t Theodosius. He
wrote--and Pertinax read it over my shoulder in our quarters: "_Tell your
Father that my destiny orders me to drive three mules or be torn in pieces
by them. I hope within a year to finish with Theodosius, son of
Theodosius, once and for all. Then you shall have Britain to rule, and
Pertinax, if he chooses, Gaul. To-day I wish strongly you were with me to
beat my Auxiliaries into shape. Do not, I pray you, believe any rumour of
my sickness. I have a little evil in my old body which I shall cure by
riding swiftly into Rome._"

'Said Pertinax: "It is finished with Maximus! He writes as a man without
hope. I, a man without hope, can see this. What does he add at the bottom
of the roll? '_Tell __Pertinax I have met his late Uncle, the Duumvir of
Divio, and that he accounted to me quite truthfully for all his Mother's
monies. I have sent her with a fitting escort, for she is the mother of a
hero, to Nicaea, where the climate is warm._'

'"That is proof!" said Pertinax. "Nicaea is not far by sea from Rome. A
woman there could take ship and fly to Rome in time of war. Yes, Maximus
foresees his death, and is fulfilling his promises one by one. But I am
glad my Uncle met him."

'"You think blackly to-day?" I asked.

'"I think truth. The Gods weary of the play we have played against them.
Theodosius will destroy Maximus. It is finished!"

'"Will you write him that?" I said.

'"See what I shall write," he answered, and he took pen and wrote a letter
cheerful as the light of day, tender as a woman's and full of jests. Even
I, reading over his shoulder, took comfort from it till--I saw his face!

'"And now," he said, sealing it, "we be two dead men, my brother. Let us
go to the Temple."

'We prayed awhile to Mithras, where we had many times prayed before. After
that we lived day by day among evil rumours till winter came again.

'It happened one morning that we rode to the East Shore, and found on the
beach a fair-haired man, half frozen, bound to some broken planks. Turning
him over, we saw by his belt-buckle that he was a Goth of an Eastern
Legion. Suddenly he opened his eyes and cried loudly: "He is dead! The
letters were with me, but the Winged Hats sunk the ship." So saying, he
died between our hands.

'We asked not who was dead. We knew! We raced before the driving snow to
Hunno, thinking perhaps Allo might be there. We found him already at our
stables, and he saw by our faces what we had heard.