Everything went dark before his eyes. With a desperate effort he broke out of the girl’s embrace. She raised her head. Her mouth was childishly half open.
“Don’t you want to live here? Are you going away with your companions?” asked Iruma in astonishment, and Pandion felt ashamed.
Pandion gently drew the girl towards him and, trying to find suitable words from amongst those of the language of her people that he knew, he told her of his great nostalgic longing’ for his own country; he told her about Thessa… Iruma turned her head upwards to Pandion’s broad chest, her eyes peered into the golden gleam of his eyes, her teeth were bared in a feeble smile. Iruma began to speak and in the sound of her words there was that same tenderness, that same caressing love that had intoxicated Pandion when Thessa spoke to him.
“Yes,” she said. “If you cannot live here, you must go away.” The girl stammered the last words. “But if I and my people seem good to you, stay with us, Golden Eyes. Think, decide, come to me… I shall wait.”
The girl straightened up, holding her head proudly. Pandion had seen her similarly serious and severe at the time of the dance. For a whole minute the young Hellene stood before her; then, making a sudden decision, he held out his hands to the girl. But she was gone beyond the trees, melting into the gloom of the thicket…
Iruma’s disappearance struck Pandion like a heavy loss. He stood for a long time in that gloomy forest and then wandered slowly across the golden haze of the glade, going he knew not where, struggling against the desire to run after Iruma, to tell her that he loved her and would stay with her.
Iruma, as soon as she had hidden herself behind the trees from Pandion’s eyes, began to run, jumping lightly over the roots and slipping between the lianas. She went on faster until she became exhausted. Breathing heavily, she stopped on the edge of a calm pond, a silent backwater of the river, which here became much wider. The bright light blinded her and her body felt the heat after the darkness and coolness of the forest.
Iruma looked round her sorrowfully, and through her tears she saw her reflection in the smooth surface of the water; almost involuntarily she examined her whole self in that mirror… Yes, she was beautiful! But, apparently, beauty was not all if the stranger, Golden Eyes, brave, kind and tender, wanted to leave her. Apparently, something else was needed… But what?…
The sun set behind the undulating plain. A blue, slanting shadow lay at the threshold of the house before which Kidogo and Cavius were sitting.
The way the two friends were fidgeting, told Pandion they had been waiting for him for a long time. With downcast eyes Pandion walked up to his two friends. Cavius got up’, solemn and stern, and placed his hand on Pandion’s shoulder.
“We want to talk to you, he and I.” The Etruscan nodded towards Kidogo, who was standing beside them. “You did not attend our council, but everything’s been decided — we set out tomorrow…”
Pandion staggered back. Too much had been happening in the course of the last three days. Still he did not think that his comrades would be in such a hurry. He would have hurried just as much himself if not… if not for Iruma!
Pandion read condemnation in the looks of his friends. He was now faced with the necessity of coming to a decision, a necessity that had long been tormenting his soul and which he had unconsciously evaded in the naïve hope that everything would come right of itself. It was as though a wall cut him off again from that world of liberty which in actual fact existed only in Pandion’s dreams.
He had to decide whether he would stay there with Iruma or go away with his companions and lose her for ever. If he stayed there, it would be for ever, too; only by the combined efforts of twenty-seven men prepared to face anything, even certain death, for the sake of returning to their own homes, would it be possible to cover the distance that held them prisoners. If he stayed, therefore, he would for ever lose his native land, the sea, Thessa, everything that had succoured him and helped him get to that land.
Would he be able to live there, submerge himself in that friendly but strange life when his comrades were no longer with him, comrades who had been tested in times of peril and on whose friendship he had unwittingly become accustomed to depend at all times? After long contemplation Pandion’s heart told him the right answer.
Would it not, ‘moreover, be treachery to leave those friends who had saved him and-thanks to whom he was well again?
No, he must go with them and leave half his heart behind him in this foreign land!
Pandion’s will was not strong enough to withstand this trial. He seized the hands of his comrades, who were watching with alarm the mental struggle that was reflected in his face, and began to beseech them not to leave so soon. What did it matter, now that they were free, if they remained there a little longer, rested before undertaking a long journey and got a better knowledge of the country. ‘
Kidogo hesitated, for he was very fond of Pandion. But Cavius frowned still more sternly.
“Come inside, there are other eyes and ears here,” he said, pushing Pandion into their house; he himself went out and returned with a burning brand and lit a small torch. He thought it would be easier to cure Pandion of his indecision if it were light.
“What do you hope for if we stay here?” asked the Etruscan in stern tones, his words cutting right into Pandion’s heart. ”Especially if you intend to go in the end. Or do you want to take her with you?”
The thought that Iruma should go with them on their long journey had not entered Pandion’s mind, and he shook his head.
“Then I don’t understand you,” said Cavius brusquely. “Do you think that none of the others have found girls here that they like? Still none of them wavered at the conference, when they had to choose between a woman and their native land; not a soul thought of staying here. Iruma’s father, the hunter, thinks that you are not coming with us. He likes you, and your bravery is common knowledge amongst the — people. He said that he is ready to take you into his house! Surely you will not leave us and forget your own country for the sake of a girl?”
Pandion lowered his head. He could not explain to Cavius why he was wrong. How could Pandion tell him that he had not merely given way to passion? How could he explain how Iruma had affected him as an artist? On the other hand, the brutal truth of the Etruscan’s words stung him; he had forgotten that other peoples have different laws and customs. If he remained there, he would have to become a hunter and merge his life with the life of the people. Such was the inevitable price he would have to pay for happiness with Iruma… Then again, Iruma alone was all that was near to him in this land. The serene, hot expanses of the golden plain bore no resemblance to his own country, to the noisy and mobile expanses of the sea. And the girl was a part of that world, while he had not yet ceased to feel himself a temporary guest there… There, far in the distance, his native land shone like a beacon light. If that light went out, would he be able to live without it?
Cavius made a long pause in order to give Pandion an opportunity to think and then began again:
“You will become her husband only to leave her shortly afterwards and go away. Do you think her people will let us go in peace and help us? You will be paying them poorly for their hospitality. The punishment that you fully deserve will fall on all of us… And why are you so certain that the others of your party are willing to wait? They will not agree, and I am with them!”
Cavius stopped and then, as though a little ashamed at the brusqueness of his words, added:
“My heart aches, for when I reach the sea I shall not have a friend who is skilled in the sailing of ships. My Remdus is dead and all my hopes rested on you — you have sailed the sea, you learnt from the Phoenicians…” Cavius lowered his head and sat silent.