Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/192

162 from the fight, wounding him on the right shoulder with a three-pointed arrow. Therefore spake Idomeneus to Nestor, "Quick, Nestor, mount thy chariot and take Machaon with thee, and drive quickly to the ships, for the life of a physician is as the lives of many men!"

So Nestor mounted on his chariot, and Machaon stood beside him. He touched the horses, and they flew right willingly to the ships.

Meanwhile Cebriones, Hector's charioteer, said to Hector: "We two fight with the Greeks upon the outskirts of the battle; but yonder Ajax confounds the men of Troy. Let us, therefore, turn the chariot thither, for there is the sorest need."

So he spake, and lashed the horses. And when they felt the whip, they bare the chariot swiftly on, over shields and bodies of men, and the axle beneath and the chariot sides were bespattered with blood. Up and down the ranks went Hector, but he avoided the mighty Ajax. But Zeus the Father sent fear upon Ajax, and he cast his seven-fold shield