gates of the the city," and with a herald's escort the
girl returned to her father.

Again the old king rebelled at the terms his daughter had made.

"I know the ways of Rome," he said. "I know what their mercy meaneth.
Thou shalt never go as hostage for my faith, O daughter, nor carry out
this hazardous plan."

"I have pledged my word and thine, O King," said Helena. "Surely a
Briton's pledge should be as binding as a Roman's."

So she carried her point, and, in five days' time, she, with twenty of
the boys and girls of Camalodunum, went as hostages to the Roman camp in
London.

"Here be thy hostages, fair Princess," said Constantius the prefect as
he received the children; "and this is well. But remember the rest of
thy compact. Deliver to me now, according to thy promise, the chief
rebel against Rome."

"She is here, O Prefect," said the intrepid girl. "I am that
rebel--Helena of Britain!"

The smile upon the prefect's face changed to sudden sternness.

"Trifle not with Roman justice, girl," he said, "I demand the keeping of
thy word."

"It is kept," replied the princess. "Helena of Britain is the cause and
motive of this revolt against Rome. If it be rebellion for a free prince
to claim his own, if it be rebellion for a prince to withstand for
the sake of his people the unjust demands of the conqueror, if it be
rebellion for one who loveth her father to urge that father to valiant
deeds in defence of the liberties of the land over which he ruleth as
king, then am I a rebel, for I have done all these, and only because
of my words did the king, my father, take up arms against the might and
power of Rome. I am the chief rebel. Do with me as thou wilt."

And now the prefect saw that the girl spoke the truth, and that she had
indeed kept her pledge.

"Thy father and his city are pardoned," he announced after a few moments
of deliberation. "Remain thou here, thou and thy companions, as hostages
for Britain, until such time as I shall determine upon the punishment
due to one who is so fierce a rebel against the power of Rome."

So the siege of Camalodunum was raised, and the bloodless rebellion
ended. Constantius the prefect took up his residence for a while within
King Coel's city, and at last returned to his command in Gaul and Spain,
well pleased with the spirit of the little maiden whom, so he claimed,
he still held in his power as the prisoner of Rome.

Constantius the prefect came again to Britain, an