Read Online The Lion's Slave by Terry Deary - Free Book Online Page A

head. “You … you … could … have … killed me!”
    “Sorry, sir. It was a game I played with my brothers when we were younger.We used to use a small plank to fire balls of cloth in the air and see who could catch them. But I knew it would work for a rock, too.”

    He glared at me. “Why did you do that?” he demanded.

    “Because you told me to get you a rock.”
    “I did?”
    “You did.”
    “So I did! I was going to show you that it’s impossible to throw big rocks at the Roman ships,” he said.
    “If you say so, sir,” I muttered.
    “But if I get a really long plank…”
    “As long as a tree,” I said.

    “As long as a tree … then I could fire boulders big enough to sink those ships.”

    I covered my mouth with my hand. “Oh, sir, that’s brilliant! Oh, sir, I knew you’d invent something to save us! It’s true what they say!”
    “What do they say?”
    “That you are the cleverest man in Syracuse!”
    Archimedes smiled and nodded. “I am the cleverest man in Greece. In the world , in fact!”

C HAPTER T HREE
    You know what happened next, of course. It is written in the history books. Archimedes made his mighty throwing machines–he called them “catapults”.

    The Lord of Syracuse gathered the crowds in the main square. He himself stood at the window of the palace. “The people of Syracuse are blessed by the gods,” he cried. “The Romans have their ships and soldiers, but we have Archimedes … the Lion of Syracuse!”

    And we all cheered till our throats were sore.
    “Roman ships have been sunk,” the Lord went on (to more cheers), “and the rest have been driven out to sea. All thanks to the great inventor, Archimedes!”
    Cheers! More cheers and more.

    The next morning, I rose from my straw bed to make my master his breakfast. I found him in the garden, kneeling beside the pond. He was using a toy catapult to fire at toy ships on the pond.

    “Would you like breakfast, sir?” I asked.
    He waved me away with a hand. When he was thinking his great thoughts, no one else mattered.
    “In the night, the Romans sailed into our harbour under the cloak of darkness,” he said quickly.

    “So? We can sink them with your great war machines.”
    He took a pebble and placed it on the toy catapult. “Look … there is a Roman ship in the harbour. I fire a rock.”
    He fired. The rock landed in the middle of the pond and missed the little ship.

    “So? We can move the catapult back !” I said.
    “I’ve tried it, simple girl.”
    He moved the catapult back. He fired again. This time the rock landed on the edge of the pond.

    “See?” he groaned. “It landed on the harbour. If we get it wrong, we will shatter our own town. The Romans are clever. They know we can’t fire at them when they are so close.”
    I looked at the models and picked up a twig from the garden tree. I took a thread from my tunic and dangled it from the twig. I took a pin and bent it.

    “What are you doing, stupid girl?” Archimedes asked.
    “When I was a child, I used to fish with my brothers.”

    I dangled my little rod over the model ship and hooked it into the air. “If the Romans come too close, we could fish them out of the water!” I laughed.
    “Idiot child,” he snapped. “We cannot build a mighty fishing rod. It’s a stupid idea.”
    “I know, sir,” I sighed.
    Archimedes snapped his fingers. “But if we built a tall crane,” he murmured, taking the rod from my hand. “We could reach out over the harbour and snatch at the Roman ships. Fix a claw on the end, like a crab’s, and snatch them! Eureka !”

    I covered my mouth with my hand. “Oh, sir, that’s brilliant! Oh, sir, I knew you’d invent something to save us! It’s true what they say!”
    “What do they say?”
    “That you are the cleverest man in Syracuse!”
    “We will call it Archimedes’ claw!” he nodded.

C HAPTER F OUR
    You will know that Archimedes’ claw smashed several Roman ships and drove them