aster. Then with one instinct men dropped the oars, to trail in the
rushing water, and seized stanchions, beams, anything to brace themselves
for the shock. The crash which followed was heard on the mainland and on
Salamis. The side of the Phoenician was beaten in like an egg-shell. From
the _Nausicaae's_ poop they saw her open hull reel over, saw the hundreds
of upturned, frantic faces, heard the howls of agony, saw the waves leap
into the gaping void.--

"Back water," thundered Ameinias, "clear the vortex, she is going down!"

The _Nausicaae's_ people staggered to the oars. So busy were they in
righting their own ship few saw the crowning horror. A moment more and a
few drifting spars, a few bobbing heads, were all that was left of the
Phoenician. The AEgean had swallowed her.

A shout was pealing from the ships of the Hellenes. "Zeus is with us!
Athena is with us!"

At the outset of the battle, when advantage tells the most, advantage had
been won. Themistocles's deed had fused all the Greeks with hopeful
courage. Eurybiades was charging. Adeimantus was charging. Their ships and
all the rest went racing to meet the foe.

* * * * * * *

But the _Nausicaae_ had paid for her victory. In the shock of ramming the
triple-toothed beak on her prow had been wrenched away. In the _melee_ of
ships which had just begun, she must play her part robbed of her keenest
weapon. The sinking of the Barbarian had been met with cheers by the
Hellenes, by howls of revengeful rage by the host against them. Not
lightly were the Asiatics who fought beneath the eyes of the king to be
daunted. They came crowding up the strait in such masses that sheer
numbers hindered them, leaving no space for the play of the oars, much
less for fine manoeuvre. Yet for an instant it seemed as if mere weight
would sweep the Hellenes back to Salamis. Then the lines of battle
dissolved into confused fragments. Captains singled out an opponent and
charged home desperately, unmindful how it fared elsewhere in the battle.
Here an Egyptian ran down a Euboean, there a Sicyonian grappled a Cilician
and flung her boarders on to the foeman's decks. To the onlookers the
scene could have meant naught save confusion. A hundred duels, a hundred
varying victories, but to which side the final glory would fall, who
knew?--perchance not even Zeus.

In the roaring _melee_ the _Nausicaae_ had for some moments moved almost
aimlessly, her men gat