shed lion was loosed at me. He
bounded towards me, roaring; but, three or four lengths from me he paused,
stood still regarding me, circled about me and then turned his back on me
and loped off to the arena-wall, along which he rounded the arena,
apparently searching for a way out. The populace, at first mute with
astonishment, voiced their amazement in yells of a notably different
quality from those they had uttered while watching Narcissus.

Another lion behaved similarly, except that he, after inspecting me,
merely walked in circles far out in the arena, ignoring me as if I were
not there at all.

They loosed on me five more lions, four tigers, four leopards, four
panthers and four bears, of the fierce Alpine breed. Some of these animals
delighted the populace by attacking each other and affording entertainment
by savage and ferocious fighting. But not one showed any disposition to
attack me.

As beast after beast approached me, conned me and spared me, the upper
tiers began to call:

"He is innocent."

"He is guiltless."

"The beasts know."

"He is not guilty."

"The gods declare him clean of guilt!" and other such cries.

Also they began to show signs of being restless and bored. Some yelled for
another criminal.

A seventh lion was loosed at me. He paused like the others and eyed me;
then he strolled up to me, snuffed at me, and rubbed his mane against my
hip, emitting a rambling purr. I laid my hand on his mane.

Instantly, from all sides at once, rang out cries of,

"Festus!"

"Festus the Beast-Wizard!"

"He's no Phorbas, he's Festus come back!"

I was not far from the Imperial Pavilion and one of the retinue leaned
over the _podium_-coping and called to me. I walked towards him. When I
was within earshot he called in Greek:

"The King commands that you lead the beasts back to their cages."

Elated and hoping for a reprieve, for vindication, for life, for
rehabilitation, for Imperial favor, I led beast after beast back to its
cage on a shaft-lift, or to a door in the wall. When the last one was
caged an officer of the Imperial retinue, a frontiersman only lately come
to Rome, stepped out of one of the postern doors, two arena-slaves with
him. They led me to the center of the arena, trussed my hands behind me,
bound my ankles and wrapped round my head an evil-smelling old quilt,
probably taken from the cot of some arena-slave housed in some cell under
the hollow of the amphitheater. Half su