《Trojan Odyssey》作者： - Cussler_ Clive【EPUB】

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It was a setup created with simplicity and an acute insight into human curiosity. And itfulfilled its function flawlessly. The ugly monstrosity stood twenty feet high on four stoutwooden legs propped on a flat platform. The housing mounted on the legs sat triangularly withopen ends. A rounded hump rose on the front of the peaked housing with two forward slits foreyes. The sides were covered with cowhides. A platform supporting the legs lay flat on theground. It looked like nothing the people of the citadel of Ilium had ever seen. To some with a good imagination it vaguely resembled a stiff-legged horse. The Dardanians had awakened in the morning expecting to see the Achaeans surrounding theirfortress city and ready for battle as they had been for the past ten weeks. But the plainbelow was empty. All they could see was a thick haze of smoke drifting over the ashes of whathad been the enemy camp. The Achaeans and their fleet had vanished. During the dead of nightthey had loaded their ships with their supplies horses arms and chariots and sailed awayleaving only the mysterious wooden monster behind. Dardanian scouts returned and reported thatthe Achaean camp was abandoned.Overjoyed that the siege of Ilium had ended the people threw aside the main gate of thecitadel and poured across the open plain where both armies had clashed and spilled their bloodin a hundred battles. At first they were mystified. Several of them suspected some kind oftrick and argued in favor of burning it. But they soon discovered it was simply a harmlesshousing on four legs crudely constructed of wood. A man climbed one of the wooden legs enteredthe structure and found it empty. If this is the best the Achaeans can do for a horse he yelled small wonder we won. The crowd laughed and chanted with glee