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"I dare not go, praefect," he stammered, and it had been pitiable were it not abject to see the look of insane terror which he cast around him. "I dare not go.... They would kill me if they saw me ... and I don't want to die...." "No one would recognise thee," said Taurus Antinor with ill-restrained patience, "dressed as scribes we can mingle with the fringe of the crowd.
Hail!" came in a continuous, thunderous roar from every corner of the arena, even as with a sudden bound the black panther had sprung upon Taurus Antinor, and, catching him unawares, had felled him to the ground. "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." A tumult amongst the people? Aye! it was here now fully aroused. The praefect of Rome was popular with the plebs.
My mother and I will take great care of her." "And ye will teach her your religion," said Taurus Antinor earnestly; "because of that did I bring her. She is young and will be teachable. She'll understand as a child will, that which hardened hearts are unable to grasp." "Nay, friend," said the man simply, "there is not a great deal to teach, nor a great deal to understand.
"Thou art a fool indeed, Hortensius," murmured a harsh voice close to his ear; "a fool to provoke a man beyond the power of his control." Then as at a word from the host, the other men those who were steady on their feet tried to interpose, Taurus Antinor turned his face to them. "Have no fear," he said quite calmly, "for this man. He shall come to no harm.
There were holidays and spectacles, chariot races and gladiatorial combats, and the people of Rome forgot that it had ever shouted: "Hail Taurus Antinor Cæsar! Hail!" Now the calls were for Caius Julius Cæsar Caligula, and those who had most loudly shouted for his death, cringed most obsequiously at his feet. The very name of the ex-praefect of Rome was already forgotten.
His deep-set eyes beneath that stern frown had swept quickly over the assembly as he entered, and though now comparative order had been restored and a semblance of calm reigned around the table, Taurus Antinor did not fail to note the flushed faces and glowing eyes, the broken goblets, and stained and tattered cloths which gave ugly evidence of the riotous orgy that had gone before.
Taurus Antinor, with his gaze fixed upon her every movement, wondered what all that could mean. After a quarter of an hour of tense excitement, of alternate cries of horror and screams of delight, the two men had, by dint of cunning and agility, succeeded in evading the panther.
To-morrow they will have forgotten me ... they will think me dead ... dead will I be to them to-morrow." "Nay! but to-day," she urged, "to-day is thine and mine.... The praetorian praefect is here and the others ... the choice rests with me and my choice is made.... Rome even now rings from end to end with thy name: 'Hail Taurus Antinor Cæsar!
The spirit of mischief was in her, the love to tease a helpless giant; so for the nonce anger almost died out within her and her eyes looked clear and blue as triumph and joy danced within their depths. But now Taurus Antinor had finished tying her shoe.
The gods themselves would have placed a poisoned dagger in the hand of him who had been so ruthlessly exposed to a most horrible death. And as Taurus Antinor's massive figure was seen to mount the steps, the audience broke into cheers. "Hail Taurus Antinor! the god of valour and of strength!" Whilst more ominous than before came that other cry: "Death to the tyrant! Death to the Cæsar! Death!"
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