e hillside?"

"Ay, a wolf. The wolf from the East with a multitude of wolflings.
There will be fine eating soon in the pass."

The man's face grew dark. He put his hand to his mouth and called.
Half a dozen sentries ran to join him. He spoke to them in the harsh
Lacedaemonian speech which made Atta sick to hear. They talked with
the back of the throat and there was not an "s" in their words.

"There is mischief in the hills," the first man said. "This islander
has been frightened down over the rocks. The Persian is stealing a
march on us."

The sentries laughed. One quoted a proverb about island courage.
Atta's wrath flared and he forgot himself. He had no wish to warn the
Hellenes, but it irked his pride to be thought a liar. He began to
tell his story hastily, angrily, confusedly; and the men still laughed.

Then he turned eastward and saw the proof before him. The light had
grown and the sun was coming up over Pelion. The first beam fell on
the eastern ridge of Kallidromos, and there, clear on the sky-line, was
the proof. The Persian was making a wide circuit, but moving
shoreward. In a little he would be at the coast, and by noon at the
Hellenes' rear.

His hearers doubted no more. Atta was hurried forward through the
lines of the Greeks to the narrow throat of the pass, where behind a
rough rampart of stones lay the Lacedaemonian headquarters. He was
still giddy from the heights, and it was in a giddy dream that he
traversed the misty shingles of the beach amid ranks of sleeping
warriors. It was a grim place, for there were dead and dying in it,
and blood on every stone. But in the lee of the wall little fires were
burning and slaves were cooking breakfast. The smell of roasting flesh
came pleasantly to his nostrils, and he remembered that he had had no
meal since he crossed the gulf.

Then he found himself the centre of a group who had the air of kings.
They looked as if they had been years in war. Never had he seen faces
so worn and so terribly scarred. The hollows in their cheeks gave them
the air of smiling, and yet they were grave. Their scarlet vests were
torn and muddled, and the armour which lay near was dinted like the
scrap-iron before a smithy door. But what caught his attention were
the eyes of the men. They glittered as no eyes he had ever seen before
glittered. The sight cleared his bewilderment and took the pride out
of his heart. He could not pretend to despise a fol