the driver to go on as fast as possible. The mules
galloped off. Mandane kicked the purse away, rushed after the carriage
and clung to it firmly. One of the wheels caught her dress and dragged
her down. With the strength of despair she sprang up, ran after the
mules, overtook them on a slight ascent which had lessened their speed,
and seized the reins. The driver used his three-lashed whip, or scourge,
the creatures reared, pulled the girl down and rushed on. Her last
cry of agony pierced the wounds of the mutilated man like a sharp
lance-thrust.

.....................

On the twelfth day after Nitetis' death Cambyses went out hunting, in
the hope that the danger and excitement of the sport might divert his
mind. The magnates and men of high rank at his court received him with
thunders of applause, for which he returned cordial thanks. These few
days of grief had worked a great change in a man so unaccustomed to
suffering as Cambyses. His face was pale, his raven-black hair and beard
had grown grey, and the consciousness of victory which usually shone in
his eyes was dimmed. Had he not, only too painfully, experienced that
there was a stronger will than his own, and that, easily as he could
destroy, it did not be in his power to preserve the life of the meanest
creature? Before starting, Cambyses mustered his troop of sportsmen, and
calling Gobryas, asked why Phanes was not there.

"My King did not order..."

"He is my guest and companion, once for all; call him and follow us."

Gobryas bowed, dashed back to the palace, and in half an hour reappeared
among the royal retinue with Phanes.

The Athenian was warmly welcomed by many of the group, a fact which
seems strange when we remember that courtiers are of all men the most
prone to envy, and a royal favorite always the most likely object to
excite their ill will. But Phanes seemed a rare exception to this
rule. He had met the Achaemenidae in so frank and winning a manner, had
excited so many hopes by the hints he had thrown out of an expected and
important war, and had aroused so much merriment by well-told jests,
such as the Persians had never heard before, that there were very few
who did not welcome his appearance gladly, and when--in company with
the king--he separated from the rest in chase of a wild ass, they openly
confessed to one another, that they had never before seen so perfect a
man. The clever way in which he had brought the innocence of the