ere as a friend!"

The two preserved a long silence, as if black thoughts were whirling
through their minds.

"You will return from this expedition loaded down with riches," said the
Greek, "and you will come back to Saguntum to spend them joyously."

"May it be thus!" murmured Alorcus. "But I feel a presentiment that we
shall never meet again, Actaeon; or, if we meet, it will be to curse the
gods that we should ever have known each other. I go ignorant of my
destination, and perhaps I must march against what I most love."

They said no more; they feared to give expression to their thoughts.

Greek and Celtiberian embraced tenderly. Then, after a sorrowful
farewell, they kissed each other on the eyes in sign of fraternal
friendship.

CHAPTER V

INVASION

Sonnica feared that she had lost Actaeon forever. His sudden departure
seemed the caprice of a fickle Athenian--of an eternal wanderer, driven
by the fever of seeing new lands. Only the gods could tell where that
bird of passage might fly after his visit to Celtiberia! Perhaps he
would remain with Alorcus; perhaps he would go to war along with those
barbarians; perhaps, captivated by his knowledge and cleverness, they
would go so far as to give him a kingdom.

Sonnica doubted that the Athenian would ever return. Her short
springtime of love had been like the fugitive joy of the women adored by
the gods when they had come down to earth. She who used to be so
unfeeling as to mock at affection, now spent the days weeping on her
couch, or wandering by night like a shade through the gardens, stopping
in the grotto where the Greek had given her his first caress. The slaves
wondered at the harsh and capricious temper of their mistress, who one
moment groaned like a child, and the next, as if fired with sudden
cruelty, ordered punishments for them all; but, without warning, Actaeon
presented himself before her villa one morning, riding a dusty, sweaty
horse. He dismissed the ferocious featured barbarians who had served him
as bodyguard, and ran with outstretched arms toward the tremulous
Sonnica. The whole of her immense dominions seemed resuscitated; the
mistress smiled; the garden bloomed more beautifully; on the terrace
shone the plumage of the rare birds with greater splendor; the
instruments of the flute players sounded more joyful, and to the slaves,
freed now from punishment, the air seemed sweeter and the sky more blue.

Sonnica's villa reawoke to it