eet with their
prizes and their report. They had been directed, when they were
dispatched from the fleet, to lay up a monument of stones at the
furthest point which they should reach in their cruise: a measure often
resorted to in similar cases, by way of furnishing proof that a party
thus sent forward have really advanced as far as they pretend on their
return. The Persian detachment had actually brought the stones for the
erection of their landmark with them in one of their galleys. The
galley containing the stones, and two others to aid it, pushed on beyond
Sciathus to a small rocky islet standing in a conspicuous position in
the sea, and there they built their monument or cairn. The detachment
then returned to meet the fleet. The time occupied by this whole
expedition was eleven days.

The fleet was, in the mean time, coming down along the coast of
Magnesia. The whole company of ships had advanced safely and
prosperously thus far, but now a great calamity was about to befall
them--the first of the series of disasters by which the expedition was
ultimately ruined. It was a storm at sea.

The fleet had drawn up for the night in a long and shallow bay on the
coast. There was a rocky promontory at one end of this bay and a cape on
the other, with a long beach between them. It was a very good place of
refuge and rest for the night in calm weather, but such a bay afforded
very little shelter against a tempestuous wind, or even against the surf
and swell of the sea, which were sometimes produced by a distant storm.
When the fleet entered this bay in the evening, the sea was calm and the
sky serene. The commanders expected to remain there for the night, and
to proceed on the voyage on the following day.

The bay was not sufficiently extensive to allow of the drawing up of so
large a fleet in a single line along the shore. The ships were
accordingly arranged in several lines, eight in all. The innermost of
these lines was close to the shore; the others were at different
distances from it, and every separate ship was held to the place
assigned it by its anchors. In this position the fleet passed the night
in safety, but before morning there were indications of a storm. The sky
looked wild and lurid. A heavy swell came rolling in from the offing.
The wind began to rise, and to blow in fitful gusts. Its direction was
from the eastward, so that its tendency was to drive the fleet upon the
shore. The seamen were anxious and af