Homo Sum -- Volume 05

er reached his destination more quickly by that road than by following the better road in the other ravine, which was practicable for beasts of burden. Hal

ocks, in which the anchorites were wont to take refuge

not only the "short cut" to the oasis, but also the narrow shell-strewn strip of desert which divided the western declivity

ible from the other side, and in order to secure that, a very strong wall had been built, which enclosed the level on which the castle stood in the form of a horseshoe, of which the ends abutted on the declivity of the short road. This structure was so roughly and inartistically heaped together that it looked as if formed by nature rather than by the hand of man. The rough and unfinished appearance

n them from the east, and secondly from the Blemmyes, the wild inhabitants of the desert country which borders the fertile lands of Egypt and Nubia, and particularly

oman maniple in the oasis, was swift and vigorous in his office, and though he had not succeeded in protecting the anchorites from all damage, he had followed up the Blemmyes, who fled at his approach, and cut them off from rejoining their boats. A battle took place between the barbarians and the Romans, not far from the coast on the desert tract dividing the hills from the sea, which resulted in the total annihilation of the wild tribes and gave ground to hope that such a lesson might serve as a warning to the son

themselves in violent rain and had obscured the light of the waning moon. So they drew their boats and rafts down to the sea, and, unobserved by the sentinels on the mountain who had taken shelter fro

ich had been set him and which he deemed worthy of a future soldier, and cheerfully ready to fulfil it even at the cost of his life, he hastened forward in the bright moonlight. He quitted the path at the spot where, to render the ascent possible even to the vigorous desert-travellers, it took a zigzag line, and clambered f

nt their plans, how he might recross the sea and return to his own people. At last, as he got more and more weary, as the heat of the sun grew more oppressive, and as the blood rushed more painfully

ved strength. Before the sun had set he had informed the anchorite, to whom Paulus had directe

was talking with an old Amalekite boatman, who, with his black-eyed sons, was arranging his nets, two riders came at a quic

aid. "There, on the dromedary, is the emperor's

e would have turned and have taken to flight, but his clear eyes had met the dull and searching glance of the centurion, and, blushing at his

long he had been there, and if he had come direct from the mountain. Hermas answered him

and at the same time it struck him that this pitiable old man was the husband of the blooming and youthful Sirona. Far from feeling any remorse for his intrusion into this man's house, he yielded entirely to the audaciou

h a woman and her dog, but

h, and it might be that he would do Sirona an injury by giving false information. He therefore ventured

ied Talib, "she is

rupting his companion. "I hope this fellow saw better than you who took th

d the lad. "And w

it and said, "I am the emperor's centurion, and I ask you, what

ast inclined to assist her pursuers he hastily replied, giving the reins to his audacity, "I at any rate did not meet the person whom you seek; the woman I saw is c

eet her?" shriek

at the foot of the mou

a boat, and

north?" ask

I do not know, for I was in a hur

take her in Klysma,"

here were horses in t

"And beyond Elim there is no water before the Wells

should not go so far from the oasis. For over there they say that the Blemmye

reparing for a new incursion, and he cried to Talib angrily but decidedly, as he turned his back upon Hermas, "You must

was roused in obedience to his orders, and helped the boy who accompanied him, and who understood the management of the sails and rudder, to push the boat, which was laid up on the sand, down into the sea. Soon he was flying over the smooth and glistening waters before a light wind, and he felt as fresh and strong in spiri

e hauled round the sail with the rope in his hand, "we shall ge

e stingy of it," answered Hermas, and he

d not but think of Petrus' court-yard that had shone in the same silvery light when he had climbed up to Sirona's wi

oar flat on to the water so that it spurted high up, and sprinkled the boat and him with a shower of wet and twinkling diamond drops. He began to work the oars again, reflecting as he did so,

lls to watch the movements of the Blemmyes. The very first day he went up to the valley in which they were gathering; on the second, after being many times seen and pursued

s of outstripping them, for his prisoner revealed to him the spot wh

darkness of midnight, drew their first bark into the water, Hermas sailed off ahead of the enemy, landed in much danger

d left their posts, and before they were able to mount guard, to hoist the flags or to b

a new nurse, who was clumsier and more peevish, had taken Paulus' place. She lived on roots, and on the bread the sick man gave her, and at night she lay down to sleep

im, she could hear his son's name from his lips, and he rejoiced at her

tions with the old man had become a need, nay a necessity, for she still was ignorant whether Hermas was yet alive, or whether Phoebicius had killed him in consequence of her betrayal. Perhaps all that Stephanus told her of his son's journey of investigation was an invention of Paulus to spare the sick man, and accustom him gradual

at once hid herself, and listened with a beating heart; much less from fear of Petrus her master, from whom she had run away, than in the expectat

s if she thought she should succeed in washing the dark hue out of her skin. And all this she did for him, that on his re

ar and longing, she had clambered from stone to stone, and sought refuge and peace under first one rock and then another; thus she had been attracted by the glimmer of light that shone

en asked, and she had gathered from the old man's lamentations and dark

wild desire to sink down on the earth there and die, and to be released by death from her relentless, driving torment. But it was still too early to disturb the old man-and yet-she must hear a human voice, one word-eve

voice. She started and listened with out-stretched neck and strung sinews, motionless. Then she broke suddenly into a loud and

eflected in her cry so clearly and purely that the sympathetic chords in th

ight, and a glow of gratitude such as she had never before felt flooded her soul, and as he was so good to her she longed to show him that she had something to offer in return for the gi

laimed, "That is a good girl! and I will not forget it. You are a wild, silly thi

out her hand to him. He took it, a

s? I have warned the

ming. Is Paulus

I know wh

can find. They must all go to the castle by the ravine. Now I will go to my father; you hurry on and show that you are to be trusted." As

she found Sirona; she did not stop with her, but contented

est well, she went on and called him, then hurrying on from cave to