we thought.

.

.

." "What did you think ?" interrupted Cambyses, and a new light of hope seemed to dawn in his mind.

"Is it possible, that you did not carry out my orders at once?
Can Croesus still be alive?
Speak at once, I must know the whole truth." The captain writhed like a worm at his lord's feet, and at last stammered out, raising his hands imploringly towards the king: "Have mercy, have mercy, my Lord the king! I am a poor man, and have thirty children, fifteen of whom.