ill came next to Hippias followed by a red agitator;
Marcus had gained on the others and was now fourth.

In the third round the chariot of the red driver in front of Marcus
made too sharp a turn and ran up against the granite. The broken car was
dragged on by the terrified beasts, and the charioter with it, till, by
the time they were stopped, he was a corpse. In the fifth circuit the
Christian who till now had been second to Hippias shared the same
fate, though he escaped with his life; and then Marcus drove past the
starting-sheds next to Hippias.

Hippias had ceased to flout and dally. In spite of the delay that Marcus
had experienced from the Taraxippos, the space that parted his bays
from the black Arabs had sensibly diminished, round after round; and
the interest of the race now centered entirely in him and the young
Christian. Never before had so passionate and reckless a contest been
fought out on this venerable race-course, and the throng of spectators
were carried away by the almost frenzied rivalry of the two drivers. Not
a creature in the upper tiers had been able to keep his seat; men and
women alike had risen to their feet and were shouting and roaring to the
competitors. The music in the towers might have ceased, so completely
was it drowned by the tumult in the amphitheatre.

Only the ladies, in the best places above the starting-sheds, preserved
their aristocratic calm; Still, when the seventh and decisive round was
begun, even the widow Mary leaned forward a little and clasped her hands
more tightly over the cross in her lap. Each time that Marcus had driven
round the obelisk or past the Taraxippos, Dada had clutched her head
with her hands and set her teeth in her lip; each time, as he happily
steered clear of the fatal stone and whirled past the dreadful bronze
statue, she had relaxed her grip and leaned back in her seat with a sigh
of relief. Her sympathy made her one with Marcus; she felt as if his
loss must be her death and his victory her personal triumph.

During the sixth circuit Hippias was still a long way ahead of the young
Christian; the distance which lay between Marcus and the team of bays
seemed to have become a fixed quantity, for, do what he could, he could
not diminish it by a hand-breadth. The two agitatores had now completely
altered their tactics; instead of holding their horses in they urged
them onward, leaning over the front of their chariots, speaking to the
horses, Shoutin