fter their conflict, the air was
calm, the sky serene, and the sea as blue and pure as ever. The bodies
and the wrecks had been floated away into the offing. The courage or the
ferocity, whichever we choose to call it, of the combatants, returned,
and they renewed the conflict. It continued, with varying success, for
two more days.

During all this time the inhabitants of the island of Euboea were in the
greatest distress and terror. They watched these dreadful conflicts from
the heights, uncertain how the struggle would end, but fearing lest
their defenders should be beaten, in which case the whole force of the
Persian fleet would be landed on their island, to sweep it with pillage
and destruction. They soon began to anticipate the worst, and, in
preparation for it, they removed their goods--all that could be
removed--and drove their cattle down to the southern part of the island,
so as to be ready to escape to the main land. The Greek commanders,
finding that the fleet would probably be compelled to retreat in the
end, sent to them here, recommending that they should kill their cattle
and eat them, roasting the flesh at fires which they should kindle on
the plain. The cattle could not be transported, they said, across the
channel, and it was better that the flying population should be fed,
than that the food should fall into Persian hands. If they would dispose
of their cattle in this manner, Eurybiades would endeavor, he said, to
transport the people themselves and their valuable goods across into
Attica.

How many thousand peaceful and happy homes were broken up and destroyed
forever by this ruthless invasion!

In the mean time, the Persians, irritated by the obstinate resistance of
the Greeks, were, on the fourth day, preparing for some more vigorous
measures, when they saw a small boat coming toward the fleet from down
the channel. It proved to contain a countryman, who came to tell them
that the Greeks had gone away. The whole fleet, he said, had sailed off
to the southward, and abandoned those seas altogether. The Persians did
not, at first, believe this intelligence. They suspected some ambuscade
or stratagem. They advanced slowly and cautiously down the channel. When
they had gone half down to Thermopylae, they stopped at a place called
Histiaea, where, upon the rocks on the shore, they found an inscription
addressed to the Ionians--who, it will be recollected, had been brought
by Xerxes as auxiliaries, con