.

They found the Ionians still there, although the two months had fully
expired. It is possible that the chiefs had received secret orders
from Darius not to hasten their departure, even after the knots had
all been untied; or perhaps they chose, of their own accord, to await
their sovereign's return. The Scythians immediately urged them to be
gone. "The time has expired," they said, "and you are no longer under
any obligation to wait. Return to your own country, and assert your
own independence and freedom, which you can safely do if you leave
Darius and his armies here."

The Ionians consulted together on the subject, doubtful, at first,
what to do. They concluded that they would not comply with the
Scythian proposals, while yet they determined to pretend to comply
with them, in order to avoid the danger of being attacked. They
accordingly began to take the bridge to pieces, commencing on the
Scythian side of the stream. The Scythians, seeing the work thus going
on, left the ground, and marched back to meet the Persians. The
armies, however, fortunately for Darius, missed each other, and the
Persians arrived safely at the river, after the Scythians had left it.
They arrived in the night, and the advanced guard, seeing no
appearance of the bridge on the Scythian side, supposed that the
Ionians had gone. They shouted long and loud on the shore, and at
length an Egyptian, who was celebrated for the power of his voice,
succeeded in making the Ionians hear. The boats were immediately
brought back to their positions, the bridge was reconstructed, and
Darius's army recrossed the stream.

The Danube being thus safely crossed, the army made the best of its
way back through Thrace, and across the Bosporus into Asia, and thus
ended Darius's great expedition against the Scythians.

CHAPTER X.

THE STORY OF HISTIAEUS.

B.C. 504

Histiaeus at the bridge on the Danube.--Darius's anxiety.--Darius's
gratitude.--Scythia abandoned.--Darius sends for Histiaeus.--Petition
of Histiaeus.--Histiaeus organizes a colony.--The Paeonians.--Baseness
of the Paeonian chiefs.--Their stratagem.--The Paeonian
maiden.--Multiplicity of her avocations.--Darius and the maiden.--He
determines to make the Paeonians slaves.--Capture of the
Paeonians.--Megabyzus discovers Histiaeus's city.--Histiaeus
sent for.--Darius revokes his gift.--Histiaeus goes to
Susa.--Artaphernes.--Island of Naxos.--Civil war there.--Action of
Aristagoras.--Co-oper