han slacken speed, the nimble-footed
girl sprang lightly to the deck of her father's galley. Then bidding
the obedient Cleon take her own barge back to the palace, she hurried at
once, and without question, like the petted only child she was, into the
high-raised cabin at the stern, where beneath the Roman standards sat
her father the king.

Helena entered the apartment at a most exciting moment. For there,
facing her portly old father, whose clouded face bespoke his troubled
mind, stood her trimly-built young cousin Carausius the admiral, bronzed
with his long exposure to the sea-blasts, a handsome young viking, and,
in the eyes of the hero-loving Helen, very much of a hero because of his
acknowledged daring and his valorous deeds.

Neither man seemed to have noticed the sudden entrance of the girl, so
deep were they in talk.

"I tell thee, uncle," the hot-headed admiral was saying, "it is beyond
longer bearing. This new emperor--this Diocletian--who is he to dare to
dictate to a prince of Britain? A foot-soldier of Illyria, the son of
slaves, and the client of three coward emperors; an assassin, so it
hath been said, who from chief of the domestics, hath become by his own
cunning Emperor of Rome, And now hath he dared to accuse me--me, a free
Briton and a Roman citizen as well, a prince and the son of princes,
with having taken bribes from these German pirates whom I have
vanquished. He hath openly said that I, Carausius the admiral, have
filled mine own coffers while neglecting the revenues of the state. I
will not bear it. I am a better king than he, did I but have my own
just rights, and even though he be Diocletian the Emperor, he needeth to
think twice before he dare accuse a prince of Britain with bribe-taking
and perjury."

"True enough, good nephew," said King Coel, as the admiral strode up and
down before him, angrily playing with the hilt of his short Roman sword,
"true enough, and I too have little cause to love this low-born emperor.
He hath taken from me both my players and my gold, when I can illy spare
either from my comfort or my necessities. 'T is a sad pass for Britain.
But Rome is mistress now. What may we hope to do?"

The Princess Helena sprang to her father's side, her young face flushed,
her small hand raised in emphasis. "Do!" cried she, and the look of
defiance flamed on her fair young face. "Do! Is it thou, my father,
thou, my cousin, princes of Britain both, that ask so weak a question?