ridden in from Pons Aelii, and will shortly inspect
his new town of Corstopitum. Think on the immensa Romanae Pacis Majestas
when thou seest him here!'

'I wish greatly to see him,' replied the young Briton, 'yet I dread the
eagle eye of our Imperator.'

'Nay,' said his friend, 'he will never affright thee, for though he is
the ruler of the broad universe he hath a human heart that takes
interest in all things under the sky, being soldier, traveller,
administrator, builder, student, and poet at once.'

There came a sudden shrilling of the tuba at this moment.

'See!' cried the Vexillarius. 'There he goeth into the Praetorium.'

The twain stood watchful as sentinels, and very shortly they saw Caesar
proceeding to the steps leading into the Forum, accompanied by the Comes
Brittanorum and the Clarissimus and the Consularis, attended by his
guard, on whose shields were blazoned as insignia the forts upon the
mighty wall.

Caesar was clad, they noted, not in the long robe of Imperator, but in
the shorter tunic of the Consul, with heavy purple border.

The two young men stood stiff at the salute as Hadrian drew near. Then
the Emperor, recognising his former guardsman, spoke to him kindly by
name.

'Ha! Castus. Thou lookest right well. Art better employed here than in
trailing thy toga and neighing after the beautiful ladies in Rome? Thou
hast found soldiering on the confines of our Empire to thy liking?'

'Yes, indeed, sire,' replied the standard-bearer, ''tis the sole
profession for a man.'

Hadrian looked upon the erect figure, keen eye, and sun-tanned face of
the speaker with evident approval. Then as he was about to pass onward
his eye was struck by the newly carved fountain-head.

'Who hath carved this fountain?' he inquired. 'I did not know we had an
artist in the camp.'

''Twould scarce disgrace the garden of the Palatine,' replied Castus,
overjoyed at the opportunity of praising his comrade in Caesar's
presence; ''tis the handicraft of my friend here--a pioneer upon thy
wall--one who though born a Briton is now more Roman than myself, and
hath expended all his skill upon the carving in the hope of pleasing the
eye of Caesar.'

Hadrian, ever a patron of the arts, glanced quickly at the reddening
cheeks of the young Briton, then stepped forward to the fountain-head,
and scrutinised it with close attention. 'He hath the true eye of the
artist, this friend of thine,' he said, with evident appreciation, 'f