selfishness. Carausius the admiral, though determined upon kingly power,
had no desire for a divided supremacy. He was determined to be
sole emperor, or none. Crafty and unscrupulous, although brave and
high-spirited, he deemed it wisest to delay his part of the compact
until he should see how it fared with his uncle, the king, and then,
upon his defeat, to climb to certain victory.

He therefore sent to his uncle promises instead of men, and when
summoned by the Roman governor to assist in putting down the revolt, he
returned loyal answers, but sent his aid to neither party.

King Coel after his first successes knew that, unaided, he could not
hope to withstand the Roman force that must finally be brought against
him. Though urged to constant action by his wise young daughter, he
preferred to do nothing; and, satisfied with the acknowledgment of his
power in and about his little kingdom on the Colne, he spent his time in
his palace with the musicians that he loved so well, and the big bowl of
liquor that he loved, it is to be feared, quite as dearly.

The musicians--the pipers and the harpers--sang his praises, and told of
his mighty deeds, and, no doubt, their refrain was very much the same as
the one that has been preserved for us in the jingle of Mother Goose:

"O, none so rare as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three."

But if the pleasure-loving old king was listless, young Helena was not.
The misty records speak of her determined efforts, and though it is hard
to understand how a girl of fifteen can do any thing toward successful
generalship, much can be granted to a young lady who, if the records
speak truth, was, even while a girl, "a Minerva in wisdom, and not
deficient in statecraft."

So, while she advised with her father's boldest captains and
strengthened so wisely the walls of ancient Colchester, or Camalodunum,
that traces of her work still remain as proof of her untiring zeal, she
still cherished the hope of British freedom and release from Rome. And
the loving old king, deep in his pleasures, still recognized the will
and wisdom of his valiant daughter, and bade his artists make in her
honor a memorial that should ever speak of her valor. And this memorial,
lately unearthed, and known as the Colchester Sphinx, perpetuates the
lion-like qualities of a girl in her teens, who dared withstand the
power of Imperial Rome.

And still no help came from her cousin, the admiral.