r off to call or help you.
We owe your life to this boy."

"What is thy name, young hero?"

"Adalgoth."

"And what wouldst thou here?"

"Cethegus, the traitor, the Prefect of Rome! where is he, King? Pray
tell me. I was sent to the boats. I heard that he would oppose thy
attack here."

"He was here. He has fled; most likely to his house."

"Wouldst thou overcome that King of Hell with this stick?" asked
Haduswinth.

"No," cried the boy; "I have now a sword."

And he took up his prisoner's sword, which was lying on the ground;
brandished it over his head and rushed away.

Totila gave Piso in charge to the Goths, who had now landed in great
numbers.

"Hasten!" he cried again. "Save the Capitol, which the Romans are
destroying!"

CHAPTER XII.

Meanwhile the Prefect had left the river and gone in the direction of
the Capitol.

He passed the Porta Trigemina and arrived at the Forum Boarium.

Before the Temple of Janus he met with a crowd of people by which he
was detained for a short time.

In spite of his wound he had made such haste that Lucius and Syphax
could scarcely follow. They had repeatedly lost sight of him. Only now
did they overtake him.

He now tried to go through the Porta Carmentalis, and thus gain the
back of the Capitol.

But he found the gate already occupied by numerous Goths. Amongst them
was Wachis. He recognised the Prefect from a distance.

"Revenge for Rauthgundis!" he cried.

A heavy stone struck the Prefect's helmless head. He turned and fled.

He now remembered that there was a sinking of the wall not far from the
gate. He determined to climb it at that place.

As he neared it, the flames from the Capitol again shot high into the
air.

Three men sprang over the wall just in front of him. They were
Isaurians. They recognised him.

"Fly, general! The Capitol is lost! Teja, the black Gothic devil!"

"Did he--did Teja kindle the fire?"

"No; we ourselves set a wooden bulwark, which the barbarians had taken,
on fire. The Goths do all they can to extinguish the flames."

"The barbarians save the Capitol!" said Cethegus bitterly, and
supported himself upon a spear which was handed to him by one of the
mercenaries.

"I must get to my house."

And he turned to the right, the shortest way to the principal entrance
to his house.

"O master, that way is dangerous!" cried one of the Isaurians. "The
Goths will soon be there. I heard