es in
Manon's household is no doubt seeking to discover who are the Arabs who
have paid his master a visit. I have thought once before that I heard
a footfall, now l am sure of it. When we get to the next turning do you
walk on and I will turn down the road. If the man behind us be honest
he will go straight on; if he be a spy, he will hesitate and stop at the
corner to decide which of us he shall follow; then I shall know what to
do."

Accordingly at the next crossroad they came to Nessus turned down and
concealed himself a few paces away, while Malchus, without pausing,
walked straight on. A minute later Nessus saw a dark figure come
stealthily along. He stopped at the junction of the roads and stood for
a few seconds in hesitation, then he followed Malchus.

Nessus issued from his hiding place, and, with steps as silent and
stealthy as those of a tiger tracking his prey, followed the man. When
within a few paces of him he gave a sudden spring and flung himself upon
him, burying his knife between his shoulders. Without a sound the
man fell forward on his face. Nessus coolly wiped his knife upon
the garments of the spy, and then proceeded at a rapid pace until he
overtook Malchus.

"It was a spy," he said, "but he will carry no more tales to Hanno."

Two days later, Nessus, on his return from his visit to Manon, brought
news that the latter had arranged with the captain of a ship owned by
a friend to carry them across to Corinth, whence they would have no
difficulty in taking a passage to Italy. They were to go on board late
the following night, and the ship would set sail at daybreak.

The next evening Malchus accompanied by Nessus paid a farewell visit to
Manon, and repeated to him all the instructions of Hannibal, and Manon
handed him his letter for the general, and again assured him that he
would, with his friends, at once set to work to pave the way for an
appeal to the populace at the first favourable opportunity.

After bidding farewell to the old noble, Malchus returned to the house
of the Arab and prepared for his departure. He had already handsomely
rewarded the two men and the mahout for the services they had rendered
him. In the course of the day he had provided himself with the garments
of a trader, the character which he was now about to assume.

At midnight, when all was quiet, he and Nessus set out and made their
way down to the port, where, at a little frequented landing stage, a
boat was await