Argos by Ralph Hardy Read Free Book Online Page B

Let us not betray him this way!’
    â€œBut that man was pushed aside.
    â€œâ€˜Open it quickly,’ another sailor said. ‘Odysseus stirs!’
    â€œAnd so they opened the bag. Oh, terrible day, the day of my death! I was perched right there when he untied it, relea-ea-easing all the winds of the earth. Such a force I have never see-ee-een, for who can see-ee-ee the wind, yet it wears down mountains, does it not? I was blown against the mast and pinned there, broken legged, as the ship’s sail twisted round and filled with wind. How hard your master’s men rowed, Argos! Odysseus himself lashed them all to their oarlocks before tying himself to the mast beside me so that no one would be blown off the ship. For nine days the wind blew us ea-ea-east. We ate nothing and drank only blessed rain thatfell into our open mouths, for to untie oneself to search for food meant death. How your master grie-ie-ieved, Boar Slayer! He cried out for Penelope and for his homeland, but his cries were drowned by the gale.”
    â€œFinally we landed back on the Aiolian island, and the winds died. We harbored there, and Odysseus untied his wretched men. He even picked me up and urged me to fly, but I was too wea-wea-weak. So he carried me with him as he and a few of his men climbed the steps from the harbor that led to King Aiolos’s house.”
    â€œAiolos himself rushed out to gree-ee-eet us. ‘Why did you return, Odysseus?’ he asked. ‘The winds should have carried you straight to your homeland!’
    â€œThen, Argos, your master fell to his knees and wept. Finally he said these piteous words: ‘Alas, King Aiolos, while the gods induced my sleep, my greedy companions opened the bag of winds that you had warned me about. Now that we have returned, I beg you to capture the winds again and let us return once more to our dear homeland, for surely that is in your power!’
    â€œBut King Aiolos showed him no mercy. ‘Most pathetic of living creatures, hated most by the gods, I have no right to thwart them and give you more wind,’ he sneered. ‘Truly theythink you must be punished, and let it be so. Leave this island at once and never return!’
    â€œSo rising to his fee-fee-feet, the brave one took his companions back to the ship. Grie-ie-ieving still, your master and his men rowed and sailed for six days. Every night your master fed me with his own hands, Boar Slayer, and kept me alive. But that is all I shall tell today, for I grow wea-wea-weak. If tomorrow I still live, I will tell you the rest if I can, for truly it is a terrible tale that I have to say.”
    Saying this, the plover closes her eyes and tucks her head into her wing.
    â€œWe will stay with her throughout the night, Boar Slayer, and guard her from the harbor cats,” a gull says to me. “Return in the morning if you can.”
    â€œReturn! Return! Return!” his flock repeats.
    I thank them and make my way back up to my master’s estate. Inside the house I hear the wailing of servants, and I hear my mistress crying out to Zeus. I find Telemachos lying on his bed sobbing, and I lie down beside him and lick his face.
    What else could I do?

CHAPTER X
Bleak morn
    I n the morning I run down to the harbor just as dawn’s rosy fingers stroke the sky. The beach is empty. I run along the golden sand, searching for bird tracks. Instead I find gull feathers and the scent of a cat. Just then a shadow passes over me, and I look up. A gull swoops down and calls my name. I follow it and find a flock of his brothers standing under a small boat that rests on its side against the jetty. Around the flock I count three dead gulls.
    â€œBrother Gulls, tell me who did this so that I can avenge you!” I cry. “Was it the orange harbor cat? I smelled his scent on the beach.”
    â€œAye aye, aye, Boar Slayer,” the largest of the gulls says. “That is the one. He came at us