptian Thebes, and had died sadly, far from the Argive land.

So the Sidonians went round warily, and, creeping in silence over the
short grass and thyme towards the Wanderer, were soon as near to him as
a child could throw a stone. Like shepherds who seek to net a sleeping
lion, they came cunningly; yet not so cunningly but that the Wanderer
heard them through his dreams, and turned and sat up, looking around him
half awake. But as he woke the noose fell about his neck and over his
arms and they drew it hard, and threw him on his back. Before they could
touch him he was on his feet again, crying his war-cry terribly, the cry
that shook the towers of Ilium, and he rushed upon them, clutching at
his sword hilt. The men who were nearest him and had hold of the rope
let it fall from their hands and fled, but the others swung behind him,
and dragged with all their force. If his arms had been free so that he
might draw his sword, it would have gone ill with them, many as they
were, for the Sidonians have no stomach for sword blades; but his arms
were held in the noose. Yet they did not easily master him; but, as
those who had fled came back, and they all laid hands on the rope
together, they overpowered hi