hing?"

Gallus awoke, and at the same moment old Mardonius, with his grey hair
all dishevelled, entered and rushed towards the secret door.

"The soldiers of the Prefect! ... Dress! ... We must fly! ..." he
exclaimed.

Mardonius was too late; all he could do was to draw an old sword and
stand in warlike attitude before the door, brandishing his weapon. The
centurion, who was drunk, promptly seized him by the throat and threw
him out of the way, and the Roman legionaries entered.

"In the name of the most orthodox and blessed Augustus Constantius
Imperator! I, Marcus Scuda, Tribune of the Fretensian Legion, take under
my safeguard Julian and Gallus, sons of the Patrician Julius Flavius."

It was Scuda's plan to gain favour with his superiors by boldly carrying
off the lads and sending them down to his barracks at Caesarea. There
were rumours from time to time of their escaping from Macellum, and
Scuda knew, the emperor's fear lest these possible claimants for the
throne should gain a following among the soldiers of the people. At
Caesarea they would be in safe custody.

For the first time he gazed upon Gallus and Julian. The former, with his
indolent and listless blue eyes and flaxen hair, trembled and blinked,
his eyelids heavy with sleep, and crossed himself. The latter, thin,
sickly, and pale, with large shining eyes, stared at Scuda fixedly, and
shook with bridled rage. In his right hand, hidden by the panther skin
of his bed, which he had flung over his shoulder, he gripped the handle
of a Persian dagger given him by Labda; it was tipped with the keenest
of poisons.

A wild chance of safety suddenly occurred to Mardonius. Throwing aside
his sword, he caught hold of the tribune's mantle, and shrieked out, "Do
you know what you're doing, rascals? How dare you insult an envoy of
Constantius? It is I who am charged to conduct these two princes to
court. The august emperor has restored them to his favour. Here is the
order from Constantinople!"

"What is he saying? What order is it?" Scuda waited in perplexity while
Mardonius, after hunting in a drawer, pulled out a roll of parchment,
and presented it to the tribune. Scuda saw the name of the emperor, and
read the first lines, without remarking the date of the document. At the
sight of the great imperial seal of dark green wax he became frightened.

"Pardon, there is some mistake," said the tribune humbly. "Don't ruin
us! We are all brothers and fellow-sinners!