O that I were a man! What did that brave enemy of our house,
Cassivellaunus, do? what Caractacus? what the brave queen Boadicea?
When the Roman drove them to despair they raised the standard of revolt,
sounded their battle cries, and showed the Roman that British freemen
could fight to the death for their country and their home. And thus
should we do, without fear or question, and see here again in Britain a
victorious kingdom ruled once more by British kings."

"Nay, nay, my daughter," said cautious King Coel, "your words are those
of an unthinking girl. The power of Rome----"

But the Prince Carausius, as the girl's brave words rang out, gave her
an admiring glance, and, crossing to where she stood, laid his hand
approvingly upon her shoulder.

"The girl is right, uncle," he said, breaking in upon the king's
cautious speech. "Too long have we bowed the neck to Roman tyranny. We,
free princes of Britain that we are, have it even now in our power to
stand once again as altogether free. The fleet is mine, the people are
yours, if you will but amuse them. Our brothers are groaning under
the load of Roman tribute, and are ripe to strike. Raise the cry at
Camalodunum, my uncle; cry: 'Havoc and death to Rome!' My fleet shall
pour its victorious sailors upon the coast; the legions, even now full
of British fighters, shall flock to out united standards, and we shall
rule--Emperors in the North, even as do the Roman conquerors rule
Emperors in the South."

Young blood often sways and leads in council and in action, especially
when older minds are over-cautious or sluggish in decision. The words
of Carausius and Helena carried the day with Coel the king, already
smarting under a sense of ill-treatment by his Roman over-lords.

The standard of revolt was raised in Camalodunum. The young admiral
hurried back to France to make ready his fleet, while Coel the king,
spurred on to action by the patriotic Helena, who saw herself another
Boadicea--though, in truth, a younger and much fairer one--gathered a
hasty following, won over to his cause the British-filled legion in his
palace-town, and, descending upon the nearest Roman camps and stations,
surprised, captured, scattered, or brought over their soldiers, and
proclaimed himself free from the yoke of Rome and supreme prince of
Britain.

Ambition is always selfish. Even when striving for the general good
there lies, too often, beneath this noble motive the still deeper one of