hy duty!" cried the Judge.

"Nay, but the Friar speaks truth. Bear the old man away, Alessandro!"

"Is Rome demented? Haste for the City Guards, Jacopo!"

Fra Giuseppe swiftly tied the _pallio_ to his crucifix, and, waving
the red cloth on high, "This is the true flag of Christ!" he cried.
"This, the symbol of our brethren's martyrdom! See, 'tis the color of
the blood He shed for us. Who is for Jesus, follow me!"

"For Christ, for Jesus! _Viva Gesu!_" A far-rumbling thunder broke
from the swaying mob. His own fire caught extra flame from theirs.

"Follow me! This day we will bear witness to Christ, we will establish
His kingdom in Rome."

There was a wild rush, the soldiers spurred their horses, people fell
under their hoofs, and were trampled on. It was a moment of frenzy.
The Dominican ran on, waving the red _pallio_, his followers
contagiously swollen at every by-street. Unchecked he reached the
great Piazza, where a new statue of the Pope gleamed white and
majestic.

"Down with Anti-Christ!" shouted a cutpurse.

"Down with Anti-Christ!" echoed the mob.

The Friar waved his hand, and there was silence. He saw the yellow
gleam of a Jew's head in the crowd, and called upon him to fling him
his cap. It was hurled from hand to hand. Fra Giuseppe held it up in
the air. "Men of Rome, Sons of Holy Church, behold the contumelious
mark we set upon our fellow-men, so that every ruffian may spit upon
them. Behold the yellow--the color of shame, the stigma of women that
traffic in their womanhood--with which we brand the venerable brows of
rabbis and the heads of honorable merchants. Lo! I set it upon the
head of this Anti-Christ, a symbol of our hate for all that is not
Love." And raising himself on the captain's stirrup, he crowned the
statue with the yellow badge.

A great shout of derision rent the air. There was a multifarious
tumult of savage voices.

"Down with Anti-Christ! Down with the Pope! Down with Baccio Valori!
Down with the Princess Teresa!"

But in another moment all was a wild _melee_. A company of City
Guards--pikemen, musketeers, and horsemen with two-handed swords
dashed into the Piazza from one street, the Pope's troops from
another. They charged the crowd. The soldiers of the revolting
captain, revolting in their turn, wheeled round and drove back their
followers. There was a babel of groans and shrieks and shouts, muskets
rang out, daggers flashed, sword and pike rang against armor, sparks