2 24 THE WONDER-BOOK OF HORSES 



and Ulysses, fully armed, slid hand over hand to 

 the ground. Other heroes followed, all incased 

 in armor, and all right glad to escape from their 

 prison house. 



" The trick has succeeded even better than any 

 of us hoped," said Ulysses. " And now for the 

 last act in this long and weary war ! Let fire and 

 sword do their work ! " 



I need not tell how the gates were thrown open 

 to the Greeks, nor how the Trojans were awak- 

 ened from their dreams of peace only to meet 

 death at the hands of their foes, nor how the 

 torches were applied to palace and hut and the 

 whole city was wrapped in flames. The horse had 

 nothing to do with all this. Amid the smoke 

 and fire, and the din of rattling arms and the 

 shouts of the victors, he stood all the rest of the 

 night and through the morning hours. Toward 

 noon, however, Ulysses and Sinon, passing by 

 the spot, observed that he had disappeared. 

 Whether, in the confusion, Athena had claimed 

 him and carried him away, or whether he had 

 been mysteriously endowed with life and had gal- 

 loped out of the burning city to find refuge in 

 the woods and mountains, neither of these heroes 

 could tell. 



