f the table, there, where the couches
surrounding it were draped with crimson silk, and soft downy cushions,
well shaken up, once more called to rest and good cheer.

"I pray you all take your places," said the host pleasantly, "and let us
resume our supper."

He gave a sign to a swarthy-looking slave, who, clad all in white, was
presiding at a gorgeous buffet carved of solid citrus-wood
which--despite the fact that supper had just been served to two hundred
guests--was once more groaning under the weight of mammoth dishes filled
with the most complicated products of culinary art.

The slave, at his master's sign, touched a silver gong, and half a dozen
henchmen in linen tunics brought in the steaming dishes fresh from the
kitchens. The carver set to and attacked with long sharp knife the
gigantic capons which one of the bearers had placed before him. He
carved with quickness and dexterity, placing well-chosen morsels on the
plates of massive gold which young waiting-maids then carried to the
guests.

"Wilt dismiss thy slaves before we talk?" asked Marcus Ancyrus, the
veteran in this small crowd. He himself had been silent for the past ten
minutes, doing full justice to this second relay of Caius Nepos'
hospitality.

The waiting-maids were going the round now with gilt basins and cloths
of fine white linen for the cleansing and drying of fingers between the
courses; others, in the meanwhile, filled the crystal goblets with red
or white wine as the guests desired.

"We can talk now," said the host; "these slaves will not heed us. They,"
he added, nodding in the direction of the carver and his half-dozen
henchmen, "are all deaf as well as mute, so we need have no fear of
them."

"What treasures," ejaculated young Escanes with wondering eyes fixed
upon his lucky host; "where didst get them, Caius Nepos? By the gods, I
would I could get an army of deaf-mute slaves."

"They are not easy to get," rejoined the other, "but I was mightily
lucky in my find. I was at Cirta in Numidia at a time when the dusky
chief there--one named Hazim Rhan--had made a haul of six malcontents
who I understood had conspired against his authority. It seems that
these rebels had a leader who had succeeded in escaping to his desert
fastness, and whom Hazim Rhan greatly desired to capture. To gain this
object he commanded the six prisoners to betray their leader; this they
refused to do, whereupon the dusky prince ordered their ears to be cu