They whispered
together, laughing silently, and then sprang ashore, taking with them
a rope of twisted ox-hide, a hawser of the ship, and a strong cable of
byblus, the papyrus plant. On these ropes they cast a loop and a running
knot, a lasso for throwing, so that they might capture the man in safety
from a distance. With these in their hands they crept up the cliff, for
their purpose was to noose the man in golden armour, and drag him on
board their vessel, and carry him to the mouth of the river of Egypt,
and there sell him for a slave to the King. For the Sidonians, who were
greedy of everything, loved nothing better than to catch free men and
women, who might be purchased, by mere force or guile, and then be sold
again for gold and silver and cattle. Many kings' sons had thus been
captured by them, and had seen the day of slavery in Babylon, or Tyre,
or Egyptian Thebes, and had died sadly, far from the Argive land.
So the Sidonians went round warily, and, creeping in silence over the
short grass and thyme towards the Wanderer, were soon as near to him as
a child could throw a stone. Like shepherds who seek to net a sleeping
lion, they came cunningly; yet not so cunningly but that the Wanderer
heard them through his dreams, and turned and sat up, looking around him
half awake. But as he woke the noose fell about his neck and over his
arms and they drew it hard, and threw him on his back.
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