“I shall not restrain thee,” answered the silver-footed Thetis, “for thy grief is righteous and thy resolution to honor the dead and save thy friends from destruction is commendable. But thou hast no weapons and I forbid thee to enter the turmoil of Mars until at dawn thou seest me returning with armor from the hand of the artist Vulcan.” She suddenly disappeared and ascended to Olympus to beg the weapons from the god. [Illustration: _THETIS CONSOLING ACHILLES_] Meanwhile the noise of the struggle grew louder as the fortunes of war drove the Achaians to flight. With loud cries the Trojans followed the body of Patroclus in the twilight, and although the two bearers hurried as fast as they could to get it to a place of safety, they were often in danger of losing it. Hector pursued them continually with his men and more than once had seized one of the dead man’s feet. The two Ajaxes had no thought of killing Hector, for his gigantic stature appalled them. They only held the corpse tighter, to keep it from being torn from them. Just as they were nearing the moat, they would have lost it, if a swift messenger had not summoned Achilles. “Help! help! Achilles!” he cried. “Hector will soon have taken the body of Patroclus. He threatens to cut off the head and put it on a pike and to throw the trunk to the Trojan dogs. What a disgrace if thy friend’s body be taken and misused!” Like a maniac, without armor or weapons, Achilles rushed out, and in a voice like thunder rolling in the mountains, he roared out most terrible threats, so that both Trojans and Achaians were overcome by fear and Hector, terrified, let go the corpse and quickly retired with his followers, thinking Achilles was already on his track. Thus the two heroes brought the corpse safely into camp. Achilles gazed long upon his friend, speechless, with bowed head, clenched hands, and tears coursing down his cheeks. The Trojans now held council whether they should spend the night in the city or on the battlefield. Polydamas was anxious to retire, for he feared Achilles; but Hector insisted on remaining, for he held that it would be cowardly to allow the enemy to suspect that they were afraid. “Let Achilles come forth to-morrow,” he concluded; “he will do so at his own risk. I shall surely not fly before him. I long to meet him, and then Jupiter shall decide which one of us shall be covered with glory. Mars is a vacillating god, who oft destroys the destroyer.”