ke fast the doors of their
apartments, and remain quiet by their work until I have finished what
I have to do."

At the moment when Odysseus returned to his place in the hall,
Eurymachus was just making a last attempt to bend the bow. "Out on
it!" he cried, finding all his efforts of no avail. "It is a shame to
think how far beneath Odysseus we all are in the strength of our
hands; 'tis this that stings me, much more than the loss of the lady."

"Thou mistakest the cause," answered Antinous. "This day is the holy
feast of the divine archer, Apollo, and doubtless he is jealous
because we try our skill in his own art on his sacred day. Let us
leave the axes where they stand, and try our fortune again to-morrow."

The proposal was received with general applause, and forthwith the
whole company called loud for wine, and began drinking heavily to
drown their disappointment Odysseus watched the progress of the revel
with grim satisfaction, and when the flushed faces and thick talk of
the wooers showed that they were far gone in drunkenness he asked,
with an air of deep humility, to be allowed to try his hand at
stringing the bow. His request was greeted with a loud cry of contempt
and indignation from all the wooers; and Antinous especially was
highly incensed, threatening him with dire pains and penalties for his
presumption. Hereupon Penelope interposed, and rebuked Antinous for
his violence. "Why should not the stranger try his skill with the
rest?" asked she. "Thinkest thou that the poor man will win me for his
wife if he succeeds? Sure I am that he is not so foolish as to
entertain such a thought."

"'Tis not for that," said Eurymachus, answering her. "He cannot be so
mad as that. But what a shame to all this noble company if a houseless
beggar should accomplish a feat which none of us was able to perform."

"Talk not of shame," replied Penelope with scorn. "Are ye not covered
with shame already, by your foul deeds done in this house in the
absence of its lord? Give him the bow, I say! And if he string it, by
Apollo's grace, I will clothe him in a new cloak and doublet, and give
him a sharp javelin, to keep off dogs and men, and a two-edged sword,
and sandals for his feet, and give him safe conduct to whatsoever
place he desires to reach."

The decisive moment was at hand, and Telemachus saw the necessity of
removing his mother from the scene of the approaching conflict.
"Mother," he said in a tone of authority, "