beyond it a couple of men
appeared. For a moment they stood there immovable, a closely huddled
mass, shoulder to shoulder, with round open eyes dilated with fear and a
cry of nameless terror still hovering unuttered on their lips.

They were hugely built men, with massive torso and legs bare, and
tow-coloured hair brought straight up to the crown of the head and
knotted there with a black band.

There was much shouting from the recess whence they had emerged, and
anon some vigorous prodding and pushing from behind. But they dug their
bare feet into the sand, refusing to move; arm against arm they made of
themselves a wall which fear of death kept rigid and horror made
unbreakable.

The public greeted them with mock applause. In them they had quickly
recognised the German barbarians whom the Caesar had brought back from
his last expedition as prisoners of war; in truth they were hardened
malefactors who had been offered a chance of life in exchange for the
pitiable masquerade. But this the public did not know. To the two
hundred thousand holiday-makers, craning their necks to see the
miserable wretches, they were but the living proofs of the Caesar's
prowess in the field. With ironical cheers they were bidden to advance,
even whilst at no great distance from them the black panther sitting on
its haunches was surveying them with lazy curiosity, licking its mighty
jaws.

Then the public grew impatient, and from the recess behind the two men
persuasion became more vigorous. Through the darkness behind the gates
there appeared the red glow of a brazier, there was a quick hissing
sound, an awful double howl of pain and the smell of burnt flesh filled
the air. The next moment the two men fell scrambling forward into the
arena, and the iron gate closed behind them with a thud.

CHAPTER XIX

"Thou art become guilty in the blood that thou hast
shed."--EZEKIEL XXII. 4.

The hunter and the hunted! the lithe supple sinewy creature crawling
with belly almost touching the ground and stealthy steps that made no
sound on the sand of the arena.

Wary and silent the black beast crawled, now hiding amidst the scrubby
grass, now bounding over trees and stream as if playing with herself,
with her own desire for a taste of human blood.

At first terror had kept the two men rooted to the spot, paralysed, and
with feet deeply imbedded in the sand. Only their eyes seemed alive,
roaming along the wall, all round to where on ei