Then Nirouphar and Pyrron went into Machaon's tent. The shrieks continued for another hour, then died out. Then came the thin first cry of an infant. The men broke into cheers and clapped Machaon on the back.
Later still, Nirouphar and Pyrron came out. I went up to them as they were washing their hands.
"I think all's well, old boy," said Pyrron. "It was a difficult birth, as we anticipated. When Nirouphar's strength proved insufficient, I was compelled to lend my own clumsy hands. And incidentally, our Persian beauty can make a living any time as a midwife. I, of course, have had experience from assisting my sister, but Nirouphar knows her way around the birth canal, too."
"It was nought," said Nirouphar. "Many a time and oft have I helped the women of our serfs with their deliveries. These troopers' women are as big boobies as our peasantry. To hear them, one would think that birth was wholly a matter of magical spells and not a natural event at all."
"Good, good for both of you," I said. "I've cooked your dinners myself, mistrusting our cook to do you justice. You must be starved."
Nirouphar gave me a sharp look. "So you do think of others' feelings sometimes, Troop Leader?"
I answered her sally not. But later, after she had eaten, I took her aside.
"Lady Nirouphar," I said, "I owe you an apology for thinking you a useless burden. You have earned your passage by today's work, for a successful delivery cheers the men while a death casts them down and leads them to find evil omens in every shadow. Pray accept the thanks of one who has not always used you with due courtesy."
"Very well. Let there be a truce between us at least. But I would have done the same in any case."
I saw that she had not really forgiven me, so I tried another approach. "Forbye, I need your help."
"So?"
"To keep the men well in hand, a hipparch needs to know what they are saying when he is not about. Thyestes and I thought Klonios would serve this purpose when we made him a double-pay man. Klonios is a fine old fellow, but he has been a common trooper too long to think like an officer."
"Well?"
"I see that you gossip a deal with the women. That is natural, but you can make your gossip serve the king's purposes. Most of the men tell everything to their women, and the women pass it around. Now, if you would—"
"So, you would have me tattle on your men because you cannot govern them yourself?"
"Madam, without such a source of news, no officer knows when his men are planning mutiny or desertion. They do not send a delegation to warn him; witness the plots against the divine Alexander himself."
"I would not blame the men for resenting your strictness."
"Forsooth, I am strict, but I try to be just. And we owe our lives to that strictness. Had I not pounded their battle drill into them, we had been lost when the Asagartians or the Houzans attacked us. Remember, these are not gentlemen, but ignorant, superstitious, lustful loons, good soldiers though they be. Remember also that your and your brother's safety are bound up with the hipparchia's discipline."
"I will keep my ears open. But look not for me to come running to you with every petty complaint I hear them utter."
Next morn I was brought out of my tent before dawn by a yell from the sentry: "Horse thieves!"
A group of Kossians had crept up and were cutting out two of our horses. They got their halters loose, mounted their own animals, and were starting to lead our beasts away when my lads ran out after them, naked or nearly so and waving swords and javelins. It looked bad, because the rest of our horses were not bridled. By the time they were, the thieves would be out of sight.
I was shouting commands and watching one of the Dahas string his bow when more yells made me turn. The horse theft had been but a feint. A dozen more Kossians rushed out from behind some nearby date palms while we were all watching the pursuit. They darted into the camp and began to snatch up whatever they could find and run back towards the palms, where their fellows held horses ready.
Those not already chasing the horse thieves rushed upon these new invaders. Kossian arrows whistled about our ears. I went after one robber making off with a saddlebag. The bag was so heavy that, even though the thief was better built for running than I, I gained upon him. As I came up he dropped the bag, but too late. Turning to see how close I was, he stumbled. Before he could recover, I sworded him well. Then I dragged the bag back to camp.
A single arrow from Madouas, the Daha who had been so prompt with his bow, had picked off the man leading our horses. Thereupon the other thieves fled, leaving two of their number dead.
A Thessalian was struck in the arm by a Kossian arrow, but the wound soon mended. Vardanas' Kolchian slave, however, had unwittingly gotten in the way of a Kossian, who stabbed him in the belly. The hurt did not seem grave, and we did what we could for the man.
In their haste, the thieves had seized all sorts of things like blankets and loaves of bread, but much of the loot they dropped in their flight. The only costly articles they got were a good helmet and an iron cooking pot.
The loot I recovered turned out to be the bag holding Beliddinos' written bricks. When he saw what was in it, Thyestes burst into a guffaw.
"You should have let the limmer get away, Leon!" he said. " 'Twere a waur doom nor death itself, after dragging yon monstrous burden far over the plain, to open it and find nought but bricks within!"
Beliddinos looked sharply at my officer. Although the priest denied knowledge of Greek, I suspected him of knowing more than he pretended. He said:
"Mardoukos bless you, Hipparch. Though these tablets seem worthless to some, I would not sell them for seven talents of silver. Should you need help in these parts, do not hesitate to call upon the Temple of Mardoukos."
We made good our damages as best we could and went on. Vardanas' slave, however, soon worsened and three days later died of a wasting fever. When we had buried him, Vardanas complained:
"This is terrible, Leon! Without my slave, I must care for my own gear like any baseborn pauper! And I shall never save enough from my pay to buy another."
I answered: "Cheer up, buckie! We have a saying in Thessalia:
"When the gentleman's faithful slave be dead,
The gentleman maun slave in his stead."
Seven days out of Sousa, we came to the Tigris River. For three days we followed its northern bank. Then we crossed by a bridge of boats. Aias, however, had to wade, for the villagers who kept up the bridge assured us that the elephant's weight would sink it. The brown water rose swirling to Aias' belly, but he made the passage without ill hap The road continued west, parting from the Tigris. I like not the Babylonian plain, despite its fabulous fertility. The air is too hazy to see the horizon, and the land is cut up by canal banks, standing like earthen walls running in all directions and shutting off the view. The watercourses are also planted with endless rows of date palms. All this, after the immense clear views of Persia, gave me a closed-in feeling. Betimes I rode the elephant instead of my horse to see farther.
Nirouphar kept trying to pump all Pyrron's knowledge out of the poor man, despite the barrier of language. Although she could now speak a few simple sentences of Greek, her knowledge was quite inadequate for philosophical discourse. She essayed to enlist me as an interpreter, but after a morning's struggle I said:
"You are a charming young woman, Lady Nirouphar, but I cannot control my horse, command the hipparchia, round up stragglers, watch out for foes, compute our expenses, replenish the elephant's store of food, and translate Pyrron's philosophy into Persian all at once, especially as much of it I cannot understand myself. You must needs find another victim."