Our Little Macedonian Cousin of Long Ago (Yesterday's Classics) by Cowles Julia Darrow

Author:Cowles, Julia Darrow [Cowles, Julia Darrow]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781599152875
Publisher: Yesterday's Classics
Published: 2010-11-08T22:25:43.857000+00:00

CHAPTER IX

A Story of the Sea

IT was several months after Philip's army had left Pella that a courier came riding into the city bearing news of a great victory. There had been a long siege, but at last the walls of the defense had been broken down and the Macedonians had conquered.

There was great rejoicing in Pella, and the people gathered about the market-place and the temples to discuss the details of the siege, as the courier had told them.

The King's Pages were among the most eager of the listeners.

"Philip will yet subdue all Greece," declared Ptolemy. "And, when he has done that, he will combine the Greek army with the Macedonian, and there will be no end to his conquests."

"Yes," exclaimed Alexander somewhat impatiently, turning to the group of boys, "father will get everything in advance. He will leave no victories for me to share with you!

"How soon does my father expect to return?" he asked of the courier.

"Within a few days," was the reply.

The news soon spread throughout the city, and the quiet routine into which the city's life had settled was again broken by active preparations for receiving the victors.

But the courier's news was not of unmingled gladness. He brought with him the list of those whose lives had been lost in battle, and in more than one house in Pella the doors were closed against the sounds of rejoicing in the streets, while those within mourned for the one who would not return with the victors.

Nearchus had listened with a fast beating heart as the list of names was read, and when it was finished and he knew that his father was safe he could scarcely speak for joy.

That evening a group of boys gathered about a soldier named Attalus, who was a member of the palace guard. During the day it chanced that Charias had overheard him telling a comrade about an adventure he had once had at sea. Charias immediately told the other boys, and they had begged Attalus to tell them something of his life on the water. As Alexander was among their number the soldier felt flattered by the notice he was receiving, and he told his story well.

At that time Macedonia had no sea-coast, for although the Ægean Sea was little more than twenty miles south from Pella yet all the coast was occupied by Greek settlements. So the boys of Macedonia knew as little about the water as though it had been two hundred miles away instead of twenty. But it had then, as it always has, a fascination all its own, and the boys listened eagerly and asked many questions.

"What are the war vessels like?" questioned Alexander.

"They are triremes," said Attalus: "a vessel with three decks of oars. The rowers are picked for their strength and endurance, as well as for their dexterity, for it is often necessary to make quick and sudden shifts of action. Sometimes one ship will be sent head-on against another, almost cutting it in two; or it will be sent alongside, breaking the oars on one side of the ship it is attacking.

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