In that, the Spartan king had been content to let him lead. Xanthippus had expected the same sort of prickly authority he had known from Eurybiades at Salamis, but it seemed the Spartan civilian king was too certain of himself to feel any insult. As soon as Leotychides had understood how experienced Xanthippus truly was, he stood back and waved him on. It was a joy to encounter someone so used to command they could actually trust another to act for them. In that, the Spartan reminded Xanthippus of Aristides.

If they could catch the Persian fleet at anchor, Xanthippus would pay the fisherman his weight in silver – and it would still be worth it. He could only clench the steering bar in silent hope at that thought. Pericles turned the little sail this way and that, working it almost like another rudder as he sought out wind. The boy was at home on the water, in a way that pleased his father. Competence was all a man asked of his sons; it was a pleasure, almost a wonder, to see it grow, to know he could doze across the thwarts and let his sons guide the little boat.

Pericles looked up from his frowning gaze across the sea, watching for rough patches where some breeze still blew. As they rounded a spit of land, his father saw the boy’s face lighten in amazement. As he too looked up, Xanthippus held up a hand to stop him calling out.

‘I see them,’ Xanthippus murmured. He made himself breathe slowly, while his heart hammered. ‘Now, lads, take us back, gentle as you can. I’ll put a net down and we’ll drag it for a time. Who knows, we might even fetch a few fish back with us.’

The Persians had a measurement they called a ‘parasang’, some thirty stades or so. The fleet anchored at Samos lay just three or four off parasangs off their bow, as best as Xanthippus could judge. It was perhaps as far as a man might walk in a morning.

Xanthippus had brought his little boat out from the lee of the island of Icaria. He knew Icarus had fallen into that very sea, escaping his prison in a different age. Xanthippus and his sons had sailed that shore all day, following the fisherman’s description, keeping another island on their right shoulders, a place Xanthippus thought was Fourni. The sea was sheltered there, the waves gentle, which was a relief in such a little boat.