msman and rowers are jumping overboard."

"Where is Thrasabad?"

Mercury again appeared in the podium.

"Look you, brother, that is a bad omen," said Thrasaric.

Thrasabad shrugged his shoulders.

"The fortune of war. I did not allow myself to interfere. No agreement
was made about the result. Five Romans and twelve Vandals are dead.
Away, away with the whole! Vanish, sea!"

He waved the Hermes staff; the water sank rushing into the depths, with
the corpses it had swallowed. The Roman ship, amply manned and obeying
her helm, succeeded, by rowing powerfully to the right, in passing
through the gate by which it had entered. The empty, burning, unguided
Vandal vessel was drawn into the seething, whirling funnel; it turned
more and more swiftly on its own axis; the water dashed over the deck,
extinguishing the flames as far as it reached them; the mast leaned
farther and farther to the right, still blazing brightly. Suddenly it
fell completely over on the right side and disappeared in the abyss.
Gurgling, whirling, and foaming, the rest of the water followed.

"The sea has vanished!" cried Thrasabad. "Let the desert and its
monsters, warring with each other, appear in its place!"

And at the height of the former flooring, far above the level of
the sea, the two halves of the arena, covered with white sand, were
again pushed together from the right and left. Slaves, clad only
with aprons--fair-skinned ones, yellow-complexioned Moors, and
negroes--appeared in countless numbers and drew back the curtains which
covered the gratings of the cages containing the wild animals.

"We will present to you--" Thrasabad cried amid the breathless silence.

But his voice died away; the terrible roar, which had either ceased or
been drowned during the tumult of the naval battle, again echoed
through the Amphitheatre, and a huge tiger leaped with such force and
fury from the back of its tolerably long cage against the grating in
front that its bars bent outward, splinters of the wood in which they
were imbedded were hurled into the arena.

"Brother," said Thrasaric, in a low tone, "that cage is too long. Take
care! The animal has too much space to run. And the wooden floor is
rotten. Are you afraid, Eugenia?"

"I am with _you_," the young bride answered quietly. "But I want to
know no more about men fighting--dying. I did not look at them."

"Only at the end, little sister-in-law, a captive Moor."

"Where did you get him?" as