on
your gift and our labour, and what is mine is yours. No more words are
needed. You know our cliff beyond the Alveus Steganus, north of the
great harbour--the Isle of Serpents. It is quickly gained by any one who
knows the course through the water, but is as inaccessible to others as
the moon and stars. People are afraid of the mere name, though we rid
the island of the vermin long ago. My boys Dionysus, Dionichus, and
Dionikus--they all have 'Dion' in their name--are waiting in the fish
market, and when it grows dusk--" Here the wounded man interrupted the
speaker by holding out his hand and thanking him warmly for his fidelity
and kindness, though he refused the well-meant invitation. He admitted
that he knew no safer hiding-place than the cliff surrounded by
fluttering sea-gulls, where Pyrrhus lived with his family and earned
abundant support by fishing and serving as pilot. But anxiety concerning
his future wife prevented his leaving the city.

The freedman however gave him no rest. He represented how quickly the
harbour could be reached from his island, that fish were brought thence
from it daily, and he would therefore always have news of what was
passing. His sons were like him, and never used any unnecessary words;
talking did not suit them. The women of the household rarely left the
island. So long as it sheltered their beloved guest, they should not set
foot away from it. If occasion should require, the master could be in
Alexandria again quickly enough to put anything right.

This suggestion pleased the architect, who joined in the conversation
to urge the freedman's request. But Dion, for Barine's sake, obstinately
refused, until Anukis, who had long been anxious to go in pursuit of
Archibius, thought it time to give her opinion.

"Go with the man, my lord!" she cried. "I know what I know. I will
tell our Barine of your faithful resolution; but how can she show her
gratitude for it if you are a dead man?"

This question and the information which followed it turned the scale;
and, as soon as Dion had consented to accompany the freedman, the Nubian
prepared to continue her errands, but the wounded man detained her
to give many messages for Barine, and then she was stopped by the
architect, who thought he had found in her the right assistant for
numerous plans he had in his mind.

He had returned early that morning from Heroonpolis, where, with other
members of his profession, he had inspected the newly