Inside the vast circumference of the wall they found streets along which stood magnificent dwellings surrounded by trees and gardens. So ample was the enclosure that ground enough remained unoccupied between the houses to sustain the population, if necessary, upon its harvests.

Great temples reared their towers above the roofs. Gay chariots and gilded litters passed or met them. Now and then a curious glance was directed toward them, but beyond this they seemed to attract no attention. Everybody was too intent upon his own business or pleasure to give more than a passing thought to the sun-browned soldiers who rode wearily behind the brightly accoutred lieutenant of the guard.

As they advanced the streets became narrower and the houses stood close together, with no space between them for gardens. Shops and bazaars appeared on either hand, filled with a bustling, chaffering throng.

The young Greeks saw a strange medley of nations. Swarthy Egyptians elbowed dusky merchants from beyond the Indus. Phnicians and Jews drove bargains with large-limbed, blue-eyed men of the North, who wore shaggy skins upon their shoulders and carried long swords at their belts. This part of the city was given over entirely to foreigners, for among the Persians the old belief still prevailed that no man could buy or sell without being dishonest, and falsehood was held in religious abhorrence by the conquerors of the Medes.

Darius was collecting the host which he purposed to lead against Alexander and with which he intended to crush the adventurous invader.

Military trappings were to be seen everywhere. The summons of the Great King had brought within the walls an enormous influx of strangers from every corner of the empire.

Chares and Clearchus aroused more curiosity as they rode through the narrower streets of the commercial quarter, where they were forced to proceed more slowly because of the throngs. They were soon recognized as of the race of the enemy.

"See the Greeks!" cried a bare-legged urchin in a shrill voice.

"By Ormazd, that is a big one!" said a soldier in a lounging group, pointing to Chares.

"Granicus! Granicus! Kill the Greeks!" a woman screamed from the top of one of the flat-roofed houses.

Her imprecation caused a stir among the idlers, who pressed forward to learn what was the matter and to obtain a better view. The rumor ran that there was to be fighting, and customers poured out of booth and bazaar to see it. They came good-naturedly, but in such numbers that they quickly blocked the way and brought the troop to a halt. Some mischievous boys began to pelt the horses with pebbles, causing them to rear and plunge. One of the animals kicked a man in the crowd, who struck at the rider with his staff. The Arab lunged back with the butt of his lance. The crowd drew out of the way, jeering and laughing.

Meanwhile the woman on the roof continued her cry. "Kill the Greeks!"

she screamed. "Slay them! Remember the Granicus, where they slew my son!"

Her words were taken up and repeated by other women who leaned from the house-tops on either side of the street. The crowd continued to gather, those behind pushing the foremost against the plunging horses.

Several were trampled upon.

"Go away," commanded the lieutenant. "Stand back, you hounds; these are prisoners for the king."

"Prisoners!" howled the mob. "Kill the prisoners! Burn the murderers!

They would assassinate the king!"

The crowd showed signs of becoming inflamed. Some of the bolder spirits made a rush for the horsemen, seeking to pull them down and break the circle that the Arabs had formed about the two Greeks. The impact swept the little party into an angle between two houses, from which there was no escape save through the multitude. The women began to shower sticks and tiles upon them from the roofs. It became necessary for them to raise their shields to protect their heads from the missiles.

Nathan turned to the lieutenant, who, with a blanched face, had shrunk back against the wall.

"Do you intend to stay here?" he demanded sternly. "Draw your sword and lead us. We must cut our way out. My prisoners are for Darius and not for these."

"They are too many," the lieutenant whined, with chattering teeth.

"Then give him your sword, since you are afraid to use it," Nathan said, pointing to Chares. The Theban snatched the weapon from the young man's hand.

A javelin hissed through the air, cast by some soldier in the throng, and stood quivering in the beams behind their heads. Clearchus pulled it out and took possession of it.

The mob still held back, agitated by conflicting currents. The idlers who had instigated the attack in a spirit of wantonness had no stomach for fighting, and were struggling backward through the press, seeking a safe distance. Their places were taken by reckless and half-drunken soldiers, who had grown weary of inactivity in the city and were eager for any excitement, even though they obtained it at the risk of their lives. Many of them were little more than savages whose innate ferocity was aroused by the mere sight of blood. Some had received cuts and bruises when the rush was made. The voice of the mob changed from a tone of banter to a menacing cry for revenge.

Nathan saw that the non-combatants had succeeded in extricating themselves, and that the men who now faced them carried weapons in their hands and were preparing to use them. The situation was perilous. His handful of soldiers were outnumbered by more than a hundred to one. The mob was momentarily being reenforced from the wine-shops and the alleys that honeycombed the district. It was plain that there was no escape unless rescue should come quickly.

He raised himself on his horse and anxiously scanned the faces of the crowd that had pressed back out of harm's way and now stood in expectant silence. He knew that through the years that had passed since the Captivity, many thousands of his race had continued to dwell in Babylon and that the trade of the city was chiefly in their hands.

He saw their keen dark eyes looking on indifferently from beneath the awnings that shaded the entrances of their shops. To them he determined to appeal.

"Israel! Israel!" he shouted, raising his open palm above his head.

"In the name of Jehovah, I call upon thee! To the rescue!"

His cry rang clear in the momentary hush of expectation and reached the ears for which it was intended. Upon the outskirts of the mob men turned to their neighbors. "He is one of us! We must save him!" they said, one to another. "Israel! Israel!" The rallying shout spread through the dense masses of men into streets where Nathan's voice had not penetrated. It ran like a spark in a field of dry corn. Bearded men and dark-skinned youths left their occupations and sprang forward, snatching up such weapons as they found nearest to their hands. There was a second shifting of the crowd as they pushed their way toward the front, pressing in a great circle upon the ring of soldiers who were hemming Nathan in.

This ring was composed mainly of the fiercest and wildest fighting men in all the Persian Empire. It represented the extremes of the Great King's dominions. Yellow-haired Scyths, clad in the skins of animals, stood side by side with gigantic negroes from the mysterious forests of Ethiopia. Their language was unknown to each other, but they had been brought together into a fleeting comradeship by the irresistible and savage desire which, they held in common for excitement and slaughter.

The Jews attacked this formidable band without hesitation, hurling fragments of stone, earthen pots, and even the merchandise that had been displayed in the shops. The unexpected assault caused a momentary diversion. The Scyths and Ethiopians turned and charged into the crowd, striking with their swords and war clubs indiscriminately at friend and foe. Chares tossed the long hair back from his eyes.

"Your friends came just in time," he said to Nathan, "but it would be ungrateful for us to let them fight alone. Forward, Clearchus!"

With the Athenian at his side, he swung his horse into the street and dashed upon the nearest of the Scyths, a giant whose voice had been bellowing encouragement to his companions. The lieutenant's gilded sword fell upon the knotted cords of the man's neck, and he went down like some great tree in his own northern forests. His long blade slipped from his hand, and the Theban, stooping from the back of his horse and holding by the mane, caught it up.

"Ha!" Chares cried, swinging the heavy weapon above his head, "now we can get at them."

The Arabs, headed by Nathan, had followed the Greeks and were fighting beside them in a compact body. The Jews outside the circle had come to close quarters and were hacking and thrusting with daggers and butchers' knives. Their charge had been so sudden that the Scyths were nearly broken, but they recovered themselves almost instantly. A species of madness seemed to possess them. They closed in like a pack of wolves, fighting with each other to get near enough to strike a blow.

News of the outbreak had spread far into the city. From every side, thousands drew toward the scene of the battle, driving in the crowds that were seeking to keep their distance. They pressed upon the Jews and forced them helplessly against the weapons of their enemies. The number of the Scyths was momentarily increased by the arrival of their friends.

Nathan saw that the fight was hopeless. The Israelites, badly armed and undisciplined, were melting away. The only chance of escape lay in regaining the angle in the wall where they had first taken refuge, and from which they might be able to enter one of the houses.

Chares was wielding the great Scythian sword with both hands. Whoever was thrust within its sweep went down. Its tempered edge shore through bone and metal, and no parry availed to turn it aside. Clearchus fought at his shoulder with his javelin, protecting him against attack in the rear.

"Back!" Nathan shouted to them. "We cannot face the odds. We must seek the wall!"

"You are right," Chares answered without turning his head. "We are coming. I wish Alexander were here!"

He cut down a negro who had succeeded in getting within the thrust of Clearchus' lance.

"This is better than Granicus," he panted, as the man rolled upon the ground.

Clearchus made no reply, and Chares saw that his face was drawn and pale. It was clear that he was becoming exhausted. The Theban was filled with sudden alarm.

"To the wall!" he cried, wheeling his horse. "Bear up for a little yet, and we will show these beasts how Greeks can die!"

They recovered their position with difficulty, followed by the howling Scyths and negroes. Half the Arab escort had been killed, and Nathan was bleeding from a wound in the thigh, though he still fought gallantly. Chares alone was both unwearied and unscathed. He seemed endowed with the strength of ten men as he faced the fierce onset. His aspect as he turned at bay with uplifted sword caused the Scyths for an instant to hesitate. Then they charged, clustering around the little band like a swarm of angry bees, pushing each other forward and striking over one another's shoulders. It was clear that the conflict could not last much longer. Nathan knew that, once they were down in that seething and raging mob, they would meet a frightful death. His flesh shuddered at the thought of what was to come.

"Down with them! Down with the Greek dogs! They give way!" yelled the mob.

Clearchus glanced at the sea of distorted faces, white, yellow, and black, and saw thousands of eyes glaring hungrily at them. A strange indifference took possession of him. Why should he strive? What mattered it now whether the God of Nathan was mightier than the Gods of Greece? Not even the Gods could save them. If Artemisia were dead, he would meet her presently in the Elysian Fields. If she were living, sooner or later she would join him in the land of shades beyond Styx.

There he would tell her how his heart had suffered. It was easier to die than to live, since now he must die.

"It is finished, Chares; we will go together," he called to the Theban.

"Not until I get this one!" Chares replied grimly, nodding toward a man who crouched before him just beyond the reach of his sword.

The squat figure was bent for a spring. The man wore a leopard skin across his muscular shoulders and his little green eyes were fastened ferociously upon the Theban, watching for an opening. Clearchus thought he had never seen anything more repulsive than the flat, broad face, with its strong, yellow teeth showing like fangs. As he looked he heard Nathan's voice beside him.

"O Lord, my God, save now Thy servant, if such be Thy will; for without Thee, I perish!" cried the Israelite, in an accent of despair.

"Here he comes!" Chares shouted.