25　Fighting Mad

Darius was now angrier than ever,and still more determined to whip those stubborn Greeks,who dared to defy him and his enormous power；and he began to get ready for one more attempt. This time,however,he made up his mind that he would get together such an army and navy that there would be no chance in the world against it,and he made a solemn oath to destroy the Greeks.So for several years he gathered troops and supplies,but something happened,and in spite of his oath he did not carry out his plan.Why?You guessed it.He died.

But Darius had a son named Xerxes—pronounced as if it began with a Z.

When I was a boy,there was an alphabet rhyme that began，“A is for Apple，”and went on down to“X is for Xerxes,a great Persian king.”I learned the rhyme,though I did not know at that time anything about either Xerxes or Persia.

Xerxes was just as determined as his father had been that the Greeks must be beaten,so he went on getting ready.

However,the Greeks also were just as determined that they must not be beaten,so they,too,went on getting ready,for they knew the Persians would sooner or later come back