It looked in fact as if the coming struggle were all to be in favour of
the man and not of the beast, for the smooth surface of the walls and
the narrow ledge above the carvings could not afford foothold to an
enraged four-footed creature with sharp claws that would glance off the
polished marble.

The public--realising this--waxed impatient. The novel spectacle did
not, after all, promise to be to its liking. The panther would make but
a sorry show if it was not given a helpless victim or two to devour.

Murmurs of dissatisfaction rose from every side as the work proceeded,
and anon when all round the walls of the arena, the twelve ladders of
safety were firmly fixed, seeming mutely to deride the excitement of the
people, the murmur broke into angry cries.

But Caligula did not seem to heed either the murmur or those loud
expressions of discontent which, at other times, would probably have
maddened him with rage. He had watched the preparations with eager
interest and had himself once or twice shouted directions to the
workmen.

Now, when everything appeared complete, he turned to the tribune which
was next to his own, and his small bloodshot eyes wandered over the
assembly of patricians, of knights and of senators who were seated
there.

He called my lord Hortensius Martius to him and appeared to be pointing
out to him the advantages of the rope-ladders with obvious pride in the
ingenuity of the device. Young Escanes too was bidden to admire the
contrivance, which--it soon became evident--was the invention of the
Caesar himself.

The public--still feeling dissatisfied--watched desultorily for a while
the doings in the imperial tribune. Then general interest was once more
aroused, when the workmen--slaves and legionaries--having finished their
preparations, hurried helter-skelter out of the arena.

The sliding doors of the panther's cage were being slowly drawn away.

For a few seconds the powerful brute remained wary, silent and cowering,
then with one mighty, savage snarl it bounded into the arena.

Supple, graceful and splendid it walked round in solemn majesty, its
flat head kept low to the ground, its sinuous body curving and winding
as it walked, like that of a snake.

The public watched it, fascinated by the perfect grace of its movements
and by the cruel ferocity of its tiny eyes.

Now at the eastern end of the Amphitheatre a small iron gate slowly
swung upon its hinges, and in the dark recess