“I was startled and impressed by his words which I did not understand. How could I, still a child, and not even allowed to fight, have anything to do with victory—if victory ever came? For we knew that Demetrius had but retired to bring fresh forces against us. I began to say something like this, but Chares paid no heed to my words. “‘Are you keeping your drawings and plans in safety?’ he asked, as though to change the subject. For he knew that my days now were chiefly occupied in making plans of different parts of the city, and also careful drawings of our own, as well as of the enemy’s war machines. This I did to amuse myself, and often, though Chares did not know this, ran into great danger in my eagerness to see something I thought useful or important, more closely. “‘How do you think this gift has come to you?’ asked Chares presently, when I had assured him that I kept all my drawings. “And when I said I had never thought about it, and did not consider it a ‘gift,’ because to me it was like a kind of game, he replied gravely, “‘Some day you will know.’ “We were not left long to enjoy our victory, for soon rumours began to fly about which filled us with anxiety. “Demetrius, beaten for the time, had indeed retired, but it was known that he had invented, and was building, a new and a more terrible war engine than had ever before been designed. By this time, in Rhodes, we were nearly starving, for our food was almost all gone, and Phrynis, our general, was full of anxiety, for though he did not doubt the courage of our troops, he knew they could not fight if they were weak for lack of nourishment. You may imagine his relief when, just at the blackest moment of despair, some ships sent by our friend, the King of Egypt, managed to get past the watching fleet of the enemy, laden with corn, and, a few days afterwards, other ships arrived with fresh troops to help our tired men. “After they had rested and been well fed, Phrynis gave orders for soldiers and sailors to prepare for the great machine which would soon be at our gates, by building an _inner_ wall behind that which encircled the city. To do this it was necessary to pull down a great many houses, and, among them, my own beautiful home, and even the little temple of Phœbus Apollo. Before this was done, we held a solemn service within the temple, and again Chares renewed his vow to make the statue, and begged forgiveness of the god for having to destroy one of his dwelling-places. I thought my heart would break when instead of the white house I knew and loved, with its marble columns, its flights of marble steps leading to a garden beautiful as a dream, I saw waste land, scattered over with stones and rubbish, all the roses trampled under foot, and desolation far and wide about the new wall that was rising. But we were fighting for our lives, and there was no time either for sorrow or regret.