THE GREAT WOODEN HORSE 2 1 1 



go, nobody knew whither they Had gone ; but any- 

 body, by climbing up to the watchtower above 

 the Scsean gate, could see that they had utterly 

 vanished. The sandy beach where a thousand 

 ships had been drawn up was deserted and bare, 

 save that it was strewn with the ruins of the 

 huts and tents that had so long sheltered the per- 

 sistent Greeks. A short distance to the left, and 

 half concealed behind a growth of tall reeds, was 

 a dark object which puzzled the Trojan watch- 

 men not a little. When first seen in the gray 

 light of the dawn, it looked like some huge sea- 

 monster, black and slimy, just emerged from the 

 water. 



" Great Neptune is with us ! " cried one of the 

 men. " He has sent a creature out of the deep, 

 and it has swallowed up our enemies and their 

 tents and their ships, and left not one to tell the 

 tale." 



" Nonsense ! " said another, who had sharper 

 eyes. " This thing looks to me like no creature 

 at all, but rather a statue of some kind which the 

 Greeks have built, and left behind them as a token 

 of their disappointment and defeat. And now I 

 remember that I have seen crowds of them busy 

 at work on the same spot for several days. I 



13 



