oofs rolled across the plain.

"By Hercules! we shall do it!" cried Sergius, in whom ardour of the chase
had put to flight all sentiments of regret or doubt. "Do you not see we
are gaining?"

"They ride silently yet," said Decius. "It is but knee-speed with them.
Wait till they cry out to their horses, and we shall see."

Suddenly, as if to supplement the words, a single shrill cry, half
whistle, half scream, rose up ahead. Had they been closer, they might
have noted the pricking ears of the desert steeds; but this much they
saw:--one horse and rider darting out of the press, like arrow from bow,
and scurrying away over the plain as if their former gait had been but a
hand-gallop.

An instant of misgiving came to some few of the Romans, who were not
blind to everything but the excitement of the moment, but they, like the
rest, only plied knee and thong the harder, and the episode of the single
rider was forgotten by all save Marcus Decius and Sergius.

"It is a trap, master," said the former, with an inquiring glance at his
leader.

Sergius bowed his head, and his face was troubled, as he replied:--

"I know it, my Marcus, but we cannot turn back now. I have accepted the
feast: therefore I must recline until my host gives the signal to rise.
I pray you pardon me."

By a quick movement Decius urged his horse a stride ahead of the
tribune's, that he might the better hide his emotion; at the same time
growling:--

"I pardon you?--and for the chance of a blow at the scum? I thank you
many times."

And now, from the plain ahead rose a low range of rolling hills over
which a light cloud seemed to hover. Was it the ascent that wearied the
horses of the Numidians? Surely the space between pursuers and pursued
was lessening rapidly, and Hostilius leaned far forward, shaking his
spear and calling upon his men for a renewed effort.

"Now! now!" he cried. "See! they are spent! Up with them ere they top
the hill!"

But the Numidians gained the sought-for ridge, if only by a few
spear-lengths' lead, and the cloud, now close ahead, hung so dense that
there were those who thought it the smoke of another farm. Decius' eyes
seemed set in a dazed stare. There was too much red in that cloud, and
yet it was not the red of fire, and it was too light and too thin for
smoke. He knew it; he had known it all along, but what did it matter?
The last Numidian had disappeared down the opposite slope--no! surely
they had t