And first of all, and somehow, he must
free himself from the welded collar of brass about his throat. With this
to brand him for what he was, the first man he met along the highway
might return him to his master--if he could--and claim reward.

The slaves' quarters, following the general plan of the house, were
built around a square inner court, with a cryptoporticus, or covered
gallery, at the northern and southern ends. But here were no polished
floors of rich design and coloring; no soft couches and brilliant
draperies, no marbles and paintings. There were no hypocausts beneath to
warm the rooms to Summer heat; these, small and bare as cells, were
always cold. On the eastern side of the court were housed the women
slaves; on the western, the men. Between these, on the northern end,
were the apartments of the freedmen and stewards and overseers, with
their offices. On the southern side, to the right of the main entrance
to the court, were the storerooms leading down to the dark coldness of
the wine-cellars. To the left of the entrance were the kitchens, with
stoves, and with hypocausts beneath them. Outside the walls, singly and
in groups, were the wattled huts of the field-hands, who cared for the
parks and immediate lands of the villa, and who came twice daily to the
great house to be fed.

In such a household, where economy was a lost word and extravagance the
order of life, the stewards and overseers who managed it, being
accountable only to their lord, were vested with much power, and made
the most of it. Head and front of them all was Hito, fat and shining,
with glinting pig's eyes. No detail of the great establishment was too
trivial for his notice. Supposed to have general control over each
division of slaves, which in turn was managed by its own headman, he yet
had a finger in all businesses. Like all men of his stamp, he went in
mortal fear of ridicule; thought to show his power by abuse of it. On
his word alone a slave might be put to the rack; let an unfortunate
incur his displeasure, and he had endless ways of revenge. His
predominating characteristic was an oily sleekness; the very voice of
him was smooth with unctuousness. Violent likes and dislikes he took,
and was in a position to gratify both, a bad enemy and a worse friend.
And his methods had but one trait in common,--an entire and often
apparently irrational unexpectedness. It was the one thing which in him
might be relied on; he would do the th