"I know." Menedemoswas panting, too. "We could enter it at the next Olympics, and it'd winthe dash." He raised his voice to a shout: "Two oboloi to whoevercatches the bird unhurt!"

Sailors and workmen andpassersby were already staring at the peacock, or perhaps at the spectacle ofthree men chasing a peacock. The prospect of a reward sent a double handful ofthem after the bird, too, converging on it from every angle at once.

A naked sailor grabbedfor the peacock. "I've got you!" he cried in triumph. A moment later,he cried out once more, this time in dismay: "Oimoi! Help!" Thepeacock kicked and raked him with its big clawed feet. It buffeted him with itswings. And it pecked, hard. "Oimoi!" he yelled again, and let go.

"Himilkon told youit could bite off a finger," Sostratos said to Menedemos.

"That wasn't hisfinger," Menedemos answered. "And he's lucky it didn't bite itoff."

From then on, nobodyseemed nearly so eager to close with the peacock. From the doorway to hiswarehouse, Himilkon shouted, "Herd it back over here." People weremore willing to try that. Yelling and waving their arms and shying pebbles -  andstaying at a respectful distance -  they managed to turn the peacock so it wasrunning toward the Phoenician merchant instead of away from him.

"It'll trample himif he tries to catch it by himself," Menedemos said, still running afterthe bird.

"He's broughtsomething else out of the building," Sostratos said. "Looks likeanother cage."

When they got a littlecloser, Menedemos asked, "Is that another peacock in there?"

"Not apeacock." Sostratos replied. "See how much plainer it is?"

The peacock had seen thesame thing as Sostratos, and more quickly, too. It skidded to a stop, sand andgravel flying up from between its toes. All at once, it might have forgottenthe mob of men pursuing it. Noting as much, Menedemos slowed down, too, andwaved his comrades to a halt with him.