Greece -- History -- Juvenile fiction; Twins -- Juvenile fiction
"Well, anyway," said Daphne bravely, though her voice shook and her teeth
chattered, "crying won't do any good. Let's feel around and see if there
is anything in this room."
It was dark, except for a gray patch of dim light from a window high up
in the wall. Dion and Daphne kept close together and went carefully round
the room, feeling the wall with their hands. Dion stumbled against
something. It was a chest where the priests' robes were kept.
"Do you suppose we could move it?" whispered Daphne. "If we could, maybe
we could look out of the window and see where we are."
They both got on the same side of it and pushed with all their strength.
The chest moved a little and made a horrible screeching sound on the
stone floor.
"Sh-sh-sh," whispered Daphne, as if the chest could hear. They held their
breath to listen for footsteps. There was no sound outside. They waited a
little while and pushed again. Again the chest screeched, and again they
stopped to listen. After many such efforts it was finally moved under
the window, and the two sprang up on the top of it to look out. By
standing on tiptoe they could just see over the sill. There was no glass,
for there was no window-glass anywhere at that time, and the cool night
air blew in on their faces. The Acropolis was bathed in moonlight. There
was no sound outside, and no one in sight anywhere. Apparently the world
was asleep. Suddenly the stillness was broken by the hoot of an owl, and
they could see the great bird flying toward them.
"It's Athena's own bird," whispered Dion, "and it's flying from the east.
That means good luck. Oh, maybe we can get away from this dreadful place
after all!"
"Let's pray to Athena," quavered Daphne. "We can't sacrifice, but maybe
she'll hear us just the same."
The two little prisoners spread their hands toward the sky, and Dion
whispered, "Help us, O Athena, just the way you helped Perseus kill the
Gorgon."
"Give us wisdom to get out of this place and to save Pericles from these
wicked men," added Daphne.
"Sh-sh," whispered Dion, "they're priests."
"They are wicked, anyway, whatever they are, to want to kill Pericles,"
said Daphne stoutly. Then she added: "Maybe that's why we're here! Maybe
we could warn him about the priests if we could just get out. Anyway,
we're Spartans, and we've got to stop crying and do our best."
Dion put his hands on the window-sill and gave a jump.
"I believe I could get up here if you'd give me a boost," he said.
"But how shall I getup?" asked Daphne. "There'll be nobody to boost me."
"I'll pull you," said Dion.
"You might fall out backwards, or fall in head first doing it," said
Daphne.
"Let's try, anyway," said Dion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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