"Beware!" I shouted, but too late. The noose settled over Vardanas' body, pinning his arms. He was jerked off Rakous' back to roll in the sand. The nomad started to drag Vardanas away despite his roars and thrashings.
I spurred Golden after the nomad, passed Vardanas, and cut the rope with a slash of my sword. The Daha's bowstring twanged, and the Asagartian's horse tumbled head over heels, throwing his rider ahead of him.
"Eleleleu!" cried Thyestes behind us. The Thessalians charged. The Asagartians wheeled and raced off into the desert, scattering.
I circled round and drew up where the nomad had fallen. The man was getting to hands and knees. I dismounted, flung him on his back, and took his knife from him. Then I had to fend off the furious Vardanas, who tried to assail the man with his sword.
"Stop, fool!" I told him. "Would you slay our new guide?"
We bound the man's hands with his own rope. "What in the name of the Dog did they hope to accomplish by dragging you off?" I asked.
Vardanas replied: "They took me for the leader. I suppose they hoped to make you ransom me; you are too well armed for an open battle. Raiders look not for hard fights; they seek feeble victims and easy loot."
We mounted the Asagartian on a spare horse with his hands still bound, placed his own noose about his neck, and gave the end to a Daha to hold. Vardanas told him that if he guided us safely to the Karmana road he should live; but, if we perished in the desert, he should die with us.
The nomad surveyed the barren landscape, jerked his head southwesterly, and started off. We lost one more horse, but next day mountains began to rise over the horizon. The Asagartian indicated one tall peak. Vardanas said:
"He calls that Saka's-Hat Mountain. If we aim just to right of it, we shall find the post road."
After a moment, Thyestes said: " 'Tis still abune a day's journey to yonder peak, and our water is nigh hand gone. Now that we ken the way, what for no slaying the savage to save his water?"
Vardanas and Kanadas protested that such an act were cruel and perfidious after we had promised the nomad life.
"He's had life," said Thyestes with a grin. "A whole day more than he'd be having otherwise."
I said: "How would it be to turn him loose afoot? We should save his weight and water without breaking our pledge. Belike his own folk would find him."
"No," said Vardanas. "The raiders are tens of leagues hence by now. They would take it for granted that we should kill him. He would die of thirst. It were less cruel to slay him."
Kanadas added: "I give him my own water and go without, sooner than let you kill him save water. If you Hellenes are cruel and treacherous, Indians are not."
"There's greatness of soul!" said Pyrron. "Can we let foreigners outdo Hellenes in generosity?"
"I could," growled Thyestes. "You're a ruckle of softhearted fools, but have it your own way."
The next day, with swollen tongues and croaking voices, we reached the foothills and found a hamlet with a karis. Refreshed, we pressed on and picked up the Karmana road at the foot of Saka's-Hat Mountain. I said to Vardanas:
"We'll loose the Asagartian the now. He can find shelter in the villages. If they learn he's a raider and cut his throat, that's his lookout."
When this was explained, the nomad burst into voluble speech. Vardanas said: "He is fain to join us as a soldier."
"What think you? We could use some more good men."
"I should refuse. All he wants is a horse. The instant he gets aboard one without his bonds, he will be off for Asagartia like a shaft from the bow."
"Let him steal somebody's horse else, then."
We left the nomad sitting sadly on a stone by the roadside and went on, winding up into the Karmanian mountains. The villages were no longer the stout-walled, self-ruling towns of Gandaria and Arachotia, but little open serf-hamlets. The serfs belonged to Persian lords who lived in castles on the hilltops. The villagers did not suffer from lack of defenses, for they were so wretchedly poor that not even nomadic raiders bothered to rob them. Usually, at the sight of the elephant, they all ran away and had to be coaxed back.
We stopped at one of the larger villages to rest. Aias began to recover, with plenty of food, water, and shade. The local baron, Mardounias, rode down from his castle with a falcon on his wrist to see what we were up to. When I had explained for the hundredth time what I was doing with an elephant so far from its native haunts, he fed us dinner at his stronghold, and we dined him in return. Without letting our guest know, for fear of loss of dignity, I took over the cooking and so managed to turn out a decent repast.
Mardounias, howsomever, was a dull fellow who talked of nought but boar hunting. I like hunting as well as the next man, but to devote an entire evening to the death of one wretched pig is carrying one's enthusiasm too far.
Soon, trouble arose betwixt my men and the villagers over a wee bag of rings and other gewgaws which one of the Thessalians said a villager had stolen from him. I misdoubt my man had stolen these trinkets from civilians in the first place, but what soldier was ever swayed by such an argument? I had to break camp and move on to forestall a battle. Thus, in the last quarter of Pyanepsion, we came over the mountains to Karmana.
Like Nia, Karmana is a spot in the middle of a barren plain where several roads happen to cross. Nearby, a rocky ridge breaks the plain. A castle on the last peak of this ridge dominates the town. Afar off, rugged ranges rise from the edges of the plain on all sides. Vardanas told us a tale of how Karmana was once ruled by a dragon, until the hero Artaxashas slew it by pouring molten copper down its gullet. Meseems it were an effective method.
In Karmana we paid off Dadarshes. The camel master demanded outrageous compensation for the two dead camels and had to be dealt with firmly. We bathed and had our hair cut and our clothes washed. I bought a new sword, for Karmana has skilled smiths who work the iron and copper mined in the province of Karmania. The town hums with the sounds of handicraft.
The rest, who had amassed goodly sums of pay during the march through the desert, did with them according to their natures. Thyestes headed for the brothel. Pyrron dribbled his money away in gifts to beggars and small loans to the men, most of which he never even tried to recover. Kanadas clung to every copper of his pay with the clutch of a drowning man. Said he:
"Sinful to spend good silver on strange women. Better to rule one's lusts. But I wish I had one of my wives, for I have desires like other men."
Vardanas spent most of his money on two fine new suits of clothes. For a somewhat vain man, he had long gone in rags without complaint; but his new splendor, I thought, was hardly called for. When he paraded the new raiment in front of me, I said:
"Congratulations, buckie! Why did you no tell me?"
"Tell you what, Leon?"
"Why, surely Alexander has appointed you viceroy of this province, has he not?"
Vardanas never kept money. On the other hand, he never borrowed, having a horror of debt. When his purse was empty he cheerfully went without until the next payday.
What was left of his silver Vardanas spent on a feast for the whole hipparchia on his birthday anniversary, according to the Persian custom. It is also the custom for those who attend to bring gifts to the giver of the feast. Vardanas said nought of this, and we should not have known but for a chance remark by Pyrron. So we rushed about the market place of Karmana, buying belated gifts. Some, like a bird in a cage, given by the Dahas, were hardly suitable for a man on a journey like ours.
It was a fine feast, considering what an out-of-the-way place Karmana is. We had mutton and pork broiled on skewers, and heaps of dates and melons. Whatever their faults, the Persians know how to cook, being surpassed in this regard only by the Babylonians.