trees, in shape like the poplar and willow, fringing the shore. "It is
the sign which Circe gave me," whispered Odysseus to his awestruck
comrades; "we are at the very gates of Hades." Landing in silence,
they carried the victims for sacrifice to the verge of the grove, and
Odysseus with his sword dug a trench, a cubit in length and breadth,
and poured about it a libation of mead and water and wine. Then the
sheep were slaughtered, and the trench was filled to the brim with
their blood. When the solemn rite was ended, Odysseus called in a loud
voice to the spirits of the dead, and waited in breathless expectation
with his men.

Presently a rustling sound was heard, like the sound of the autumn
wind in the dry leaves of the forest; it grew louder and louder, and
out of the gloom the ghosts came flocking, youths and maidens cut off
in their bloom, old men with all their burden of sorrow, and warriors
slain in battle, still wearing the bloodstained armour.[1] With a wild
unearthly cry they came crowding to the trench, eager to drink of the
blood. But Odysseus, though quaking with fear, stood his ground
firmly, and held his drawn sword over the trench to keep off the
multitude, until he had seen and spoken with Teiresias.

[Footnote 1: Compare "Stories from the Æneid," p. 119.]

Among the hosts of spirits there was one who lingered near the trench,
and seemed by his beseeching gestures and earnest looks to desire
speech with Odysseus. When his first fears were over Odysseus
recognised the features of Elpenor, who had come to an untimely end on
the morning of their journey, and whose body still lay unburied in the
house of Circe. Registering a mental vow to perform all due rites to
that poor spirit on his homeward voyage, Odysseus warned him back, and