said one of them, "and we haven't a doctor. Suppose
we get sunstroke, or a fever?"

"'Then die," I said, "and a good riddance to Rome! Up shield--up
spears, and tighten your foot-wear!"

"'Don't think yourself Emperor of Britain already," a fellow shouted.
I knocked him over with the butt of my spear, and explained to these
Roman-born Romans that, if there were any further trouble, we should go
on with one man short. And, by the Light of the Sun, I meant it too!
My raw Gauls at Clausentum had never treated me so.

'Then, quietly as a cloud, Maximus rode out of the fern (my Father
behind him), and reined up across the road. He wore the Purple, as
though he were already Emperor; his leggings were of white buckskin
laced with gold.

'My men dropped like--like partridges.

'He said nothing for some time, only looked, with his eyes puckered.
Then he crooked his forefinger, and my men walked--crawled, I mean--to
one side.

"'Stand in the sun, children," he said, and they formed up on the hard
road.

"'What would you have done," he said to me, "if I had not been here?"

"'I should have killed that man," I answered.

"'Kill him now," he said. "He will not move a limb."

"'No," I said. "You've taken my men out of my command. I should only
be your butcher if I killed him now." Do you see what I meant?'
Parnesius turned to Dan. 'Yes,'said Dan. 'It wouldn't have been fair,
somehow.'

'That was what I thought,' said Parnesius. 'But Maximus frowned.
"You'll never be an Emperor," he said. "Not even a General will you
be."

'I was silent, but my Father seemed pleased. "'I came here to see the
last of you," he said.

"'You have seen it," said Maximus. "I shall never need your son any
more. He will live and he will die an officer of a Legion--and he
might have been Prefect of one of my Provinces. Now eat and drink with
us," he said. "Your men will wait till you have finished."

'My miserable thirty stood like wine-skins glistening in the hot sun,
and Maximus led us to where his people had set a meal. Himself he
mixed the wine.

"'A year from now," he said, "you will remember that you have sat with
the Emperor of Britain--and Gaul."

"'Yes," said the Pater, "you can drive two mules--Gaul and Britain."

"'Five years hence you will remember that you have drunk"--he passed me
the cup and there was blue borage in it--"with the Emperor of Rome!"

"'No; you can't drive three mules. They will tear YOU in p